CIARAN Clarke has insisted that Antrim won't view it as a successful season unless they push on and deliver in the Championship, just like they have in the Allianz League.
The Saffrons' strong form in Division 1B has been one of the stories of the league so far, beating Clare and drawing with 2019 Leinster champions Wexford last weekend.
In between those two landmark results at Corrigan Park, the Joe McDonagh Cup title holders pushed Kilkenny hard and lost by eight points to Dublin, the latter result their most disappointing of the campaign.
Antrim will have the chance to more than make up for that league loss to the Dubs when they face them again in the quarter-finals of the Leinster championship on June 26 in Navan.
A win there would secure a provincial semi-final clash with Galway and Clarke has urged his colleagues to be ambitious.
"You always want more," said Clarke, the PwC GAA/GPA Hurler of the Month for May. "I think one of the big things is never to be happy with what you've done. You want to give a good account of yourself in the Championship and you also want to win your last league game this weekend and finish up as high as you can. I wouldn't take it as a successful season at the minute, you would want to do well in the Championship."
Clarke and Antrim will return to Corrigan Park on Saturday for their final league game against Laois.
"We've played two home games and had two decent performances which is what you want," said the free-taker. "You want to make it hard for teams when they come to your home and to make it sticky for them. If you can do well in your home games you'll not be far away."
Clarke attributes Antrim's upsurge in form to the professionalism of manager Darren Gleeson's setup and the fact that all of the best players in the county are available to the Tipperary man.
A dozen of Gleeson's players have started all four of their league games and they have used just 25 players in total with four of those coming on as substitutes in a single game.
That 21-man core of players is considerably less than the 34 that Cork, for example, have used though Clarke insists Antrim's have plenty of depth in their squad.
"I think we have 36 in the panel which is the first time we've ever had a panel that size and people wanting to go into it," said Clarke, who agreed that they have plenty of options up front in particular. "That just goes back to having all the best players there from the county. We have six forwards that start and we've got another six on the bench that could just as easily come in there. There is a lot of competition and it keeps you on your toes."
On the impact of Gleeson, an All-Ireland winning goalkeeper with Tipp in 2016, Clarke said it's been huge.
"The main thing is probably the belief he's instilled," said Clarke. "We are just the same as the so-called big teams, we just need to believe it. I think you have seen the belief there in our league campaign. Maybe we did start slow in games and maybe we were waiting to see what these other teams could do but when we realised that we can compete and that we can challenge, that's when we started clawing back the leads."
Meanwhile, Kerry's David Clifford secured the PwC GAA/GPA Footballer of the Month award for May. The inaugural awards for ladies football and camogie went to Cork's Ciara O'Sullivan and Offaly's Grainne Egan respectively.
