Saffrons eye title defence says skipper Devlin

By Michael McMullan

ANTRIM face Derry on Saturday in Ballymaguigan as they begin the defence of their Ulster Junior title.

The Saffrons have been on both sides of drama at the business end of the league.

A last-gasp winning goal against Down clinched promotion to Division Two but they were left unstuck by a late Louth push in the league final.

For captain Bronagh Devlin, they’ll not allow the disappointment to spill into their championship preparations.

Derry keep on clocking up the hard yards

“Having won it (Ulster) last year too, you want to retain that title,” she said. “I think we’re not letting the loss against Louth make any impact on that. We’re just still pushing on, working on our own tactics and our own style of play. We’re working on things that we did learn in that Louth game.”

Derry, London and Antrim will play off in a round-robin with the top two playing in the final.

Antrim will also lock horns with Derry when the All-Ireland series rolls around the corner too.

It has been an excellent season. Promotion wasn’t a major focus until a run of results brought it into view. Then, why not?

“I think that wee bit of success last year helped,” Devlin said. “Yes, we were unfortunate in the All-Ireland final (defeat to Louth), but I think that helped us.

“With the long season, it’s easier just to push on and you still have that behind you.”

The familiar faces from last season have merged with newcomers drafted in to freshen and bolster up the squad.

The lessons of defeat have echoed through and were highlighted by losing to Louth in the recent league decider.

“We’re not scoring as much in the last five, 10 minutes as we want to,” Devlin said.

“It’s things like that that we’re actually really working on and we’re trying to get better at.

“We were fairly unlucky against Louth. They were absolutely deserving winners on the day.

“There has been plenty of learning, between that game and through the whole of the league.

“We’ve definitely learned a lot as a team, through the management team and hopefully that just means we’re going in the right direction.”

Experience

Another element is the form of Moneyglass and the experience gained from winning the previously elusive Ulster senior title followed by a win over Kilmacud Crokes to book an All-Ireland final spot.

Despite coming up short in the decider, and against Louth with Antrim last season, the experiences gained have been invaluable.

“It definitely does stand to you,” Devlin said. “You want to help the other ones prepare as much as you can as well.

“A final is a big day for everybody but you just want to help everybody else as you can and prepare yourself.”

Devlin can also see the increased progress in football across the county. There were a handful of St Brigid’s players on the Knock team that won the All-Ireland Schools title.

There were Antrim girls on the St Mary’s, Magherafelt side they beat in the Ulster final and the school scene has been generally vibrant. Devlin can see the talent in the county’s u-16 and minor teams.

“It’s nice to know that there’s that wee bit of a future there,” she added. “As a senior team in Antrim, we want to keep pushing on and stay up in Division Two.

“We want to keep ourselves ticking over and hopefully add a bit more silverware. It’ll be something that all those girls coming up through will want to do in the coming years.”