Brennan aims to keep champions Cargin on course for title hat-trick

FORMER Derry boss John Brennan is in his fifth season as manager of reigning Antrim senior football champions Cargin and he has yet to lose a championship match.

The Lavey native guided the Toome outfit to county championship titles in 1999 and 2000 before taking over at the helm for a second term and masterminding further successes in 2015 and last year.

Tomorrow Brennan hopes to see his side atone for what he views as a lapse last weekend when they came close to falling by the wayside against a spirited St John’s side when the teams finished all-square in a tense Antrim semi-final.

They may have diced with danger but afterwards Brennan hailed his players courage and character, his sentiments certain to prove inspirational in the context of the replay.

Cargin remain firmly focused on making it a hat-trick of titles with Michael McCann, Justin Crozier, Kevin O’Boyle, James Laverty, Michael Magill, Tony Scullion and Tomas McCann providing an experienced underbelly within their line-up.

Meanwhile, Middletown will be backboned by Armagh county aces Ryan Gaffney, Cathal Carvill, Nathan Curry and David Carvill when they take on Eire Og (Carrickmore) in the Ulster club intermediate hurling semi-final at Corrigan Park, Belfast tomorrow (12.45pm).

In the other semi-final, Paddy Henry will shoulder Lavey’s scoring hopes when they face Patrick Sarsfields (Antrim) at Davitt Park, Lurgan (2.30pm).