THE lights will shine brighter this weekend as it is into the knockout stage of the Antrim Club Championships.
There is quarter-final action in all of the grades, but on Friday night under the lights, there is a standalone that is sure to draw a bumper crowd to Dunsilly (7.30pm) as Lámh Dhearg and Cargin lock horns in a hugely intriguing affair.
The Red Hands are exactly where they want to be as they approach this Northern Switchgear Antrim Senior Football Championship quarter-final against the Toome outfit according to selector Brendan McComb.
Both sides are used to crossing paths over the years with the last clash at the last eight stage coming back in 2018 when the Erin’s Own men overcame the Red Hands on route to the first of their three-in-a-row triumphs, while Cargin emerged from a titanic struggle over two games that went to extra-time in the 2019 final, and edged a semi-final in 2020.
It’s 11 years since Lámh Dhearg mounted a late rally to defeat Cargin at Casement Park in the last eight and that was the last time the Hannahstown men have got the better of them in Championship.
McComb was part of the side that day and admits that they have been the benchmark for clubs across Antrim over the last couple of years.
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“This is exactly where we want to be at this stage,” said McComb, a veteran of many Cargin battles over the years.
“This is where you set your stall out at the start of the year and you want to be playing in these big games. The lads are champing at the bit and the lads can’t wait. I’m sure that Cargin lads are the exact same.
“They love playing these games and we’ve a tremendous amount of respect for Cargin and what they’ve achieved over the last number of years.
“They’ll be sore after not winning the county championship last year and obviously that is a big target of theirs as well.
“For us, Cargin are the benchmark. They’re a team that have beaten us many, many times over the last few years in big Championship games.
“They’ll have no fear for us whatsoever, but we’ll approach the game and give it everything that we have and hopefully we can get on the right side of the result.”
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The fixture brings out a massive intensity with plenty of drama over the years and McComb is confident that his side will be ready for the task come Friday evening, admitting it a challenge they are relishing.
“There is a huge intensity in the fixture,” McComb acknowledges.
“The lads need to be up for that game, and they will be up for it, it’s the game that you look forward to the most.
“If you want to win an Antrim Senior Football Championship, then you’re going to have to beat Cargin along the way.
“It’s a huge, huge challenge and a huge, huge task for us, but it’s one that we relish and one that we’re really, really looking forward to on Friday night up in Dunsilly.”
On their Championship campaign to date, the Red Hands selector revealed that they weren’t caught up in the hype of being included in the ‘Group of Death’ and insisted they were only interested in taking things a game at a time.
“We set ourselves a target of getting out of the that group,” he revealed.
“It was the so-called ‘Group of Death’ as everyone called it, but we didn’t talk about that.
“We didn’t see it as the Group of Death, we just focused on each game as it came.
“Obviously, Creggan as the county champions was a massive test, and it was a big achievement for us to go up there against the reining county champions and get a draw.
“We targeted that St John’s game as a massive game for us, we probably didn’t perform to our optimum in the first half and we were pleased enough with how we played in the second half.”
The St Gall’s game, anytime you play St Gall’s, you know what kind of game that you’re going to get.
“We didn’t take that lightly and got a draw and ended up that Creggan got a draw with the Johnnies, and it ended up that we topped the group.
“We were very, very pleased with that and we’re exactly where we expected we would be at this stage in the quarter-final and we’re delighted to be there.”