Antrim hurlers preparing for step up in class

Review of last year

AT the end of the 2019 season, Neal Peden stepped back from being the county manager, to become director of hurling in Antrim and Tipperary native Darren Gleeson took on the full-time management of the Saffrons for the 2020 campaign.

The goal at the start of the league campaign was to get promotion. Before their opener against Wicklow, goalkeeper Ryan Elliott said that the league was their only concern and they expected every game to be difficult.

Their first match was against Wicklow and they won comfortably, 0-20 to 0-11.

The issue for round two was that Gleeson was going to be without Keelan Molly, Martin Burke, Conal Cunning and Ciaran Clarke. Conor Johnston appeared as a sub against Wicklow but Gleeson wasn’t sure if Johnston, who was returning from injury, would play any part.

Antrim had a spread of eight scorers against Wickow but only three players hit more than one point.

Any scoring issues were put to bed in the next round as Antrim beat Mayo 4-19 to 0-7.

In round three, Antrim were due to play Offaly but the game was postponed because of bad weather. That would have been their toughest test of the year, but they had to regroup and turn attentions to Meath who had won just one game, against Wicklow, and lost to Offaly and Kerry.

Antrim beat Meath by 5-27 to 1-15. In that performance they showed that they had a good spread of scorers with player such as Conor McCann making his presence felt on the score sheet.

Their fourth game was against Kerry, who had won four matches in-a-row. This was the game that would potentially set down a marker for Darren Gleeson’s Saffron side. Set down a marker they did as they won by six points, 2-20 to 2-14.

The result led Stephen Rooney to tell Gaelic Life how the approach and attitude of the Antrim players had been so professional. He said that the players were fully focused on their county hurling every moment of every day, whether that was their diet or their fitness.

That mentality prepared them for their final game in the group stages. Antrim didn’t actually have to win it as they were already likely to reach the league final as long as they didn’t lose to Offaly by 37 points.

Perhaps a sense of safety led to their performance against Offaly being somewhat lacklustre. Offaly were the better team for long periods during the game, and Antrim needed a strong finish and late goals from Neil McManus and Conor McCann earned them a draw.

That set up a final against Kerry, and in the build up to the game, Saffron player Paddy Burke said that the team were delighted with their run in the league. They had targetted winning all their games, so only dropping that one point felt positive.

They had already beaten Kerry in the league proper, but the caveat to that was that Kingdom had not played a full strength team. However, they didn’t get a chance to see what sort of Kerry team would turn up as the game was postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They waited until October 18 to finally get to play the Munster side. The challenge for Antrim was that Neil McManus was injured at that stage, yet the Saffrons had a brilliant attack in Conal Cunning, Conor McCann and James McNaughton who scored 2-16 of Antrim’s 2-23 tally and they outscored Kerry by three (2-23 to 2-20).

The win earned Antrim promotion to Division One.

The Saffrons followed that up with championship victory in the Joe McDonagh, where they also beat Kerry in the final.

Manager watch

Darren Gleeson returns for his second year as Antrim manager. He had been coach previous to that, working alongside Neal Peden. Last year he became the manager and Johnny Campbell took on the coaching role.

Ryan Elliott told Gaelic Life early on that one of Gleeson’s achievements was creating a feeling of a club among the county team. He said that the atmosphere on the team was very good.

But the club feeling wasn’t the only assessment of Gleeson’s management style. Other players spoke of the Tipperary man’s professional approach to training and preparation.

There was also a mention of his common sense attitude, and how he told them to focus on the controllables.

All in all, Gleeson had a positive effect upon the attitude of all the players and it showed in the results as Antrim were able to win league and championship titles.

What was also important in his approach was how he worked with his squad. Before last year Antrim were a team that relied on the score taking of Neil McManus. But due to injury McManus was unavailable for the league final and for the start of the Joe McDonagh. Gleeson was able to adapt his team and he created a situation where the scoring spread throughout the squad.

Moving up into Division One, Antrim fans may not expect much against the stronger counties. Yet Gleeson is a manager who will want to confound expectations. It will be interesting to see how he sets his teams up and if they can cause some shocks in this league campaign.

Team news

In 2019, Antrim began their season without the Cushendall contingent as they were playing in the All-Ireland club championship.

In 2020, there was no such hindrance, although they were missing a number of player due to injury.

However, there were still a few injuries to deal with early in the year. Keelan Molloy was sick for the first game, Martin Burke, Conal Cunning, and Ciaran Clarke were also carrying injuries.

This year, with six months of rest, the Antrim team will be a good deal fresher.

Neil McManus was missing for the latter stages of the season, for the games after the Covid-19 lockdown ended.

A fully fit team is important going into this year’s league as Antrim have a tough test ahead of them playing in the top tier.

They will need the experience of the likes of Neil McManus and Ciaran Clarke in attack, as well as last year’s captain Conor McCann.

The likes of Gerard Walsh, Matthew Donnelly, Stephen Rooney, Keelan Molloy and Niall McKenna, who were named on the team of the year along with Clarke and McCann, will also have a big say on how Antrim fare in this year’s league campaign.

Prediction

Antrim host Clare at Corrigan Park on Sunday to start their league campaign.

Last year, Clare went unbeaten in the National Hurling League, and only dropped points when they drew away to Kilkenny.

Their other closest match was a three-point win over Wexford.

It is going to be a stiff start for Antrim, but that opening game will get the Saffrons accustomed to the pace of the games.

They follow that game with another very difficult game against Kilkenny, and the Saffrons will have to travel to Nowlan Park for that clash. It will be an exciting one for the players.

After that there are the three games that Antrim will hope to get something from. A trip to play Dublin, a home game against Wexford, and another home match against Laois.

The thinking is that they could get points in those final two games, particularly because they are home matches. However, by that point the Saffrons’ confidence might have taken a serious knock.