Club football championship: Seán Moran on how victory by Antrim side St Gall's in Sunday's Ulster final will have a beneficial impact on the county team's fortunes

It's a strange statistic but the last time Antrim's St Gall's won the Ulster club football title was the same year the county embarked on an 18-year drought in the senior intercounty championship. Nonetheless hopes are high the county can learn from the weekend's success over Bellaghy and raise the ante in a county whose footballers were once second only to Cavan in the province's pecking order.

There was a recent revival at the turn of the decade when under former manager Brian White, the county won the All-Ireland B title and finally broke their miserable championship sequence by beating Down and nearly repeating the dose for Derry in the next round before losing in a replay.

White has no doubt St Gall's success will have a beneficial impact on the county team's fortunes.

"Of course it will. A lot of the county panel come from St Gall's. Antrim football gets a lot of negative vibes and something like this shows the true capacity of the game and those involved. It will inspire everyone."

Circumspection comes from the occasional but not unknown phenomenon of clubs from unsuccessful counties (for example Clare and Carlow) winning provincial titles without any commensurate spin-off for the county team. Generally in those circumstances the club becomes the focus of elite commitment and players give up on the county team.

St Gall's themselves have been impressively self-contained in reacting to the win. Manager John Rafferty declined the frequently heard clenched-fist stuff even when invited to recriminate about punditry's lack of faith in the team all through the Ulster championship.

"By the nature of St Gall's we don't go out to prove people wrong; we're not an argumentative type of club. We don't rub people's noses in it. I was blessed when I came down here in 1989 in that I learned good football is all about attitude. We went out to prove a point to ourselves today. We're not implying any disrespect to anyone else in the media or any other counties.

"Just because you come out of Antrim doesn't mean that you have to treated like a second-class citizen. These fellas are all talented individuals and they've all worked hard on skills and attitude the whole way through the youth structure. They're as good as anybody else. They didn't believe it before now but I hope to God they believe it now."

Antrim football is generally accepted to have been inordinately affected by the Troubles. Largely urban-based, the game struggled in the aftermath of the All-Ireland under-21 success of 1969.

"The whole of the six counties suffered badly," says White, "but as a more condensed area it's safe to say that Antrim suffered more than most. Clubs were badly hit and some went to the wall. They lost guys who were killed or imprisoned."

He says that the recovery of football isn't simply reflected in a high-profile success like last Sunday's but in the rising numbers of children participating in the game at local level.

"Visit any Belfast pitch on a Saturday morning and it will warm your heart to see the number of kids out there training. The work is being done - it's just a matter of bringing it to fruition."

Whereas football in the county will be on a high there will be the usual difficulties, as the club will want to keep their players concentrated on next February's All-Ireland semi-final against the Munster champions, either Nemo Rangers or St Senan's, Kilkee.

Lessons for Antrim will have to go beyond the immediate "feel-good" factor, says White. The best practice in the game is currently in Ulster and that's where he believes Antrim should look although he accepts that an administrative changeover in the county would be helpful in pursuing that path.

"Look at the way Armagh and Tyrone have applied themselves very professionally. The county boards have accepted that they have to do things that way. We need a sea change at county board level just to bring new faces and fresh ideas and I hope we get it at the upcoming convention. It could be the key to unlocking the future."