THE GAA have confirmed that Corrigan Park will host the
second round Qualifier meeting between Antrim and Kildare on Saturday, June 22.
The Saffrons had been drawn out first for Monday’s draw and
would have been a designated ‘home’ county in any case owing to their Division
Four status.
However, there were fears that Antrim would, once again, have
to relinquish home advantage for the meeting with the Lilywhites.
With Casement Park closed for the foreseeable and Corrigan
Park deemed insufficient, Antrim were forced to play their Ulster Senior
Football Championship quarter-final against Tyrone in the Athletic Grounds last
month.
There was speculation that Antrim would either play in
Armagh city again or form part of a double-header with Down’s Qualifier meeting
with Mayo in Newry’s Páirc Esler.
Yet, perhaps buoyed by their opponent’s ‘Newbridge or
nowhere’ campaign last year, when they successfully lobbied to have St
Conleth’s Park used for their Qualifier clash with Mayo, Antrim have argued the
case for Corrigan Park.
Following an inspection of the Whiterock Road venue on
Wednesday morning, a site safety certificate was issued by the Belfast City
Council and Croke Park gave Antrim the go ahead to host the game.
It will be the first time Antrim had hosted a home tie in
the Championship since 2016’s round one defeat to Limerick at the West Belfast
ground.
The home of St John’s is limited to just over 2,000
spectators so the game is an all-ticket affair.
Tickets will not be available on the day and are already on
sale from GAA.ie and Centra and Supervalu stores. Clubs wishing to purchase tickets
can do so via the Antrim GAA office.
Antrim captain, Declan Lynch meanwhile, says last Saturday’s
victory against Louth was relief more than anything.
The Saffrons fought back from 1-5 to 0-2 down after a
quarter of an hour to claim their first Championship win in four years at the
Gaelic Grounds.
The victory was Lynch’s first as captain and manager Lenny
Harbinson’s first as manager and the Lámh Dhearg clubman revealed that he urged
his teammates to forget about past defeats in the Saffron jersey.
“It was great; it was more relief than anything,” admits
Lynch.
“The hard work from October and November has paid off and it
made it all the sweeter.
“The boys had said it was the first Championship win in four
years but what I told the lads was: it’s a new team, it’s a new panel and it’s
our first win out of one as a new panel in the qualifiers.
“I don’t want to look at past times – it’s done. It’s a
fresh panel, we’ve went into the qualifiers once and came out with a win.”
Lynch paid tribute to his side’s character and bravery and
at six points down, was still under the impression that they would turn the
game around.
“We’re trying to build something and we’ve shown massive
character and bravery in the panel,” acknowledged Lynch.
“The way it’s went this year, it probably would have been
easy for more boys to walk off the panel and leave it. Everyone can have an
excuse but we dug in today.
“Louth’s first goal was a mistake but Padraig (Nugent)
showed good courage after that and played an even braver kick-out that got us
up the pitch and actually resulted in us getting a score, so it’s great
confidence there.
“We knew, even when we went six down we actually knew we had
it in us.
“We played rightly in stages against Tyrone but still weren’t
happy with our performance then. We dug in and knew we had it in us.
“We weren’t going to give up that easy after training all
year. We weren’t going to let the fans
and ourselves down.”
