HOW THEY STARTED THE DECADE...
THOSE tongue in cheek ‘Saff-navs’ that guided Liam Bradley’s Antrim batch on a winding tour through 2009 weren’t quite ready to be slung into the bandwagon’s glove-box as a new decade shimmered before widened eyes.
Neatly framed as Ulster’s flakiest also-rans, the afterglow of the new things they’d seen and places they’d been during the last blast of ‘the noughties’ formed a fresh Saffron benchmark for 2010 and beyond.
Kevin Brady had, of course, hoisted the Tommy Murphy Cup at Croke in August ’08, yet manager Jody Gormley would relinquish the helm within a week.
Shadows cast by a foiled escape from the bottom tier, May’s Ulster clipping by Cavan and the subsequent exodus of a host of key men, including skipper Sean Kelly, doused the Tyrone native’s fire for the long haul two years in.
Bradley’s October appointment was, to many, the left-field choice. It wasn’t long before he was tightening lids on attitudes and serving brash notice.
Promotion banked first clip, a Croke final loss to Sligo was the slightest blip before Antrim bounded into Ballybofey without a single sliver of self-doubt.
John Joe Doherty’s touted Donegal were chastened for a first Championship win in six years. Cavan then got caught dozing in a balmy Saturday night semi-final as the Clones hill danced to the rare Antrim beat.
Reigning All-Ireland champs Tyrone would check the Saffron surge in the showpiece, but Antrim left Ulster with glowing respect.
Jack O’Connor’s Kerry soon had the wits scared out of them in the back door’s round four prior to finding a late escape hatch in Tullamore on course to lifting Sam.
With sails high, St Gall’s All-Ireland Club joy in 2010 would further elevate Saffron stock – new captain Colin Brady (inset) fronting a strong rudder of Milltown Row talent in directing Antrim’s refurbed ambitions.
A second successive promotion was achieved. There was no shame in the four-point Casement Park loss to Tyrone in Ulster, while the extra-time Qualifiers draw with Kieran McGeeney’s Kildare in Newbridge – Kevin McGourty at large – was a war and-a-half prior to a hefty shelling in the Casement Park replay.
A drop into Division Three followed. The 2012 Qualifiers hit on the Tribesmen at home ahead of Tipp’s roadblock proved the pick of the four back door wins from 2011-’12 before Bradley called time on his four-year steer, albeit reprising the reins down wind.
That Galway win brought Antrim’s last Championship cheer at Casement.
Its doors creaked shut the following summer to make way for a protracted saga of grand-ish designs, reams of red tape and castles in the west Belfast sky.
PLAYERS IN...
No newcomer has carried the same promise and excitement into the Antrim senior picture during the past decade as Matthew Fitzpatrick.
The St John’s forward shone in the county’s 2016 promotion charge. A key cog of St Mary’s UC’s Sigerson triumph of 2017, he fast became the Antrim’s playmaking torchbearer.
On the eve of the 2017 Championship, Joe Brolly’s legal nous spared him a 48-week ban stemming from a drawn-out probe of an alleged incident in a League game – the barrister telling Twitter it was binned “on the well-known legal basis that it was complete bollocks”.
An ankle injury in the loss to Donegal followed, but Fitzpatrick (below) recharged to become Lenny Harbinson’s touchstone for two seasons. A razor-sharp cameo in the 2019 Ulster defeat to Tyrone showcased his stellar talent in pretty high company.
An Irish League soccer career punt with Coleraine took precedence from last year, but the Glenavon striker recently hinted at a potential compromise for his return.
Clubmate Patrick McBride has emerged as a pivot since his 2012 bow. The versatile 27-year-old marauder often sets Antrim’s tone, linking play and offering a reliable scoring threat.
Lámh Dhearg flier Ryan Murray (below) debuted in 2012 and the 27-year-old has evolved into a productive score-getter from play and frees. Career commitments in Dubai had seemed set to scupper involvement in 2020, but the pandemic has expedited his return.
Declan Lynch, a debutant in 2012, and full-back Ricky Johnston, heralded by Liam Bradley in 2011, are established quality, while continued nurture of blooming talent such as Odhran Eastwood, Adam Loughran and Pat Shivers will be a crucial role for the new management team.
CHANGING MANAGERS...
When ex-Tyrone Allstar and three-time All-Ireland winner Enda McGinley succeeded Lenny Harbinson in November, he became Antrim’s fifth managerial ticket since 2009 – sixth if Liam Bradley’s two terms are counted separately.
Bradley’s watch from 20009-’12 was rarely dull. Clipping Donegal in fortress MacCumhaill to kickstart that dizzy summer of ’09 was post-scripted by the Glenullin native’s yell that only two reporters bothered to show at Antrim’s press night.
His Saffron batch often swaggered to their manager’s bullish tune, even in air-tight corners such as Ballybofey, Clones, Tullamore and Newbridge.
When Bradley stepped away, Frank Dawson had a hard act to follow. With Sean Kelly on board after a five-year gap, the 2013 mission was to dodge the drop from Division Three – it flat-lined.
