At last week’s meet and greet night at Chapel Hill, Glenavy, the Saffron Gael spoke with Antrim’s joint managers Mickey Devlin and Chris Scullion ahead of Sunday’s All Ireland LGFA Junior final against Louth in Croke Park. At the time it was intended to be a video interview but unfortuately my video skills came up short once again so it was back to the keyboard to get it all down
Saffron Gael
Before you took the county job had you two managed at club level ?
Mickey
Yes we had managed Glenavy for two years and then we took a break for a year before applying for the county job. We had been involved in management for a few years and because we were managing in Division 1 we knew a good bit about the Ladies Football in the county. We actually took over in November 2024. We held four trials (where clubs were ask to send along their best player) and we picked our panel out of that.
SG
Was there many new players joined the squad since you two took over.
Mickey.
Eighteen! With us being involved in Division 1 League football for a long time we had a good idea of what was in the county. Things went a bit astray last year so we intived players we knew were good enough for this squad and when they all turned up in force were delighted
SG
You have had a pretty good run so far, you have to be pleased with how things have gone.
Mickey
Yes it has been as good as we could ask far so far but to be honest the big prize is on Sunday week when we play Louth.
SG
Have you played Louth in the league this year?
Chris
No, Louth are in Division 3 and have finished 3rd in that division, so they are a very good side. They were beaten by Fermanagh in last year’s final and they have come out of Leinster this year as champions so they are in the final because they deserve to be.
SG
How are things going in the Antrim camp lads? Have you any injury worries ahead of the game?
Chris
Pretty much. We have a few wee niggles but our physio Sean has done great work with the girls and of course the girls know how to look after themselves as well. They do their own recovery work and they know how to act when they go to their own club training as well, so we are almost there!
SG
Have you played any games since the win over Sligo in the semi-final?
Chris
We have 32 players in the panel and every one of them have played their part this season. They have all played their part and we have used as many substitutions as we could during it all.
Mickey
All the girls have played some part in the league, 24 of them played in the Ulster Championship and in the All Ireland series we have used 27, and as a result of that we have belief in them all.
No Sligo were the last side we faced, that was in the semi-final. They were a very good team and we had to be at our very best to get past them. Ok I know there were patches of that game when we weren’t at our best, but you are not going to play the perfect game from start to finish.
SG
Maybe that was a good thing, it was stand your team in good stead going into the final. If you look at Cork hurlers, they probably got it too easy against Dublin and look what happened them!
SG
Have you played any challenge games since the semi-final?
Mickey
No we just carried on with the same training as we had been doing all along, same nights, same times, nothing extra. At the end of the day we want to keep it as low key as we can. You just look forward the next game….and that is our next game.
SG
What are your plans for the weekend? I assume you will be travelling down the on the Saturday?
Chris
Yes because we are the first of the three games on the day (which has a throw-in time of 11-45) we need to be down on the Saturday evening and travel in to Croke Park in the morning.
SG
What about yourselves, have you even managed a team in Croke Park before?
Laughter from Mickey and Chris before Mickey says
No, but we have been at plenty of games in Croke Park.
SG
That will be a thrill for you both
Mickey
Yes of course, any manager will tell you that it is always their dream to manage there. It is the pinnacle of every Gael’s career to do so and as a manager it is no different.
Chris
It is every Gael’s dream who walk out onto Croke Park and for us to so as managers of our county it is an absolute honour and privilege to do so
