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.
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