Cork should be wary of walking into a Corrigan Park ambush this Saturday, Antrim legend Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton has warned.
Fresh from winning a dramatic Joe McDonagh Cup final last weekend, the Saffrons welcome Cork to Belfast for an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final.
The odds are stacked against a home win but Laois made light of that in similar circumstances three years ago when beating Dublin and, with Cork facing a lengthy trek north to an unfamiliar venue where Antrim have a decent recent record against top opposition, many of the conditions for a shock victory are already in place.
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“Big time,” said McNaughton. “It’s a tight pitch. It’s definitely not a Croke Park and Antrim have nothing to lose.
“Antrim’s in a great position. Like, Antrim can go at this game without any pressure.
“I’d imagine they’ll play a sweeper, I’d imagine they’ll try and tighten the defence up and stay in the game for as long as they can and try and get Cork to press the panic button like and if it comes down to a dogfight anything can happen.”
Antrim performed well against the higher ranking counties in the League but then slumped to a defeat against struggling Laois which left them in danger of relegation to Division 2A, which they managed to avert.
They made hard work of beating Kerry in last Saturday’s McDonagh Cup final and McNaughton believes that they struggle with the mantle of favourites, something which won’t bother them this Saturday.
