By Niall Gartland

ANTRIM will be rank outsiders for Saturday’s Ulster Championship round one clash away to Monaghan, but it was ever thus according to manager Donal Laverty.

The Moneyglass man says the Saffrons are accustomed to their perennial underdog status, but this is a particularly taxing championship opener.

The Farney are the form-side heading into the provincial series having clinched the Minor League title, but Laverty says Antrim are adopting a nothing-to-lose approach to proceedings.

“You’re going into the lion’s den there – their confidence will be sky high and they’ll be quite rightly fancied to win the Ulster Championship. It doesn’t really matter where we go, unfortunately – we’re generally underdogs.

“But we’re happy to go down there, do our best, and see where it takes us. We picked up a few things from the league game that hopefully we can implement and improve on.”

Reflecting on their league campaign, Laverty says they were emboldened by an unexpected draw with Donegal, but they were subsequently brought back down to earth with a bump with heavy defeats to Armagh and Monaghan.

“It was a slightly mixed bag. Derry were our first outing, we were really competitive in the first half, but they overran us a bit in the second and we lost our way. Still, it was a good learning curve for the young lads.

“We then played Donegal the next day and drew, which was a really positive result. We came away emboldened and felt we were heading in the right direction. We got a late score to level it, which showed real character.

“We went to Armagh the following week full of confidence and drive, but to be fair, they got 10–15 minutes on top of us and really put us to the sword.

“Then we played Monaghan last week. They’ve been the standout side and they were sharp. We learned a lot from that, but you’re never happy when you’re beaten – especially by 10 or 12 points. In terms of the lads’ endeavour though, we’re been pretty pleased with them.”

Laverty was part of John O’Kane’s managerial set-up last year before stepping into the main gig ahead of the 2026 season.

He recognises that Antrim haven’t fared well at underage level for quite some time, but insists that the structures are in place for players to reach their potential.

“It’s definitely not a lack of trying. We’re chatting to all the other managers and all the groups after the games and we’re not doing much different from the rest.

“We’re providing the boys with a good set-up, nutrition, tactical work, analysis, they’re getting the same as everybody else.

“We’re probably just starting from a lower base, unfortunately, so we’ve a bit more work to do. But we’re trying to make sure we match the other counties in every area to close that gap on the pitch.”