ANTRIM said they weren’t going to the Athletic Grounds to make up the numbers and they were true to their word.
The Orchard County might have been 1/20 with the bookmakers ahead of Sunday’s Ulster SFC quarter-final, but the Saffrons had total faith they could compete with their Division One hosts.
Manager Enda McGinley encapsulated that belief. The former Tyrone star won All-Ireland titles at Minor, U21 and Senior. He also won League and Championship titles with Errigal Ciaran. He is used to success.
Antrim’s first defeat of the 2021 campaign didn’t sit well with McGinley. Antrim got a lot right tactically against Armagh, but the small breaks didn’t go in their favour.
Had Ruairi McCann found the net on 26 minutes, he would have put Antrim ahead by a point for the first time in the game.
Maybe things would have been different, maybe not, but the Saffrons also found themselves on the wrong side of a number of marginal calls made by referee Sean Hurson.
The 13-point winning margin undoubtedly flattered Armagh and McGinley feels the experience of playing in the top tier stood to Kieran McGeeney’s men.
“I’m just gutted. Bottom line, and it will sound daft to those outside the camp, but I’ve always said it, the county team becomes somewhat of a bubble,” stated McGinley.
“You convince yourself that it is possible and I would still believe it is possible. Fine margins surely. . . we knew that.
“My absolute belief today was that we had enough footballers on the pitch and the wherewithal to stay with Armagh. My one fear is that small mistakes, which we seen throughout the League, would be punished harder against Armagh. I think that, unfortunately, proved to be the case.
“I would argue that the scoreline is possibly harsh on us. The bottom line we have to man up, that’s the scoreline as it was.”
Another double-digit defeat in the Ulster Senior Football Championship will raise further questions about the future of the provincial series.
The tier two Tailteann Cup has been postponed for another year, but will be introduced for the 2022 season.
Unless Antrim can gain promotion to Division Two or reach the Ulster Final next year, they’ll play in the Tailteann Cup once they’ve exited the provincial Championship.
Some of the Antrim panellists, both past and present, have been vocal in their opposition to a tiered Championship structure, but McGinley feels that a properly-promoted tier two competition could help bridge the gap between the top teams and the lower-ranked counties.
“My own opinion is I would differ from some of the boys in there,” said McGinley.
“I think teams at that level have been pretty strong in their opinion that they don’t want it. I still think that there is an argument for it and that is not our choice, people will read into it how it is.
“I think if we enclose completely the top eight teams together, them battering off each other the whole time, their standards will just rise and rise.
“On the one hand yes, more competitive games would be good. But siphoning off the smaller teams completely from the top teams means that gap only ever increases.
“I think we need to merge the top teams with a greater cohort from a second division, that allows that gap to start bridging and allows the bigger teams to not meet top quality teams constantly."
Antrim defender Eoghan McCabe sprints clear of Armagh’s Greg McCabe 
He added: “Conditioning wise, absolutely there is a gap there, but that’s hard to make up in a short space of time and whenever you’re behind and chasing the game that also affects the legs.
“If we had got a momentum boost like a goal that suddenly helps the energy levels as well, so I would still say our boys were finishing well and they emptied their bench as well.
“There is work to do on that front, but that isn’t a particular surprise.” In a normal season, the Saffrons would have a Qualifier campaign to look forward to with McGinley having a chance to run his eye over his extended panel.
Instead, the Antrim players will return to their clubs for the remainder of the year and they’ll return to play Division Three football with their county next spring.
“Again, we just need to man up,” stressed McGinley when asked about the lack of a Qualifier series.
“That’s the situation and we can all understand why it is.
“We had a chance to prolong our season today if we did absolutely everything perfectly and maybe Armagh had an off-day, but we didn’t take it."
While Paddy Cunningham has already indicated that this season would be his last in an Antrim jersey, Cargin veteran Mick McCann may be persuaded to remain as Sunday’s game was his first appearance of the season after he picked up a calf injury on the eve of the League opener against Louth.
McGinley feels that have continuity in a squad is crucial if Antrim are to continue to progress next season.
“That is the biggest thing for me. You cannot get the county-level conditioning without three or four years of dedication at various levels of the game,” said McGinley.
“That requires a much greater sacrifice without less greater rewards. And yet, without that, the small teams can’t cross over.
“That goes back to what competitions do we give them to prolong their summer, to get that amount of conditioning in the legs, can we have the finals played on a suitable stage that it is a real honour?”
McGeeney calls for Orchard improvement
Armagh boss Kieran McGeeney, meanwhile bemoaned his side’s slow start to the game and was at a loss to explain their lethargic first half performance.
“You get disappointed when they are not showing what they can show,” said McGeeney.
“But Armagh has had that problem for as long as I know. People build you up and tell you you’re a good forward or a good defender and the next thing you start believing it.
“You’re always good after a game, but never before it. And if you remember that then you can go a long way.
“But I thought we didn’t put in the work-rate they are capable of and they changed it. And the fellas that came in showed that’s what happens if you don’t – there are fellas there that will.
“It was a good lesson for us, but not to take away from Antrim’s ability to keep possession in the first half and their pace inside caused problems and that was a big factor as well.”
Armagh manager Kieran McGeeney wasn't happy with his side's first half performance against Antrim
The 2002 All-Ireland winning captain added: “At times you are going into matches thinking that you are ready and other times going in thinking ‘what are they at?’
“If I knew the answer to that I’d bottle it and sell it! It would even be something as trivial as the first ball - it can send one player one way and another the other.
“Some people just do well under adversity and when the game slows down some players get more space and when it speeds up other play better.”
Armagh now turn their attention to an Ulster SFC semi-final meeting with neighbours Monaghan on Saturday July 17 and will be bidding to reach their first provincial decider since 2008.
Antrim, in contrast, have a long wait to their Division Three campaign next spring. They’ll face Louth, Limerick, Tipperary, Longford, Fermanagh, Wicklow, Laois and Westmeath.
On the basis of what the Saffrons have shown during McGinley’s brief tenure thus far, they ought to have enough class to hold their own in the third tier.
Conor Stewart may have found the going tough at times in the second half against Armagh, but he has had a fine debut season.
Eoghan McCabe is another who made his senior Championship bow on Sunday and was one of Antrim’s best players while Dermot McAleese and Odhran Eastwood are now automatic starters after a few seasons on the fringes.
McGinley and his management team of Stephen O’Neill and Sean Kelly won’t need to unearth too many more players from the club scene this summer for Antrim to continue to progress and the Saffrons can look forward to the 2022 season with renewed optimism.
