Leinster Minor Hurling Championship quarter-final

Antrim v Offaly (Dundalk, Saturday, 12pm)

HAVING moved through the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship group phase undefeated, Antrim’s minor hurlers took another step forward on Saturday when accounting for Kildare in the preliminary round and will return to Dundalk on Saturday for a high noon showdown against Offaly.

Alan Rainey’s U17s have impressed this year and their momentum carried into Saturday’s 1-14 to 0-5 victory over the Lilywhites in Dundalk.

Jack McCloskey top-scored with five points with Orin O’Connor bagging the Antrim goal that secures this weekend’s quarter-final against The Faithful who were big winners over Kildare in their group, while also getting the measure of Laois.

There is no doubt that Antrim make the short journey south as outsiders, but the winning habit has instilled confidence and they will have no fears of stepping up against the Midlanders.

“We set a target at the start of the year that we wanted to move through the group stage unbeaten and then get Kildare, but then get a crack at one of the big guns that turns out to be Offaly this weekend,” said Davitt’s clubman, Rainey.

“There is a winning mentality at the minute and momentum is building.

“We know Offaly is a tier-one team and we know they will go in as favourites, but we will prepare well and go again.”

Antrim trailed early against Kildare last weekend, but soon found their groove with Cormac McKeown putting them on the board, but points from Patrick McIlwaine, Lorcan Phillips and Joe McLaughlin edged them in front and they never looked back with a fine win.

“We knew Kildare would bring a big, physical presence,” added Rainey.

“We played them in January down at their Centre of Excellence and managed to come out that day with a three or four-point win, so we knew exactly what they were going to bring to the table and prepared for them over the last couple of weeks once we knew we had topped the group.

“We got off to a bit of a slow start, but once we adapted to their sweeper then we were always on top.”