WHEN Antrim secured their Division One status for 2024 after a solid win against Laois in early March, Darren Gleeson, his management and squad of players finally felt they could exhale again after six weeks of holding their breaths.
It was always going to be a difficult spring in Division 1, but the last thing Antrim needed hanging over them heading during the run-in to the championship was relegation, or even the energy-sapping threat of it from a relegation final.
“We can now prepare for the championship properly for what feels like the first time ever,” said Gleeson afterwards.
“This will be our first run of six weeks. We will need that as it’s been a tough few weeks for all of us.”
Unlike the big teams who never have to worry about league relegation, that constant threat for sides like Antrim, Laois and Westmeath is a draining experience. Moreover, consistent defeat and the risk of shipping hidings dilutes confidence and momentum.
In that context, Antrim’s league campaign could never just be distilled into their keynote game against Laois, because Gleeson certainly didn’t need morale and confidence on the floor before they even got that far.
By the time they did, Antrim had more than just the assistance of home advantage; their campaign up to that point had been far less morale-sapping than Laois’s, who had lost their three previous games to Tipperary, Waterford and Kilkenny by an aggregate margin of 45 points.
Conversely, Antrim had gone into that match having lost to Kilkenny, Dublin and Waterford by an aggregate of 17 points. Just as importantly, Antrim were highly competitive in all three games.
Losing to Tipperary in Corrigan Park by 18 points in Round 5 was disappointing but the pressure was off at that stage and Antrim had the opportunity to engage in a heavy training block, something that was always going to be risky doing during the league campaign when Antrim were trying to build confidence and momentum by being as competitive as possible.
The league also offered Gleeson the opportunity to see if his players are as good as he thinks they are.
“There are no limits to where Antrim can go,” said Gleeson before the league began in February.
“This current crop are very talented. I think the potential is massive.”
The big question now is how far does that ambition extend? How far can Antrim push those limits? Are they just focussed on staying in the Leinster championship? Or are they really serious about making a push to get into the top four and, possibly even the top three?
That might be stretching it but, for the first time since the round robin began, there may be an opportunity for a team outside the dominant quartet of Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny and Wexford, to break into that Leinster pack and, rattle it to its core.
Most of the focus around Antrim and Westmeath is aimed towards their last game in the middle of May when both will meet in Mullingar in what has already been effectively framed as a relegation play-off. Yet the whole tone and tempo of the Leinster championship – and not just Antrim’s campaign – could be radically altered if Antrim beat Dublin on Saturday in Corrigan Park.
Depending on how Wexford get on in Pearse Stadium against Galway a couple of hours later, Antrim could go into Round 2 against Wexford with real belief and momentum next weekend to push on and build towards something nobody really thinks they can possibly achieve.
So what is realistic for Antrim? Six points wasn’t even enough for Dublin to secure that third place last year but the round robin doesn’t always follow a linear narrative.
Wexford qualified from the group with just four points in 2018. The following year, four teams ended up on five points and Galway were the first team in the history of the championship to be eliminated on scoring difference.
Getting to five points would be a stretch but four points is within Antrim’s compass, which is at least how Antrim should be thinking. If they can manage as much with wins against Dublin and Westmeath, and possibly a draw in Wexford Park, other results and the good fortune of scoring difference or a positive head-to-head outcome could do Antrim all the favours they need.
The counter-argument to all that prospective gazing is that it’s completely unrealistic, even outlandish, for a team that has never beaten a top four side in Leinster to be thinking about anything other than securing their position in the province for next season.
Antrim only have two home games and their record on the road is not good. Apart from last year’s Joe McDonagh Cup final, the only two games Antrim have won away from home in league or championship in the last three years were against Down and Meath, which was in last year’s Joe McDonagh.
In their history in Leinster, Antrim have only won six matches. Four of those wins came in 2014 when they topped a round robin group with Carlow, Laois, London and Westmeath, before Wexford hammered them in a quarter-final. The following year Antrim were relegated to the Christy Ring and they didn’t reappear again in Leinster for another six years.
They went into that 2021 campaign loaded with optimism too and Dublin knocked it straight out of them on the opening day, drilling them by 18 points. It was even more disappointing because Antrim had finished ahead of Dublin in that 2021 league, having beaten Clare and Laois and drawn with Wexford.
On the otherhand, Dublin were still a legitimate force back then, which they proved by subsequently beating Galway to reach that 2021 Leinster final. Where are Dublin now? They have an excellent manager in Micheál Donoghue. They’re still a solid side but they are inexperienced, and vulnerable, especially in Corrigan Park.
If Antrim can take advantage of that vulnerability, they could do more than just blow the Leinster championship wide open – it could also give them the impetus and confidence to drive on and go to a place where Gleeson and Antrim feel they can get to.
More than anything though, Saturday will tell just how much ambition Antrim really have. And how far they can potentially push their limits.
