ALREADY, topping Group 3 of the Tailteann Cup looks beyond Antrim following their heavy loss against Westmeath on Sunday (pictured inset), but the target must be a greatly improved display when they host Limerick at Corrigan Park on Saturday (4.30pm).

Getting through to the knockout stage of the competition is the bare minimum of the ambitions, but aiming as high as possible to at least secure a home preliminary quarter-final in second place must now be the target and they can take a big step towards that should they overcome the Treaty.

While Antrim faded in Mullingar on Sunday, the previous day, it was a dominant third quarter display which helped Limerick to run out seven-point winners over London in Newcastle West.

The ability to kick two-pointers is becoming a key component to the modern game and Limerick got five of them against The Exiles, with Emmet Rigter, Darragh O’Hagan, Iain Corbett, Barry Coleman and Josh Ryan all landing from outside the arc from play of placed ball.

The Division Four league winners will be happy with their opener, but it would be fair to say there was a lot of disappointment as to how Antrim’s challenge fell apart against Westmeath.

It was a decent start in Cusack Park, but they were opened up regularly and in the second period, they just couldn’t stem the tide.

That will have been a worry and an area that needs to be addressed heading into the Limerick game.

Last year, Antrim were seven-point winners over the same opposition in Rathkeale, so they should know what is required to get the better of the Munster outfit.

However, they will only do so if they produce a greatly-improved performance from their opener and that will require the intensity they brought to the Armagh game in the Ulster Championship.

It won’t be the end of the road if they come up short this weekend, but the road back to Croke Park will look incredibly tough should that be the case.

ANTRIM: Michael Byrne; Eoghan McCabe, Eunan Walsh, Kavan Keenan; James McAuley, Dermot McAleese, Patrick Finnegan; Conor Hand, Marc Jordan; Ronan Boyle, Adam Loughran, Patrick McBride; Ryan McQuillan, Ruairi McCann, Dominic McEnhill.

Subs: Luke Mulholland, Calum Higgins, Conor Stewart, Daniel McNicholl, Eunan Quinn, Fionn Nagle, James McDonnell, John Morgan, Niall Burns, Peter King, Ryan Murray.

LIMERICK: Josh Ryan; Jason Hassett, Darren O'Doherty, Colm McSweeney; Mark McCarthy, Iain Corbett, Tadhg O Siochru; Tommie Childs, Darragh O'Hagan; Paul Maher, Emmett Rigter, Cillian Fahy; Danny Neville, James Naughton, Peter Nash.

Subs: Jeffrey Alfred, Fiacra Cotter, Cormac Woulfe, Tony McCarthy, Killian Ryan, Diarmuid Buckley, Sean Clancy, Darragh Murray, Rory O'Brien, Andrew Meade, Rob Childs.