Antrim must lick their wounds ahead of trip to Tipp

By Michael McMullan

ANTRIM must take their medicine, lick their wounds and find an improved performance against Tipperary in Thurles on Sunday’s Division Four round two clash.

That was the outlook of manager Mark Doran after their defeat at the hands of Carlow in Portglenone last weekend.

“I’m a great believer in you either win or you learn,” Doran said. “We didn’t win, so there was a lot of learning in it.”

Antrim were three points up early on before being hit by two Carlow goals on the back of errors and swift breakaways.

The Saffrons battled back to level the game before Carlow’s rampant start to the second half gave them the lead they held all the way to the end.

Doran pointed to missed frees, a first half shooting efficiency of 35 per cent and being punished after errors in possession.

“They (Carlow) had a plan and they had a bit of momentum behind them in the O’Byrne Cup,” Doran added.

“We’re just going to have to take our medicine. At the end of the day, the best team won. Now we’ve got to dust ourselves down and hopefully, we’ll improve for Sunday.”

Doran highlighted the performances of captain Eoghan McCabe, Oisin Doherty with his two scores and the efforts of Paddy McAleer. Marc Jordan was another who drove forward in the middle third.

“Our response after the two goals was impressive, midway through the first half,” Doran said of their positive attitude. “We went six down and we got it back to a point but we couldn’t clock back in the second half when they went the six up.

“It’s very hard to take positives when you’re extremely, extremely disappointed with a result.

“We’re going to have to learn fast because now we have a long trek to Tipperary and that’s not going to be easy.

“We come here and we fully expected to win the game today; we didn’t and we’ll have to look in the mirror ourselves before anything else.”

While Antrim played challenge games and had two outings in the Dr McKenna Cup, Sunday was their first step towards their target of promotion.

“It’s actually very good to see it under pressure,” Doran added of the Antrim camp.

“It is a new management; we’re finding out about the players every week and they’re finding out a wee bit more about us.

“You learn a lot, good and bad, and that’s something we’re going to have to get right for Sunday.”

Check out this week’s Monday review show, a look back at the NFL weekend, including interviews with Jim McGuinness, Ciarán Meenagh and Mark Doran.