OVER the past few weeks and months, Mark Doran has been married to his phone. His intention, after being appointed the new Antrim football manager, is to get the best players in the county out on the field in 2026 and to give their loyal fanbase something to shout about.

Doran has searched high and low for the best talent within the Saffron County since taking charge. Around 90 conversations have been had with numerous players across various different levels. Some turned down the opportunity, others jumped at the chance.

There are fellas back in the fold that thought their county days were long gone. There are others that are living the dream after getting the call up and can’t wait to pull on that jersey for the first time at senior level. The fun starts now.

“I’ve probably had 90 calls with players and any club manager that sent me a name, I was very respectful, I rang the players, and they’ve all been invited in. It’s up to us to get the squad down,” the Longstone man described.

“There obviously was a panel there last year and you have to be respectful of it. You don’t want to be letting boys go without giving them a chance. and it’s something that we’ve been very open minded about.”

While Doran was aiming to win a Derry county title with Sleacht Néill during the club season, he had his eyes on all things Antrim as well. He obviously couldn’t make every game himself but had serious help from within the county in trying to uncover some hidden talent.

“We tried to get to as many games as possible and to be fair to Jerome Quinn, any game we didn’t get to, he sent us the video. It was still challenging, it’s a pity we weren’t allowed to train a month sooner or have trial games because we’re trying to look at as many players as possible.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with Antrim club managers and you’re relying on them to to let us know if there’s a player in their club that is worth a shout. We have an open policy; we will gladly look at everyone.

“I’d say in the panel that Andy (McEntee) had last year, there were about 40 players. Obviously, Dermot McAleese has retired, and I’m going to try and do everything to get him in because he was probably Antrim’s best player last year.

“During the club season, he’s a serious operator and Dermot’s a boy who I’d just love to get back in. I’ve had a few conversations with him but I’m hoping I can twist his arm or maybe the players could twist his arm because he is far too good a player not to come in.”

Retirement isn’t necessarily permanent in Doran’s eyes. Just ask Tomás McCann who, at 37 years of age, is one of those tried and trusted players that is back in the squad, ready to give it another shot, but he isn’t the only returnee.

“Paddy McAleer from Ballymena, he is coming back in too. Paddy would have been a great servant to Antrim, and he took a break last year so getting him back in is a big plus,” Doran explained.

“John McNabb, the Cargin goalkeeper – I’d watched him playing for Cargin and I was really impressed, and it now means we have two really top class goalies in John McNabb and Mick Byrne.

“Kevin Small from Creggan played a couple of years ago and had a bad run with injuries. There’s John Carron, a big midfielder who hasn’t played for Antrim for six or seven years, but he was someone that stood out.

“Pat Shivers didn’t play last year but is back in and Conor Small too, a good forward that hasn’t played in four or five years, is back in as well.

“Then you’ve a couple of younger boys like Conall McGirr of St Gall’s, who I was really impressed with in the (club) championship. Paul Bradley from St Brigid’s has had a lot of injuries but he’s coming in.

“Gaireach Adams from St Gall’s at corner-back is tigerish and somebody that we felt would offer us something and there’s eight or nine others (called up as well).”

The lure of the small ball is too great for some of the others that received invites, however. Throughout the club championship, Dunloy’s Keelan Molloy and Seaan Elliott were two standout players that helped their team claim a seventh ever football title at senior level.

The Antrim Club Championship has been dominated by Cargin for the last decade, but Dunloy ended their wait 89-year wait to be crowned county champions this year, and dual stars Molloy and Elliott were key to their success.

But they’ve thrown their lot in with Davy Fitzgerald and the Antrim hurlers for 2026. That doesn’t mean that they’ll never line out in a county jersey for the football team, just not this time around.

“Keelan and Seaan Elliot, unfortunately they have rowed in behind the hurlers and that’s the way it is, but I couldn’t say a bad word about any of the Dunloy boys, they have been so good when I spoke to them,” Doran added.

“The challenge for us is to make sure we get the best players in Antrim playing. Obviously Keelan Molloy and Seaan Elliott are two top class forwards and at the end of the day they are going to be representing Antrim, it’s just not in football this year but hopefully next year.

“The two boys know the door is firmly opened for them and I have no doubt that, while you won’t see them this conig year in an Antrim jersey playing football, you will definitely see them in the future.

“It was solely down to the players. At the end of the day, Davy wants the best players for the Antrim hurlers, and I want the best players for the footballers, but I had no conversation with Davy.”

Doran comes to Antrim with an impressive CV and coaching background that’s seen him lend a hand in a number of different counties at various levels. As a player, he was a member of Down squad that reached the All-Ireland final back in 2010 but lost out to Cork by one.

