O'CONNOR'S CALL
THE only question surrounding the outcome of last Saturday's All-Ireland U21 semi-final before it began was whether Antrim would beat the 21-point handicap.
Clare still managed to push that margin out by six points and the only saving grace for Antrim was that the scoreboard could have been far worse. One of their best players was goalkeeper Ciaran Butler. Clare finished with four goals when they could have had 10.
The experience Clare have commands the control they exert and the aura they project. Eight of the side have now played senior Championship while three more have got game-time in the League. The standards they set are on another level to most teams. Despite only conceding 11 scores and winning by a cricket score, Clare joint-manager Gerry O'Connor admitted afterwards that Clare were "very disappointed" with some of their defending.
O'Connor was also disappointed with the quality of the opposition and the paucity of the challenge. "It's not ideal preparation heading into an All-Ireland final," he said. "We were expecting a tougher test, based on what we had been hearing."
Nobody expected Antrim to win but what makes the manner of the defeat even harder to take is that a significant share of their players have also played senior. Some of them - Stephen McAfee and Ciaran Clarke in particular - were impressive. They represent the new culture Kevin Ryan is trying to instil but he still hasn't diluted the apathy at U21 in comparison to the culture he has managed to alter at senior level.
Despite reaching last year's U21 final, Antrim have now lost to Clare in the last three seasons by an aggregate margin of 73 points. Ryan believed that Antrim could get to within "10 or 12 points" of Clare this time around but he stated that Antrim will improve, hinting at major changes within the county. "We have plans to change all that and it's not dream stuff in the future," he said. "It's things that we have happening in the next month or two. We're going to take that opportunity over a year or two to seriously close that gap. That's our ambition."
Yet what are Antrim really going to do unless there is a major overall attitude change? What plans can bridge such a significant gap? Just three weeks ago, Ryan had this to say: "There's still no great desire from some lads to play but we've found the lads who do want to play and we're trying to get the best out of them. It's kind of annoying sometimes, the apathy towards it. You would think fellas would be jumping out of their skin to play U21, or play for Antrim."
This issue though, goes beyond Antrim and extends to realistic ambition and selling a dream, an idea. That might sound blasphemous - that you have to sell something to someone to put on their county jersey - but it is the hard reality of underage hurling in Ulster. Down were annihilated by Antrim in the Ulster final so what has anyone to sell any young hurler in Ulster with the repeated hammerings being dished out?
Let's be honest, Antrim's victory against Wexford last year was a fluke, especially given Antrim's poor preparation going into the semi-final. Look at the direction both squads have taken in the meantime. The anger and devastation from that defeat last year was the fuel that drove Wexford to victory against Galway last Saturday. Clare are on another level but where was that anger from Antrim after their hammering from Clare in 2013? Certain young players will always want to play for their county, guys that don't have to be sold an idea. Antrim have a certain share of those players but what about the other counties in Ulster? There are some top-class young hurlers in Down, Derry and Armagh, plus a handful from the other counties, that would love to have the chance to play an All-Ireland semi-final. Yet they will never get a chance because not enough of their fellow countymen believe in the dream. They don't want to be more lambs led to the slaughter.
Antrim will always be against a proposed model of a combined Ulster team but they're not the only ones concerned about a potential threat to county pride with such a move. Of course county boundaries and county pride is sacrosanct in Ulster but what are a lot of the hurling fraternity actually doing about that county pride?
Antrim have their own plans and their own ambitions and enough hurlers to take their own direction. But what about the other committed and ambitious young players in other counties? Have they to just accept their reality in this hurling world and simply give up?
The most annoying aspect of the criticism of the combined concept is that it is made for the U21 grade. The performance of the combined Ulster colleges' side last year proved that when ambitious young hurlers are challenged and stimulated and can see the potential rewards that go with proper preparation, they can be a serious force.
If the same model was trialled at U21 level - with all the Ulster counties except Antrim - and it didn't work, fair enough. But if it doesn't get a chance, what is going to happen? Is a culture of apathy going to be allowed to contaminate future Ulster hurlers? That virus has already spread like a virus and where is it going to stop? Worse of all, it is saying to the committed young players at 15 and 16 - hurlers who could thrive on a combined team and who could legitimately test themselves against the top teams - that nobody even cares about them.
Surely this is a no-brainer, especially for Antrim, who might be provided with a proper test by a combined outfit before taking on the top teams down south in All-Ireland semi-finals. And if nobody wants to bother entertaining the idea, or trialling it for a couple of years, the hammerings will more than likely just continue.