ULSTER champions Antrim will meet Monaghan again in the All-Ireland quarter-finals next weekend after the sides were pitted together following the last-eight draw earlier this week.
The other quarter-finals see provincial finalists Tyrone travel to Kildare, Clare at home to Westmeath and last year’s intermediate runners-up Wexford facing Leitrim.
The Saffrons will have home advantage over their opponents after finishing top of their group, their 13-point, 1-18 to 0-8, win over Longford at the weekend securing top spot with two wins from two.
It’s remarkable what manager Emma Kelly and her coach, former Down player Kyla Trainor, have achieved in their time at the head of this team, especially how they are following up last year’s All-Ireland junior success with unprecedented success as an intermediate team. It’s not unusual for counties who have made the step up from junior to intermediate level to struggle, but Antrim have taken the leap in their stride and now, down to the final eight in the competition, certainly have the other remaining counties sitting up and taking notice.
“We were delighted to get past Longford. Topping the group was our aim and home advantage is key,” said Kelly.
Antrim may have already beaten Monaghan in the Championship this year – the sides met in Ulster – but after Monaghan’s 0-16 to 0-10 win over Longford, a must-win game that not only guaranteed their senior status for next season but meant they qualified for the knockout stages as group runners-up, Kelly knows they will come into this quarter-final with a spring in their step.
“It’s Monaghan again, yes, but no matter who you get, now you’re at the quarter-final stage you are going to be coming up against the best. We beat them before but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s a new day, a new focus,” she said.
“There is a lot of preparation to do. It will be about getting our heads down, get focused. It’s a massive game ahead. We are in historical land at the minute. We are surpassing everybody’s expectations bar our own. We want to get to the next level so we will be expecting standards to step up again and girls to push on. Excited, but we have a game to plan to win and then we look to the next game and the next game.
“We have the belief and confidence in the girls that we expected to be pushing on, whereas others wouldn’t have given us much hope. We are just delighted and buzzing to be where we are and what have we got to lose? Let’s push on and see what we can do. Monaghan will be a big, big test but we may as well go at it and see."
The winner of Antrim and Monaghan will face either Clare or Westmeath in the semi-finals while the other semi-final pairing will be the winners of Wexford v Leitrim and Kildare v Tyrone.
