PATRICK McBride has been about longer than you think. He is one of two surviving Antrim footballers who can say they played Championship football at Casement Park. The other is Ryan Murray.
Sunday June 9, 2013 was the last time the famous west Belfast ground hosted an Ulster Championship match. On a beautiful sunny day, Frank Dawson was managing Antrim and Malachy O’Rourke cutting his teeth with Monaghan.
The visitors breezed into the semi-finals with five points to spare but didn’t look like the provincial champions they became the following month, whereas Antrim only mustered three points from open play.
Stationed at wing-back, 19-year-old McBride made some eye-catching bursts through Monaghan’s defensive lines and young Murray entered the fray in the 53rd minute in place of his Lamh Dhearg club-mate Paddy Cunningham.
McBride and Murray are now 29; both are still motoring along for their county and both still essential elements in Andy McEntee’s new-look squad.
Gearoid Adams, a former Antrim player and manager, is McBride’s brother-in-law. Both are St John’s men.
Few people know McBride better than Adams.
“Patrick probably feels he has unfinished business in his career,” Adams says. “He lives the life. He’s a very good athlete.
“He was captain of the St John’s football team for about seven years in a row and with the underage success we had everyone at the club thought it was a given that we’d win a senior championship, and it hasn’t happened.
“That’s probably underlying with him as well. He’s still pushing without having won anything, but still has that determination
“He has been with Antrim for a long time but he’s still only 29 and should be at his peak. I’m hoping he feels comfortable under the new manager and I’m hoping he takes the shackles off and enjoys the next four or five years, with Antrim hopefully on an upward trajectory.”
The fact that McBride had probably more game-time than anybody else across Antrim’s two recent Dr McKenna Cup defeats to Armagh and Cavan is an indication of McEntee's high regard for the versatile Johnnies man as the Saffrons peer into something of the unknown in 2023.
In the Cavan game, McBride probably got more possessions than any other Antrim player, always coming onto the ball rather than receiving it further up the field.
“I think for the club Patrick’s best position is definitely among the forwards,” Adams says.
“He’s our number 11 or our free man up there. I think at county level he can play either. The game’s changing. You can see that with the likes of Petey Harte playing deeper… but the likes of Tyrone and Armagh’s forwards are moving well and maybe Antrim’s aren’t as much, and maybe that’s when Patrick might be seen as a forward.
“Patrick knows he’s a good footballer… Whatever Andy is going to do with him, he’ll just play it. But the more he’s on the ball, the better.”
For the first time in his inter-county career, McBride wasn’t a certain starter under previous boss Enda McGinley. His claims to a starting berth weren’t helped either when he rolled his ankle in a divot down in Portlaoise.
Consequently, he missed seven or eight weeks training. In the new condensed season that length of absence is bordering on fatal.
He was fit enough to come on at half-time of Antrim’s passive Ulster Championship exit to Cavan at Corrigan Park last April in a season that started so brightly but faded badly towards the end of it.
For a couple of years, he wasn’t enjoying his football enough with Antrim.
But a couple of enlightening conversations with his “friend” and highly regarded sports psychologist Dr Ciaran Kearney gave him more clarity about why he plays the game.
“When you strip everything back and go out with the mindset, ‘I’m going to work as hard as I can here,’ you'll do that, but I want to enjoy it too because I think you actually play better,” McBride says.
“Sometimes when it’s Championship, you’re thinking: ‘I’m going to have to do this or that’ whenever it’s just a football match.
“One of the best bits of advice I’ve ever got was, act like it’s a kid’s game, where you just feel like a kid again, just go out and play. That was Ciaran Kearney.
“I remember just feeling a bit under pressure before a county game – and it was nothing to do with the county game itself – but sometimes you get into a rut of feeling there’s pressure on you and it comes to be a bit of a chore and feeling I had to prove myself all the time. Ciaran just gave me a great way of thinking.
“He said: ‘When you’re talking about pressure, what would it be out of 100?’
“I said: ‘Maybe 70.’ Because at that time I was being relied on by Antrim.
“And Ciaran said: ‘What was it like when you were a minor?’
“I said: '50 maybe.'
“So I stripped it right back until I got it back to when it was zero. I picked a May Day tournament when I was in P5.
“So Ciaran said: ‘So why don’t you treat this game like that May Day tournament.’
On the cusp of the COVID pandemic in March 2020, Antrim re-ignited their hopes of Division Four promotion by hammering Limerick in Portglenone.
McBride played like that kid in P5 and hit seven points in a very convincing win.
