Coulter wary of Offaly goal threat

By Shaun Casey

NO team competing in the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship has raised more green flags than Offaly this season and Antrim joint-manager Martin Coulter is well aware of the goal threat they carry.

When the sides met during the group stages, the Faithful County fired in a trio of three-pointers, but Antrim emerged victorious on the day, landing a two-point triumph, which helped them top the group.

Antrim have rattled home ten goals of their own, one shy of Offaly’s total, although Offaly did have an extra game to play last weekend when they saw off Carlow to reach the last four.

“They’re a massive goal threat and they have good forwards, there’s no doubt about it, but so do we,” said Coulter, who manages the team alongside Carl McCormick.

“It could come down to a shootout, I hope it doesn’t, I hope defensively we are more compact than we were the first day out, but it makes for a very good game come Saturday and it’s all to play for.

“All bets are off at this stage. When we played them in the first round of the competition, realistically we were going to meet again, we were both going to get through to the knockout stages.

“There’s no safety net now. We’ve all had a few more games since and on the day itself, there was nothing between the two teams. We won by two and they had to travel but it’s wide open and it’s winner takes all.”

Having topped the group, Antrim had to sit out for three weeks while Offaly came through the quarter-finals. Coulter hopes that break will leave his side fresh and he said that they’re “mad keen” to get out on the field this weekend.

“Topping the group’s great but it leaves you with three weeks where you’re itching to play a game,” he said. “All the training is done all year and just those three weeks, you’re just mad keen to get at it now.

“It’s a double-edged sword. Topping the group means you avoid the quarter-finals but the kickback is that you have no game for three weeks whereas the opposition were out last week. In an ideal world you’d want to play every other week to keep the thing moving.

“To be fair, the three weeks have gone very well, they’ve gone by very quickly. We’ve tried to change things up a bit to take the staleness out of the training so we’re in good form and we’re looking forward to Saturday.”

Antrim also lost a couple of key players to injury in those three weeks, as Coulter explained.

“Unfortunately Cassie McArthur has a hand issue and Evanne Martin has a knee issue so neither will be involved at the weekend.

“That’s disappointing for us and for them, but we carry a bit panel and that’s part of the reason for it so it’s just next girl up and we have no excuses for Saturday, we’re fit and we’re raring to go.”