Hurling & Camogie

Complacency cost Antrim hurlers says Eddie McCloskey

Antrim's Eddie McCloskey believes complacency cost them any chance of promotion from Division 2A this year  
Antrim's Eddie McCloskey believes complacency cost them any chance of promotion from Division 2A this year   Antrim's Eddie McCloskey believes complacency cost them any chance of promotion from Division 2A this year  

EDDIE McCLOSKEY believes complacency was the Antrim hurlers’ undoing as they watched their promotion prospects go up in smoke last Sunday.

A surprise six-point home defeat to Carlow last weekend means a promotion play-off berth is now out of Antrim's reach, with Westmeath, Carlow and London the only counties still in pursuit. The Glens men still have to play London in their final Division 2A game, but attention is already switching to their Christy Ring campaign.

“That’s promotion out the window," said a disappointed McCloskey.

"After losing to Westmeath and Carlow, that’s us out of it.”

Antrim won their opening two NHL games against Derry and Kildare and seemed well-placed to bounce back into Division 1B. But the absence of the Cushendall contingent and the injured Paul Shiels has proven to be too much of a burden for PJ O'Mullan's young side.

Carlow led by nine points at the break and, although Antrim improved in the second-half, they left themselves with a mountain to climb, particularly after Barry McFall's 19th minute sending-off. Neal McAuley was also red-carded in the closing stages of last Sunday’s clash.

“Carlow are a good team and I don’t want to take anything away from them, but we gave them too much room and maybe too much respect at the start of the game," said McCloskey, who battled gamely in Antrim's full-forward line.

“And maybe we took a win for granted because we were playing at home and thinking that any team coming up the length of Ireland into Ballycastle would be enough for us to win. That was naïve on our part."

Even prior to McFall's unfortunate dismissal, Carlow had already opened up the home defence on numerous occasions and led by 1-5 to 0-3. McCloskey and midfielder Kevin McKernan were the only two Antrim players who registered a score from open play in a disastrous first-half for the home side.

McCloskey added: “We’ve been talking about it all year - starting quickly and not being asleep and indiscipline killed us. At the start of the season, one of our targets was to get promoted.

“I don’t know if you’d say that was more important than the Christy Ring, but some kind of success would be good before the end of the season, so our focus will change to the Christy Ring.”

Manager PJ O’Mullan wasn’t shying away from his responsibilities, describing last Sunday’s performance and missing out on a possible promotion as “soul-destroying”. In his first year as county manager, O’Mullan has had to effectively rebuild the Antrim senior squad, with many players still eligible for the U21 grade.

“We know the players are there, but I have to shoulder the blame for that," O'Mullan said.

"I’m their manager. I’m going to have to look at myself and see how I can change things around going forward as a management team and try and encourage the people to row in behind us and improve things.”

O’Mullan also intimated he would make several personnel changes ahead of their Christy Ring campaign, that gets under way against Kildare on April 23.