THE last time Antrim played Galway in a National League opening game was back in 2006.
The Saffrons won by a point, 1-14 to 0-16, at Casement Park and with a round 2 win over Laois, they sat proudly on top of the Division 1B table after two games.
This year, the Ulster standard-bearers again face Galway in their league opener.
This time Galway are the current National League All-Ireland champions while Antrim are playing their first top flight game since 2015.
They wouldn’t have it any other way insists captain Conor McKinley.
“What would entice you to training more than playing Galway away in the first match? That’s why you pick up your stick, to get those big games and long may they continue.
“I know when I picked up a stick, that’s who I wanted to play against,” said the Dunloy clubman.
Antrim have plied their trade in Division 2A for the past two years. They dropped three points in the five group games last year but did enough to reach the final and secured promotion by beating Carlow in Newry in April.
It was the second meeting between the sides in 2017 and they would meet a further twice before the year was out. They drew one game, Antrim won two and Carlow won one. Carlow’s victory came at Croke Park in the Christy Ring Cup final.
“Carlow were the hungrier team on the day. To me there’s very little between us. The reason why they were hungrier, I don’t know. I wish I did. It was just one of those days that it fell for them, they were hungrier and they thoroughly deserved it,” McKinley said.
“It was a poor performance as a team and it’s disappointing because it was on that stage. But you move on and learn and that won’t happen again.”
But for Antrim the real prize last season was promotion back to the top flight. And while in 2017 they were amongst the promotion favourites at the start of the season, this year rank outsiders. After the Galway game, they host Dublin, travel to Laois, host Limerick before finishing their group games on the road to Offaly.
Common wisdom would suggest that Antrim’s best chance of picking up points come against Offaly and Laois.
“Our big aim last year was to get back to 1B where we belong. It’s a massive step up from 2A. We’ll not be playing a bad team and I think we all know that,” said McKinley.
“No disrespect to 2A, we all know that Division 1B will be a faster pace of hurling. There’s more quality and better teams and should bring our hurling on to a faster and speedier level but I know from experience that the top three in 2A are at a level that could come in to 1B and compete.
“But it’s the physicality – I think that’s the big thing – it’s a different level of conditioning and the more exposure you get at this level the better.”
The Saffron squad have worked hard on conditioning. It’s no secret that the managerial quartet of Conor’s dad Dominic McKinley, Terence McNaughton, Gary O’Kane and Neal Peden felt that fitness levels weren’t what they should have been when they took over the role in April 2016.
Former Down footballer DJ Kane was brought in as fitness trainer last year and for this season, Tommy Stevenson has stepped into the strength and conditioning role. Former Tipp All-Ireland winning boss Liam Sheedy will also be part of the backroom team.
“We did a lot of work before Christmas, we started in November and got the base fitness up. To me it’s part and parcel of being a county player.
You should be fit before even coming to the county panel and to be blunt about it, before last season we weren’t fit enough. It’s a six day week job now and you’re found out if you don’t have the fitness.”
McKinley is in his ninth year on the senior panel.
His fellow Dunloy clubmen like Paddy Richmond and Conor Cunning cautioned him when he came onto the panel that his county career would fly in. He took the advice with a youthful pinch of salt.
Back in 2006, both Richmond and Cunning played a major part in that victory over Galway. In the remainder of the league campaign that year, an Antrim team full of self-belief had narrow defeats to Tipperary and Kilkenny.
It would take a brave man to back Antrim to repeat the feat on January 28 but McKinley says the Saffrons are confident they can hold their own against the game’s best: “On our day, we can take any of those teams. Every team will be targeting where they’re points are going to come from and we’re no different.”
VERDICT
IT'S likely to be a tough campaign for Antrim.
They have only two home games, against Limerick and Dublin. Ideally they would have liked to have had Offaly and Laois at home as these are the games from which they are most likely to pick up points.
The management team of Dominic McKinley, Terence McNaughton, Gary O’Kane and Neal Peden used the Walsh Cup and McGurk Cup pre-season competitions to give game time to fringe players as well as a number of the under-21s, using virtually two different squads for each tournament.
However management may be tempted to stick with the tried and tested in a league campaign where survival in the top flight is the key goal. To that end Antrim have a number of experienced campaigners who will relish the return to Division 1.
Along with McKinley, Neil McManus, Arron Graffin, Simon McCrory, Ciaran Clarke and John Dillon provide an experienced nucleus, although the retirement from county hurling of the classy Paul Shiels is a major loss for the Saffrons. Niall McKenna is another loss to Antrim, the Sarsfields man lining out for Warwickshire this year.
While Antrim undoubtedly have some outstanding players, their strength in depth will be tested at the higher level. Galway, Dublin and Limerick are likely to prove a bridge too far so the key games from an Antrim point of view are the trio of games involving themselves, Offaly and Laois.
Antrim have to go back to 1992 for their last away win to Offaly and that trend is likely to continue but if there’s but if a full squad is available against Laois, Antrim can pick up points in O’Moore Park. Whether that’s enough to save them from the drop depends on how other results pan out, most crucially in the Offaly-Laois clash at Tullamore.
Young ones to watch
Whilst Antrim’s National League squad has not been finalised at the time of writing, a number of younger players have impressed in the preseason tournaments. O’Donovan Rossa’s Deaglan Murphy has been scoring for fun in the McGurk Cup and clubmate Gerard Walsh looks primed to make the step up after a couple of seasons in and out of the panel.
Loughgiel’s Dan McCloskey has also returned and clubmate Donal McKinley is likely to see some game time during the league campaign. One of county champions Dunloy’s young guns Eoin O’Neill showed again during the preseason that he knows where the posts are.
St Enda’s clubman Joe Maskey has featured previously for the Saffrons and Cushendall’s Ed McQuillan is likely to become a regular over the next few seasons. His Ruairi Og clubmate David Kearney also featured in the Walsh Cup.
While not a ‘young one’ by any stretch, Liam Sheedy is a new face in the Antrim set-up and it will be interesting to monitor the influence of the All-Ireland winning Tipp manager on the Antrim sideline this year.
OVERALL DIVISIONAL FOCUS
OBVIOUSLY current All-Ireland and National League champions Galway are the team to beat in Division 1B. And with likely closest rivals Limerick coming to Pearse Stadium on the last day of the group stages, it’s perfectly set up for the Tribesmen to make a return to Division 1A in 2019.
Boss Michael Donoghue has drafted in eight new players since the All-Ireland final and will feel confident that he can blood new players against the likes of Antrim, Laois and Offaly. That’s not a luxury that all managers in this division will enjoy.
Limerick are entering their sixth season in Division 1B and have missed out on promotion by the narrowest of margins on a number of occasions. They have not been helped by the fact that in three of those years, Limerick teams have been Munster club champions and with Na Piarsaigh carrying the provincial flag into the All-Ireland club series again this year, the Treaty may again suffer due to the success of their club sides.
Dublin, under former football boss Pat Gilroy, will be the subject of much scrutiny this season as the Metropolitans attempt to rebuild after a disappointing tenure under Ger Cunningham. Although early signs are positive, it would be surprising if Gilroy turned things around quickly enough to make Dublin promotion contenders.
The relegation battle is likely to be between Antrim and Laois.
