Saffrons ‘coming on nicely’ but need a victory boost

A result that suited both counties: that’s how Antrim boss Kevin Ryan saw this fixture when his team, having been first out of the drum in the draw for the first round of the All-Ireland senior hurling qualifiers, then got Offaly.

“I’m sure Offaly are happy anyway, if they could have picked anyone to face they would have picked us. And we’re under no illusions about that.”

Perhaps, but they certainly wouldn’t have picked Ballycastle as the venue! “No, and that’s obviously a huge advantage for us, the distance that’s in it for them. We’re well used to travel and it can be tiring. It’s actually very unusual for us to have home games in the championship because of the set-up in Leinster for the last few years. They changed the format this year though, introduced a round-robin group and because of that we’ve already had a few home games. Hopefully the weather stays good and the crowd comes out; if so it would make for a fantastic atmosphere and if we can perform at all, regardless of result we’ll be happy.”