By Michael McMullan

AGHAGALLON manager Pete McGrath is “under no illusions” at the task of beating St Brigid’s this weekend but believes they can and knows it’s a must-win game.

Losing at home to Ahoghill in the opening game left them on the back foot and qualification not within their own hands.

While there is a sequence of events where they still could go out, victory will take Aghagallon through to the quarter-finals unless Ahoghill really do a number on St Paul’s to take them through on score difference.

As it stands, Aghagallon have a +24 points score difference on Ahoghill. The calculator finish is something Aghagallon are familiar with.

St Brigid’s knocked them out of last year’s championship with a two-point defeat when McGrath’s sided need a seven-point win to make the knock-out stages. This weekend is more clearcut.

“If you win by one point, that’ll be fine,” McGrath said. “It does make it, I suppose, more straightforward psychologically in players’ minds and in the minds of management.

“There it is, black and white. We need a big performance. We know what St Brigid’s are capable of and we’ve got to match that and we’ve got to be better than that.

“It’s a sudden death game for us and when we’re in that situation, the players know that there’s no room for error, there’s no room for any kind of complacency.”

McGrath laments their defeat to Ahoghill. It was a game he felt they could’ve and should’ve won. It left their St Paul’s game a vital one to keep them in the title race.

“It was important to get over that disappointment and put in a big performance and get the right result against St Paul’s which we did,” he said.

“The team played very well, it was a good flow with the team.

“They certainly played with a lot of cohesion and energy and needless to say it’s going to take all of that in our final group game now against St Brigid’s. It’s a game we really have to win.

“You look at the mathematics of it, to give ourselves a fighting chance of going through the quarter final a win is vital.

“There might be other circumstances which you might not have to win the game but they are very problematic.”

Not the task is clear. The performance level needs to be raised. It’s the same with their energy levels. St Brigid’s will test them.

“They are strong physically and experienced, so we are under no illusions about the task that we face,” McGrath said.

“I think we have got the potential to get the result, get the performance and hopefully get through the quarter-final.

“It’s a game that will test us mentally and I’m confident that the players are in a good place.

“If we get the performance that we’re capable of, I think we’ll win the match. It’s going to be highly competitive. It’s a big ask, but we’re capable of getting there.”

St Brigid’s are recent league champions and have been knocking on the championship door. Aghagallon lost back-to-back finals, one against Cargin when they were in a position of strength.

“If you were going to take the top five or six teams in Antrim and try and identify them, St Brigid’s and Aghagallon would be in there,” McGrath said, setting the scene for battle.

“There really hasn’t been very much between the two teams when we have met in championship matches over the last number of years. This will probably follow the same pattern. It’s a game that we simply have to get something out of, full stop.

“St Brigid’s are already qualified but they will be very keen to finish top of the top of the section, I’m sure.

“It’s a genuine championship match. When that’s the case, teams and players simply have to be at their best. That’s the lie of the land at the moment.”