ANTRIM manager Frank Fitzsimons believes they will need to “pull out all the stops” to overcome Laois in Saturday’s All-Ireland Qualifier – but insists the Saffrons can spring a surprise in O’Moore Park.
Antrim, Fitzsimons feels, have gotten over their disappointing Ulster Championship exit to Fermanagh on May 31, while Laois suffered a second-half hammering in their Leinster replay with Kildare last weekend.
An avid watcher of games, Fitzsimons watched the first Kildare-Laois match on television and attended the replay in Tullamore last Saturday night.
“Laois are very strong right up the middle, very big,” said Fitzsimons.
“They're very good around the middle of the field and have some quality forwards. Donie Kingston must be 6ft 4in or 5in and is their top scorer.
“He’s excellent with the ball at his feet. And they still have Ross Munnelly too, so they’ll be very tough.
“It’s a massive task for us going down to Laois. We’d need to pull out all the stops but we’re capable of doing it, there’s no doubt about it.”
After scraping a draw with Laois the previous week, Kildare outscored Tomas O’Flaharta’s Laois side 3-10 to 1-2 in a one-sided second half last Saturday night.
“Kildare played about seven minutes of unreal football – everything they hit went over the bar – a bit like Donegal were against Armagh in the first half last Sunday,” said Fitzsimons.
“Laois could have had a couple of goals in the opening 15 or 20 minutes against Kildare.
“They played with three men up front and the other 12 behind the ball, which is the way a lot of teams are setting up.”
Brendan Quigley and John O’Loughlin will pose a significant threat to Antrim around the middle of the field, particularly with midfield regular Sean McVeigh ruled out for his red card offence against Fermanagh.
Niall McKeever [quad muscle] is no closer to match fitness, but Fitzsimons says he’s not short of midfield options.
Wing-forward Mark Sweeney did a fine job at centrefield in the provincial defeat to the Ernemen while Conor Murray is another option there. Newcomer Jack Dowling made a strong impact in the middle of the field when he came on after half-time against Fermanagh.
Lamh Dhearg clubman Fitzsimons insists the group has recovered from their eight-point loss in Brewster Park and will be ready for Laois.
“You reflect on it for a few days after it but you have to get back on the bike again. The good thing about it is the back door comes around so quickly, whereas years ago you had to wait for a year to have another Championship match.
“I thought we were getting a lot of good ball in the early stages of the match and then we hit a few wides. And when big McVeigh was sent off [31st minute] you could see some of the heads dropping a wee bit.
“Obviously he’ll be a massive loss to us and Niall McKeever is still injured and it looks like he’ll be out for another while.
“He has some kind of quad injury and he’s going to see a specialist this week.”
Ricky Johnston will also miss out as he will attend his late father’s first anniversary mass which clashes with Saturday’s game in Portlaoise.
There are no new faces in Fitzsimons’s panel since the Fermanagh defeat.
“We’re happy with the panel we have,” said the Antrim boss.
“Mickey Armstrong is fit again, CJ [McGourty] is fit again. Mickey Pollock is fit again. Mickey was carrying an injury into the Fermanagh game. He hadn’t trained for about three weeks before it. We can’t really afford to be without the likes of Mickey.”
