ANTRIM have been dealt a blow ahead of their Ulster Championship campaign by the loss of captain Kevin Niblock, who looks set to be forced into retirement by injury.
The talented St Gall’s clubman has been ravaged by injuries in recent seasons and, having been able to play all 280 minutes of the last four games of their National League campaign, he looked to be on the right path for summer.
He had suffered a knee injury in the McKenna Cup defeat by Monaghan at the start of the season, which restricted his role at the start of the League to an appearance off the bench against Offaly.
But it's understood that the former Ulster player, who represented the province in the 2013 inter-provincial series, is ruled out for this year's Championship with a fresh injury and looks set to retire from inter-county football as a result.
Niblock, who is a nephew of former Derry great Mickey, made his Championship debut for Antrim back in 2006, when he was named at corner-forward against Fermanagh.
He would go on to appear 28 times in the Championship for his county across 10 seasons, starting all but four of the games and scoring a total of 4-27.
But rather than as a scorer, it is as a playmaker and a fearless, teak-tough operator who consistently put himself in the line of danger that he will be remembered.
Niblock missed out on playing in the successful Tommy Murphy Cup campaign in 2008, thus missing out on the one trophy that Antrim won during his playing time.
He started from the bench in the three Ulster Championship games they played in reaching the provincial final in 2009, coming on early in the decider against Tyrone, and was restored to the starting line-up for the All-Ireland Qualifier loss to Kerry.
Injuries again disrupted his influence as the county felt the heady heights of Division Two in 2011, with then-manager Liam Bradley lamenting his absence in a crucial period.
A fine soccer player as well, he played the second half of the 2014 Irish League season with Cliftonville, but spent most of his days at amateur level.
He played most of his football for Rosario YC but also turned out for Newington and Donegal Celtic, as well as playing part-time on the south coast of England briefly when he taught in Cornwall in 2011 and 2012.
The former St Mary’s College student missed the start of the 2014 National League after signing for Cliftonville but returned midway through the campaign, infamously picking up a black card within a minute of coming off the bench in his return against Carlow.
He went on to have a fine summer that year, hitting 1-3 in a starring display from centre-forward against Fermanagh, before he then opted out of the Antrim setup for the following year.
With Gearoid Adams and Brian Magee joining the management team in 2016 along with Frank Fitzsimons, Niblock was coaxed back into the fold for the 2016 campaign, in which he helped guide the Saffrons to promotion from Division Four.
“I was always playing Gaelic with the club and even when I started out I was doing all three [club, county and soccer].
“There are different reasons [why I didn’t play for Antrim last year] but I enjoyed playing a bit of soccer. I just like competing in something and it’s Gaelic at the minute. I’ll put everything into it,” he said at the time of his decision to take a year out.
Winner of a clutch of Antrim senior football titles with St Gall’s, his club career culminated in the All-Ireland club success in 2010, where he set the tone in the final victory over Kilmurry-Ibrickane with a trademark, powerful first minute run that laid the opening score for Kieran McGourty.
