Bord na Mona Walsh Cup Group Two: Antrim v DCU (tomorrow, Jordanstown, 2pm)
WITH the focus now turning to their National League opener against London in three weeks, Antrim’s management team have much more than tomorrow’s final Walsh Cup clash with Dublin City University on their minds.
Injuries sustained in last week’s defeat to Kilkenny have left Neal McAuley (twisted knee) and full-back Matthew Donnelly (hip flexor strain) facing a race against time to be fit for that Division 2A meeting with the Exiles on February 12.
And Cushendall forward Christy McNaughton faces an even longer spell on the sidelines after breaking his ankle at training last Tuesday night.
It is a headache the management team of Terence McNaughton, Dominic McKinley, Gary O’Kane and Neal Peden could have done without, but one of their aims during the pre-season competition was to improve the depth of their squad.
As a result, changes will be made for the visit of DCU to Jordanstown tomorrow when the Saffrons aim to move on from last week’s chastening 26-point reversal against Brian Cody’s Cats.
Indeed, with Antrim due to face reigning All-Ireland champions Tipperary in a challenge match at Corrigan Park next weekend, January won’t have been short on top level opposition.
Although he admitted being in such elite company wasn’t something you would want every week, McKinley feels it is important to “step into that environment” occasionally to measure yourself against the very best.
“You pick the good things out of it,” he said.
“In the first 10 minutes we weren’t in it, but then we had 20 minutes of a good spell after that, we came back into the game and were unlucky not to get a goal which might have helped a bit.
“We need to look at things that went wrong as well and improve on those things. We felt we left ourselves a wee bit too open at the back so as a group we’re going to have to sort that out.
“They didn’t hold back – they were sending out a message to all of Ireland, not just us, that they haven’t gone away. Tipperary, I’m sure, will do the same.
“It’s not the kind of thing you’d want us or the players to go through every week, there is a morale factor there, but then again it is good to step into that environment and learn from it, see where you are.
“We’re all realistic and we came back and looked at it and we’ll see where we go.”
Injuries aside, McKinley insists the Walsh Cup has brought the Antrim players on “leaps and bounds”, with the nine-point victory over fellow Division 2A side Westmeath a better indicator of the progress being made at this early stage of the year.
DCU represent a similar challenge, having pushed the Lake county to four points after coming up nine short against a Kilkenny U21 team coached by former player Eddie Brennan.
McKinley isn’t taking the students lightly, while the Saffrons are also due to face Down in a challenge game at the Dub Arena on Thursday night before taking on Michael Ryan’s mighty Liam MacCarthy Cup holders.
“It’s another competitive game, and we’re delighted to be in the competition and we’re looking forward to it, even after last week,” he said.
“We’re looking to get our fitness up and speed it up our hurling, that’s what we’ll be doing for the two or three weeks prior to the London game. We want to try and get as many players as much game-time as we possibly can.
“Overall we’re happy, we’ll make one or two changes and go again.”
