By Gerry Johnston

The Antrim senior team continues their Glen Dimplex Senior All-Ireland Championship campaign on Saturday when they host All-Ireland and league champions, Galway in Dunloy.

Antrim have made a good start to their campaign with a win, a draw and a defeat in their three games which keeps them in the race for a place in the top three and the spot in the All-Ireland quarter-finals that comes with it.

Saturday will be the biggest test yet for Antrim. Galway have shown themselves to be the best team in Ireland and are the current holder of both of the biggest prizes in intercounty Camogie. They won the Senior All-Ireland on the same day Antrim won the Intermediate title at Croke Park and then in April Antrim were involved in another double header with Galway at Croke Park when the Saffrons lost to Wexford in the Division 2 final while Galway recorded another win over Cork to win Division 1.

So far, Galway have been flawless in the defence of their All-Ireland title. They started the group stage with a 13-point win over Limerick and have backed that up with a nine-point win away to Offaly and then a resounding 26-point win over Down in their most recent fixture.

The Saffs began their campaign with a 17-point win in Offaly before drawing away to Down. Last time out, the Antrim ladies battled hard and gave a very good account of themselves before going down by six points to an excellent Kilkenny team.

This will be a massive game for Antrim and while there’s no tougher test than taking on the best team in the country, it’s a challenge to be relished. Antrim wants to compete at the highest level and over the last 12 months, nobody has reached higher peaks than Galway so a good result or performance here would really lay down a marker of how far Antrim have come over the last few seasons.

Win, lose or draw on Saturday, Antrim will still be in the running for a quarter-final spot. That is likely to come down to results between Antrim, Down and Limerick. With Down and Limerick playing each other this weekend that will make the permutations much clearer heading into the last game against Limerick but if Antrim could get some points here it would tip the scales massively in their favour.

This match will be played as part of a double-header with the Intermediate team taking on Armagh in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship at 2pm.