By Shaun Casey

IN the previous 18 months, the Antrim Ladies have only lost two games having gained back-to-back promotions to rise from Division Four to Division Two. Both those beatings were at the hands of Louth.

The first one was at Croke Park last August in the All-Ireland Junior final, when the Wee County edged out their Ulster opponents by two-points. The second was just five weeks ago in round five of the National League.

This time, the Leinster ladies were comfortable 0-15 to 0-6 winners, but Antrim have a chance for revenge this Saturday and once again there will be silverware up for grabs in the Division Three league final at Crossmaglen.

“The loss in the All-Ireland final was tough to take because we were unbeaten up until then. Louth had the grit and the fight on the day to get over the line,” said Antrim’s Ciara Brown ahead of the league decider.

“We played them in the league as well, but we were short a few players, so it wasn’t a very good match. We’re looking forward to getting back at it again. It’ll be our full team against their full team and hopefully we can write the wrongs from last year.

“Another bit of silverware would be absolutely amazing, especially given the high spirits from gaining promotion. All the supporters have been behind us – loads came to that game against Down, so it would be absolutely amazing for them as well.”

Promotion was the initial target for the Saffron County, and they achieved that the last day out with a hard-fought victory over Down. Brown and Laura Agnew nailed the all-important goals to help Antrim grasp a second consecutive promotion.

“Everybody’s spirits are really high, especially after the brilliant win against Down,. Everybody has a positive mindset, training hard and looking forward to the final,” Brown continued.

“I feel like everyone was building that Down game up as being bigger than the final, especially with the chance to get promoted to Division Two.

“That technically was our final and it was a really good game. Down fought right to the very end which made it even better for the spectators too and it was even better getting the win at the end of it.

Ciara also said that a swathe of new rules introduced to the ladies game this season have made things even more enjoyable.

“Promotion is massive for us. Antrim have never played Division Two football so it’s great to be part of the team that makes that bit of history. Getting out of Division Four was the hardest part now that we are out, we’re just on a roll.

“With the new rules coming in, that step up to Division Three maybe wasn’t as noticeable because there were so many other things that teams have had to take into account.

“All the new rules have made the game faster and way more intense, so all those different things have completely changed the game of football but in a really good way.”

There’s been a massive upsurge in Antrim’s fortunes over the past two seasons, and Brown has been loving the journey. Since Chris Scullion and Michael Devlin took over, the rise has been phenomenal.

Antrim gained promotion from Division Four and captured Ulster and All-Ireland titles during Emma Kelly’s four-year stint in charge, but when a host of players departed the scene in 2024, the demise was quick and painful.

Those players have since returned to the fold and things have never been better. Antrim will play Division Two football for the first time ever in 2027, and more trophies could be heading back to the Saffron County before the year is over.

“Whenever we had Emma Kelly and Kyla (Trainor) in with us, we got to the All-Ireland final but the year after that we lost a lot of players, so we had a rebuilding year in between and we were very poor,” Brown added.

“We had a really negative year, we couldn’t get girls out to training, but there’s an extra freshness this year. The managers have built up a really good relationship with the girls and have a really good backroom team around them.

“Lots of the older faces have come back –good girls with massive leadership roles and that’s made a massive difference. We always knew that we could get out of Division Four and once we did, we kept on going and it’s been brilliant.”

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