Antrim captain Peter Healy believes Enda McGinley has left the senior football squad in a better place, but admits his departure was a shock to the players.
A three-time All-Ireland winner with Tyrone, McGinley stepped down from his role as senior football manager after two years in charge of the Saffrons in the wake of their Tailteann Cup defeat to Leitrim last weekend.
Healy bagged a second half goal in Carrick-on-Shannon as Antrim mounted a comeback having trailed by eight points at the break, but Andy Moran’s men held on to claim a deserved 2-14 to 1-12 victory.
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It was a bitterly disappointing end to a season which at one point hinted at back-to-back promotions for Antrim.
“No, as players we weren’t expecting it. Enda (McGinley) spoke to myself after the Leitrim game and the players - everyone was surprised by it," said Healy.
“It is disappointing the way things happened and nobody wanted to see the season end like that.
“Over the last two years, there’s no way Antrim have taken a step back.
“The team that played the Tailteann Cup game at the weekend was a very young team and lots of lads were gaining Championship experience.
“The team that is going into next season is a young, fit, hungry team and that’s not the team that was there before Enda arrived. He has to take a lot of credit for bringing Antrim forward.”
While the likes of goalkeeper Michael Byrne and Cargin duo Jamie Gribbin and Pat Shivers made their senior Championship debuts this term, Antrim lost the services of experienced full-back Ricky Johnston before their 13-point Ulster SFC defeat to Cavan in Corrigan Park.
Goalkeepers Oisin Kerr and Luke Mulholland also departed the panel forcing McGinley to draft in veteran stop-stopper Chris Kerr as back-up to Byrne.
In the build-up to their Tailteann Cup opener, it was also confirmed that Tomas McCann, Eunan Walsh and Marty Johnston left the Antrim set-up for various reasons following the Cavan loss while both Mick McCann and James McAuley were injured.
Despite the absence of so many experienced players, Healy insists Antrim were determined to give the new Tailteann Cup their all, but says they missed far too many scoring chances against Leitrim.
“I think, when you look back at this year, the big loss was probably Ricky (Johnston) going to America,” said Healy.
“Different people step away for different reasons and it is an issue for other smaller counties as well.
"When you get two or three years into a manager’s tenure, there are always lads who feel like they should be getting more time and that they’d be better spending their time with their club.
“I think there was a good buy-in from the players in Antrim and there wasn’t a bad mood in the camp or anything.
“The year started so well and we were going brilliantly in the League. We took a real shock during the Louth game. We just didn’t show up and, after that game, we struggled with confidence and we didn’t have the same confidence in our own game.
“In the Cavan game, we were low on confidence and we were timid and Cavan just ran over the top of us that day.
“Going into the Tailteann Cup, to be fair, we were well up for it - we saw it as a second chance for us.
“We threw the shackles off a bit and it was a really open game, but we missed far too many chances in the first half. We missed three goal chances in the first half.
“The manner of the Championship defeats make things look really bad, but I don’t think things are as bad as they appear at this stage.”
While Antrim begin the search for McGinley’s successor, a number of players will ponder their inter-county futures in the coming weeks.
It remains to be seen if a new management set-up can convince the likes of Mick and Tomas McCann and Conor Murray to return for the 2023 campaign, but Healy is hopeful that the majority of the squad will remain intact.
“I think if you look at what Paddy Cunningham did for Antrim last season, he worked so hard to get himself into shape,” added the St Enda’s clubman.
“His role was maybe 10 minutes at the end of each game, but the amount he brought to everyone else in the changing room and on the training pitch was huge.
“For some of the young forwards in the team, it was brilliant to have Paddy Cunningham around.
“It is the same with the midfielders looking up to Mick McCann - you want to keep those experienced lads around.
“I am sure a few boys will have a tough decision to make in the coming weeks, but I’d like to see them sticking around. There’s definitely a role for Mick McCann in the Antrim set-up in the next few years as well as Conor Murray, Tomas (McCann) and James Lavery.”
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