Ulster GAA Minor Football Championship
Saturday-Crossmaglen 12-00pm
It looks a tough ask for Antrim minors when they travel to Crossmaglen this Saturday (12 noon) to face Armagh in the opening round of the Ulster Minor Football Championship.
The young Saffrons have experienced a difficult season to date, losing heavily to Derry at Dunsilly on day one of the Minor League (Section C) and while they showed some improvement away to Tyrone in Round 2 in Stewartstown they still lost by six points.
After finishing bottom of Section C Antrim then were relegated to the Shield but with quite a number of their side missing they lost to Saturday’s opponents, Armagh in Crossmaglen.
The Orchard Minors ran rampant that day, hitting the Antrim net seven times and the Saffron management will be keen to close the door on a rampant Armagh attack this time around while improving their own attacking statistics.
Across their two games in Section C the Saffron youngsters managed only 1-4 as they finished bottom to Derry and Tyrone in what was always going to be a difficult group.
Liam McLernon of Creggan and Cormac Trainor of St. Paul’s have been best in an Antrim defence who have leaked scores this year while Daire Higgins of Con Magee’s, JJ Higgins of St. Brigid’s, Cormac Trainor, Odhran Quinn, Michael McKenna and Fiontan Hardy will carry the hopes of an inexperienced Antrim side on Saturday.
In their two Ulster League games to date, Aidan O’Rourke’s Armagh have hit an accumulated tally of 1-21 against Down and Monaghan but still finished runners up to the Mourne side.
Gavin O’Rourke nailed their only goal of the season, coming late on against Down the first day out.
While Armagh didn’t hit the net in round two, they still have enough firepower to get past Monaghan by five.
Eoin Duffy was the main man in front of the posts that day, finishing with 0-5 (0-2 from frees) to his name.
Nine different players have got on the scoresheet, with Duffy (0-6) and Diarmaid O’Rourke (0-4) leading the way.
Armagh and Antrim met in the opening round of the Minor league last year, with Armagh winning 4-12 to 2-13.
They also clashed in the Ulster Championship opener, but that game finished all square on the day, 0-8 apiece.
So Antrim can take some confidence from last year’s performances against the same opposition and with everyone on board they will travel to Crossmaglen knowing that they are capable of much better that they have shown to date.
A big support would certainly help the Saffron cause so why not come along and show your support for an Antrim side who will start as underdogs but will be keen to restore some pride in the Saffron jersey.
