JUSTIN McCARTHY has backed Antrim senior hurling manager PJ O’Mullan to turn the county’s fortunes around and remains upbeat ahead of next month’s Christy Ring.
Antrim's hopes of making a quick return to Division 1B went up in smoke after suffering back-to-back losses in Division 2A to Westmeath and Carlow. And despite an encouraging display, they lost their final NHL game to London in Ruislip.
After losing at home to Carlow, O’Mullan accepted responsibility for a disappointing campaign, although the squad was deprived of the Cushendall contingent. McCarthy - a close adviser to O’Mullan - admitted he was “surprised” by the standard of hurling in Division 2A this season.
“I didn’t realise until I saw the standard of hurling in the division,” said the Cork man.
“You saw Kerry beating Offaly last Sunday [in Division 1B] and they also beat Laois a few Sundays ago. These guys all train and practise and there’s a feeling that they can do better. Look, my own county [Cork] is in a relegation play-off and Limerick are struggling a bit."
McCarthy added: “In actual fact, people get the wrong impression because Antrim would be more established than some of those counties [in Division 2A] and that’s supposed to stand to you. But that doesn’t happen any more. Things have levelled off and there’s not as much fear as there was before. Young people don’t fear teams and that’s the same in Division One and 1B.
“We’ve played Derry, Kildare, Westmeath, Carlow and London and they can all hurl. We won two and lost three. We lost by four points against Westmeath and it could have gone either way. Carlow have some fine hurlers too and strong clubs who are playing in the Kilkenny league, so they’re up to speed.”
O’Mullan will have the luxury of calling up the Cushendall contingent ahead of their Christy Ring opener against Kildare on April 23, although Neil McManus, Arron Graffin and Shane McNaughton are all expected to be abroad over the summer.
“Antrim have a lot of young players, we were short of the Cushendall lads and one or two injuries so, overall, I wouldn’t be too downhearted," McCarthy added.
“Even though we lost in London, I saw something in them, there was good team-work and understanding and we hit 1-19, which is quite a good score. So we’re looking forward to playing in the Christy Ring Cup next month.”
A failing of Antim’s during the league was their lack of physical edge in attack. However, Saul McCaughan, James Connolly, Ciaran Clarke and Conor Johnston are more likely to prosper in firmer conditions.
“With the bad weather, there was more physicality to the games. I’d be optimistic that we’d learn a lot from our league campaign," McCarthy said.
“I think Antrim have a lot of good forwards and, when the hurling gets faster, we’ll be in good shape.”
He added: “We’ve two excellent goalkeepers, the backline has been quite good, we tried different combinations in midfield and we’ve some good forwards who can score and take frees. It’s a matter of getting the combinations right and we’re lucky we’ve a new competition to play in.”
Antrim boss O’Mullan was “devastated” after missing out on promotion. McCarthy commented: “We’re there to support the manager too. He makes the final call at the end of the day and he’s in the front line.
“PJ is a passionate hurling man, he’s proud to manage Antrim, he wants to do well and he doesn’t like to lose. That’s a good trait in a fella. It’s new to him too, going into county management and he’ll learn an awful lot from it.”
