PLAYING at Croke Park is the dream for any play and Antrim footballer Kevin O’Boyle is no different as he and his team-mates turn their attention to the Division Four final against Louth on April 23.
O’Boyle was in action last Sunday when the sides played out a draw at Corrigan Park in what was a dead rubber given both were already assured of promotion and a trip to Croke Park for the final.
While Antrim teams are not frequent visitors to Jones’ Road, the Cargin defender has lined out twice at HQ, when Antrim last won there back in 2008 with victory over Wicklow in the Tommy Murphy Cup final and in tasting defeat against Sligo in the Division Three final of 2010.
The 28-year-old schoolteacher is naturally looking forward to a return to the Dublin 3 venue and believes the extra competitive game will also asist their preparations for their Ulster Championship meeting with Fermanagh on May 15.
“Any time you grace Croke Park, you are grateful to be on it,” said O’Boyle.
“I’ve been on it a couple of times now with the Division Three final and the Tommy Murphy Cup. They aren’t matches that other people would look at, but I’m grateful and I know the other boys are to be there. That is where you aspire to play, so you can say in the years to come that you graced that field. The other side of it is that it’s another competitive game for us going into the Championship and that is something that will be very valuable.”
While a trophy would round off Antrim’s league campaign perfectly, promotion to Division Three is the real prize. This was achieved with the Saffrons winning their first six games and, while they would have liked to have finished on maximum points, last Sunday’s draw still leaves them unbeaten.
Certainly, that momentum can only be a good thing as they turn their attention to the Ulster Championship: “When you go back to the start of the year and our targets, we weren’t looking at anything but getting promotion,” O’Boyle insisted.
“We started off very well with a good pre-season and built momentum the whole way up. We would have liked to win today to end the season with seven wins to continue the momentum, but we did finish up unbeaten. That is great preparation going to Croke Park which, again, leads to good preparation for the Championship, so everything’s a plus at the minute.”
O’Boyle was not part of the Antrim panel last year having taken a year out, but like several others including Kevin Niblock, Brian Neeson and brothers Michael and Tomás McCann, he returned to the fold for 2016.
The management team of Frank Fitzsimons and Gearoid Adams have created an excellent environment to work in according to the Cargin man and, having built early momentum that grew throughout the league, O’Boyle is hopeful this can continue through to April 23 and beyond.
“Gearoid and Frank have a good set-up that everyone has bought into. Everyone is back in, so things roll from one to another,” he said.
“Thankfully, we got that opening win [in Carlow] and it went from there. Everyone is listening to them [management], so hopefully it continues as winning breeds success. We just want to keep that going now through to the league final and Championship.”
