NFL Division 3
KLildare v Antrim
Newbridge – 2-00pm
Antrim’s fate looks all but decided as they travel to Newbridge on Sunday to face promotion hopefuls, Kildare.
The Lilly Whites looked like running away with the title in the early stages of this year’s division 3 campaign but now need a win over visitors Antrim to maintain their push for promotion.
Recent defeats to Offaly and Clare have reeled Kildare back into the promotion chasing pack with Offaly, Clare and even Fermanagh still in the chase on the final day.
I’m not going into the permutations of results that would bring about success for the relevent sides as they have been well documented in the National Media this week,needless to say they do not involve Antrim.
Antrim’s chances of division 3 survival all but ended at Corrigan Park last weekend when they lost to Sligo in a winner takes all contest where they failed to turn up in the opening half.
A much improved second half performance saw them close the gap to the minimum at one stage after trailing by 8 at the break before Sligo kicked a couple of late 2 pointers to eventually win by three.
That win moved Sligo a point above Antrim and with a home game against a Leitrim team, who couldn’t field last week, the Yeats county look odds on to retain their division 3 status.
So pride might well be the only motivation for an Antrim side who will reflect on a season of ‘might have been’ where they led against both Fermanagh and Laois before losing narrowly in both away games.
It’s been that sort of a division this year with little between all of the sides on any given day.
Andy McEntee has named the same side that started against Sligo last week so they are not travelling to St. Conleth’s Park just to fulfil a fixture and are quite capable of causing an upset against Kildare.
The Saffron management and players refuse to use the ongoing debacle of the forthcoming Ulster Championship game against Armagh (CORRIGAN OR NOWHERE) as an excuse but it has to have played on the minds of some.
Sunday could provide an opportunity to record a win that would instil a bit of confidence for that forthcoming meeting with the All Ireland champions.
That game should be staged at Corrigan Park following the long running saga that has been the Casement Park project.
Good luck to Andy McEntee and his side on Sunday and who knows, Leitrim may travel to Markievicz Park and beat Sligo – Antrim are overdue a wee bit of good fortune!
