When Liam Bradley took over as manager of Antrim towards the end of last year, he set out what he considered to be realistic goals for his team.

An introductory process in the Gaelic Life Dr McKenna Cup, a decent run in the National League and perhaps a much-needed helping of respect in the Ulster Championship were among the aims that Glenullin man Bradley flagged up.

It would be fair to say, though, that seeing Antrim do battle against All Ireland champions Tyrone in the provincial decider and then being drawn against Kerry in the last 12 of the All Ireland Championship were not quite on his initial agenda.

But today, just a week after a feisty though ultimately abortive display against Mickey Harte’s side at Clones, Bradley’s boys will again be in the national spotlight when they confront the Kingdom in round four of the All Ireland Qualifiers at O’Connor Park, Tullamore.

And any notion that the Saffrons might be afflicted by apprehension as they prepare to engage their opponents was promptly knocked on the head by Bradley himself as soon as the draw was confirmed.

“To be going in against Kerry in the All Ireland series is just what these boys want, they can’t wait to get out onto the field.

“Sure, we were all disappointed last Sunday after the match against Tyrone because we knew where we went wrong. But we have learned from that experience and we will now be giving it everything against Kerry,” promises Bradley.

Antrim’s renaissance has been in rather sharp contrast to Kerry’s laboured progress through the qualifiers to date following their Munster semi-final replay defeat by deadly rivals Cork.

Jack O’Connor’s side were stretched by Longford on Saturday week last and then just managed to get past Sligo last weekend after the Yeats County contrived to miss a penalty in the closing moments that might surely have paved the way for a seismic shock had it been converted.

Little wonder, then, that it’s Kerry rather than their Ulster opponents who may well be approaching today’s contest with considerable trepidation.

Colm Cooper (below) appears to be off-colour, their defence is unusually vulnerable and despite the presence of Dara O Se, the Kingdom midfield has been less authoritative of late.

This all means more pressure for manager O’Connor as he strives to revitalise a team that, even though they won the National League, have been strangely lethargic in a Championship context.

The array of big guns is still there, of course, with Tomas O Se, Paul Galvin, Declan O’Sullivan and Tommy Walsh trying to set a lead.

But Tom O’Sullivan and Aidan O’Mahony have been less than impressive at the heart of the defence, the overall work-rate of the side is not what it should be and the confident scoring touch, such a key weapon in the Kingdom arsenal for so long, is rather conspicuous by its

absence.

Antrim would be foolish to take comfort from this, though. They know that on the twin scores of experience and craft Kerry are in a different league to them and they know, too, that should O’Connor’s men build up a head of steam, they could conceivably gallop out of sight.

That’s why Saffrons boss Bradley is hoping that his full-back line of Colin Brady, Andrew McClean and Kevin O’Boyle can be as firm as they were last weekend when they held the Tyrone full-forward sector to just three points from play — and they all came from Owen Mulligan.

“We need to be on our toes at the back and then try and get any advantage we can at midfield,” insists Bradley

In this connection, he may employ the triumvirate of Michael McCann, Aodhan Gallagher and Niall McKeever to win the ball — but getting scores will undoubtedly be difficult, despite Kerry’s recent defensive lapses.

Antrim were forced to rely rather too heavily on skipper Paddy Cunningham against Tyrone and may be forced to do so again while hoping that the pace of Thomas McCann might trouble Kerry.

There is one key element which may well determine the outcome and that is the use of substitutes.

Kerry have shown that they have considerable strength on the bench and although Ciaran Close and Kevin Niblock in particular caught the eye when introduced for Antrim against Tyrone, the Saffrons do not quite possess Kerry’s reserve resources.