ANTRIM attacker Conor Murray says the quick turnaround between their provincial defeat to Down and their All-Ireland Qualifier meeting with Offaly is the best possible medicine for the Saffrons.
They travel to Tullamore to face the Faithful County on the weekend of June 9/10.
Antrim bowed meekly out of the Ulster Championship to the Mournemen on Saturday night – but yesterday’s morning’s Qualifier draw wasn’t entirely unkind to Lenny Harbinson’s men.
Offaly lost to Wicklow in their Leinster Championship opener and have a new boss in place in Paul Rouse after Kerryman Stephen Wallace was controversially relieved of his managerial duties.
Murray, who was one of Antrim’s better performers against Down, said: “I’m glad the turnaround is quick, because before you were waiting for maybe four weeks for the Qualifiers to start if you were beaten in the provincial Championship, and it can be hard to get yourself motivated for training for a full month, but it’s only two weeks which is the good thing about it.”
Murray said he felt “gutted” for the Antrim management team in the aftermath of Saturday night’s seven-point defeat to Down.
“I’m felt more gutted for Lenny and Brendan [Trainer, assistant manager] because everybody has put their shoulder to the wheel and gave it a real go,” said the Lamh Dhearg clubman.
“We all want to play for Lenny but nothing went right for us on the night. We tried certain things and they didn’t work. Down were just that level above us.
“I’m sure everybody has watched the game to death by now. We’ll probably do a breakdown of the game at training (tonight) and Lenny will go through with us what went wrong.
“I think the best thing to do is to get back on the training pitch and have a good session.
“A lot of people will still be hurting…but after our first session we’ll be concentrating on Offaly. The Down game will be forgotten about and we’ll move on to Offaly.
“Realistically, it’s a game we can definitely win and, like every team in the Qualifiers, if you win a game, you can build momentum. That’s the way you have to look at it.”
