Offaly 2-18 Antrim 2-12
ANTRIM joint-manager Neal Peden hailed the influence of man-of-the-match Eoghan Campbell after his side recorded a fully-deserved three-point win over Offaly at St Brendan’s Park yesterday, with the Cushendall player pulling the strings in his role as sweeper throughout the tie.
Twelve different players scored from play for the Saffrons, and a huge factor in this was the amount of ball Campbell hoovered up in front of the full back line before setting attacks in motion with careful and thoughtful use of the sliothar, exploiting every inch of the Birr field.
“The way we played and took control of the game, it was all because the sweeper did great work” said Peden.
“People were critical of it the last day [in the defeat to Limerick], but they weren’t here today, to see it played the way it should be. Eoghan Campbell was excellent, he picked up a lot of stuff and used the ball wisely”.
Three of the Antrim back line were among those players on the scoresheet and this was down to the tactic of working the ball to space and then shooting from distance, taking the third Offaly full-back line player out of the game.
Joe Maskey caught the limelight with two scores, and the young St Enda’s man was also singled out by Peden. “We talked at half-time about the slight breeze, and how we were going to hit from 60 or 70 metres when we were in the right positions, and we were going to create those situations.
“Joe is a young fella, he had a couple of bad days, but he’s learning. We had the belief in him and he went well today, he turned in a tremendous performance.
“That’s a young fella coming in from St Enda’s, and that’s not being disrespectful to St. Enda’s, but to be able to hurl like that and to get to that level is quite hard for any player, irrespective of wherever you come from [is impressive]. We’re quite pleased for him, but Eoghan was the instigator”.
The late introduction of Neil McManus, who hadn’t been named to start, proved that Antrim were very keen to extend their excellent record at the south Offaly venue, which is now fi ve wins in seven starts there. He started at centre forward but drifted out to the right wing a lot, where Conor Johnston and Donal McKinley also made hay in the fi rst half.
A defensive mix up allowed Daniel McCloskey to pop in an easy goal to get Antrim out to a great start into the breeze, and, while Offaly replied in kind through an excellent Peter Geraghty major, Antrim still produced the better hurling to lead 1-10 to 1-9 at the interval.
They pulled further ahead after half time but the introduction of Shane Dooley was also crucial, and the Offaly talisman tied up the game when he got a touch to Liam Langton’s high ball, fl icking it past Ryan Elliott. However, Antrim never let Offaly hit the front and, while the game was in the balance going into the closing stages, two magnifi cent late points from James McNaughton and a Nigel Elliot goal wrapped up a crucial win.
“Overall, we’ve very pleased and this will lift the energy levels again ahead of the Laois game, which is going to be a very tough game” said Peden, referring to next weekend’s relegation playoff against the O’Moore county.
“We’ll have the match at home, which is a positive as well, and hopefully we get everybody recovered properly after today. “The bottom line is it’s a Championship match, it’s a head on, everybody’s got to be at it. Small margins will be crucial on the day, but this here will energise the team, it just has to”
