Ulster SFC Preliminary Round

Armagh v Antrim

Athletic Grounds Saturday 5.00pm

Underdogs Antrim head to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh this Saturday to take on Armagh in the preliminary round of this year’s Ulster championship with none but the Antrim faithful giving them much hope of a victory.

Armagh, despite being relegated from division 1 this year are installed as odds on favourites to advance to a first round proper against division 3 champions Cavan and the noises coming out of the cathedral city would suggest that they are already be preparing for that game.

Armagh played their football in division 1 this year and the early indications were that they were going to be serious contenders in the division when they opened their campaign with a 1-14 to 1-12 win away to Monaghan.

They followed that up with a 0-17 to 0-17 draw at home to a Mayo team who would go on to win the league before suffering their first defeat when they travelled to Roscommon and lost by a goal, 1-12 to 0-12.

In round 4 it was the turn of Kerry to travel to the Athletic Grounds and in another close encounter the All Ireland champions beat Armagh by the minimum, 0-12 to 0-11 but when the Orchard County defeated Donegal 0-13 to 0-10 in round 5 everything seemed to be falling into place.

A defeat to Galway at home in round 6 saw Armagh travel to Tyrone in the final round needing a win if results elsewhere went against them and Monaghan’s victory away to Mayo and Armagh’s 0-18 to 0-16 defeat to old rivals, Tyrone saw them relegated with Donegal.

Meanwhile Antrim under the new management of Andy McEntee were playing their football in division 3 and given the large turnover of players from the previous year, survival in division 3 was seen as success in some quarters and survival they achieved but it could have been much, much more.

The appointment of Andy McEntee, following six years in charge of his native county Meath was seen as an excellent appointment in most quarters but the former Meath manager came into the job with a rebuilding job needed following the departures of quite a number of experienced players from last year’s panel.

McEntee and his management team spread his net far and wide in the short window afforded them leading up to the opening of the league and the McKenna Cup was seen as an opportunity to take a look at some of the new faces who have come into the panel.

A trip to Saturday’s opponents Armagh that ended in a 13 point defeat quickly showed that there was quite a bit of work to be done and the Saffrons did show a bit of improvement against Cavan in their second game in the competition in Portglenone.

They lost that one too but the management at least had an idea of what was available as they entertained Offaly in the opening game of the National League Division 3.

It was Offaly who threatened to run away with it at Corrigan Park however as they raced into a commanding half time lead but Antrim showed the first signs of recovery with a strong second half comeback which saw them threaten to overturn the visitors lead.

The Saffrons were denied a stonewall penalty when trailing by a goal and got caught on the breakaway late on to eventually lose 0-12 to 2-12 but there were some encouraging signs that we were getting a side together.

Antrim travelled to Newry in Round 2 to play a Down side who were listed at 1 to 8 by some bookmakers but it was the Saffrons who looked like making a nonsense of those odds when they led the Mourne men by five points going into the closing stages.

They failed to manage out that lead however and Down would score 1-3 in the closing five minutes to steal victory and send the Antrim men up the road with nothing to show for their dominance.

 The trip to Tip in Round 3 suggested that Antrim had learned from that painful defeat when they defeated Tipperary 1-19 to 0-14 to put their first points on board but the Down collapse would be a theme that would repeat itself.

Antrim had Fermanagh as visitors to Corrigan in Round 4 and the recent improvement looked to be gaining momentum as they led the visitors by eight early in the second half before being caught again at the finishing line to go down by the minimum.

With both Longford and Tipperary sitting on one point and Antrim on two the spectre of relegation still loomed and when Antrim suffered a humiliating loss to Westmeath in Mullingar in Round 5 and that result set alarm bells ringing in the Saffron camp.

Andy McEntee was at pains to explain their no-show against the Leinster side and with league leaders Cavan visiting Corrigan Park in Round 6 and a visit to Longford in the final round it wasn’t looking all that promising.

The Antrim season had been a bit like the film, ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ and their inconsistency hasn’t been helped by a lengthy injury list throughout the league with up to 11 players unavailable at one stage.

And when Cavan visited in Round 6 expectations weren’t too great given that Mickey Graham’s side had gone through their league programme unbeaten and had one foot in division 2 already but the return of Marc Jordan, Declan Lynch and Paddy McBride to the Antrim side sparked a great response to the Mullingar humiliation.

Antrim defeated Cavan 1-17 to 2-12 and Longford’s defeat to Down coupled with Offaly’s win over Tipperary ensured that the final round for the Saffrons away to Longford was a dead rubber.

So what does this tell us about Saturday’s game at the BOX-IT Athletic Ground? Not a lot that we dont already know, Armagh were competitive throughout their campaign in division 1 and their relegation will have little influence on how they approach the Antrim game.

A big crowd will pack into the Athletic Ground expecting to see them overcome the challenge of the Ulster minnows with relative ease.

The Orchard are a strong physical outfit and the present panel have been together for quite a number of years under the management of Kieran McGeeney and reached last years All Ireland quarter finals where they lost to Galway after extra time.

Ethan Rafferty in goals, Aidan Forker, Jarlath Og Burns, Stephan Campbell, Rory Grugan, Andrew Murnin and Jason Duffy are just a few of the household names that Antrim will have to contend with while their talisman, Rian O’Neill missed their final National League game against Tyrone through injury but is expected to be available if needed against the Saffrons.

Amazingly Armagh haven’t won an Ulster Championship or been in a final since 2008, a year longer than Saturday’s opponents Antrim who lost to Tyrone in the 2009 final.

Andy McEntee’s side will go into Saturday’s game with nothing to lose but the Meath man will be hoping that his side can harness the best parts of those performances against Down, Fermanagh and Cavan into one big performance against Armagh.

At the time of writing the Antrim team has not been announced but the Saffrons are likely to have a near clean bill of health. Mick Byrne has been excellent in goals this year and Declan Lynch, Marc Jordan, Ruairi McCann, Paddy McBride, Peter Healey, Kevin Small, Ryan Murray and Odhran Eastwood will bring a wealth of experience to Saturday’s game.

Conor Stewart and Pat Shivers missed the Cavan game through injury but are expected to be available and their youthful exuberance should add another dimension to the Antrim challenge while Aghagallon’s Ruairi McCann has impressed at full-forward and Joseph Finnegan, Patrick Finnegan and Dominic McEnhill have seen plenty of action in their first year in an Antrim jersey and will be hoping for a starting nod.

So let’s get out and support our side on Saturday night. We will start as underdogs and that’s a good thing. We were underdogs against Cavan in the league and should have defeated Down and Fermanagh and none of these would be travelling as no hopers if they had been drawn against Armagh so why should we?