THIS weekend will see the first ball thrown-in of the competitive inter-county 2026 season as Antrim begin their hunt for promotion out of Division Four this campaign.
The season is one that is brimming with hope as the Saffron fans will no doubt be praying to the heavens that Mark Doran's debut campaign in the Antrim hot seat will be one that delivers success.
2025 was certainly a year to forget for Antrim's footballers, bordering embarrassing some might say, given the calamitous campaign which unfolded which saw Antrim become rather anonymous and toothless on the Inter-county scene after the Saffrons enjoyed just three wins throughout the campaign.
The overall dismal campaign saw Antrim face the drop and were demoted on the final day after defeat to Kildare saw them relegated to the bottom tier of the Allianz Football Leagues.
League form was inexcusable but Antrim struggled with one too many games where late momentum had swung in favour of the opposition and despite a strong showing against All-Ireland champions Armagh in the opening game of the 2025 Ulster Championship, Antrim fell to a heavy final score at Corrigan Park.
Eoghan McCabe battled hard in both McKenna Cup fixtures
Their last hope for any success to reignite the reign under Andy McEntee came to an abrupt end when their Tailteann Cup campaign ended in demoralising fashion, with the manager's reign ending back in June when Antrim were thrashed by Wexford in the Tailteann Cup campaign which resulted in just a single victory during the group phase, against London back in May.
Mark Doran now must take on the tough task of earning Antrim a promotion from the bottom tier and the early signs were certainly good in parts with the Saffrons showing they can compete for large spells against much higher ranked opposition when they faced off against Derry and Donegal in the Dr McKenna Cup earlier this month.
Both pre-season games resulted in defeat, but positives were certainly to be taken from the Saffrons' performance which showed a great strength in defensive structure, particularly for the first 45 minutes of the games before the legs began to go against strong opposition.
Speaking with Belfast Media after the McKenna Cup fixture with Donegal, Antrim star Eoghan McCabe believes that the signs are there for Antrim to truly push on this season, and despite short-comings in the pre-season it gives them a chance to correct mistakes before returning to league action next weekend.
"Listen, we all want to be playing against the best and that helps get the best out of your training and there is truly no better way to do that than to face strong opposition," said the Antrim star.
"We have just gone up against a team who got to an All-Ireland final last year (Donegal) and Derry who are hoping to go back up to Division One, but one thing is clear that we do have a lot of work to do in the lead up to the league opener.
"We definitely will get the head down and use the rest of this time now with no game to correct the mistakes we made and try and improve going into the Carlow game." reflected the St Gall's stalwart.
During the two fixtures, Antrim showed great intensity in the opening halves of both ties, but one thing Eoghan believes can help his side push on this year is to correct the mistakes in the latter stages of games.
"I think it just has to be the same intent, same energy, same quality, no point really starting off well then losing concentration and throwing it away late in games.
"I can talk for myself and obviously in the Derry game, I personally got caught out for the first goal and it's just a slip in concentration, but at county level that can be a huge difference. You know that is where teams can gain and lose momentum to put on a bit of a run, that is where you win and lose games."
McCabe believes that the fitness which the Antrim panel have shown so far in both training and the McKenna Cup games is something which is massively important and could be the difference maker during their Division Four campaign.
"The fitness is definitely there and the energy which is great to see, we just need to be really focused and concentration is so key at this level, you know it's 60-70 minutes of football whatever it may be and you need to earn it."
The Antrim defender believes that despite his absence for the first few weeks of training camp the level has already been taken up a notch, but in time Antrim will hopefully begin to peak.
"I have only been here a few weeks due to a trip in Australia, but Andy (McEntee) managed to bring the level up here when it came to strength and conditioning and now Mark (Doran) has come in and taken that up a level again. It's something maybe we'll see more in a few weeks time, but the early signs are good."
McCabe mentioned that promotion talk is not a key point of conversation, but rather the importance on performance which could put the Saffrons in good stead for promotion.
"Our own performances are the big thing, we are in Division Four because of our own performances last year, and despite some glimpses of the good stuff, but overall it hasn't been good enough," McCabe reflected.
"The reason we got relegated was because we did not get enough points in the games to then register points on the league table and the main thing is that we need to drive our own performances on in the league and we want to get two points every single week and hopefully that will kick on from there towards that goal (promotion)."
Antrim will begin their football campaign at home to Carlow at Cargin GAA Grounds this Sunday, with throw-in set for 2pm.
Tickets for the game can be purchased on the Universe website.