He coached his native county under Paddy Tally’s regime. Doran was also involved with Clare, Wicklow and more recently Roscommon while at club level, he’s coached Ballybay to a Monaghan county title and oversaw the fortunes of Sleacht Néill for the past three years.

Doran helped Down earn promotion to Division Two in 2020, coached Clare to a Munster final in 2023, and aided Roscommon’s promotion bid back to Division One in 2025. He also briefly halted Scotstown’s stranglehold on the Monaghan SFC in 2022 with Ballybay.

During that time, he has been able to pick up bits and pieces here and there and learn from some of the top coaches and managers in the game. Now, Doran is excited to put all that into practice as he steps into inter-county management for the very first time.

“I have never spent as much time on my phone. People would say that I’m always on my phone anyway but since Sleacht Néill finished, I’ve been on the phone nonstop,” he laughed, of the difference between managing and coaching at the very top level.

“When I was coaching in Clare, with Roscommon, Wicklow and with Down, you just went in, planned your session and got out whereas now, it is an eye opener, but I have been very lucky in all those places.

“I was with Colm Collins in Clare, and you couldn’t ask for a better man (to learn from). Working under Paddy Tally, in Roscommon with Davy (Burke) and in Wicklow with Oisín (McConville), they are all great men.

“Even in Ballybay, myself and Jerome Johnston were there for two years, so I’ve worked with a lot of good people and taken wee bits and pieces and then I have managed club teams.

“When you are managing the likes of Ballybay and Sleacht Néill, they are club teams, but they’re nearly run like county set-ups. The challenging bit (with Antrim) was getting the management team sorted and the whole backroom team and then the players.”

Pulling a management team together was the starting point. Then the training squad. Cutting that down to the final panel is next. Then the fun part, the matches. The McKenna Cup is just around the corner and Doran can’t wait to get started in early January.

Antrim face a tricky away day trip in the opening round of the preseason competition as they take on Derry, the same side they’ll meet in the championship, before enjoying the comforts of home surroundings in round two when they welcome Ulster champions Donegal to Cargin.

“It’s exciting now that most of the club football is coming to an end and once you get Christmas out of the road, the McKenna Cup is starting which is a big plus and then you have the National League,” he continued.

“It’s been a busy time trying to get a panel together and phone calls and meetings, but it is an exciting time and it’s something we’re looking forward to.”

Antrim showed last year in the first round of the Ulster Championship that they can reach a certain standard and compete at a certain level. They welcomed the-then All-Ireland champions Armagh to Corrigan Park and were ahead at half time after a blistering first-half display.

The Orchard County won comfortably in the end and frustratingly for Antrim, they didn’t push on in the way that performance suggested they could, however that does offer a bit of hope for Doran heading into the new campaign.

Antrim claimed just one win in the Tailteann Cup, over London in the group stages, and exited the competition in the preliminary quarter-finals, at the hands of Wexford, although they did put up a good fight that day.

Consistency is something that Doran wants to bring into the Antrim set-up and pushing for promotion will be one of the big targets in the new year, having been relegated to Division Four football during the National League in 2025.

“They did show in the first 35 minutes against the All-Ireland champions Armagh what they could do, that they could match them. It’s okay to match them for 35 minutes but our job now is to make sure they are consistent,” he added.

“To be fair to Andy, I think they suffered a lot of injuries last year so we’re hoping we’ll have a little bit of luck and it’s about getting back to winning games. The 24th of January, it’s the most important game of the year.

“We have Carlow in the first game of the league and we’re going to have to go after that with everything we have. If we can win that then it will set us up for the next game but if we lose, then we’re under serious pressure.

“There is work to be done between now and then. It’s exciting looking forward to it and against Armagh they showed a wee bit of what they can do but it’s trying to get to that level again and keep the consistency.”

The Saffrons picked up just four National League points in 2025, with their wins coming against Clare and Leitrim (who joined them in relegation) and are back competing in Division Four for the first time since 2020.

Promotion is key, but Antrim aren’t the only side in the basement division eyeing up a quick getaway. While getting the points on the board certainly matters, the short team targets are all that concerns Doran at the minute.

“Once you see the league fixtures it does get the juices flowing but like in all the divisions, there is no easy game,” he insisted. “It’s going to be tough, but Antrim are like everyone else, they want to climb the ladder.

“No doubt the Wicklows, the Leitrims, the Tipperarys and the Carlows, they’ll all be thinking the same. Yes, our aim is that we want to get promoted but our short-term goal is that we want to get the best players playing for Antrim.

“We want to get a team that Antrim supporters can be proud of. Yes, our long-term goal is to try and climb the ladder and get promoted but for the short term, it’s trying to get the best players on the pitch.”