NIALL McKenna believes the days of Antrim scoring moral victories against hurling’s big guns should be consigned to history - and has urged Saffron supporters to come out in numbers for tomorrow’s vital NHL Division 1B showdown with Dublin at Corrigan Park.
The fact that the Antrim camp were bitterly disappointed not to come away from Nowlan Park with at least a share of the spoils against Kilkenny perhaps indicates rising standards.
Currently enjoying back-to-back campaigns in the top flight, Antrim will be keen to get some League points on the board against the Dubs in the hope of retaining their hard-earned status.
Last week, Antrim led Kilkenny 1-5 to 0-2 after 26 minutes before being pegged back by half-time.
And despite trailing by seven points after the third quarter, Conor Johnston and Neil McManus nailed majors and Kilkenny had goalkeeper Darren Brennan to thank for making a brilliant stoppage-time save to deny Domhnall Nugent as the hosts ran out three-point winners.
Afterwards, manager Darren Gleeson refused to accept plaudits for coming close to beating Kilkenny. Niall McKenna was of the same mind.
“For me, we threw that game away last week,” said the half-forward.
“A lot of the basics let us down, stupid mistakes let them back in the game. We probably should have been leading at half time and ended up going in level. It’s not that they were too good for us, it was our stupid mistakes that cost us.”
The Sarsfield’s clubman cites last season’s opening day League win over Clare and drawing with Wexford as the period when the ‘penny dropped’ for this group of players and gave them the confidence to believe that they belonged in the top tier.
“I think those games gave us belief and then with Darren [Gleeson] coming in, he’s been there, done it. Whenever he’s telling you you’re good enough, it definitely helps.
“We believe we’re good enough for this level,” he added. “We’ve definitely improved. When we come away from Nowlan Park saying we threw the game away... You never thought you’d see the day especially since I’ve been playing. It shows how far we’ve come that we should’ve got a result. There were maybe some things you can’t control, some decisions that went against us but we just have to get on to the next game now.”
There have been minimal changes to Gleeson’s squad from last season with 14 of those involved in Nowlan Park last Sunday who featured in last year’s heavy Leinster Championship loss to Dublin in Navan.
Mattie Kenny’s Dublin side, who won the Walsh Cup last month, enjoyed a nip-and-tuck draw with Waterford in their NHL opener with 10 of the side featuring in last summer’s 18-point win over Antrim.
McKenna is under illusions as to the size of the task facing them, even on home soil, but feels the Antrim support can get them over the line tomorrow.
“We’re trying to get as many at Corrigan Park as possible to get our first win in 2022. We need to get our supporters there in our own backyard because it makes a massive difference.
“Playing Dublin is like playing against a football team, the way they work the ball through the hands and always having an outlet,” McKenna said.
“We know how good Dublin are. I’m confident we can get a result but we have to do the basics right. And if we have a big support behind us we hope we can come away with the points but we need all those things to go in our favour.”
