With unbeaten counties Dublin and Roscommon already safely through to the semi-finals of the elite top four All Ireland Gaelic Masters Dr Loftus Cup, this weekend sees four counties play off for the right to join them at the top table. The winners of Antrim versus Kerry, and Cork versus Tyrone, will automatically go into the top four – the losers will join Derry and Mayo who wait in the wings to compete in the Plate Competition for counties finishing between fifth and eighth place, decided by points earned during a recently concluded six match league programme.
With the Gaelic Masters Series growing from strength to strength, Antrim have been the surprise packet this season, defeating Monaghan, Louth, Armagh, Derry and Down – their only loss a narrow defeat to Donegal in June.
The reward for this considerable progress is a nothing to lose trip to Tyrrellspass GAA Club (Mullingar Rd, Templeoran South, Tyrrellspass, Co. Westmeath, N91 FND3) on Saturday at 2pm when the Saffrons face off against a very experienced Kerry side that includes numerous multiple all Ireland winners amongst their ranks. Despite this glamour tie, Antrim manager, Frank Delargy has no plans to do anything differently. “Timmy (Connolly) and I had a chat about how we go about this one, and we ended up agreeing not to do anything different at all. We had thought about putting a coach on, and having extra training, but in the end we decided to stick to our routine and see where it takes us” said Frankie Delargy.
When asked if he thought Antrim if were in bonus territory he was equally non-committal.
“No. I knew we had the talent to achieve a top eight finish, and we have already ticked that box. I don’t see why we need to be surprised at that. I leave that to others, but when you have players like Sean Kelly, Tony Convery, Michael Herron Colin Brady and Tony Scullion around, that rubs off on others. I wouldn’t be swapping these guys for any player, Kerry or otherwise” said Delargy.
“I`d be confident we can give a good account of ourselves, but sadly we have a higher than ideal missing list for this one. We will be missing our esteemed goalkeeper Seanie McGreevy and thankfully Lamh Dhearg legend John Finucane has put his hand up to go between the sticks. Teak tough full back Adrian Scullion has been immense for us all year and our first choice midfield partnership of Kevin Gallagher and Brendan Etherson are both out. Sean Mc Veigh is club tied with a view to playing for All Saints next week. Two of our better known forwards Kieran Close and Mark Dougan are also on the injury list. This makes the job more difficult… but we have good players lined up to fill those positions who we can depend on, and I`m sure all counties including Kerry will be missing their fair share too.”
Antrim Masters have raised more than a few eyebrows this year and Saturday’s stern test against last years runners up will offer further evidence of the road travelled and the hard yards that lie ahead if Frankie Delargy, Timmy Connolly and their extended panel are to deliver on their ambition to deliver Antrim to the top tier of this increasingly prestigious competition in the next few years.
Panel available for Saturday
John Finucane, Ryan Boyd, Ryan Daly, Kevin McAllister, Mark Graham, Damien Casey, Michael Herron, James McGreevy, Liam Magee, Sean Kelly, Laurence Higgins, Declan McLarnon, Colin Connolly, Colin Brady, Thomas Doherty, Ken Golden, Barry McMahon, Niall Sweeney, Tony Scullion, Michael Donnelly, Declan Hassan, Aidan Dunlop.