FOLLOWING the Antrim hurlers as a reporter for the last two decades has been the kind of tempestuous affair you never tired of.
It’s fair to say it’s had more downs than ups. Even some of the defeats for Antrim during that time can be classified as 'ups' – notably their gallant stabs at All-Ireland glory against Tipperary and Wexford in 2002 and ’03, when men like Brian McFall, Liam and Paddy Richmond walked the walk
Antrim were blessed with the competitive spirit of Colm McGuckian, young Liam Watson was also making his way in the big league and caring not a jot for the weighty reputations of the south.
There was Gregory O’Kane’s scandalous scoring economy, Karl McKeegan of Cushendall, Johnny Campbell, Jim Connolly, DD Quinn and Kieran Kelly.
Dinny Cahill’s Antrim team had a bit of everything – but they never quite reached the heights of the ’89 team.
Around the turn of the century Ulster hurling was in decent shape too. Down were still capable of landing a knock-out blow on their arch rivals Antrim while Derry had unearthed a serious group of hurlers that enabled them to claim back-to-back provincial titles in 2000 and 2001 before the natural order of things were restored.
Although the finals didn’t quite attract the crowds of the 90’s, there was still a buzz around Casement Park – the greatest patch of grass ever grown in Ireland – on Ulster hurling final day.
For Antrim, the wheels came off in 2005, as they inevitably did from time to time.
In his infinite wisdom, Tipp native Dinny Cahill let Brian Corcoran and Timmy McCarthy have it with both barrels at Antrim’s ill-fated press night.
Big mistake.
After Cork took Antrim out by the root in the All-Ireland quarter-final, I remember interviewing Ben O’Connor under the Cusack stand and him saying: “If you offend one of us, you offend all of us.”
While the middle-tier hurling counties hailed the introduction of the Christy Ring in ‘05, Antrim were still hankering after Croke Park.
Even when Karl McKeegan paraded the Christy Ring around headquarters in ’06 - sweeping Carlow aside in a painfully one-sided final - the Glensmen missed the idea of landing a few blows on the Tipps, the Corks and the Wexfords.
Too many of the fantastic minors of 05/06 graduated too quickly to the senior ranks and there were some steep learning curves along the way, while an Ulster title was no longer the passport to the All-Ireland series as the GAA’s top brass fiddled and tampered with formats that didn’t help Antrim’s cause.
Hurling’s glass ceiling looked even more impenetrable over the last decade as Antrim lurched from one erratic performance to the next. On their day, Antrim could be sublime. But they were also desperately brittle.
When the stress tests arrived the Antrim hurlers failed more than they passed.
There was that desperate Saturday afternoon in Parnell Park when Kevin Ryan’s men suffered the ignominy of relegation at the hands of an up and coming Kerry side.
And the fact there were now struggling with the likes of Carlow and Laois showed that their Leinster rivals were making more strides than them.
One of the brighter days over the last 10 years, however, was when Antrim saw off Carlow in the mud of Pairc Esler to re-claim their Division One status in March 2017, before relinquishing it a year later to Laois in Dunloy.
But this is how Antrim hurling always rolled.
They’d yo-yo between Division One and Two, you never quite trusted them on the road, and just when they’d get your hopes up they’d dash them as quickly.
Last year was a classic example of this tempestuous affair. Neal Peden’s men played the shirts off their backs down in Offaly, with 14 men, and were one win away from a Joe McDonagh final.
That day in Tullamore felt like a bit of a breakthrough.
Just a week later, Westmeath give them a lesson in how to game-manage and win ugly. Antrim were a pale shadow of the side of Tullamore.
As so many successful teams down through the years will testify – none more so than the Armagh senior footballers of the late 90’s/early 2000’s – you often need to experience bitter defeats before becoming a champion.
No doubt, the current Antrim panel learned quite a bit about themselves from the highs and lows of those seven days in Tullamore and Dunloy last summer.
Brendan Murphy, Antrim’s new strength and conditioning coach, has been a vital cog in the wheel in 2020. And there is always the Darren Gleeson factor.
It’s not like the Tipperary native has breezed in this year and sprinkled a bit of star dust because he’s been around the squad for the last couple of seasons and has gotten to know the players and the terrain they’ve tread.
Timing is obviously important for any new manager but Gleeson has managed to get incredible buy in from the players. They haven’t lost since a one-point Kehoe Cup defeat to Offaly at the start of the year.
They emerged from seven months of lockdown to confidently clinch promotion at the hands of Kerry in Tullamore in mid-October.
It’s the way Antrim Gaels have been calibrated insofar as no-one would have been surprised had the hurlers lost that day.
But it was the manner of the win over Kerry that was most impressive. When there were bouts of turbulence, Antrim remained composed. They looked like a team that actually enjoyed the stress test put in front of them.
A week later, and with Covid playing havoc with their preparations, they took care of business again, this time against Westmeath at Corrigan Park – another team they always struggled with.
Running on empty in Carlow the following week, they grabbed a draw from the jaws of defeat.
And they took care of business against Kerry and Meath to win the right to face the Kingdom again in the Joe McDonagh decider tomorrow afternoon.
That’s what the Antrim hurlers have done this year: they have taken care of business in a way that they haven’t done for a long time.
As they prepare for their first McDonagh final tomorrow afternoon, there is a very real sense that they can finally shake the negative labels of the past.
Kerry is the next stress test in front of them. Their public will be looking for more encouraging evidence.