“I laughed after the game because I just treated that game like I was a kid going out to play rather than treating it like a county game. I said: ‘I’m just going to enjoy this today.’ Kick pass. Shoot. Enjoy it.
“That bit of advice that Ciaran gave me has stood by me.
“When you have a smile on your face I think you actually work harder, you’ll run more, you’ll tackle more because pressure and nerves can make you take bad decisions and it can make you feel tired. Enjoying the game is forgotten sometimes.”
From last season, the squad is much changed with the spine of the Antrim team ravaged. Creggan brothers Ricky and Marty Johnston have stepped away from the panel and Cargin brothers Tomas and Michael McCann are expected to undergo operations for long-standing injuries.
Their Cargin team-mates James Laverty and Justin Crozier have called time on their inter-county careers.
Despite that weighty amount of experience gone, McBride is enjoying the vibes from the new management team and likes the characters among the new panel of players.
“I would probably share the same type of thoughts as Andy – hard work, no-bullshit kind of approach. Just that hard-minded, tough approach and everything else follows from that. So I’ve enjoyed it so far and all the sessions have been enjoyable.
“Every team is doing the same, they’re just trying to get the work done so that it’s all banked when you play the matches - and it will stand by you if you do the work.
“You just know with Andy, it's a case of, this has to be done. You need that bit of mental toughness to do all the work and the sessions on your own. We’ll be a hard-working team under him.
“I don’t think anyone will go to an Antrim match this year and say: ‘The lads didn’t work hard enough there’. And that’ll be because of Andy’s approach and his backroom team and want they want from us.”
McBride adds: “Every county has good footballers, but I like the people and I like the attitude that we have.
“I’ll be playing with boys that I know will go to the wall with you. We’ve a crop of boys that are still there from the days of Frank [Ftizsimons] and Gearoid [Adams]… They’re all good fellas and when you have good characters that’s half the battle because you know that they are going to give what you give.
“That’s what I like about this squad rather than talking about who’s good at football because we can all play football at this level.”
Entering his 12th season with his county, McBride has endured more bad days than good in the saffron jersey – but it’s the possibility of more good days that keeps him motivated.
“I haven’t won anything with Antrim. I haven’t sat and watched us lift a cup. I would like to lift a trophy and win promotion out of Division Three. Our aim is to gain promotion and win a League final.
“On a personal level, I’d just like to play well consistently and go and enjoy it. I’m 29 now and I’m going into my 12th year.
“People going into their 12th years, you’d think they’re 35 or 36. I’m not 30 yet. I’m probably the fittest I’ve been.
“I feel I know a lot more than a load of years ago… Physically, I feel in my prime, so I’d like to showcase what I can do at this level.”
...VERDICT...
THERE'S a sense that the Antrim footballers are behind the eight-ball before the ball has been thrown.
For starters, Division Three looks harder than last year with Down and Offaly coming down from Division Two and Cavan and Tipperary moving up from Division Four.
Compounding Antrim’s predicament is the loss of full-back Ricky Johnston of Creggan who has just recently got married and has opted out this year.
Tomas and Michael McCann and James Laverty offered nous and experience in pressure situations but currently aren’t involved.
McEntee might be forced into playing a couple of rookies at number three and number six while he tries to come to terms with the crazy amount of injuries – many of whom would be certain starters.
Adam Loughran, Declan Lynch, Peter Healy, Eoghan McCabe, Kevin Small, Oisin Lenehan, Paddy McAleer and Jamie Gribbin are among those expected to miss the opening stages of the NFL campaign.
Throw in regular scorer from play, Conor Murray, who is not part of the 2023 panel, and there are concerns about where the scores are coming from and do Antrim have enough experience to 'mind the house' at the back.
That said, there is a very talented and committed core group there. Michael Byrne has impressed in goal, Patrick McBride has shown really good form while Dermot McAleese, Marc Jordan, Ryan Murray, Ruairi McCann and Conor Stewart can hold their own against anyone.
Antrim will look to two fine technicians in attack, Pat Shivers and Dominic McEnhill, and despite being diminutive in stature Odhran Eastwood has under-rated ability and can offer plenty to Antrim this season.
Aghagallon's Ruairi McCann is also a physical threat and will want to carry his good club form into the new inter-county season.
This is winter football where you need dogs all over the field to bank points. McEntee’s Antrim team won’t lack for honesty of effort but there is still a deep transitional feel to this squad as the Meath man continues to survey his resources in an extremely tight time-frame.
Consolidation might end up being their target in Division Three.
