By Michael McMullan

ANTRIM vice-captain Ana Mulholland said victory on Sunday would mean the world and hopes their unbeaten run will stand to them on All-Ireland final day.

The Saffrons face a Louth team who operated a division above them in the league and Mulholland is fully aware of Sunday’s hurdle.

“We’re feeling confident, everyone’s feeling good and up for the game,” she said.

“Louth will have that experience behind them of playing in Division Three. It’ll probably come down to a bit of game management, the way that it did in the Sligo game with the subs coming on.”

Mulholland points to the deeper panel this season and how they’ve been able to put players into the action.

Their impact players have either scored, created assists or made a general impact.

“Our managers always say our panel never weakens, it just strengthens whenever someone else comes on,” Mulholland said, full of praise for the impact Mickey Devlin and Chris Scullion have made after steering her club Glenavy to success.

“That’s why the depth is so important this year because the subs have made such an impact.

“They’ve got a score every time someone’s come on so hopefully it’ll be the same again on Sunday.”

Antrim have banged in goals galore, making use of their pace and it’s helped churn out a set of winning results to already secure promotion and a league title.

While they added the Ulster title, their performances dipped and that’s why Mulholland pinpoints their opening All-Ireland game, victory over Longford, as an important turn.

“We obviously won Ulster but we weren’t really happy with our campaign,” she explained.

“We felt like we could have performed better, especially in the final against Derry

“I think to come away with a really strong win against Longford that day, that sort of set the tone for the All-Ireland campaign which we wanted.

“We were training towards better performances and it proved that day so we just knew we had to let the intensity come to the All-Ireland.”

Antrim didn’t have it all their own way in the league final against Fermanagh and were facing defeat as the game turned into the final ten minutes.

“It was a dramatic finish,” she added. “We were down and Aoibhinn Monaghan came on and scored a goal and put us up and we ended up just holding on for the last few minutes, so that one was quite close.”

In a season that has yielded victory after victory and the two cups available to them, those tight battles will be valuable to Antrim this
weekend.

Finals are different. They take on a new life. Antrim will remember losing the 2021 final and needing a replay to shake of Fermanagh the following year.

There is also the hurt Louth will carry into Sunday, having lost out in last year’s final at the hands of the Erne County. “Being able to see tight games will hopefully stand us this weekend,” she said.

“We know it’s not going to be easy with Louth being finalists last year. It’ll definitely be a close game so hopefully games like the league final and Ulster final as well against Derry will stand to us being able to see out tight games like that.”

Looking inside their own camp, Mulholland likes what she sees. There is also a bond that comes from spending a year toiling towards the same goal.

“It’s class. We’ve had such a good run this year compared to last year, I think it taught us a lot,” she said, pointing to relegation.

“We’ve regrouped this year and have a lot of players back and a lot of younger players stepping up as well.

“Bronagh (Devlin) is our captain this year. She’s a great leader and just leads by example and everyone has bought in with the management as well.

“We have such great depth in the panel which was a thing we were missing last year so it’s a good setup to be involved with.”

The other important factor is keeping the fire lit. It has been a long haul from the first session and with league, Ulster and All-Ireland silverware in their sights, keeping the focus has been important.

How have they managed it? Mulholland pauses briefly before offering their key words – belief and standards. Both rolled into one.

“I think it just comes from the belief in the squad,” she said. “We had the belief from our first league game we believed that we could go all the way.

“Our first goal was to get out of Division Four and then win Ulster. Now we’ve got to the last step of where we want to be.

“I think it’s just the belief that’s got us the whole way. Everyone believed that we could get this far.

“The standards are still as high as they were at the very first game and our management have set the standards so high it’s just maintained the whole year.”

She can recall the scenes of celebration from the 2022. As one of the younger girls, yet to graduate into the senior panel, it gave her a hunger to follow.

“It would mean everything to win on Sunday,” Mulholland concluded.

“We had a great year in intermediate two years ago. I think getting all the way to an intermediate semi-final two years ago just shows that we can compete well at that standard.

“It would be great for Antrim ladies’ football to get out of junior and prove that we can compete well at a higher standard.

“For the younger girls in the clubs and in Antrim underage teams, minor and u-16, to look up to and see that they can play higher division teams and compete at that level would be massive.”

LEAGUE CHARGE…Antrim’s Ana Mulholland in action during their league semi-final win over Leitrim. Photo: Tyler MillerSportsfile

UP FOR GRABS…Antrim captain Bronagh Devlin of Antrim and Louth’s Áine Breen with the West County Hotel Cup. Photo: Brendan MoranSportsfile