PJ O'Hare's Antrim produced some encouraging displays in the NFL

Antrim football boss PJ O'Hare has expressed optimism about his team's prospects in this year's Bank of Ireland Championship.

The Saffrons take on Cavan in the Ulster first round on 25 May at Casement Park.

Mattie Kerrigan's Breffnimen will go into the match as favourites but Antrim boss O'Hare is confident his team can cause a surprise.

"I would be hopeful that we can do exceptionally well this year - better than people expect," said O'Hare.

"I've been quite pleased with the progress we've made and the way things have been going in training.

"Cavan play with a lot of pace in their forward line and we know that we're going to have to stop that.

"If we can stop the pace of their forwards and close the game down, I'm very hopeful that we can get a victory - especially with the game being in Belfast".

Antrim's displays in Division 2A of the Allianz National League didn't generate too many headlines with the Saffrons claiming three wins, a draw and three defeats in their seven matches.

We can beat Cavan and even go on to win the next game PJ O'Hare

However on closer examination, a number of their displays were highly encouraging.

They lost by only two points to eventual Division 2 champions Westmeath and weren't disgraced when losing by five points to Limerick.

In addition, Antrim should have defeated Offaly in Tullamore although they had to be content with a draw.

Most pundits place Armagh and Tyrone as comfortably the best teams in Ulster but O'Hare feels there could be some surprises in this year's provincial championship.

"I personally think that if a team hits a purple patch, that on the day, any team can beat any of the other teams in Ireland.

"It's no different for Antrim and if we eliminate all our mistakes, we can beat Cavan and even go on to win the next game (against either Tyrone or Derry) as well".

Donegal potential

The Antrim boss thinks Donegal, although they endured a dismal league run, could be a major championship force.

"We played them a couple of weeks ago in a challenge game in Lifford and they were moving quite well.

"I was impressed with the type of football they were playing now that they have all their players back.

"The Donegal players seem to have great upper body strength and their good ball players like Brendan Devenney and Adrian Sweeney seem to be in good form.

"Overall, I think the Donegal forward line has a lot of potential".