27 June 2010
Antrim senior football was put to the ultimate test today, in terms of going into the lions den and facing up to the fury of a team inspired by the desire to pay tribute to the memory one of their former County Chieftains. Kildare players were fired up with emotion and the pain of loss was marked by their supporters, who were out and in the ground in their tens of thousands. The scene was all but a sea of lily white and their intimidating presence was awesome.
Bakers lads, proud and prepared, were honed and toned and came through this ultimate test with honours, after one of the toughest encounters they are ever likely to face. These lads have endured a programme of tough discipline and seemingly endless demands in terms of hard training; after today they will all better appreciate the value of this and also better understand that this is the price to be paid in order to withstand the might of more experienced teams in championship football.
These lads have evolved from lambs to lions over the past two years and their performance today should finally dispel any lingering or residual doubts that as a team they have the bottle. Admiration and lasting respect was their reward today. For those who made the journey down they must have been unbelievably ecstatic and proud to be true Antrim supporters today.
The memories of this epic battle and resultant draw at 15 points each will feed down through a generation; that is beyond question. Victory today was all but impossible for Antrim or so it seemed. Defeat was struck off the agenda at outset. Today was a critical milestone in terms of Antrim’s further progress. The benefit of any doubt, in terms of adjudication, was never to be theirs today and they were granted no favours. In the circumstances a draw was as much as could be extracted.
The replay in Casement next week will offer Bakers lads another and well deserved opportunity to dig in and out-perform to their home crowd with a further chance to demonstrate that they have in truth now graduated in championship football. These guys have stamped respect on an Antrim top and wherever that is now seen or worn it will become a symbol pride and herald a new dawning for Antrim Gaels. The time has come to join up with the saffron Army and march proud again. If in doubt ask any one of those people or whole families of proud Antrim Gaels, who are already joined up and marching?
This was a proud day for Bakers boys. They could all so easily have capitulated in the intimidating atmosphere but instead they fought a running battle, side by side for more than 90 minutes, like true warriors and faced this inordinate task with grit and determination , doing us all proud; they are worthy of and will have earned our lasting respect for that. This was one of those Gaa matches which will be a topic of conversation at wakes and weddings near and far for another generation. Being there for the adrenalin feast really was something else; it is now 3 00 am., [got home just before 2 00am.] I am knackered. Well done lads .
Lawrence Smyth county PRO.
