Gaelic Games

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Oisin Smyth says home advantage will be "really important" to Fermanagh as they aim to achieve a first Ulster Football Championship win since 2018 in Saturday's contest against Down at Brewster Park (16:00 BST).

The Erne County have not won a game in the provincial series since Eoin Donnelly's last-gasp fisted goal earned them a dramatic 1-8 to 0-10 semi-final victory over Monaghan seven years ago.

"The home crowd get behind us [at Brewster Park] and hopefully we'll give it a good rattle on Saturday," Derrygonnelly club-man Smyth said of a contest which will be live on BBC Two NI and the BBC iPlayer.

"Antrim showed how important it [home advantage] is, whenever you have the crowd behind you and you put it up to teams physically. Those are the basics."

Both of Saturday's teams will play in Division Three of the Allianz Football League next season with Down suffering relegation despite beating Monaghan in the final round of Division Two fixtures and Fermanagh narrowly missing out on promotion.

Down's impressive display against Monaghan probably makes them marginal favourites but Fermanagh will quietly fancy their chances despite the expected absence of key forward Ultan Kelm, who has had a recurrence of the hip injury that has plagued his career.

In Kelm's likely absence, much responsibility will rest on Garvan Jones in the Fermanagh attack and Pierce Laverty could be given the task of attempting to curb the forward, who now is playing his club football for Leitrim Gaels after transferring from Derrygonnelly along with his brothers Ryan and Conall, who previously were part of the Erne County squad.

Jones hit four points in Fermanagh's narrow Division Three win over an Offaly team that eventually secured promotion with Erne County skipper Declan McCusker striding upfield to notch their goal that day.

Midfielder Joe McDade also had an impressive league campaign for the Ernemen as did goalkeeper Sean McNally but Smyth said everyone will have to perform if Kieran Donnelly's side are to end their seven-year Ulster drought.

"Down were very unlucky not to stay up in Division Two and it's a really competitive Division Two as we found out last year," added Smyth.

"Physically they are probably as good as anyone in the country, so we'll have to match that first and foremost before anything on Saturday."

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Gerard Walsh is expected to be available for Antrim's Leinster Hurling Championship opener against Wexford on Saturday (14:00 BST) despite a recent family bereavement.

The Rossa player's younger sister Fionnuala's funeral took place on Saturday but he returned to county training on Tuesday and is set to be in the matchday squad for the Wexford Park contest when Davy Fitzgerald names his Antrim selection on Thursday evening.

Saturday's game will come too soon for half-forward Niall McKenna who is still a few weeks away from full fitness.

Corner-forward Conor Johnston, who had an impressive Allianz Hurling League campaign for the Saffrons, is also set to miss the encounter after picking up an injury.

Antrim go into the championship after holding on to their Division 1B League status after drawing with Carlow in their penultimate game before hammering relegated Laois in their final fixture.

Wexford, who Davy Fitzgerald previously managed, will Antrim in Division 1B next season after losing their Division 1A status despite beating current All-Ireland champions Clare and previous Liam McCarthy Cup kingpins Limerick.

Defeats by Cork, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Galway meant that Keith Rossiter's side suffered the drop in spite of the victories over the two most recent All-Ireland champions.

Following Saturday's opener, Antrim will have home advantage for contests against Kilkenny and Dublin on 27 April and 10 May.

The Saffrons will conclude their Leinster campaign with away games in Galway and Offaly on 17 May and 25 May.

The top three teams in the six-strong Leinster round-robin series will go on to compete in the All-Ireland Championship with the bottom side relegated to next year's second-tier Joe McDonagh Cup.

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Kilcoo have appointed former Monaghan and Clontibret player Martin Corey as their new manager, succeeding Karl Lacey.

Corey will be assisted by former Derry boss Paddy Crozier and Tyrone's two-time All-Ireland winner Joe McMahon.

Corey and McMahon stepped away from their roles in the Meath backroom team under Robbie Brennan last month, while Corey also coached Monaghan during his brother Vinny's time in charge.

Crozier has worked with Kilcoo previously and led Derry to the Division One title in 2008. He also worked with McMahon at Tyrone club Galbally.

McMahon won All-Ireland titles as a Tyrone player in 2005 and 2008 and was also a selector under Feargal Logan and Brian Dooher for the county's 2021 Sam Maguire triumph.

Former Donegal star Lacey stepped down as Kilcoo boss in January after losing the Ulster Club final to Errigal Ciaran.

Kilcoo have won six Down championships in a row. They also lifted Ulster titles in 2019 and 2021 and won the All-Ireland title in 2022 under Mickey Moran.

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Listen to the GAA Social as Down legend Ross Carr sits down with Thomas Niblock and Oisin McConville to discus the Mourne County, asking if he was good enough and the fragility of life.

You can listen to the GAA Social here.

BBC Sport NI pundit Owen Mulligan picks his highlight of the Ulster Championship quarter-final between Tyrone and Cavan.

The Red Hands advanced to a semi-final with Armagh thanks to their 1-24 to 0-20 victory in Omagh.

Read more.

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Antrim beat fellow Ulster county Fermanagh by a score of 2-07 to 0-11 in the Ladies National Football League Division Four final, while Cavan claimed the third-tier crown with victory over Wexford.

The Saffrons were two points behind in the 52nd minute when replacement Aoibhinn Monaghan found the net to turn the final on its head in Clones.

After the sides traded points in the opening minutes Maria O'Neill had found the net for Antrim.

But with Eimear Smyth, who provided a personal haul of 0-7, in fine shooting form the Ernesiders led 0-9 to 1-3 at half-time.

Bronagh Devlin's 0-4 kept Antrim in touch before an eventful closing eight minutes featured not only Monaghan's crucial goal but three yellow cards, two for Fermanagh and one for Antrim.

