THIS WEEKEND Group A in the Antrim's Senior Championship gets underway when Cargin and Dunloy host Tír na nÓg and St John's respectively on Sunday August 3.

Erin's Own Cargin have firmly fixated their sights on a fourth title after another convincing season which saw the men from Toome finish top spot in Division One. The Johnnies, Tír na nÓg and Dunloy will certainly be on their tails as they look to book a spot in this year's last eight.

This year's senior championship will be its biggest yet with 16 clubs competing for the Antrim football crown.

Four groups, with four clubs, will play out a standard group-stage format with each club being drawn with a home, away and a neutral venue in their three group stage games.

REMATCH: St John's last faced Tír na nÓg in the 2023 Group Phase
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REMATCH: St John's last faced Tír na nÓg in the 2023 Group Phase

The top two in each group will earn a spot in the quarter-final stage, with the bottom sides (fourth place) entering the relegation play-off spot to fight for their top flight status.

It will be all to play for this season and each side will surely fancy their chances as 15 clubs look to knock Cargin off their pedestal in the Saffron County.

MATCHDAY LIVE and post-game reports will be available on Belfastmedia.com.

GROUP A

ST JOHN'S

The Johnnies are no stranger to the county's top championship, with the Whiterock Road side holding the title of Antrim's most successful with an unprecedented 24 championship titles. History is often the downfall of Corrigan Park faithful as the club remain starved of success since the turn of the century, with the last title coming in 1998. 

The Corrigan Park side were far from impressive during their league campaign, but with Conor Hand and Paddy McBride returning to save their topflight status in the final few games St John's might fancy themselves as ones-to-watch.

This year the Johnnies sit priced at 16/1 in the bookmakers odds.

CARGIN

The favourites, once again, enter the competition with zero doubters as to the hold they have on Antrim's elite.

Another successful league campaign saw the Toome side only suffer one defeat all year, boasting an impressive 14 wins as they topped the table and were crowned champions of Division One after the removal of the play-offs by the Antrim board.

Star-men Pat Shivers and captain James Laverty will be key players in their quest for the four-in-a-row accolade.

Bookmakers have placed them as heavy favourites with 15/8 odds on offer.

TÍR NA NÓG

The men from Randalstown had a poor league campaign as they only mustered up a single victory in Antrim's topflight, narrowly avoiding relegation courtesy of Ahoghill, after the North Antrim side accepted their demotion to the second tier, ending fears for the rest of the bottom four.

Their season was a far cry from last season's campaign which saw them finish in the top four in Antrim's top division but the depleted squad has impacted the side, but Championship is the perfect time for a renaissance, and maybe that is just what we will see.

Tír na nÓg are long shots at the Padraig McNamee trophy, with betting odds on the unlikely side, with the price sitting at 66/1.

DUNLOY

This season Dunloy competed in their first Division One campaign, but they are far from novices at the Senior Championship competition having previously played in the last two seasons, emerging in 2023 campaign when they bloodied the noses of St Gall's in a shock result at Milltown in the groups. 

Cuchullains went the whole way to the final, in the season before last, falling short to their 2025 group opponents Cargin.

Bookmakers place Dunloy at 8/1 in this season's Senior competition.

GROUP PREVIEW

Overall, Group A is looking like an enticing one, with a rematch of 2023 final set for the final fixture, and both the Johnnies and Tír na nÓg hoping they can rectify their league campaign all four sides will certainly be competitive.

I expect a clean sweep for Cargin as they top the group, with Dunloy clinching second proving too strong for both the Johnnies and Randalstown. 

FIXTURES

Cargin v Tír na Nóg – Cargin – 3rd August

Dunloy v St John’s – Dunloy – 3rd August

Tír na nÓg v Dunloy – Randalstown – 16th August

St John’s v Cargin – Corrigan – 17th August

Dunloy v Cargin – NEUTRAL – 30th August

St John’s v Tír na nÓg – NEUTRAL – 30th August

Final Table Predictions:

1 - Cargin
2 - Dunloy
3 - St John's
4 - Tír na nÓg