Derry v Antrim: Saffrons need a perfect day to prevail
For Antrim to upset the odds at Celtic Park on Saturday [17:00 BST], manager Mark Doran feels "it will take a lot of things to go right for us and a lot to go wrong for Derry".The Saffrons enter the game as rank outsiders to end their wait for a first victory on the provincial stage since 2014, going into the backyard of an Oak Leaf side that rediscovered its spark in Division Two this year.Last year, Antrim pushed then All-Ireland champions Armagh for 45 minutes at the quarter-final stage, but ran out of steam as Kieran McGeeney's side pulled away.Sustaining a 70-minute performance is imperative if Antrim are to upset the odds, but Doran is "under no illusions about the size of the task"."All we can do is prepare the best we can, embrace it and for 70 minutes, give the best versions of themselves and you never know what will happen," the Longstone native told BBC Sport NI."You'd hope the players would take great confidence from that [Armagh game]. It's another year and we're going to Celtic Park, but the one thing we can control is making sure we are set up right and hopefully go and give a massive performance."It will take a lot of things to go right for us and a lot to go wrong for Derry, but it's championship and we all love sport as you never know what can happen."Doran is no stranger to Derry football, having managed Slaughtneil in recent years and will come up against some of his former players this week including Brendan Rogers and Shane McGuigan.However, Ciaran Meenagh's side is littered with quality which Doran knows only too well."It's easy saying you can shut them down, but doing it is a different matter," he accepts."Shane is one of the top forwards in Ireland, Brendan one of the top midfielders but you can play him anywhere."My three years in Derry I've seen so many good footballers, but with Shane and Brendan, they are really good people and you put that aside for 70 minutes and see if you can stop them."Derry v Antrim is live on BBC Two NI, the BBC iPlayer, BBC Sport NI website & app.
