ALTHOUGH none of the seven teams will be eliminated from the Antrim Senior Hurling Championship come close of play on Sunday, the jockeying for position ahead of the knockout stage should become a little clearer.
As there are just three teams in Group One and all assured of at least a quarter-final, there is still the opportunity to bypass this stage and march straight into the last four.
Naomh Éanna lost out in their opener at home to Loughgiel, so the Glengormley outfit head to Ballycastle this evening (6pm) knowing they must win or else they will be in the quarters.
McQuillans make their bow in the competition having sat the opening week out and having reached the semi-finals in 2023, their ambition will be to at least match that this year and a good start will give them a platform ahead of their meeting with Loughgiel in a fortnight.
If this section of the competition has a significant safety net, it is far from the case in Group Two where one will exit before the business end.
The identity of that club will not be known until after the final round of games, but there is nonetheless an opportunity for city sides, O’Donovan Rossa and St John’s, to score a morale-boosting win ahead of their meeting in a fortnight.
Both games take place tomorrow and first up is Dunloy versus Rossa at Dunsilly at 2pm.
The Cuchullains will be short of Conal Cunning whose recovery from a fractured arm continues, while Eoin O’Neill is also a doubt for Gregory O’Kane’s men.
Even so, they have a settled look about them with plenty of quality throughout their ranks including the Elliotts and Keelan Molloy who were to the fore in their win over the Johnnies.
Rossa will look back at their opening defeat with some regrets as they passed up too many scoring opportunities and will be unhappy with the concession of two early goals, but manager Chris McDonnell will have been heartened by how his team hung in and got to within a goal against the defending champions.
Gerrard Walsh, Aodhán O’Brien and Dominic McEnhill provided plenty of spark but they will certainly know they must clean up their shooting and avoid giving up anything cheaply of they are to give themselves a chance of the upset.
Later in the day at 5pm in Ballymena, Cushendall face St John’s with the reigning champions seeking to make it two from two and keep on pace to top the group and march straight to the semi-finals.
Their opening win at Rossa Park did leave room for improvement as they found themselves hanging on at the death, while Andrew Delargy and Fred McCurry picked up injuries.
Neil McManus was absent through injury but the towering presence of Dominic Delargy on the edge of the square complimented the threats of Jospeh McLaughlin and Ciaran Neeson either side.
But it was the driving force of Eoghan Campbell that really shone in the opener with the county skipper the epitome of consistency and his influence will need to be somehow nullified if St John’s are to make up for their opening defeat.
Michael Bradley could return after missing the opening game, while the Johnnies will also hope for big games from Aaron Bradley, Conor Johnston, Shea Shannon and Conall Bohill to keep them in contention.
