After St John’s claimed the big ball honours on neutral ground last week, O’Donovan Rossa will need to brave the lion’s den to prevent championship exits in both codes to their fierce west Belfast rivals on Saturday evening.
The Johnnies edged Rossa out of the second qualifier spot in their Antrim SFC group at Lamh Dhearg last week, emerging with a one-point win to make football’s last eight for the first time since 2021.
Now they welcome Rossa to Corrigan Park with the third and final qualifier place in Group Two of the senior hurling championship the prize on offer.
North Antrim heavyweights Cushendall and Dunloy, who meet this evening in the Glens, have already claimed the top two spots with both recording wins over the city sides.
That leaves one knockout berth up for grabs with the winner at Corrigan going through to face the second-place team in Group One, which will be decided after Loughgiel’s clash with Ballycastle on Sunday.
The championship formlines that can be drawn from St John’s and Rossa’s matches with the top two give the edge to Rossa, but not by much.
Their most recent outing ended in a 10-point defeat to Dunloy in awful conditions at Dunsilly shortly before St John’s lost by nine to Cushendall up the road in the same weather in Ballymena.
St John’s trip to Dunloy ended in a six-point defeat while Rossa were six points down at home against reigning champions Cushendall before county star Gerard Walsh’s stoppage-time goal left the final gap at three.
Pre-championship predictions all pointed to this weekend’s match in Cushendall being between two unbeaten sides and the one in Corrigan being a clash of teams seeking their first win.
“We went into that first match and we were under no illusions,” said Rossa forward Stephen Beatty.
“Cushendall are reigning Antrim and Ulster champions and only got beaten by O’Loughlin Gaels by a point in the All-Ireland semi-final, so we knew what we were going up against coming in.
“Gerard got that goal to bring us to within three – but I think that flattered us because we didn’t perform.
“We tried to up our game against Dunloy. Obviously the weather was bad but that’s not an excuse for anybody – it was the same for Dunloy.
“When you play against teams like that you think you’re going well but then you see the level they’re at and it shows you where you need to get too.
“The same goes for St John’s, they’ve played Cushendall and Dunloy as well and we’re both aware of what this match now means.
“In the back of our heads both teams will have known this was the safety net, this was the last chance that will decide if we go through or not.”
Beatty was sent off during Rossa’s football defeat to St John’s last weekend but is free to switch codes and play for the hurlers on Saturday. Speaking before that 1-14 to 1-13 defeat, the 31-year-old was looking forward to big games at the end of a season that started in the worst possible way.
Barely 10 seconds into Antrim’s first Dr McKenna Cup game on January 3 Beatty suffered a “freak sort of injury” to the sternoclavicular joint at the front of his shoulder – where the breastbone’s connected to the collar bone. Surgery was required to get him back onto the field again it wasn’t until seven months after taking that hit in Castleblayney that he returned.
“It’s what you get when you’re a dual player and it’s what we choose to do but every year it’s week-in, week-out, match, match, match and every Monday morning I’m up doing my stretches and mobility work and all that. This year I’m doing the same but I’m not complaining about it,” he said.
“I sat on the sidelines for seven months and it was really tough going, especially as I missed the whole county year.
“I went back with the county but I actually stopped going to games at one point because it was getting tough. I felt like a spare one standing there, to be honest with you.
“That’s why I don’t want this to end, I don’t want my year to be finished.”
