Loughgiel's to lose – John Martin

SUNDAY’S Ulster club final appears to be a case not of what if but by how many as far as Loughgiel are concerned. The Antrim champions are 12-1 on favourites to dispose of Ballycran at Casement Park, and it’s difficult to see the odds being upset.
Ballycran have struggled in the Antrim League this year, just staving off relegation in the final games of the season after win

Loughgiel's Liam Watson

ning just four of their 14 games.
The one performance that will give the Down champions hope is their final performance against Portaferry, but even then it took a late goal from Scott Nicholson to snatch victory.
Nicholson’s major aside, Ballycran had managed just two points in the second half and that performance won’t be good enough to trouble Loughgiel. The Shamrocks were always in control against Kevin Lynch’s in the Ulster semi-final but didn’t put real daylight between themselves and the Derry champions’ hectic schedule caught up with them.
On a side note, the Ulster Council’s swift, forward-thinking and generous action in postponing the Ulster club SFC quarter-finals that involved Kevin McKernan and Michael Murphy so that the pair could play in the International Rules series is to be applauded.