FOOTBALL, like life, goes in cycles. Declan Lynch is inching towards the end of one, just starting out on another.
Around lunchtime on Thursday, his wife Áine gave birth to their first child. A boy, Catháir.
Áine [Tubridy] is a former Antrim ladies’ captain in her own right, and was at midfield on the 2022 All-Ireland junior winning team and for last year’s Ulster intermediate success.
Áine and Catháir got home on Friday afternoon. As any new parent will tell you, those first few days are overwhelming.
“From there it’s been absolutely hectic. Friday night, no sleep.
“Aine was a champion then on Saturday night but you’re still up, the baby’s right there.
“I nearly fell asleep on the physio table before the game.
“Áine wants to get back and play county, so I suppose I might have to let her go back at some stage and step away. Compromise!”
Declan has held on tight to the Antrim jersey himself. In the early part of his career, he underwent three surgeries on his left hip and two on the right hip. Here he is, still trucking.
There are handshakes and well-wishes from all corners, half for the football, half for the new arrival.
Sunday brought them back to another crossroads. Lose, and it’s back to Division Four, trips to Fraher Field and Ruislip and all that it entails.
Their squad has survived serious challenges through the spring yet they were still able to start against Wicklow with 12 of the team that took on Meath in the Tailteann Cup semi-final last year, minus Peter Healy, Patrick McCormick and Adam Loughran.
It’s the depth of their resources that has been tested, leading to a dozen league debutants this spring, but at the heel of the hunt they retained their place in the third tier.
“That game was massive. Realistically, like,” says Lynch.
“We’ve talked about relegation, we didn’t get into it in detail but now that we’ve won, you can say that if we’d been relegated, as a county, you’re nearly taking a lot of steps back that you’ve put in.
“We’ve had a bad injury list but to go down to Division Four, you know yourself what it’s like.
“There’s good character in that team, they’re young and developing, and being another year in Division Three and being able to give it a serious crack this year when we’ve a full squad.
“When you sit back, probably be a bit disappointed when we didn’t push on after the first two games. Could have beat Westmeath, we were in it towards the end against Clare but had too much to do.
“Didn’t really get going against Down and Sligo second half. Every team has those issues.
“It’s just about getting the result today, parking it and moving on to the Ulster Championship.”
Antrim desperately needed its senior team to stay up there.
Having been beaten by 33 points in their opener against Tyrone, the county’s U20 side stabilised last week and put in a very creditable shift in a 2-8 to 1-6 defeat by Monaghan that was only sealed by a late Farney goal.
Antrim minors went to Crossmaglen on Saturday for a shield semi-final and were beaten by 7-16 to 0-2.
But if the senior team can retain their status up the leagues, perhaps even push on some more, then the handful that come through each year are coming into a proper setup.
“It is tough. Some of those lads are pushing to come on to the panel, been there with the U20s last year. You’re talking about the youth coming through and then they’re going out getting a bad beating.
“But you saw with the U20s, they bounced back and put in a good performance against Monaghan. I don’t think that scoreline was reflective of the group. There’s good work being done.
“Those sorts of results need to be addressed if we’re gonna progress to the higher levels.”
For Lynch, the key to all of it is continuity. The Lámh Dhearg man points to the changeability of their setup, as much from a managerial point of view as a playing one.
This is the seventh different regime under which Lynch has played since his debut in 2012 (if you count Liam Bradley’s second stint in 2014 as a separate venture).
“It’s probably continuity of the whole group, players and management,” he said.
“We’ve had such a turnover of managers in the last six or seven years. If you’re looking to progress and build something and get up through the divisions, you need to have that continuity.
There’s lads there that are obviously good enough but if we’d had the lads who played last year fit, would some of these lads have got a go? There’s talent being unearthed. It’s just about building on it.
“The younger team’s improving and there’s a big focus on strength and conditioning in the county.
“You’re never gonna see the benefits of that over one or two years, it’s gonna take four, five, six years to show. It’s about sticking at it.
“The important thing is not going back to Division Four.”
That, and sleeping when the baby sleeps.