THE Joe McDonagh Cup is at the midway stage and with the group taking shape, it appears a battle between three teams for the two final berths.
Today at Corrigan Park, the picture may become clearer again when Antrim host Kerry in what is the third meeting between the counties this year.
Darren Gleeson's Saffrons have won both encounters to date with victory in the league proper before repeating in the Division 2A final last month.
However, the initial game in Tralee saw Kerry missing several players due to a mumps outbreak including the talismanic Shane Conway, whilst The Kingdom were without players from county champions Kilmoyley in Tullamore including Paudie O’Connor, Maurice O’Connor and Daniel Collins who have since returned.
Kerry travel to Belfast today sitting top of the pile with two wins from two including an impressive victory over Westmeath in Tullamore a fortnight ago, the same day Antrim have to dig deep to rescue a draw against Carlow who are joined with them on three points having eked out a win against Meath last Saturday.
The good news for Gleeson is that a number of players including Neil McManus and Michael Bradley have recovered from injury to be in contention to start today and Antrim will know they need another huge performance if they want to keep their quest to reach to final of this competition for the first time.
Victory for Kerry will see them secure a place in the final with a game to spare and whilst Antrim will not quite be guaranteed their passage with a win, they will leave themselves on the brink ahead of their last game away to Meath.
"Kerry will be coming with a different side," warned Gleeson.
"They have three or four players coming in and positional changes there so this will be a bigger challenge to what they brought the last day in Tullamore.
"Kerry have won in Corrigan Park in the League and up in Cushendall in the Championship in recent years so they won't mind coming up here.
"This is knockout stuff know. If we win at the weekend then we have the destiny in our own hands and that's what you want going into the last round."
After their League final win over Kerry, Antrim had six players sidelined due to Covid-19 for their McDonagh opener against Westmeath, but the players who took the field delivered a mammoth performance to romp home by 19 points.
Another outing in Carlow six days later left the Saffrons look a little jaded, but their fighting qualities shone through as they rescued a draw with a last-gasp Domhnall Nugent goal.
That game brought them back down to earth a little and the bye week has afforded them the chance to rest tired bodies and get some meaningful work done on the training field.
"It was a good opportunity to get a bit of work done on a few things we need to work on," said Gleeson.
"There have been a few things hurting us a small bit and we've been at that. We've used it as a refresher on what we're about and how we go about our business.
"You can get lost in three games in 13 days, so this has been our first real opportunity in three or four weeks on the training field."
There will be no margin for error today, but the week off has left them in a good place and a refreshed Antrim may have enough to make it a hat-trick of wins over Kerry to signal another big step forward.
