Shane McGrath believes a defeat for the Laois hurlers in Saturday's All-Ireland SHC preliminary round would be doubly "demoralising" for the county given that they are already in danger of relegation from the top flight of the Allianz Hurling League.
Laois face Antrim at Parnell Park in a preliminary championship round fixture which doubles up as a relegation play-off with the loser dropping down to the Joe McDonagh Cup, while the victor reaches the first round of the qualifiers against elite opposition.
They will also face Westmeath in a relegation play-off in the league in August to avoid the drop down from Division 1.
Speaking on RTÉ's Game On, former Tipperary All-Ireland winner McGrath summed up what is at stake for both Laois and Antrim.
"I just feel the prize is massive. You stay in the Liam MacCarthy first and foremost but you're also going into a win-win situation next in round one of the qualifiers proper because Antrim or Laois aren't going to be expected to beat whoever they meet," he said.
"So it's massive to stay in Liam MacCarthy and then get another top-level match before your year finishes up. The loser then goes down to Joe McDonagh and if that is Laois it's demoralising for them because they're already in a league relegation which they'll probably have to play some time in August.
"It's a massive, massive prize but the great thing is it's the first real knockout championship match of the year, so we're definitely going to see an extra bit of bite, an extra bit of passion from the other games where teams knew if they lost, they were still going to be in it. This is knockout and the prize is massive."
McGrath added that he isn't reading much into their most recent head-to-head meeting in the league back in June when Antrim won 2-23 to 1-22, citing the fact that at that point the Saffron County had already assured survival.
"For me, I don't think that was Antrim's best team or maybe they weren't going for it like they really, really could because they knew they were safe and knew they didn't have to win the match and Laois knew they wouldn't get out of that relegation spot," he said.
"But what I would read into the league was I felt that Antrim had a better league, obviously with a massive result against Clare the first day and a massive result against Wexford as well. I do feel Antrim are coming in a better vein of form."
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