Tommy delighted to be back in the heat of battle

Sipping from his water bottle, Tommy Freeman took a big gulp and surveyed the scene he missed so badly last year — Clones on a hot summer day, Monaghan people cheering louder with every point.

Freeman was in America last year when Monaghan were crashing to defeats by Tyrone and Offaly.

And although a hamstring injury curtailed his involvement yesterday, there was no mistaking his intent.

“It’s good to be back and I am looking forward to more. I missed last summer, I was missing the football big time,” he admitted.

“I would have rather been here but work-wise I had no other choice but to go. If you can’t enjoy your football on a day like this, you shouldn’t be here and I am delighted to be able to come on and contribute two points for the team.

“We stayed calm and stuck to the game plan. In other years we might have panicked but we broke them down eventually.”

Antrim manager Liam Bradley was left to wonder what might have been. His team regressed into their shell from a winning position.

“It hard to take defeat here because it’s a game we should have won,” he said.

“We had plenty of opportunities. We didn’t push on from the goal. I think we only scored a point after it.

“We were thinking about an Ulster title. We felt we were on the right half to get to the final anyway.

“They got a couple of wee handy ones too. I talked during the week about a few hometown decisions and they got that. I’m not saying anything against Maurice [Deegan] but we seemed to have to work harder for the frees than they had to.”