Antrim U20 Football Championship final
St Gall’s v Glenravel (Saturday, 2pm, Davitt Park)

THE Antrim U20 Football Championship hasn’t had the smoothest run this year with the groups seeing a number of games not played, but none of that will matter on Saturday as St Gall’s and Glenravel contest Saturday's final at Davitt Park.

Both sides have played four and won four in the round robin series and enter this decider in good form as they bid to claim the final piece of silverware on offer this year.

The encouraging run to the final for St Gall’s will offer some hope to all at the club after their heavy loss to Cargin in the Senior Championship and manager Sean Burns insists the U20 grade is simply about helping mould players who would then be capable of making the step up next year.

With the age profile of the senior panel quite high, the future will be shaped by many of those who will take to the field on Saturday and while St Gall’s have had their own challenges to get fixtures played this year, it was vital they did so to keep them involved and playing throughout the year.

“It’s been hard for us too,” he said.

“You have to give our boys notice as some of them work and have other things, but we’ve just had to embrace it because we are trying to get them through to our seniors.

“If we don’t then a lot of our boys will go and play soccer, some play basketball and a few are involved in judo, so if we don’t put effort in as management then we will lose them to other sports and our seniors need young people coming through now.

“A lot of our seniors are getting on now and we have to do what we can right away.”

A county title is never to be sniffed at and St Gall’s will have high hopes they can claim the trophy this Saturday that would be the best graduation result for this players who will move into senior in 2022.

Making that transition is never easy and some will be thrown into the deep end as fresh blood is required to help move things forward.

Therefore, while victory on Saturday would be most welcome, the main prize is the development of players and that is what Burns insists is what he will take away regardless of the result.

“Whether we win or lose, it’s always been my philosophy that it’s all about getting them through to senior or even on the board to senior,” he continued.

“Senior is a completely different environment to U20 as you are swimming with the sharks now.

“You can’t just turn up to training at senior, you have to show it in the matches that you are capable of playing at that level and that’s what my philosophy has been with this group.

“I took this group from they were seven or eight years of age and it has always been my goal to get them ready for senior and once they get to senior it’s in their hands.

“A lot of our seniors are moving on in years and we have to replace them. We thought we could replace them gradually, but now it’s out of our hands and we have to put the kids in right away and let them find their feet, which is hard to do, especially in Antrim Division One that is a good standard.”

It will be a big day for both clubs, but perhaps Glenravel especially who are in the final of an U20 A competition that highlights the progress being made in the Con Magee’s club.
Burns expects a tough game this weekend and acknowledges the opposition has plenty of quality throughout.

“The last time we played them was two years ago up there and it was a tight game.

“I think they have improved since then and our Niall was involved with the Antrim U20s there and they (Glenravel) had three or four in the squad including the captain (Eoin Hynds), so they seem to have developed a bit more than us over the past three or four years. We are there and we will just have to see what comes out of it.”

The Milltown Row outfit have plenty of promising young players including Sean’s son, Niall, with Barra McCaffrey another who made a positive impression this season.

However, maintaining that progress and becoming a consistent feature at senior is the biggest challenge of all and while Burns has high hopes his players will all go onto enjoy long careers in the blue jersey, he also accepts the realities that it doesn’t always work out like that and he hopes a victory on Saturday will help those players remain hungry for success as seniors.

“They are young and have talent, but it takes more than that going into Division One football,” he insists.

“It’s all about developing kids and this is our steppingstone to where they want to be after this year. They really have to step up to senior or senior reserve, whatever comes first.

“There are a lot kids there who I’d like to see playing senior football, but life throws up all sorts of things like girls, work, university and everything else.

“We might have a group of 20 kids, but how many will play senior football? Hopefully they do but this is just about getting kids through to the next stage of their development.”