By Padraig McCotter

Paddy Cunningham, Antrim, in action against Killian Young, Kerry.

Last year was a great time for us Antrim fans; a win against Donegal in Ballybofey, beating Cavan in Clones for a shot at Tyrone in the Ulster Final. Most of us hadn’t seen success like it-and it was great! Although beaten by Tyrone we were still happy at the limited success and hopeful that Baker and his team would bring us further this year.

Ok, we got Tyrone in the first round of this year’s championship-but it was in Casement. We had seen our lads stroll through division 3, and what about St.Gall’s winning the all-Ireland on St.Patrick’s day. This was a new era for Antrim Gaels and we were going to enjoy every minute of it. Roll on the 23^rd May!

Every year we scan the papers for positive articles from the ‘experts’ and we are usually referred to as ‘also ran’s’ but it never deterred us from travelling to other venues throughout Ulster. In fact part of the craic was going away and making a day of it. Although beaten on most of the occasions on the road we were still wearing our geansaí with pride.

This year was going to be different. The media took a greater interest in the build up, with more interviews with the players and staff. We devoured it all and this led to even more optimism that we could beat the mighty Tyrone with their all stars. We hoped the rumours of a rift in their camp were true and that Cavanagh and O’Neill may not be playing.

There may not have been the same amount of flags flying as there was prior to the Ulster final but this didn’t mean the support wasn’t there. Apprehension was in the air coupled with quiet optimism and so as the big day got closer all the talk was about team selection.

I was in Coalisland on the Wednesday (wearing my Antrim geansaí!) and as soon as I was spotted I started getting a ribbing about Tyrone going to turn us over.  Of course I had to tell them about our great forward line and how they were going to give their backs a headache! They countered this with the names of all-Ireland winners and all those household names we have to come admire-but not necessarily like! On my way home to Belfast I was starting to have doubts about Sunday.

On Sunday morning I was up texting to see who had the tickets but most of us were out of luck and so decided to meet at our usual spot on the hill facing the stand. The weather forecast was for a sunny day so the geansaí and shorts were ironed, a good (and not too healthy!) breakfast was eaten-then down the road to Casement.

The atmosphere and banter was great between the fans outside the clubs and pubs and this led to a carnival atmosphere.

So after a few pints it was inside to watch the second half of the minor match. The crowd was getting bigger and louder but unfortunately for our lads it didn’t help as they were beaten by a very good Tyrone team.

The senior teams ran on to the pitch to great cheers from the thousands packed into the ground. The parade, the anthem then the throw-in and it was game on. Tyrone got off to a great start and they kept the pressure on for the rest of the first half. We were really concerned this could be a rout and we all had different opinions as to who should come on as substitute.

Antrim came out in second half a different team and turned a nine point lead into just three. It was then we really believed the lads would go on to win, but Tyrone showed all their experience and ended up winning by four points.

We headed into the club where we met some of the players who were obviously downbeat but as we told them there are the qualifiers and anything can happen. So roll on the next match when we go through it all again-but hopefully with a different result!