Fall-outs and drop-outs steepened the climb. Antrim’s summer smothered under its own blanket against iffy Monaghan at Casement before Louth twisted the knife in spite of a ballsy reaction.
When Dawson quit amid a whir of finger-pointing, Bradley’s return for a single season encore – son Paddy assisting – after a year’s gap was ‘difficult second album’ territory.
There’d be no promotion, while edging Pete McGrath’s Ernemen for a first win in Ulster since ’09 was indexed as ‘the Baker’s’ swansong come September’s inquests.
Hours after walking, having not sensed firm backing, he was succeeded by selector and U21 boss Frank Fitzsimons.
Gearoid Adams joined the ticket a year into the delicate revamp. The pair would oversee the return of a host of absentees at various stages, such as all three McGourty brothers, Kevin Niblock, Tomas McCann and Kevin O’Boyle, to thicken new blood.
What transpired was a three-year mixed bag with promise.
A Laois scalp, a promotion and relegation told the shortest story. A committee decided on a nomination process, prompting wearied Adams to walk away. Fitzsimons was put forward to continue, but he soon had his fill of the rumblings also and opted out.
Armagh All-Ireland winner Aidan O’Rourke became the frontrunner before St Gall’s 2010 All-Ireland Club architect Lenny Harbinson got the baton.
The ex-Antrim forward’s meticulous three-year crack at the puzzle delivered two promotion near-misses and a four-year Qualifiers itch scratched in Louth in 2019. He ended his tenure after November’s Ulster quarter-final knock-out by eventual champions Cavan – a battle where the Saffrons flirted for some time with victory.
TOP SCORER 2020...
AT 34, Paddy Cunningham returned to the fold last January following a six-year absence.
His seven points in a 2014 Qualifiers round two loss in Limerick wasn’t a sign-off that sat well.
Antrim’s 2020 Division Four promotion tilt collapsed freakishly at Wicklow’s hands after October’s League resumption in a pandemic-fractured season. Yet the muscle memory – and that left peg – proved sharp enough for dead ball whizz Cunningham.
The Lámh Dhearg forward bagged 0-31 over seven Division Four games.
A brace of points was pegged on in November’s provincial knock-out by Cavan, giving him a 27 per cent chunk of Antrim’s eight-game 7-100 total, 0-19 of his 0-33 coming from the dead ball.
PLAYERS GONE...
The return of Cargin’s McCann brothers, Mick and Tomas, and Paddy Cunningham, to the mix last year after gaping exiles signalled that Antrim’s door is always ajar for class and pedigree. The trio, all in their mid-30s, join Conor Murray as survivors from the 20 names that featured in the 2009 Ulster final.
Kevin O’Boyle was the latest of that batch to call time when he stepped away in February, 14 years down his winding track.
St Gall’s gifted McGourty brothers – Kevin and CJ – each endured complicated on-off relations with Antrim. The former’s last dance came in 2015. CJ, who debuted as a teenager in ’07, hasn’t featured since being omitted by Lenny Harbinson, his uncle, during 2018’s NFL.
Moneyglass forward Kevin Brady’s 15 years of fine Saffron service ended in 2012, while classy wing-back Sean Kelly’s patchy county career ceased after a brief revival in 2013, 12 years on from his bow.
James Loughrey (left) was the one that got away. The thoroughbred defender has played his prime years with Cork having relocated to Mallow in 2013 after six seasons setting Antrim’s example His old Cargin clubmate Tony Scullion’s duties succumbed to injury in 2015, while the retirement of chief string-puller Kevin Niblock (right) in 2017 due to injury also left a vast void.
Colin Brady, Andy McClean, Aodhan Gallagher, Justin Crozier, Sean McVeigh and Chris Kerr were all prominent retirements and ’keeper Sean McGreevy’s last duty came in the loss to Kildare in 2010.
HOW WILL THEY FARE IN 2021?
THE name of the game for new boss Enda McGinley in 2021 will be to claw a way out of the basement bear-pit and draw a bold line under what has become another familiar anxiety dream in Antrim.
With a pandemic-enforced regionalised format pitting them against Sligo, Louth and Leitrim in a Division Four North shoot-out for two semi-final berths, the Saffrons sit on the top-heavy side of the bottom rung.
There will be no room to blink. With the Yeatsmen, now under the steer of ex-Crossmaglen boss Tony McEntee, and Terry Hyland’s Leitrim to follow a trip to face Louth in a high wire duel, a flying start will be needed more than ever.
Sligo were one of only two teams to beat Antrim in last year’s League, edging home last March in Markievicz Park. A Covid outbreak forced them to concede November’s Connacht semi to Galway, so renewed purpose under their new management will be a given.
Louth and Leitrim, the latter also stunted by a Covid cluster in October, fell into the mire from an ultra-competitive Division Three. Neither will be planning to hang around these doldrums for long.
The appointment of the Mickey Harte/Gavin Devlin (above) ticket in the Wee County adds an eye-catching dollop of Tyrone-tinted intrigue to the big picture.
All eyes will be on the meeting of old friends when McGinley and Stephen O’Neill, now in the Saffron corner, pit their maiden inter-county wits against their Red Hand mastermind and sidekick in Drogheda.
