Antrim v Donegal

McKenna Cup – Round 2

Erin”s Own, Cargin – 1.30pm Sunday

Antrim manger, Mark Doran and his backroom staff will have another opportunity to run their eyes over those at their disposal for the forthcoming NFL Division 4 campaign, when the Saffrons face Donegal at Erin’s own Cargin on Sunday.

The Down native would have been happy enough with Antrim’s performance for three quarters of their opening McKenna Cup game against Derry at Owenbeg on Wednesday night before the wheels came off the wagon in the final quarter.

Doran gave a first outing in the Saffron jersey to experienced keeper, John McNabb, Kevin McCann and Aidan McErlean of St. Ergnat’s, Gerard O’Neill of St. Gall’s and Tom McFerran of Dunloy.

There were also recalls for Cargin’s Pat Shivers and John McCarron and Antrim acquitted themselves well during the opening half and a great 2 pointer from keeper McNabb just on half time, left them trailing by 2 at the break.

Indeed the Saffrons had a number of opportunities to draw level or even move ahead during the opening 14 minutes of a scoreless third quarter but failed to convert a number of good scoring opportunities.

Derry started to get their game together in the final quarter as Antrim seemed to run out of steam and goals from Paul Cassidy and Ruairi O’Mianain saw them record a somewhat flattering 2-16 to 0-7 win.

The Antrim management will take a lot of positives from their side’s opening half display at Owenbeg as they took the opportunity to give quite a number game time in the second and are likely to introduce more changes for the visit of the Tir Connaill men to Toome.

A successful division 4 campaign will be Antrim’s priority and the McKenna Cup gives the new management team the opportunity to run their eyes over as many players as possible.

The Derry visit on day one to Donegal was postponed due to an unplayable pitch with both sides awarded a point each as a result so Wednesday night’s win over Antrim leaves Derry in a strong position.

Donegal will have to beat Antrim by 15 points to top Section C and while they are capable of achieving it, the Saffrons will have other ideas and will be keen to build on their opening half performance against the Oak Leaf men.

At the time of writing no Antrim team has been announced and while the Saffrons are missing quite a few panellists through injury or University duty, I would expect to see changes to the team that started on Wednesday night.

Antrim are likely to draw a good crowd to Erin’s Own where performance rather final result is likely to be the priority as Mark Doran and his backroom team prepare for the tough National League campaign that lies ahead.