Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B: Dublin v Antrim (Sunday, Parnell Park, 3.30pm)
FROM behind the Corrigan Park wire last weekend, it looked as though Antrim were no further on from where they were this time last year.
Another Division 1B encounter - another narrow defeat. And another post-match briefing where Darren Gleeson’s calm exterior was tested to the absolute limit.
Even though they got to within two points of Kilkenny in the 53rd and 64th minutes, the visitors never looked in danger of going down the road without the two points.
Huw Lawlor hardly broke sweat at the edge of the square.
In front of the O’Loughlin Gaels full-back was where the battle was lost and won. Padraig Walsh, Paddy Deegan and David Blanchfield effectively masterminded a six-point win for the Cats.
Antrim didn’t help themselves either as their attack never clicked in any meaningful way. They’d no physical or ball-winning presence to ruffle the Kilkenny back-line as Neil McManus foraged deeper to try and exert influence.
Absence, they say, makes the heart grow fonder.
Conor McCann, currently rehabbing from a serious knee injury, never felt more missed in the Antrim full-forward line as he is one of the few in Gleeson’s ranks capable of winning 50-50 and 60-40 balls.
And the Antrim management team had little option but to throw the Dunloy contingent into the mix from the start last Saturday, but it was always going to be a big ask for them to bring their ‘A’ game after the emotional energy they’d expended in reaching and losing an All-Ireland Club final 14 days earlier.
It was hard to argue with Gary O’Kane’s assessment a few days after the Kilkenny loss.
“We need our best players with us the whole time,” said the Dunloy clubman. “It’s not an ideal situation.
“When do you break them in? Maybe last week was the best thing for them, getting back on the horse and going again. Hopefully they can get back to normal now and just go out and hurl.”
Cuchullain’s attackers Keelan Molloy, Conal Cunning and Seann Elliott will be all the better for last week’s run-out, with Nigel Elliott expected to hook up again with the squad after a couple of years away, as Antrim head to Parnell Park on Sunday to face a team they’ve really struggled with, physically, far more than any other Division One team over the past three seasons.
In a 2018 Division 1B encounter at Corrigan Park, Antrim were undone by a 76th minute winner from Donal Burke.
In 2021, Mattie Kenny’s Dubs skated to a 1-26 to 1-18 win at Parnell, and it got far worse for Antrim in the truncated Leinster SHC series later that season, losing by 18 points in Navan.
And a year to the day, Dublin left Corrigan with a four-point win. There is just a physical belligerence about the Dubs that Antrim just don’t handle well.
What’s been deeply frustrating across these morale-sapping defeats is that Dublin are deemed the team Antrim are trying to catch as they keep chipping away at hurling’s glass ceiling.
While they’ve had Antrim’s number, the Dubs themselves have flattered to deceive and plateaued somewhat in what turned out to be the latter stages of Mattie Kenny’s reign.
Galway’s 2017 All-Ireland winning manager Michaél Donoghue has left the comfort of the punditry chair and has decided to have another nibble at the inter-county scene with Dublin, minus stalwarts Chris Crummey, Liam Rushe, Rian McBride, Cian O’Callaghan and Mark Schutte.
Only five Dublin players that started against Antrim at Corrigan Park a year ago lined out in last Sunday’s tempestuous drawn game with Waterford.
Physically, they've lost none of their muscular edge.
If Gleeson displayed his intolerance for unforced errors through a couple of the substitutions he made against Kilkenny last Saturday, Waterford’s new boss Davy Fitzgerald gave Conor Prunty the benefit of the doubt after his full-back was directly at fault for Cian O’Sullivan’s two first-half goals in Dungarvan.
It’s just the way of hurling at the top table: the Waterfords, the Corks, and the Wexfords can be a bit phlegmatic towards the early throes of the National League.
Antrim haven’t reached that point in their development where they can relax about a couple of Division One defeats, knowing they're not going to be relegated.
The fact that the Dubs are going through something of a transitional phase might be in Antrim's favour. The visiting full-back line has been tightened too since a year ago and the Dunloy players will be better for the Kilkenny defeat.
If Antrim can mould a better attacking shape in Parnell Park tomorrow, they might just surprise the Dubs.
