Allianz Football League Division Three
Laois v Antrim (Portlaoise, Saturday, 5pm)
 
THE furore surrounding Antrim’s ‘Corrigan or Nowhere’ stance surrounding the venue for their Ulster SFC quarter-final against Armagh is being put to the side as all Andy McEntee’s charges are concerned about is Saturday’s trip to face Laois in Portlaoise.

At a meeting with the Ulster Council’s competitions control committee last week, Antrim nominated the West Belfast ground as their home venue for the clash with the All-Ireland champions, in keeping with the stance taken by the squad to resist any attempt to take home advantage from them. No final decision has been taken, but the signs are that Antrim have the draw honoured.

However, McEntee insists April is a long way away and a trip to Laois next weekend is all that is occupying their thoughts.

“If you were looking at it last weekend, you wouldn’t have said that (it galvanised us),” he said of their stance.

“The truth of the matter is that it’s our job to play and the players have made their stance clear. Nothing has changed, so we don’t want to become a distraction. Our job is to play and all we are concerned about is Portlaoise next week.”

They will make the trip to the Midlands buoyed by their 14-point win over Leitrim at the weekend which saw them put back-to-back road losses against Fermanagh and Offaly behind them.

The latter saw them lose Conor Stewart and Conor Hand to red cards with the pair free to return this weekend, but their replacements against Leitrim did their cause no harm at all with Eunan Quinn and John Morgan performing well, while Niall Burns and Jack Lenehan also shone with Ryan McQuillan and Conhuir Johnston scoring off the bench.

Kavan Keenan is also in the frame to return this weekend against the O’Moore men, who are seeking to bounce back from their defeat to Kildare at the weekend.

Both sides sit on four points and another defeat will end any hopes of promotion and leave them looking over their shoulder in what is shaping up to be a tight battle at both ends of the table.

Winning on the road has been beyond Antrim so far, with the challenge this week to rectify that, but McEntee admits it will be no easy task.

“If you’re looking around all of the divisions, it’s tough to win away from home,” he accepts.

“This is turning into another huge game for us, so we need to make sure we show up on the night and put in a good performance.”