By Michael McMullan

NAOMH Éanna go into next month’s Antrim Intermediate Football Championship in confident form having achieved promotion back to Division One.

Former Antrim Chairperson Ciarán McCavana took over as manager last year to help with a rebuild after the club were relegated at the end of the 2024 season.

Between absentees, James McAuley being away on county duty and other injuries, the squad has been depleted, but now they are firmly in the midst of a successful rebuilding process.

“We had been hit with boys going away to Australia and working in Dublin,” McCavana told Gaelic Life.

“It’s basically rebuilding the process,” McCavana said. “We came third in the league last year and we’ve worked hard on rebuilding the team.

“We have a few boys back from Australia. We now have a squad where the two teams, senior and senior reserve, are all part of one entity.

“It’s been enjoyable. The aim was to get us back into Division One, that was always our aim, to get back into senior football in the county and that’s been achieved this year.”

McCavana saw his role as surrounding himself with a management team where everyone had value.

Former player Gerard Crossey came on board as coach and the players have taken to his preparation methods.

Former goalkeeper Paddy Flood is another former player on the management team that also includes Crossmaglen All-Ireland winner Gavin Cumiskey and Ciaran O’Neill, another South Armagh native.

GOING UP…Naomh Éanna have been promoted from Division Two having won all 13 games

Club secretary Séamus Mac Domhnaill takes charge of all the logistics while reserve management duo, Pat O’Hare and Niall McKeefry complete the backroom team.

“It was a nice thing to be involved in,” McCavana said. “I’m proud of the players and the team behind me.

“My job, at the end of the day, is just more coordination. All the boys that are coaching and doing the logistics, they are doing the heavy lifting.”

The important principle was building a squad and that comes from having a reserve team training together.

“We hada policy that if you wanted to push for the senior team, you had to play senior reserve,” he said.

“I didn’t manage the reserve team but we all trained together. I would have been attending their matches.

“Being a club person, I had an understanding of the club. The reserves were important if somebody was finding their way back into the senior team.”

While they missed out narrowly on promotion in 2025, it helped lay the foundations for this season.

“We were able to try things out in Division Two and stick to our principles,” McCavana explained.

“If you were not committed to training, we weren’t making a team. I brought in younger people, and some people returned who were abroad and we built a stronger panel.”

There was also an investment in strength and conditioning that is now beginning to bear fruit.

“I was giving the younger ones a bit more time on the pitch because I know they’ve got a future,” he added.

“They’re now into their second year senior, they’re settling in more and they’re now steady senior players so it’s been a good investment.

“It’s my club, I love it. If I can help get back in Division One and stay there, I’ll be very proud of that.”