Allianz Football League Division Three
Fermanagh v Antrim (Ederney, Sunday, 2.30pm)

A GOOD start to Division Three can become a great one for Antrim’s footballers on Sunday as they make the trip to Ederney to take on Fermanagh.

Last Sunday, Andy McEntee’s men began their campaign with a three-point win over Clare in a game where they had to dig deep in awful conditions to grind out a win.
It wasn’t as free-flowing as the new rules in football had intended but it was never going to be, considering this game was a product of its environment.

In contrast, the scores flowed in Newbridge the previous evening, but twice as many of them went to hosts, Kildare, who ran out 2-24 to 1-12 winners over Fermanagh who will know a second defeat in as many games will leave them in a challenging position in their quest for an immediate return to Division Two, having suffered relegation along with the Lilywhites last year.

If that scenario will undoubtedly motivate, memories of their last meeting in Enniskillen last summer will add more fuel to the fire.

For the second year, Antrim proved their Tailteann Cup tormentors as although the Saffrons came through in a group game in 2023 to take the direct path into the last eight, this time it was a knockout clash in which Fermanagh somehow squandered a seven-point lead in the second half with a late Cathal Hynds goal proved their undoing.

This was a role reversal of a League meeting between the teams in 2023 when Fermanagh came from eight behind to snatch a late win.

“We seem to play them every year I’ve been here and there is very little in it,” noted Antrim boss, McEntee.

“They beat us by a point out here in the first year (2023) and we beat them in the Tailteann Cup, then we also beat them in the Tailteann Cup last year after they had beaten us in the McKenna Cup, so there won’t be much in it I’d imagine.”

A simmering rivalry has been built between these Ulster rivals and that little bit of bite is likely to carry into this weekend as they both know the outcome could have a real bearing on the direction of travel in the League for both.

Fermanagh will feel there is plenty of work to do in order to put their heavy loss against division favourites Kildare behind them as they get ready for their first home outing. They notched just one two-pointer through their best on show, Darragh McGurn, while Shane McGullion grabbed their goal, but there were few positives to take from their defeat.

Antrim will feel a lot better about themselves after their opener as they adapted to the conditions better, made fewer mistakes and perhaps most pleasing for McEntee, his players exhibited an insatiable appetite for hard work.

As teams adapt to the new rules, there will be errors in terms of keeping three players in the opposition’s half at all times or concede a 13-metre free, but the Saffrons played a clean game in that regard and this is one reason they grabbed a win.

They finished the division with six points on the board in 2024 and needed that tally to simply avoid the drop, so there is no getting carried away with their win over the Banner and securing another win would go a long way to easing such concerns, which is the primary objective before anything else can be factored in.

“Nothing is decided yet, but the sooner you get two points on the board, the sooner you can start to think about getting four on the board,” McEntee outlined.

“You probably need five or six (to ensure survival) and then you can start to think about other possibilities (promotion) but it’s hugely important to get that win.

“It’s also important because over the past few weekends, the lads had played challenge games and they hadn’t gone particularly well for us. The resilience today (against Clare) was noticeable.”

Another plus for the Antrim boss was the return of three key players who missed out on 2024 with injury including Ryan Murray, Patrick Finnegan and Conor Stewart.

All played key roles in the win against Clare with Murray and Stewart contributing three points between them, while Finnegan put in a mountain of work.

It’s still not all rosy in the garden just yet with players still to return including Peter Healy, Eoghan McCabe, Cathal Hynds, Ruairi McCann (Aghagallon), Adam Loughran and Conhuir Johnston, while Dominic McEnhill pulled up early against Clare and Kavan Keenan was also forced off.

Colm McLarnon will miss the entire year with a cruciate, but getting a number of those players back over the coming weeks would represent a huge boost for McEntee and with their next game - a trip to Offaly - a fortnight away, grabbing another win this weekend would leave them in a very healthy position.

“Three cruciates and the three of them came back there to play a significant role,” McEntee noted.

“We still have a lot of guys in there injured we’d love to be able to call on, but it’s important to have as many fellas available as possible for the games to come.”