ANTRIM manager Enda McGinley says his players must strive to eradicate the mistakes from their play if they want to maintain their progress.
There has been much to admire about the Saffrons’ opening games this year in the Dr McKenna Cup with a winnower Down in Newry and then a credible performance against Donegal at Portglenone on Saturday.
There appears to be improvements from last year, but still a long way to go and the loss to Donegal highlighted aspects that Antrim need to work on.
Playing against a packed defence meant ball retention and accuracy in the pass was vital to try and find their way into the scoring zone without allowing a seasoned opponent to break at pace, but it was from those breakaways where Donegal had success as they were able to find the space to knock over the point that made the difference.
McGinley stressed that mistakes at this level are ruthlessly punished and that heading into the Division Three campaign that begins with a trip to Fermanagh next Saturday will require much more economical displays if they are to compete at that level.
“In winter football, there are always going to be more mistakes and that (Donegal) packed defence approach works off mistakes,” he said.
“You are always going to cough up some turnovers and the boys will be disappointed. There were poor fist passes, poor handling at times and the wee clinical things. Donegal really punish you on the break, so they are things we can get better at.
“We could have done with taking a few more of the chances we did create because even with Donegal packing back, I thought the boys did well to create the openings. We were patient and did plenty right today, but again, if you do 95 per cent right in the modern game, it’s the five per cent of mistakes that can land you with a beating as it has today.
“There is no point putting in the training and effort they are putting in without ambition to rise their own level and compete with teams like that.
“The boys’ effort today was brilliant, but we know there are harsh lessons there: simple mistakes get punished and that’s not different from last year’s Championship against Armagh - the same things keep coming up.”
Action from Antrim v Donegal 
Paddy McBrearty was on to form for Donegal at the weekend and this made it a difficult afternoon for Patrick McCormick who was tasked with trying to keep the Kilcar man quiet, but to no avail.
Still, this is the time to learn lessons and McCormick will take much fro his afternoon directly opposite one of Ireland’s most prolific forwards, as will the entire 25 who saw game time against a perennial contender for top honours.
Now is the time to give players minutes on the field to see just what they are about and if they are up to the rigours of the inter-county game, so for that alone, the January games have proved invaluable.
“We’ve seen them boys in training and they’ve done really well so they are due their chances,” said the Antrim manager.
“He (Patrick McCormick) had a tough day as McBrearty is a good operator, but right across the team we were looking at boys and we have to look at boys.
“We have a decent changeover in the squad this year and there are boys coming in at different form levels, boys putting in a huge amount of work over the winter that are showing up well in training and you have to give them a credible chance in the match.
“We ran the entire bench and to be fair, our level remained fairly consistent and that’s really pleasing for the strength of the squad.
“It’s now up to players to really put up their hands and stake that place, but to do it you have to go up to another level and that can only be a good thing for the team.”
There will be no additions or cuts to the squad ahead of the League opener in Enniskillen with McGinley happy with the personnel he has at his disposal.
While this may be his second year at the help, it is the first full season as 2021 saw the inter-county campaign cut back with Antrim playing just five games in total.
Now, with a pre-season, full League and then Championship to come, there is greater scope to get ideas across and for players to develop, but the Tyrone native says his team must be ready to hit the ground running at Brewster Park next week.
“Very happy (with the squad) - a really good bunch of boys who work hard and from everything I see about them, they are determined to improve so that’s all you can ask from them,” he commended.
“It’s really enjoyable around training with them at the minute, but we know in Division Three, every one of those games is going to be very narrow in terms of the (scoring) margins, so that was a lesson today.
“Fermanagh is a big test in the first game down in Brewster Park. That is not going to be easy, so we know we have to be on it for that game and that’s our focus now.”
