Antrim's promotion from the basement of the Allianz Football League after three years in Division Four finally ends an incongruous exile for the county, which had the indignity of being the only Ulster county in the bottom half of the league this season.
They will be involved in the first league final of the weekend when they take on Louth in the Division Four decider at Croke Park.
Success on the football field has come as an early boost for Antrim chair Colin Donnelly, who was elected last year as part of the Saffron Vision ticket for change at county executive level. He is confident that the county, which went through the league unbeaten, can hold its own next season.
“Coaching of games and our county teams was high on the agenda,” he said. “It’s been terrific to see our footballers going undefeated at this stage of the year. We don’t see a lot of difference between the teams in three and four so we’re hopeful we’ll be able to hold our own next year.
“It would be great to win on Saturday. It lifts a county and all the other stuff disappears into the background.”
Football in Antrim has been in the paradoxical position of having had some profile in recent years – reaching a first Ulster final in almost 40 years in 2009 – as well as seeing that year’s county champions St Gall’s go on to win the All-Ireland club championship while in more recent times being unable to convince players to line out for the county.
Big challenge
“The talent is definitely there,” said Donnelly, “and the club scene is competitive and there’s good rivalry.
“Although St Gall’s did dominate for a long time, for whatever reason we never seemed to have all the Gall’s players available. It’s a big challenge for a county to become attractive, particularly in the lower ranks. The higher the division the aspiration to play the county game is always greater so you’re trying to encourage players to get involved while maybe the club is saying, ‘well you’re going nowhere there’.”
The first sign of revival last year came with Frank Fitzsimons's decision to recruit new management personalities. Gearóid Adams, son of Sinn Féin leader Gerry, an inter-county player for a decade and a former selector with Antrim, was appointed joint-manager and former world super-middleweight champion Brian Magee, came in to work on fitness.
"Gearóid Adams and Brian Magee came in," said Donnelly, "and in fairness to Frank Fitzsimons, who did the job last year, he was wise enough to freshen up the back-room team. Gearóid is well respected for having played for the best part of 10 years for the county team and I think it had an impact on the players who decided to stick around . . .
"He managed to convince a few of them that they still had the legs left and that galvanised them. You could see after a two or three games the difference. The likes of Michael McCann and those fellas; they made the difference in a couple of games and Kevin Niblock – the captain – has led by example right from the off.
“We seem to have a good complement of the Gall’s players and from Cargin, who are the county champions. At the moment things are looking very united.”
Efforts are also being made to strengthen the foundations of the game in the county with plans to finance the sort of systems already in place in the strongest counties.
"We're launching in the next couple of weeks a fund raising campaign over the next nine months or so to try and put resources into the development squads. There's certainly a bit of talent coming through but it's work in progress and we're talking to Croke Park about getting some help because we've no more than five full-time coaches and you're never going to get the job done, particularly with the challenge of Belfast. "
After the league final, the focus switches to the clash with Fermanagh in the championship. “If you could choose who you were going to play, Antrim and Fermanagh would choose each other.”
