Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B: Kilkenny 1-28 Antrim 3-15
From Andy Watters at Nowlan Park
IT rained cats and dogs from first whistle to last at Nowlan Park and, although the Cats came out on top, dogged Antrim pushed their illustrious opponents all the way. For a few glorious moments after Conal Cunning, Ciaran Clarke and Neil McManus hammered in goals, you thought: ‘Antrim could win this’.
Kilkenny kicked on again to dash those hopes but you’d have taken that before the throw-in, wouldn’t you? You’d have taken Antrim still being alive and kicking in the second half.
In the end, the Cats won by seven and Antrim hit the road home with honour intact and wiser for the experience but they’ll have regrets too.
They missed a penalty and were a man up for 10 minutes and maybe it was the black and amber aura of the Cats but the Glensmen didn’t start yesterday like they’d finished against Clare the previous Sunday and the ground they had to make up early in the second period left no energy for a sprint finish.
“Look, we were defeated and that’s all that matters,” said manager Darren Gleeson.
“I said last week (after the two-point win over Clare): ‘It’s a League, judge us at the end of it, not after one result’ and I meant that, I wasn’t trying to be coy. That’s the way it is.”
Yes, Antrim were competitive and they’ll have gained more admirers but Gleeson deals in the cold, hard currency of points on the table and, for all their gallant qualities, his team didn’t get any of those yesterday.
“There is belief there and they got back level but it just took an awful effort to get back level,” said Gleeson.
“We expended everything you would need to finish a game out just to claw our way back into it. Kilkenny are champion finishers, that’s what they are, and they kept that scoreboard ticking until the end and they didn’t need the goals that they normally bring to win games, they finished us off with points and they’re playing a good style of hurling.
“It’s a big learning curve, it’s a learning curve for everyone, for the whole unit – for us as a management team, for the players themselves. The players covered themselves well today, they didn’t hurl great and they didn’t work as hard in the first half but they learned from it and they fought back in the second half and that’s all we can look for as a management team and a unit.”
While Antrim struggled in the first half, Kilkenny, without looking absolutely convincing, produced glimpses of their pedigree. Playing a two-man inside forward line, Brian Cody’s men alternated between a long ball and a running game and sometimes combined the two when Adrian Mullen sprinted from the shadow of the Antrim posts to play deft flicks off to runners.
Antrim had taken a first minute lead through Conor McCann but by the 12th minute the Cats led 6-1 thanks to three points from James Bergin, one from Eoin Cody, after a swift solo down the left wing, and a brace from Alan Murphy.
Meanwhile, Antrim were struggling to make the ball stick in their forward line. The Kilkenny defence, with Padraig Walsh outstanding, reigned-supreme in the 50-50 stakes but James McNaughton did find the target to reduce the deficit to four.
Kilkenny had a goal on the board before Antrim scored again. Midfielder Richie Reid raced through the centre and played in Cody who had time to pick his spot past Antrim ’keeper Ryan Elliott.
Gleeson moved Neil McManus up to full-forward and Niall McKenna, the hard-working James McNaughton and Gerard Walsh all raised white flags but Clarke passed up the chance to raise a green one when his penalty was saved by Darren Brennan after Keelan Molloy had been dragged down by Conor Browne (who was sin-binned for preventing a goal-scoring opportunity) and the Cats led by eight at the break.
Kilkenny extended their advantage to nine (1-13 to 0-7) in the opening stages of the second half but recharged Antrim came roaring back at them.
Eoghan Campbell picked out McCann who split the posts with calm assurance and McNaughton had added another couple (the first on the break after Elliott had saved Cody’s shot) before all hell broke loose.
Joe Maskey rose highest to grab a Kilkenny clearance and quickly played in Michael Bradley. The St John’s clubman wasted no time in launching the sliothar into the Kilkenny square and Clarke passed to Cunning who lashed his shot into the net.
Suddenly there were only three points in it and Antrim kept on coming. Sensing opportunity with the long ball, Keelan Molloy sent in another bomb and this time McManus got on the end of it. His shot was saved but Clarke was quickly on the rebound and, in a flash, it was all-square at 2-10 to 1-13.
Kilkenny responded by going up a gear and registered the next eight points but Antrim continued to stand their ground. Clarke’s point and two more scores from McNaughton, who was able to find pockets of space at centre half-forward, left it 2-13 to 1-22 and then, with substitute Domhnall Nugent making a nuisance of himself at full-forward, McManus took a Clarke pass and lashed in Antrim’s third goal.
With eight minutes left there was just a puck of the ball between Antrim and Kilkenny and hope soared once again that a famous win was on the cards.
Gleeson emptied his bench but again the Cats retained their composure and kicked on. They finished with impressive poise and scored five of the last seven points.
Brian Cody has been at the helm of Cats for 23 seasons and, while this is not the strongest of his teams and he was without talisman TJ Reid yesterday, he was full of praise for Antrim’s efforts.
“We had a small bit of a cushion (at half-time) and then suddenly the game was level and that asked serious questions of the team,” said Cody.
“The response was good – we went six up fairly quickly and then we finished it off okay. The opposition is always going to get a bit of momentum and boss things for a while and they were hanging in there and getting back.”
He added: “Antrim are really excellent hurlers.
“They deserve to be in this division, they have played two matches so far and they’ve won one. They are a serious, serious team.”
High praise indeed.
Kilkenny: D Brennan; T Walsh, H Lawlor, P Deegan (0-1); D Blanchfield, P Walsh, C Browne (0-2); R Reid (0-1), C Buckley; L Blanchfield, E Cody (1-1), M Keoghan (0-2); J Bergin (0-4), A Mullen (0-3), A Murphy (0-13, 0-9 frees)
Substitutes: J Donnelly (0-1) for L Blanchfield (HT), J Holden for Deegan (45), C Fogarty for Reid (56), T O’Dwyer for Bergin (61), M Carey for Buckley (67)
Yellow cards: Reid (27), Browne (32), P Deegan (43)
Antrim: R Elliott; D McMullan, G Walsh (0-1), S Rooney; E Campbell, P Burke, J Maskey; K Molloy, N McManus (1-0); N McKenna (0-1), J McNaughton (0-6, 0-2 frees), M Bradley (0-1); C Cunning (1-1), C McCann (0-2), C Clarke (1-3, 0-3 frees)
Substitutes: E O’Neill for McKenna (48), Conor Johnston for Cunning (52), D Nugent for Molloy (52), P Duffin for McMullan (55), D McCloskey for McCann (63). S Shannon for Clarke (66), Ciaran Johnston for Rooney (66)
Yellow cards: E Campbell (36), D McMullan (52), G Walsh (68)
Referee: S Stack (Dublin)
