Armagh City Hotel Ulster Intermediate championship final
WHEN Brian Kearney stepped in to take charge of the new Antrim reserve team last year, he was fully prepared to experience more frustration than success. He just didn’t expect the frustrations to continue on the same level as last year during his and Mark “Duck” McFadden’s second season.
Last year, despite losing players to the senior squad between league and championship, the pair were celebrating in Croke Park in August when the Saffrons captured the All-Ireland Junior title with a shock win over Armagh.
“A few of those players moved up to the senior squad, which is fair enough. That is what this team is about,” reasons the manager who is also co-owner of team sponsors Team-kit.
“Then we lost Emma (Laverty) to Australia and Ellen Leech to a job in Dublin. The more frustrating part of this year has been the injuries to players.
“Sinéad Cosgrove has been going well for us this year after moving to full-back. She has broken her collar-bone and is out for the rest of the inter-county season.
“Then Maria McLarnon has broken a bone in her hand. We are hoping that she will be back in a few weeks, but it is a matter of wait to see. Bríd Magill broke a finger recently, but we hope she will be back for the All-Ireland, probably not for Saturday however.”
On Saturday, Antrim will play Cavan in the Ulster Intermediate championship final and Kearney is bemoaning the timing.
“We have brought in a number of last year’s minors and a few of this year’s crop as well. The trouble is that we are bang in the middle of A Level exams at the minute and we are not sure who is available and who isn’t.
“We had the same issues last year for a couple of games as well, but not in the Ulster championship; it finished a little earlier.”
Antrim beat Cavan in the semi-final last April and then lost to Armagh in the final.
“We played Armagh recently in a challenge game and we thought they were doing well. They beat us and I expected them to beat Cavan in the semi-final.
“But Cavan are an awkward team to play against. They are quite physical and that is an aspect of our game that we have to improve.
“Last year was a work in progress,” explains Kearney.
“We were encouraged by the league results, but were nowhere near making the final. Cavan won it. So to beat Cavan in Ulster was a big deal for us. We found out though in the final that Armagh were a bit ahead of us.”
Antrim were to lose again to Armagh in the All-Ireland group stages, but then blitzed the Orchard county with goals in the final.
This year just one defeat in the league meant that they reached the final last month, but were beaten narrowly again by Clare. Consistency in scoring has been a problem.
“We have not been getting big scorelines across both last season and this. We targeted goals in the All-Ireland final and Dervla (Cosgrove) got them for us. We could do with something similar this year.
“We have probably a much younger team this year, with so many minors coming in. It will take a while for them to develop into good senior players and the level we are playing at will help them make that transition. If we beat Cavan, it will be a big boost.”
