Sunday 18 May 2008

Deja vu for the Saffrons

Feeling a huge sense of deja vu tonight after Antrim's defeat today at the hands of Cavan at Casement Park.
Like on so many occasions in the past 30 years, Antrim came up short when it was needed most.
After a poor start they played their way back into the game with some patches of good football only to concede a soft goal right before half time to let Cavan back in the lead.
The game was won and lost immediately after half time however when there was only two points between the sides.
Antrim missed a couple of chances and kickable frees and when the Breffnimen realised they were off the hook they opened up a six-point lead with Seanie Johnston torturing the Antrim defence.
We just don't have a forward of Johnston's class.
Young CJ McGourty for example flatters to deceive, wants the ball in space all the time while Johnston gets down and gets dirty to win ball when he shouldn't as well as reading where the crumbs are going to come from.
The game quickly turned into a damp squib and Antrim increasingly played like headless chickens, carrying the ball forward into poor positions, shooting when the easy pass was on and the forward movement was pretty poor.
Micheal Magill did make a difference in the second period giving Antrim at least a little physical power in the forward line.
Felt sorry for Antrim boss Jody Gormley today because he hasn't got a lot at his disposal to work with.
That's us condemned to the Tommy Murphy once again and all in all the season has already been a step backwards.
Our nerve went when promotion from the poorest league in football was there for the taking and that lack of confidence showed again today when some of our players realised the game was there for the taking.
So we have failed on all our pre-season targets, promotion from Division 4 and an opportunity to win a home championship game against another Ulster side who are struggling to keep up with the provincial pace setters.
Donal Keogan's team however, can now look forward to at least two more games in the championship.
Johnston's performance continues a run of great form and with McCabe as versatile as ever they will be a physical tough side to beat.
They won't win anything but no one will enjoy playing them.
There are no signs in the short term that our misery will end in Antrim, however I do believe that the current county board is attempting to address years of complacency and no one is under any illusion that an Antrim revival is anywhere close on the cards.
Wonder what Micko's doing next year?

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