Antrim v Monaghan

Portglenone: Saturday -2-00pm

The Gaelic Football Masters season opens this weekend with a full round of matches. Antrim share a very tough group this year which includes perennial competition winners Tyrone, last year’s beaten finalists Donegal, recent Tier two winners Cavan and Derry, along with Monaghan and Down.

The games take place every fortnight – Antrim’s campaign beginning this Saturday at 2pm in Portglenone where they host a Monaghan team that has started the season well with a solid preseason behind them. Paul Quigley (Derry) is the man in the middle.

Antrim have made excellent strides in recent years and look forward to another campaign.  Several additions have been added to the panel including Mark Dougan (Creggan) Michael McCourt (Glenavy) Kieran McKeown (Glenravel) Sean McVeigh, Donal Crawford, William Wilkinson (All Saints) and Conor Kennedy (St Agnes).

The team management of Frank Delargy and Timmy Connolly remain in place for another season and are realistically cautious about making any predictions. “This is a tough group. You could make a case for quite a few of these counties being in the top six in Ireland, so nothing is going to be won easily. We have a good panel on paper but that’s not how it’s judged, we need to commit fully to the cause, and if we do that we should be thereabouts at the finish. Monaghan are a dogged team and in recent seasons there has been little to spare between us. If we come out on top on Saturday it will be very hard earned” said Delargy.

When asked for a pre match comment Monaghan GAA Masters chairman Ciaran Ward said “We are looking forward to a competitive match between two counties that there has been very little to separate in recent years. Hopefully the Farney men enjoy their trip to Portglenone and reverse those recent results!”

Special thanks to Fiddlers Rest, Portglenone for their generous sponsorship of this match.

Saffron Gael extends its best wishes to players and management for the season and as usual will do its best to keep our readers up to date with all the action during the season.

Antrim Masters 2026

Antrim Over 40s Squad; Declan McLarnon Conor Kennedy James McGreevy Liam Magee Laurence Higgins Michael Herron Stephen O’Connell Sean McVeigh Michael McCarry Damian Kelly Donal Crawford, Liam Cassley William Wilkinson Seanie McGreevy Michael Donnelly Ken Golden Ryan Boyd Sean Kelly Colin Brady Michael McCann Colly Connolly Ryan Daly Dominic Neeson Declan McErlean Brendan Etherson Niall Sweeney Stephen Harbinson Mark Dougan Kieran McKeown Mark Graham Darren Craig Conor McAreavey Michael McCourt  David McAlernon Paddy Cunningham Adrian Scullion Thomas Doherty Barry McMahon.

Management; Frankie Delargy and Timmy Connolly.

Logistics and Equipment; Carl O’Neill.

Admin; Carl O’Neill (chairman) and Niall Conway.

PRO; Sean Kelly.

Tailteann Cup 1^st Round

Carlow v Antrim

Netwatch Cullen Park – Sunday 1-30

Antrim renew acquaintances with familiar foes, Carlow when they make the long journey to Netwatch Cullen Park on Sunday to meet the Division 4 league winners in the opening round of the Tailteann Cup.

The sides met in the opening game of Division 4 in Portglenone with hopes high in the Saffron County that Antrim could make a quick return to Division 3 following their relegation the previous year and with home advantage they were hoping to get off to a good start.

It didn’t quite work out that way however as Mark Doran’s first National League game as Antrim manager began with a sobering defeat at Portglenone, as Carlow claimed a 2-16 to 1-15 victory to open their Division 4 campaign. Despite a bright start from the hosts, a critical lapse in concentration immediately after the interval proved insurmountable. While Antrim entered the break trailing by only a single point, they found themselves six points adrift within just two minutes of the restart, a period Doran later identified as the turning point that cost his side the game.

It would take another two defeats before Antrim finally got their league campaign together but things began to come together when they defeated Wicklow in Portglenone in Round 4.

The Saffrons would go on to record 4 league victories in succession and were in with an outside chance of promotion going into their final game against London in Toome.

Antrim edged that game by a point but results elsewhere dictated that it would be Carlow and Longford who would gain promotion with Carlow going on to defeat Longford in that Division 4 final.

Carlow will start Sunday’s Tailteann Cup opener as favourites but Mark Doran’s Saffrons should hold no fear of the Leinster minnows as their form has improved as the league progressed and, prior to their Ulster championship loss to Derry, they had recorded four NFL wins on the bounce.

It took a time for the Antrim management to come up with their best side but there was plenty of evidence during the closing rounds of the league that the Saffrons were on an upward trajectory.

Kevin McCann, John Carron, Conor Small, Paddy McBride, Sean O’Neill and Oisin Doherty started in that league opener against Carlow but McBride and Small have left the panel, O’Neill is injured and only Doherty has figured in recent league games.

At the time of writing the Antrim team to play carlow has just been announced and is along familiar lines in recent outings and looks good enough to do the buisness. (Team in Featured image)

The return of Peter Healey to the side has been a massive boost while John McNabb, Eunan Walsh, Kavan Keernan, Marc Jordan, Eoghan McCabe, Joe Finnegan, Paddy McAleer, Pat Shivers, Niall Burns and Dominic McEnhill, who have all featured regularly getting the nod.

