Keeping the faith with Antrim hurlers

The build up to this weekends Leinster Hurling Championship clash with Offaly (Parnell Park, 3.30pm, Sunday)has been so low key it is almost off the radar. Maybe that is a more sensible approach than last year's bow against Dublin in Croke Park which was hyped up to the point where it almost certainly had an overwhelming impact on our hurlers who posted a performance on the day which was well below their league par.

The challenge facing the Saffron hurlers is huge, and the league form which precedes it was far from encouraging, featuring only two wins against Kildare and Carlow. Dinny Cahill never did pay too much attention to the League but defeats to Down, Laois, Westmeath among others were not good portents. The one point defeat to Clare showed more promise and in the final game of the season we were leading Wexford away from home before losing a man to indiscipline and collapsing in the second half.

Look further back in the record books and history shows that some of our brightest hurling days have come against the faithful county. The 1989 All Ireland semi final (Antrim 4.15 - Offaly 1.15) is etched firmly into the minds of Antrim followers, and in the years after that we always performed well against Offaly in the league, posting a few merited victories in the early 1990s. By the close of that decade however Offaly had re asserted their championship authority over the Saffrons and in 1998 they beat us by some 9 points. In the league last year - when the result really mattered, Offaly ran out easy winners in Tullamore. Our most recent win over Offaly came in the final of the Walsh Cup in 2008, at a rain soaked Casement. That result might indicate that Offaly is not a team which holds any psychological edge over Antrim, and that is something to hold onto as we head to Parnell Park.

The Antrim team this weekend is very young, Dinny calls it "a new team" and although only one man, Thomas McCann (not that one) from Creggan is a championship debutant. There is quality and experience in the spine of the team in the shape of Kieran McGourty, Paul Shiels, Neil McManus, Karl Stewart and Karl McKeegan. We can assume (I imagine) that Liam Watson will feature at some stage, so there is scoring ability there. If the defence applies itself tactically as a unit as they did against Clare in the league, there might well be something in this game for Antrim. If the performance is one which is closer to the Laois and Wexford surrenders, then we'd be in some trouble.

Time to show a little faith, one of these years we will see better days for the Antrim hurling team. Maybe it starts this Sunday.

A sorry tale of two halfs

First things first - yesterday was a shattering disappointment for Antrim. All the ingredients were in place for a big saffron occassion, big crowd, sublime weather, great expectations. All but undone by half time.

Was this a re-run of last summer's Ulster Final? The bare facts suggest that yes it was, that Tyrone grabbed an early lead and then sat on it. Yet, I think the second half yesterday suggested that maybe there was something in this game for Antrim, and that Tyrone 'sitting back' wasn't a big factor. When the gap was narrowed to three points, Aodhan Gallagher had a chance to reduce the arrears to two, but his shot went badly wide. Had that gone over, what then? We'll never know.

Too much went wrong too early in the game. Surely it is plain to see that Justin Crozier is not a half forward? Terry O'Neill had too little impact on the game and Brendan Herron's influence, so prominent in the league, was absent. In goals John Finnucane lacked the authority that say Pascal McConnell has. James Loughey, very effective when running at defenders, simply didn't do enough running at defenders.

There were of course positives too. To get within 3 points took a lot of effort and it showed what the team is capable of. Gallagher and Niblock in particular emerged with huge credit. On the line the substitions, whether forced through injury, or made through choice, were the kind that do have an impact on games. Kevin McGourty's impact was instant and his bodycheck on Sean Cavanagh immediately raised the Antrim temperature. It was the kind of hit that shook up the game and we benefitted. CJ too had a fine game, his best in county colours since returning to the fold. But all in all we fell too short. Of course Tyrone are good - they are one of the very best units to have played the game - and we always had an uphill task. But even taking that context into account, Antrim defeats do hurt badly.

So it's the hard road for the saffron faithful. We have not had good fortune in qualifiers so far with only a win over Leitrim way back in 2001 to look back on with any satisfaction. To the GAA Gods, please spare us another Ulster derby match. So far the other qualifier entrants include Derry, Offaly, Tipperary, Carlow and Clare. With a kind draw and an effort from the team that extends over two halfs of a game, we may yet find ourselves with a few more days out this summer.

Harte Vs Heart

There are two ways to look ahead to this coming Sunday's mouth watering Ulster Championship clash versus champions Tyrone. Red, or Saffron.


Reasons to be fearful:

Our footballers have run out of steam at the wrong time of year

The return of the St Galls players has upset the rhytmn and structure of the team

It's Tyrone for Gods sake! They don't do 'fairytales'.

Our last experience of the red hands in the Championship was a 6 point defeat which in reality didn't reflect the gap in quality between the sides.
We are too reliant on Paddy for scores

Enough of that - reasons to be cheerful:

Our guys got the job (promotion) done easing up - after a powerful and impressive series of 4 league wins in succession

The first match to feature the St Galls boys was V Louth, the highest quality first half display from a saffron side in decades

Baker has had almost two months to re mould the squad and oversee smooth re-integration

Kevin McGourty is back on board, and no-one can doubt his talent and potential to make a significant contribution to the team

Its not the old Tyrone, it's the one which got relegated, which had a do or die game V the Dubs, and died. It's Div 2 versus Div 2.

If you put our first half V Louth alongside our second half V Cavan - nobody could live with that.

It's in Casement - where the support can actually make a difference on the day.

We have the most talented pool of players available to the management - who can say for certain what our best team is?

James Loughrey

I choose to look on the saffron side of life, Sunday could come to represent a painful defeat, but there is a good chance it could be one of those days that in years to come we all look back on and say "I was there when we beat Tyrone".

Don't risk missing it.

Club Aontroma will be selling ballots on the day, proceeds in aid of the Dunsilly building fund. The Club Aontroma twitter stream will provide intermittent updates and give a flavour of the day. But really, unless you are following the twitter from abroad, your place is in Casement Park. See you there.