Bradley slams disappointing Antrim

Antrim Senior football manager Liam Bradley severely criticised his team after they slumped to a nine point defeat to Kildare in Belfast on Sunday.

After earning a draw with Kildare at St. Conleth’s Park in Newbridge on 26 June, Antrim conceded 1-15 in their ‘fortress’ of Casement Park, and only managed 9 points in reply. Bradey described the performance as “shambolic.”

“We’re disappointed,” Bradley stated. “It’s another big day that we let ourselves down. That’s two league finals we’ve lost and the championship final last year against Tyrone.

“Again now, we’ve lost another big one. When the chips are down, one or two guys just can’t seem to step up to the plate. It’s something we’re going to have to look at.

“We have some of the best players in Ulster but in the second-half we just didn’t perform. It’s a problem with Antrim teams down through the years that when push comes to shove they lay down and certainly in the second-half, whenever, Kildare put on the pressure, we had no answer to it.”

Kildare will now face Leitrim at St. Conleth’s Park on 10 July in the second round of the qualifiers.