Carlow went into their league campaign on the back of a four game winning run in the Leinster Shield and added the division 4 league title so will be firm favourites at Netwatch Cullen Park.

In Mickey Bamberick, Conor Doyle, Ross Dunphy, Colm Hulton, Paddy McDonnell and Eoghan Ruth, Carlow have top class performers but don’t rule out an upset in Carlow Town on Sunday afternoon.

Antrim have been drawn against Carlow in round one of theTailteann Cup in the draw which took place on Monday afternoon.

The Leinster side, who beat the Saffrons by 2-16 to 1-15 on the opening day of the National Football League Division 4 in Portglenone, went on to win the title when they beat Longford after extra time in the final in Croke Park in late March to claim the county’s first national silverware since 1944. Antrim have to travel to Dr Cullen Park for the game which will be played on the weekend of 9th or 10th of May.

Antrim and Fermanagh are the only Ulster teams in the competition to date, but they could still be joined by Down, who shocked Donegal in the Ulster Championship on Sunday, should they lose out to Armagh in the Ulster semi-final in Clones this weekend.

Tailteann Cup Round One draw

Fermanagh v Longford

Laois v Wicklow

Clare v Offaly

Carlow v Antrim

Wexford v Limerick

TBC (Cavan/Westmeath/Down) v Leitrim

Sligo v Tipperary

Waterford v London

Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship Round One

Monaghan 3-14 Antrim 1-10

The start of this game in Iniskeen was delayed for 45 minutes after the Antrim bus got stuck under a bridge in the village with the Antrim players having to be relayed by car to the ground.

It failed to unsettle the young Saffrons however when play got underway as they set about putting an early stamp on proceedings.

Antrim took the game to a Monaghan team, who had defeated them earlier in the league by 12 points at Dunsilly and raced into a 0-6 to 0-2 early in the game and their ability to overturn the Monaghan attack and hit on the counter suggested that a major upset was on the cards.

The Antrim defence at this point was dealing with everything the ‘Farney’ could throw at them but an excellent 2 pointer from Cillian McKenna seemed to settle the home side and they gradually began to eat into the Antrim lead.

Roger Casements’ duo Dara Campbell and Tom Convery had dominated at midfield for much of the game, the latter striking a superb 45 and a two-point free early on, while Joey Griffin palmed home their goal, the smallest man on the pitch rising highest to pull it back to 2-9 to 1-8 at one stage in the second half.

The Monaghan defence, led by full-back Darragh Feeney finally got to grips with a lively Antrim attack and he got forward for an excellent point in the first half as the momentum of the game started to change.

Adam Borsje had the home crowd on their feet with a superb individual goal as he placed his shot in the corner of the Antrim net and another from Mickey Dooher-Burke finally killed the game off.

Malachy Treanor had lashed home Monaghan’s second goal just moments beforehand and the hosts emptied their bench with Mantas Palauskas making an instant impact to point, and Caoilte Kelly following with a two-pointer.

Despite this defeat there was much to be positive about in this Antrim performance with Niall Quinn excellent in goals and his kick-outs were pin point at times, while the St Ergnat’s Moneyglass man also made an excellent save to deny Noah Hughes.

Darragh Feeney, Cillian McKenna Malachy Treanor, Adam Botsje and Noah Hughes were excellent in a Monaghan team with an Ulster league title behind them and they will now fancy their chances to complete a league and championship double.

Antrim have struggled at times this season but their performance in Iniskeen suggest that they didn’t quite fulfil their obvious potential and in Niall Quinn, Tom Convery, Daire Thornbury, Sean McCormack Darra Campbell and Joe Griffin they have players who look to have a bright future.

Monaghan: R Quigley; C Farrelly, D Feeney 0-1, N Fanthorpe (C); M Doogan-Burke 1-1, A Lawless, M Treanor 1-0; J O’Loan, P Gilmartin; C McKenna 0-3 (tp), A Borsje 1-0, P Brady; A McGinnity 0-4 (3f), S McKenna, N Hughes

Subs used: C MacCionnaith 0-1 for A Lawless (inj), C McCluskey for P Brady (38), C Kelly 0-3 (tp) for J O’Loan (45), M Palauskas 0-1 for M Treanor (50), G Collins for S Mac Cinna (56)

Antrim: N Quinn; C McKenna, B O’Donnell, C McArt; S McCormack 0-1, T Douthart, C Wilson; D Campbell 0-4 (4f), T Convery 0-3 (45, tpf); A O’Hanlon, J Higgins, J Griffin 1-0; T Lee, S McFerran, D Thornbury 0-1.

Subs used: C McKeever 0-1 for T Lee (HT), S McMullan for A O’Hanlon (40), S McLernon for D Thornbury (45’), N Burns for J Higgins (53), S McPeake for B O’Donnell (58).

Referee: M Turley (Down)