ANTRIM hurling manager Darren Gleeson is getting ready to announce his panel for the 2021 season.

This year promises to be an exciting one for the Saffron fans as they are due to play in Division One for the first time since 2018, and they will also be playing their championship hurling in the Liam MacCarthy Cup.

Gleeson has reported that he will confirm his panel by Friday of this week.

However, the start of Antrim training remains up in the air. GAA teams were supposed to be allowed to start collective training on the second week of January.

However, the plans for collective training have been put on hold due to new restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic. There is to be no collective training until the end of January at the earliest and even then that could be pushed back further.

So Gleeson is now waiting to hear what the restrictions will be going forward. However, that shouldn’t dampen the excitement that is in Antrim at the moment, as the county should still be buzzing after the 2020 season when they were doubly successful in league and championship.

Undoubtedly the team will be slightly stronger as last year there was a long period during the championship when Neil McManus was not fully fit and he missed a string of games in the Joe McDonagh Cup.