Aontroim Abú

When a once-in-a-generation miracle, such as Antrim reaching an Ulster football final, takes place, we usually ask ourselves, 'how should we cover that in the papers?' and more often than not we can check out how a similar event was covered in the Andersonstown News.

Not this time though. The last time Antrim appeared in an Ulster final was 1970 when they were unlucky to lose against Derry and the Andersonstown News wasn't started until 1972.

So, we really are in unchartered waters – and it's wonderful.

To be in Clones last night was heaven; especially as we've been too long in the limbo of failure and underachievement which has been Antrim county football.

These young players – Loughry, McKeever, Brady, Burke — were a thrill to watch. Confident, uber-fit, composed, effective. What a great outfit. How many times have I seen Antrim teams give up trying to kick from the goalkeeper to midfield because the opponents dominate that area? Too many times. So when the Cavan goalkeeper started to prefer short passes out to his backs than kicking to the middle of the pitch, I knew this was our day.

The TV images may not have done justice to the irreverent and ebullient Antrim fans with their chants of "Boris" (I don't know either), "Mossy" (for the powerhouse which was Tomás McCann), "Oh to be, oh to be, oh to be a Saffron". They even booed the Cavan side when they eventually appeared for the second half. Not very sporting, surely, but the cheers for Antrim (there were no handclap cheers by the Cavan followers) disconcerted Cavan players and fans and helped turn the tide in favour of the ór-bhuí.

Long may it last. And dare I say that if the Antrim players can perform to the same level as they did for much of the first-half against Cavan, then they can take Tyrone too.

(Our pic shows Kevin O'Boyle celebrating at the final whistle in Clones.)