Electric Ireland Ulster Minor Football Championship quarter-final:
Antrim v Donegal (Sunday, Corrigan Park, 7pm)
ANTRIM face a tough challenge in welcoming Donegal to Corrigan Park on Sunday, but manager Hugh McGettigan hopes his side can put it up to what he has calls a “teak tough side”.
Antrim have reached this stage following a tight enough encounter with Fermanagh in the preliminary round. Although the winning margin was six points, the young Saffrons snaffled four goals, including one very late in the game.
When these two sides met in the Ulster Minor League earlier in the year, Donegal were 12-point winners, despite having played most of the game with only 14 players. McGettigan knows what to expect from a team currently among the front rank of teams in the grade: “They’re a fierce good side,” said the Rossa club man.
"They have physicality and they are smarting from last year, having given up their Ulster title. They are also Ulster Minor League winners.”
McGettigan highlighted, in particular, St Eunan’s player Niall O’Donnell, a player he recalls having been named player of the tournament in the St Paul’s Ulster Minor competition: "He was outstanding in that now, having seen him close up,” said McGettigan.
"Even against Crossmaglen in the final, he was outstanding. He is the quality footballer at underage in Ireland at the moment. They're a step ahead - they're playing in this senior system and they've started them very young at this, so their corner-backs do what the senior corner-backs do, their midfielders do what the senior midfielders do. They will turn you over and break quickly.
"In many ways, they are real quality - they have a couple of quality forwards. They have a lad, Eoin McGettigan. He was injured in a club game, so I'm not 100 per cent sure he's going to be back again. They played their minor league finals there last week and they're shaping up very, very well for this."
In order to counteract the undoubted quality and organisation of the Donegal team, McGettigan feels the ball will have to be made a prisoner of by the Antrim lads: "We can't give away the ball against these boys," he said.
"We just have to hold it and we have to bring a lot of intensity to the game. We'd love to really go at them and try to get inside them a wee bit, but they're just so teak tough."
Antrim have been dealt a bad blow by the loss of Creggan attacker Liam Quinn, who unfortunately broke an ankle in the Fermanagh game. He scored four points from play in the first-half and linked up well with fellow Creggan forward Kevin Small. He will not be easily replaced.
However, they do have other talented players in their ranks. Captain and centre half back Patrick McCormick had a fine game against Fermanagh, while other players such as Joe Maybin, Paddy Finnegan, Eoin Nagle, Damian McErlain and Niall McKeown, to name but a few, won't be found wanting.
That said, the suspicion is it will be difficult for them to get goals against such a well-drilled Donegal outfit. If the Tir Chonaill team can start well, Antrim may find it very difficult to get a foothold in the game.
Although home advantage is certainly a plus for the Saffrons, it will probably not be enough to prevent Donegal advancing to a meeting with Monaghan.
