Doran expecting Antrim’s showdown to go the distance

By Michael McMullan

WHEN Antrim manager Mark Doran predicts his side’s Tailteann Cup quarter-final with Wicklow will go down to the wire on Saturday, he speaks from experience.

As well as spending a year coaching the Garden County under current manager Oisin McConville, Doran plotted an Antrim victory when the sides met earlier in the season.

At that stage, Antrim were climbing from the bottom of Division Four. Since then, their only blip, after a promising start to the game, was a championship defeat in Derry.

Their Tailteann Cup campaign began with victory in Carlow after a rollercoaster encounter that needed extra-time.

“After 45 minutes, we were 11 or 12 up and were playing really, really well,” Doran said.

When Joe Murphy’s side staged a storming comeback, the Saffrons needed an equaliser to force extra-time.

“We had every excuse to get beaten and the boys showed a serious, serious level of resilience and character,” he added.

It was worth a handful of training sessions to Antrim. They also needed to hang tough to beat Tipperary, another side that they lost to the early stages of the league.

“I’m always a great believer that you win or you learn but we actually won that (Carlow) game and still got serious learning out of it,” he added.

“When everything was going against certain players, it would have been very easy to down tools.

“A lot of boys dug in and they got us out of that and that was probably a big, big learning for us.”

Looking ahead to Saturday, Doran feels it’s a 50-50 game. It’s a case of bringing a high-level performance or facing a season-ending defeat.

He points to a number of factors. Wicklow had only nine of their championship hand available when they lost earlier in the season in Portglenone.

Johnny Carlin has returned after a season with his native Donegal as they went all the way to the All-Ireland final.

Wicklow took Dublin to the absolute pin of their collar in Leinster and should have beaten them.

“If you look at the results of both teams (in recent weeks), wWe beat Tipp by six and they (Wicklow) beat them by eight, so there isn’t a lot between both teams.

“It will be one of those games I think will actually go down to the wire.”

The prize is huge – a semi-final in Croke Park. Both teams have walked that walk in recent seasons.

“These games hinge on a load of different things,” Doran added. “One team could get a serious purple patch and make hay.

“One team could have a purple patch and kick wide-after-wide. I don’t think it will come down to one big thing, I think it will come down to the 400 to 500 wee things that each team does. It’s about who does most of the basics right.”