Yahoo News Fermanagh vs Antrim: Peter Healy says a fresh approach helped end 11-month injury nightmare
Tailteann Cup quarter-final: Fermanagh vs Antrim (Saturday, 6pm, Brewster Park)
Peter Healy doubted he’d line out for Antrim this season so he was grateful for a brief cameo appearance against London last weekend.
However, the St Enda’s clubman will be hoping Andy McEntee gives him more than 90 seconds on the pitch on Saturday evening as the Saffrons take on Fermanagh in the Tailteann Cup quarter-final at Brewster Park (6pm).
Antrim needed a second goal from Ruairi McCann to see off the challenge of London (3-11 to 2-10) at Corrigan Park last Sunday with Healy making his first appearance of the season deep in stoppage-time.
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After fracturing his foot against Meath in the Tailteann Cup semi-final last year, Healy suffered a number of setbacks in his bid to regain fitness and revealed that a change in approach helped him put his injury woes behind him.
“It was good to be back at the weekend anyway. I changed my mindset from trying to rush back to taking it easy and taking a more cautious approach,” said Healy.
“I think the pressures of the GAA in general meant I was always trying to make it back for this game or that game. I had two big setbacks and when it came to the Down game in the Ulster Championship, I felt like I probably wouldn’t get back this year at all.
“The plan was to get a good run in the Tailteann Cup and I could make it back for the later rounds. Hopefully, I’ll get a bit more than 90 seconds this weekend and I’ll see how I get on in training this week.
“Hopefully, we can get over that and have more games to look forward to. It has been a hard year and a lot has gone into it.”
Healy will be as determined as ever to make sure that his season is prolonged for at least another weekend.
A return to Croke Park is the prize on offer this weekend with both Tailteann Cup semi-finals scheduled for HQ on Sunday June 23.
“In terms of motivation, we felt we didn’t do ourselves justice in Croke Park last season against Meath in the semi-final. That game probably got away from us.
“We want to try and right the wrongs from last year. That’s not going to be straightforward this weekend, but we won’t be lacking in motivation.
“There’s probably four or five lads in the team this year who weren’t there last year and they’ve come on leaps and bounds - the likes of Ryan McQuillan.
“I know it was a big thing for us last year playing in Croke Park and another handful of players will want to play their first game in Croke Park again this year.”
After being pipped by Sligo on points difference in Group Two after a thrilling 0-20 each draw in Kingspan Breffni, the Saffrons were forced to go through the preliminary quarter-finals and will be away from home this weekend with a rejuvenated Fermanagh next up.
Kieran Donnelly’s men were comprehensively beaten by Armagh in Ulster, but have recorded a hat-trick of wins over Carlow, Laois and Wicklow and have home advantage this weekend.
Antrim edged out the Ernemen round three of the competition last year, but Fermanagh won the League game in Corrigan Park and Healy is anticipating another close battle.
“No disrespect to Carlow last year, but we had a week off and then a home quarter-final to get to Croke Park. This year, we’ll have played three games in three games,” added the Antrim skipper.
“Fermanagh will fancy themselves and we’ll fancy ourselves against them. We’ve played them a lot over the years and there’s a bit of a rivalry there and the games have been so close.
“We were ahead against them in Corrigan Park last year in the League and they came back and beat us and then we beat them in Armagh in the Tailteann Cup.
“We are really looking forward to it. They are a very good, dynamic side with a couple of really good forwards.”
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