Doran insists London is the only focus for Antrim

By Michael McMullan

THERE is an outside chance Antrim can still get promoted from Division Four but manager Mark Doran has squeezed any such narrative from the camp.

The Saffrons welcome London on Sunday and have tunnel vision towards picking up a fourth successive victory.

Antrim need other results to go their way. This is the side of the equation they are ignoring. Internally, nothing else matters. Doran drummed it into the camp on Sunday.

“The only thing we can control is our game against London,” he said. “If boys are half thinking about what’s happening in different places, then, in my eyes, they’re not focused.

“That’s when you’re in trouble and that’s when you can be caught. Our full focus has to be on London.”

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The Exiles come into this weekend with promotion in their sights after back-to-back wins including victory in Carlow.

Doran recalls that the Roscommon team he coached last year were held at half-time in Ruislip.

The Antrim players will also have fresh memories of a tough encounter in last season’s Tailteann Cup.

“If we’re not on it, we’re beat and that’s just as simple as that,” Doran said about Sunday’s encounter.

“That’s one thing I have learned in the league and it’s in every league, if you’re not on it, you’re beat.

“If your mind is five per cent somewhere else, that’s when you’re going to get nipped.

“Our focus is to get that (winning) finish the league, with a bit of momentum behind us and then it’s four weeks out from Derry (in the Ulster Championship).”

After losing their first three games, Antrim were propping up all four divisions but have since turned the corner.

WINNING RATIO

The county had a 25 per cent win record last season and it’s something Doran is keen to better this season. Including the two McKenna Cup defeats, their win rate is 37.5 per cent for 2026 so far.

Doran puts the progress over the last three wins down to three key factors. A higher scoring ratio, the players’ attitude and turning a passive approach into a hunger to hunt down the opposition.

“There is a lot more to improve on, but they’re the three things I would say I’m most pleased about,” Doran said.

The club leagues have kicked into action recently and Doran has released players who have not featured in the league to their clubs to get valuable game time.

Having met club managers earlier in the season, it was something he’d promised. Players need to be playing to stay sharp.

Antrim kicked 4-18 in victory over Waterford last weekend with Peter Healy hitting the net on his return from injury.

Peter Healy scored a goal on his Antrim return last weekend

“Tiernan McCormick made his first start, Tiernan’s another good young player,” Doran added. “Getting Peter Healy 50 minutes was massive.”

Another pleasing aspect was winning the second half despite having to play against a strong wind, something that was put to the squad at the break.

“We got very sloppy and that was disappointing,” added the Antrim boss, pointing to the concession of two two-pointers in the closing stages.

“We still have our own standards to live by and I thought our standards dipped massively in the middle of the second half.

“That’s something I wouldn’t be happy with. I know the performance we put up against Waterford wouldn’t have beat London, no way.

“We’ll have to improve massively from the performance against Waterford. The scoreboard might say something else, but it was far from perfect, there’s a lot to work on.”

While getting Peter Healy back on grass and Tiernan McCormick into the dray were positive signs, there was a negative in the form of Marc Jordan’s quad injury.

The Lamh Dhearg player looks set to miss the London game but Doran will assess Conor Hand (groin) and Niall Burns (ankle) this week to see if they can come into the selection conversation. A hamstring injury has kept Oisin Doherty out since the earlier rounds.

“Peter Healy’s brother (Kristian) plays for London,” Doran added. “He was going well but he got injured against Leitrim.

“I was watching that game back this morning. The two boys could actually come up against each other if he plays.

“Kristian plays left-half forward and he’s a very good player. If he was in Belfast, he’d be in the Antrim panel but he’s working over there.”