Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship quarter-final: Antrim v Fermanagh (today, 6pm, Corrigan Park)
HAVING won just one game since the county last reached the Ulster minor final back in 2003, Fermanagh are very much the eternal underdogs at this level.
It’s never been better illustrated than between 2014 and 2016, where they pulled Antrim out of the hat all three years. Only in the middle tie did they even come close, but the Saffrons have comfortably had the upper hand.
But despite that, the fortunes of their respective senior sides have not followed suit. Despite their minute playing population, the Ernemen continue to keep their heads well above water where it counts, this season winning promotion back to Division Two.
“I suppose what you have is the numbers issue is more reflected as you go down the age groups,” says Fermanagh minor boss Phil O’Connor.
“You have other counties with a bigger pick but as they get closer to the level of representing their county at senior level, you can work hard to put in the right facilities, work ethic and all the things that are required at senior level.
“I think that’s what Fermanagh have done very well in recent years. They’ve probably punched well above their weight and achieved more than the size of the county says they should.
“That’s simply down to the hard work and effort that’s been put in when players get to senior level. We’re maybe giving ourselves a bit more abuse than we should – maybe we are producing young footballers that are coming through to represent the county at senior level.
“We just haven’t got enough of them coming through at the one age group all the time to compete, which is probably reflected in the results.”
The facts are well-worn. On top of never having won an Ulster senior title, they’ve never won a minor one either and have only appeared in four provincial finals at the grade as it was in its pre-2018 form.
Yet there are always chinks of light somewhere. They beat Derry in this year’s league, and their hopes of further progression were hindered by having to play their three games all in the space of seven days, two of them on Wednesday nights.
“The longer you go without winning matches, you don’t have a tradition of winning and that doesn’t help,” says O’Connor.
“You have boys with friends who might be on other squads and telling them all the time. We don’t win many games and you wonder does that get into their heads, into their psyche?
“Changing that is part of the process, trying to change mindsets. It’s something we’ve talked about regularly the last few years is changing mindsets, changing attitude to when we turn up and play, that we’re not going to be treated as second class citizens.
“The last couple of years, the performances in the league have improved. We beat Derry this year, we beat Tyrone and Donegal last year, and the U17s the year before that had a few good results. Things like that put blocks in at the bottom level to build on.”
They will be without key injured duo Peter Rafferty and Josh Largo-Ellis, while Antrim’s only absentee is long-term knee victim Paul Bradley.
The Saffrons’ preparations weren’t ideal either, with a handful of players split between both MacRory Cup finalists, while they also had to contend with South Antrim Championship games being played in between times.
But they haven’t lost a first round game in Ulster since 2013 and this doesn’t look like the day that will change.
THE TEAMS
Antrim: L Mulholland; G Downing, E Mervyn, R Murray; D Gough, D McAteer, M Munce; J Summersgill, E Hynds; O Doherty, C Fitzpatrick, C Morris; C O’Neill, B Rodgers, D McKeogh
Subs: T O’Boyle, F Henry, S McKay, A Hyndman, T Skillen, C Fogarty, O McGarrell, C Kennedy, O Graham
Fermanagh: TBA