Things were more comfortable for Cavan who enjoyed a seven-point margin of victory over Wexford in Drogheda.

Their 2-10 to 0-9 win came courtesy of a goal in either half from Lauren McVeety and Ellie Brady.

McVeety also provided a pair of points, while Aisling Gilsenan scored 0-3.

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Armagh's hopes of back-to-back Ladies National Football League Division One titles were dashed in a 4-14 to 0-11 defeat by All-Ireland champions Kerry in the decider at Croke Park.

Having lost out to Armagh in last year's top-tier decider – a few months before their All-Ireland triumph – the Kingdom emphatically reclaimed a trophy they had most recently won in 2023.

Niamh Carmody hit Kerry's opening goal in the seventh minute with a shot that looped over Armagh keeper Anna Carr.

Livewire corner-forward Danielle O'Leary notched Kerry's second major six minutes later after a Siofra O'Shea goal attempt had come back off the woodwork.

After Kerry's lightning start, a Lauren McConville point finally got Armagh off the mark which was quickly added to by a brace of Eve Lavery points for the Ulster champions.

As Niamh Henderson and Niamh Reel kicked further Armagh points, the Orchard County women seemed to be finally getting a foothold into the contest but they were then rocked by another Kerry goal just half-time as Jadyn Lucey netted.

Trailing 3-4 to 0-5 at the break, an Armagh comeback looked a big ask.

Aoife McCoy and Niamh Henderson went close to rattling the Kingdom net after the resumption but any small hopes they had of getting back into the contest were ended when a speculative shot by Lucey ended up in the Armagh net on 37 minutes.

Kerry kept the scoreboard ticking over with four points without reply courtesy of Carmody, O'Shea, Niamh Ni Chonchuir and O'Leary.

To Armagh's credit, they did persevere with their challenge during the closing quarter of the game with substitutes Caoimhe McNally and Kelly Mallon finding the target to supplement four additional points from Reel.

But with O'Leary (two), O'Shea and Rachel Dwyer all firing over scores of their own, Kerry eased towards a deserved victory.

As I touched on last week, Armagh will be putting a lot of energy into the Ulster Championship this year.

They have lost the last two Ulster finals on penalties and I have no doubt they will throw everything at this championship to try and lift the Anglo-Celt for the first time since 2008.

Some of their - the likes of Stefan Campbell, Rory Grugan and Aidan Forker - have been knocking on the door of Ulster for a long time and their desire to add a provincial title to their CV is part of what makes Armagh dangerous in this series.

Kieran McGeeney is obviously without the services of Rian O'Neill at the moment. His absence could hurt Armagh later in the summer, but they should have enough depth and scoring power to see off Antrim on Saturday.

Armagh's Ulster wins over Antrim in 2021 and 2023 had 13 and nine-point margins. If Armagh click into gear early on Saturday, it could be a similar story.

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Armagh's team for Saturday's Ulster Football Championship contest against Antrim at Corrigan Park (12:30 BST) includes only six of last July's All-Ireland Final starting side.

While changes to the squad announced on Thursday night are highly possible, as it stands Paddy Burns, Barry McCambridge, Connaire Mackin, Rory Grugan, Tiernan Kelly and Andrew Murnin are the players retained from the All-Ireland Final line-up.

The changes include Ethan Rafferty replacing Blaine Hughes in goal with championship debutant Tomas McCormack, Ross McQuillan and Greg McCabe drafted into the defence.

All-Ireland winning captain and All-Star Aidan Forker, who was troubled by injury during the league campaign, is named on the bench.

Callum O'Neill and Ciaran Mackin form the midfield partnership with All-Ireland centrefield starters Niall Grimley and Ben Crealey not in the matchday squad.

Crealey is among four of the six Armagh All-Stars from last season who, as it stands, will not be involved with Rian O'Neill, Oisin Conaty and Conor Turbitt also missing from the 26-man squad.

McCambridge and skipper Forker were Armagh's two other 2024 All-Stars.

Rian O'Neill remains absent after not featuring during the Allianz Football League, with Kieran McGeeney saying last month that he didn't expect the Crossmaglen man to play for the county this year.

With Tiernan Kelly switching from centre half-back to right full-forward, Darragh McMullen is handed a championship debut in an attack that also includes Peter McGrane and Stefan Campbell, who set up Aaron McKay's crucial second-half goal in the All-Ireland decider.

McKay and Joe McElroy are the other All-Ireland starters from last July not named in the matchday squad.

Antrim have named 10 of the team that started in last year's Ulster defeat by Down.

Andy McEntee has handed championship debuts to Jack Lenehan at centre half-back and Fionn Nagle at wing-forward.

The other changes from the Newry game last year see James McAuley, Eunan Quinn and Niall Burns drafted into the side.

Antrim: M Byrne; E McCabe, E Walsh, K Keenan; J McAuley, J Lenehan, D McAleese; C Hand, E Quinn; P McBride, N Burns, F Nagle; R McQuillan, R McCann, D McEnhill.

Subs: L Mulholland, A Loughran, C Johnston, C Stewart, J McDonnell, J Morgan, M Jordan, P Finnegan, P King, R Boyle, R Murray.

Armagh: E Rafferty; P Burns, B McCambridge, T McCormack; R McQuillan, G McCabe, Connaire Mackin; C O'Neill, Ciaran Mackin; D McMullen, R Grugan, P McGrane; T Kelly, A Murnin, S Campbell.

Substitutes: B Hughes, G Murphy, C Higgins, A Forker (capt), J Og Burns, C McConville, J Hall, S Martlan, O'Neill, S Conlon, C O'Hanlon