ANTRIM boss Frank Fitzsimons fully expects the ‘Milltown Three’ to be available for selection ahead of their All-Ireland round 2A Qualifier against Fermanagh on July 4.
St Gall’s trio Conor Burke, Kieran and CJ McGourty were dropped for last Saturday’s shock win over Laois in O’Moore Park after they had played a hurling game for their club the previous night, which was fixed by the county board.
Referred to on social media as the ‘Milltown Three’ – the place name of the St Gall’s pitch – Fitzsimons said: “They got the same text as everybody else and I’d imagine they’ll be at training tomorrow night. They’ll all be there. I was talking to Kieran [McGourty] after the match.”
After their Lazarus-like victory over Laois, Fitzsimons said the prevailing emotion was one of relief.
“I felt very relieved for the players, to be honest. It was a statement from them and it gave them a lot of belief," he said.
“We were actually nine points down – 1-7 to 0-1 – and we hit four or five wides. At half-time, everybody was asking questions of each other and we came out in the second half and improved – but the penalty save from Chris Kerr was unbelievable.
“I said to Seán [McKenna, selector] at the time: ‘If that doesn’t lift us, nothing will.’ And we just kept building momentum. If you were trying to write a script for it, you couldn’t have written it any better than that.”
Fitzsimons was also pleased for trainer Mike McGurn, who was chided in The Irish News readers’ column Off The Fence after Antrim bowed meekly out of the Ulster Championship to Fermanagh at the end of last month.
“I know somebody rang into Off The Fence and said they expected a Mick McGurn team to be fitter against Fermanagh,” said the Antrim manager.
“Well, if that person had been there on Saturday, he would have seen a fit Mick McGurn team. They were absolutely buzzing.”
On facing the Erne men for a second time in this year’s Championship series, the Lámh Dhearg clubman wasn’t surprised by the draw.
“I was going up on the bus and Mick [McGurn] said: ‘We’ll get Fermanagh again.’ You take whoever you get, but it’s a chance to try and put some things right because we were poor against Fermanagh and boys now have two Championship games over them and it’s bound to help the players.”
Antrim mustered just two points from play in the Fermanagh defeat compared to the 2-10 from play they racked up in their two-point win over Laois on Saturday.
“There will be less clipping of videos and I also attended their match against Monaghan on Sunday," Fitzsimons added.
“The Fermanagh-Monaghan match was similar to our game with Fermanagh in that they scored quite a bit in the last 10 minutes. The score probably was a wee bit unfair on Fermanagh [against Monaghan] because they were a man down too. They were very strong around the middle and [Ryan] McCluskey was very good when he was on the field.
“They were well drilled. But Monaghan were frightening on the counter-attack. They’re on a different level. The two Kieran Hughes points were worth the admission alone.”
FOOTBALL AND HURLING QUALIFYING DRAWS
Saturday, July 4
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifying round 2A (3pm), O’Connor Park: Offaly v Dublin/Kildare; (5pm), Cusack Park, Ennis: Clare v Longford; Kinspan Breffni Park: Cavan v Roscommon; All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship round one (7pm), Cusack Park, Ennis: Clare v Offaly; O’Moore Park, Portlaoise: Laois v Dublin; Innovate Wexford Park: Wexford v Cork;
Saturday, July 4/Sunday, July 5
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Qualifying round 2A (3pm), Brewster Park: Fermanagh v Antrim; All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Qualifying round one, Cusack Park, Mullingar: Westmeath v Limerick
