Football

D-day looms for Saffrons and the Ridge county

ANTRIM and Leitrim do battle at Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada in Carrick-on-Shannon on Sunday (2pm) in a game that appears to be in the 'win-or-bust' category for both counties' promotion hopes.

The sides go into this game with identical records after their first two League outings. In the first round, both sides picked up a point with Antrim drawing at home to Carlow as Leitrim finished all-square at home to Longford, while in their second match, Antrim fell to a one-point defeat in Longford and Leitrim also lost by the minimum in Wicklow.

Therefore, with one point out of a possible four, it looks like every point will count for both teams in the bid for promotion.

"Obviously with the position we are in now, this is must-win," admits Antrim captain Justin Crozier

(inset). "Our League season is probably over if we are beaten, so we will need a big performance on Sunday."

Antrim will be without midfielder Niall McKeever who picked up a quad muscle injury just minutes before throw-in against Longford.

Sean McVeigh came into the side to partner Michael McCann and he stays in the starting 15, although the Ballymena man starts at full-back.

This prompts a number of positional switches, with Conor Burke going into the right corner.

This means James Laverty reverts to right wing to form an all-Cargin half-back-line alongside Crozier and Tony Scullion, who switches with Declan Lynch.

Owen Gallagher partners Michael McCann at centrefield, moving from the centre-forward position, while CJ McGourty is passed fit despite struggling with a hip injury.

St John's man Paddy McBride joins the half-forward line and, as a man on form for club and college, his direct running could be something of a game changer.

For Leitrim, they will have two Sigerson Cup winners on their side in the form of Donal Wrynn, who scored the only goal of last week's extra-time final win against UCC, and Brendan Flynn. They will be without the talismanic Emlyn Mulligan however, who has taken the year out to go travelling. Either way, Crozier is anticipating a tough task to emerge from Carrick-on-Shannon with two points and knows they must get into their stride from the throw-in.

"We went down there last year and, really, we were beaten at half-time so we will be hoping for a better start this time," said the Erin's Own man.

"We will need to be ready because if you are chasing a lead down there, you are in trouble."

While Leitrim may indeed make a good start, they appear to be a little fragile if put on the back foot as evidenced in their defeat to Wicklow three weeks ago.

However, there is also the real possibility that after such a meek surrender, a Leitrim backlash on home soil may be on the cards.

"They have a very good support down there and are tough to beat on their home patch," added Crozier.

"They also seem very up for games early on, so the first 15 or 20 minutes are going to be crucial. They are going to throw everything at us early. That's what they did last year and we didn't really respond so we must be ready."

TEAMS

Leitrim: TBC Antrim: C Kerr; C Burke, S McVeigh, D Lynch; J Laverty, J Crozier, T Scullion; M McCann,

O Gallagher; C Murray, T McCann, P McBride; R Murray, M Pollock, C McGourty.