McGinley and his backroom cast of O’Neill, ex-Antrim defender Sean Kelly and Stephen Quinn won’t be distracted by a soft-focused sideshow.
With an intense four-week lead-in, squad depth will be fully tested in terms of managing the aches. Antrim’s palette appears well-equipped with experience and legs thanks to Lenny Harbinson’s industrious – albeit luckless – tenure. The lauded strength and conditioning input of Brendan Murphy will also be banked on.
The pending deferral of the second tier Tailteann Cup means the Championship gig looks limited to Ulster knock-out territory again this year. In that light, nailing promotion and a slot in the divisional final is what summer football boils down to for Antrim. It’s doable.
CHANGING CAPTAINS...
Paddy Cunningham was the man handed the captaincy by Liam Bradley en route to the 2009 Ulster decider. It was Antrim’s first final parade for 39 years and came after a surge into Division Three – thanks largely to the 23-year-old’s shooting boots.
It was the turn of St Gall’s All-Ireland Club-winning defender and captain Colin Brady to lead next season. A Division Two berth was snared before Championship hopes were checked by Tyrone and – eventually – Kildare.
Kevin O’Boyle had the first of three stints as skipper in 2011. The Saffrons fell through the League trap door, while Jim McGuinness’s men ignored Bradley’s brash bait of “puke football” in Ballybofey – no show-stealing winner a la 2009 for the Cargin defender this time.
A brace of Qualifier wins was reaped at Casement Park, though, before progress was stalled by Down.
St Gall’s midfielder Aodhán Gallagher skippered Bradley’s final year of his first term, albeit opting out on the eve of a back door loss to Tipp. Retention of Division Three status and a Qualifiers humbling of Galway at Casement were the keepsakes.
New boss Frank Dawson handed O’Boyle the stripes for 2013, but relegation ahead of dead ends against Monaghan in Casement’s last Championship game and Louth in Drogheda defined a tetchy year that wrapped up with ‘the Baker’s’ comeback.
Towering midfielder Niall McKeever took the mantle upon his return after a four-year Aussie Rules diversion. A Brian Neeson-inspired Antrim (with help from O’Boyle, inset) would bag a first Ulster win in five years in a Brewster blockbuster, but Donegal offered no mercy before Limerick snibbed the back door.
Justin Crozier, Kevin Niblock and James Laverty were consecutive captains on the Fitzsimons Adams watch from 2015-2017.
The 2015 Qualifiers triumph in Laois was sandwiched by defeats to Fermanagh. Promotion from the basement in 2016 was soon clouded by a back door collapse at the Treatymen’s paws in Corrigan Park, then relegation and two Championship clips the season after.
O’Boyle led again in the first of Lenny Harbinson’s three years in charge prior to Lámh Dhearg defender Declan Lynch shouldering the responsibility from 2019 until Harbinson’s departure last winter.
HOW THEY STAND...
A THIRD misfire on the trot at gaining promotion from where they’d been welded since Lenny Harbinson took charge in the wake of 2017 relegation. Another Ulster Championship exit at first base.
A step back from the balance sheet of a surreal year, however, throws softer light upon a Saffron 2020 picture that, at first, seems stark and unforgiving.
The unpredictable effect of the pandemic upon every realm of life, GAA included, means the vagaries of Antrim’s campaign – like everything last year – deserves a more lenient eye. Up until Covid chewed up the calendar in early March, they were bang in the Division Four melting pot. A 12-point bashing of eventual table-toppers Limerick in Portglenone was a third win from five, a single-point loss in Sligo and a home draw with Carlow perhaps bottling up a regret or two for later.
The quick bounce factor from that big Treaty skelp didn’t happen. And when it all resumed in October, Antrim were mauled by an eye-popping 25 points in seven-goal Wicklow’s garden and hope was effectively dashed.
Swatting Waterford in Haggardstown after a drama over the Decies travelling over the border proved incidental as Wicklow and Limerick sealed the deal.
The four-point loss to Cavan in an Ulster quarter-final then brought more ifs, buts and maybes. Cavan dug deep then went and won Ulster. Antrim were soon on a hunt for another new broom. Their last promotion was in 2016 after three years in the basement so Enda McGinley will hope that cycle recurs.
Off the field, the ‘Saffron Vision’ power play of 2015 which rewired the county executive set the heather blazing on new ambition in Antrim.
Club Aontroma and the Saffron Business Forum currently excel in raising funds while the GAA’s Gaelfast project is taking strides to bolster grassroots standards in Belfast and the county.
The Casement Park Chronicles, though, remain the skewer in the side. Ten years after the first vow of funding for a redevelopment, a web of rows and delays over design, planning and costs means a sod has yet to be turned.
GAA president Larry McCarthy recently warned that its backing for capital projects could be set on a back burner due to the Covid effect on the coffers.
Approval of new planning permission from Stormont is in the offing. Still, maybe best not to circle a diary just yet on an all-singing Casement (inset) hosting 2030 soccer World Cup games, your child’s world title fight or perhaps even Antrim in that year’s Ulster final.
