Hurling & Camogie

Battling Antrim see off Carlow in ferocious Division 2A decider

Allianz Hurling League Division 2A final: Antrim 2-12 Carlow 0-15

From Andy Watters at Pairc Esler, Newry

IN the muck and gutters of Pairc Esler, where hurls got smashed and blood was spilled as fearless foes clashed, Antrim dug their heels in and clawed their way back up to Division 1B.

The county hasn’t had much to sing about in recent seasons but the Glensmen were serenaded with a few bars of ‘The Green Glens of Antrim’ from their faithful supporters as they hobbled off the pitch after giving everything to see off determined Carlow in a competitive, at times ferocious, Division 2A final.

First half goals from Eoghan Campbell and Neil McManus (a penalty), had the northerners 2-5 to 0-7 ahead at the end of a first half that saw five yellow cards dished out. Carlow closed the gap to a point with 10 minutes to go, but Antrim, inspired by nerveless free-taking of McManus and the Trojan work of Matthew Donnelly, Conor McKinley and Niall McKenna among many others, produced a stirring finish to win the title.

Joint-manager Dominic McKinley saluted the efforts of the Antrim players who simply refused to lose.

“If you had asked me 10 or 15 years ago would I be running around here, shaking hands and jumping about (because Antrim had beaten Carlow in the Division 2A final) I’d have said ‘no’,” said ‘Woody’.

“That’s no disrespect to Carlow, but everybody thinks you should be beating these teams.

“It's got to the stage where we are delighted and delighted for the players because they’ve got a wee bit of payback for the effort they’ve put in. It’s small steps.”

Newry was busy on Saturday, but there was plenty of room in the Pairc Esler car park. Only a few hundred supporters turned out to watch what Carlow manager Colm Bonnnar described as “a hell of a game”. They are a diehard breed and as the engrossing struggle developed it seemed like nothing else in the world mattered.

“We would love it some day if we could take more people with us,” said McKinley.

“But we know that we need to do things first. It’s all a process and hopefully we can add a bit more to it before the end of the year. But this is the important one, getting up a league is so so important to Antrim hurling.”

Like McKinley said, the Glensmen began well and Paul Shiels and Deaghlan Murphy combined to send McManus through for the opening score with less than a minute gone.

Murphy added a free but Martin Kavanagh soon had Carlow back on terms when he capitalized on the space he was afforded out on the left to rifle over two fine points.

Then McManus turned provider for Campbell who beat Carlow goalkeeper James Carroll with a precise finish and Niall McKenna’s point meant Antrim led 1-3 to 0-2 with 15 minutes gone.

Paul Coady pulled one back before Campbell and McManus combined for another goal. This time full-forward McManus was on the end of Campbell’s punt forward, he fielded and turned but was dragged down by Paul Doyle and referee Mick Murtagh signaled penalty. Carroll never moved as McManus smashed the sliothar into the bottom corner to give Antrim a six-point lead.

Coady and Murphy swapped three frees each and the Carlow marksman landed a ‘65’ to bring the half to a close with Antrim 2-5 to 0-7 ahead.

Showers of rain throughout the half had made the surface increasingly greasy and the substitutes, then the kids, were ordered off the mucky pitch during the interval.

When play resumed Paddy Burke smashed a shot over the Carlow bar to extend Antrim’s lead and Murphy added another free after he had been fouled.

Sheets of rain blew up the field and Carlow had the wind at their backs as they stepped up their intensity with the game drifting away from them. Donnelly left Martin Kavanagh in a heap with a thunderous shoulder charge and Coady landed a free but missed his next two as the Leinster men began to dominate around midfield and bottle up Antrim’s attack.

McKenna’s take from Chris O’Connell’s puck-out set up a Conor Johnston score but then Carlow seized the initiative and landed five in-a-row. Seamus Murphy, Coady (a free) and Martin Kavanagh came up with the first three in that sequence and every break was a battle as players from both sides put their bodies on the line.

Battle raged on the sideline near the stand as the slippery sliothar was lost, then regained, then lost again as boots and hurleys swung in the mud. Finally referee Murtagh blew for a Carlow free. It was all too much for one Antrim fan who hurled a plastic bottle onto the field in frustration.

Coady shot wide but – with Antrim’s forwards overdoing it and unable to make the ball stick up front - Eddie Byrne picked another off and Kevin McDonald had the Carlow fans on their feet when his finish left just one point in it.

Martin Kavanagh missed a chance to level it and then McManus cracked over a free after Johnston was fouled. His opposite number John Nolan immediately cancelled it out, but the Cushendall man added another before sub Ciaran Clarke’s point left three between them.

‘Antrim, Antrim, Antrim…’ chanted the fans as the seconds ticked away, but Jack Murphy pulled one back for Carlow to cut the deficit to two.

Four minutes of extra-time were signaled and again the action moved to the sideline were players pulled and grabbed at a loose ball before Paddy Burke somehow emerged with it and was pulled down just inside Carlow territory.

McManus trotted back to take a difficult free and he made light of the distance and the stiff wind blowing in off Carlingford Lough by sending a shot screaming high over the Carlow bar. If he plays until he’s 100 the Cushendall man will never strike a ball better.

But the game was far from over. Two of the four extra minutes had gone by when a free dropped dangerously into the Antrim goalmouth. Skipper Simon McCrory scrambled it out for a ‘65’ and when it came in Conor McKinley got his stick to it but the ball was lost and it took a desperate tackle to keep out Eddie Byrne as he bore down on the Antrim goal.

Carlow were awarded a free and Antrim packed their goalline as Martin Kavanagh stood over it. He smashed his shot hard and low but it was blocked and when O’Connell’s clearance went out of a play off a Carlow stick Antrim’s fans could afford to relax at last.

The final whistle blew with the ball in the air from the puck-out and there were roars of delight on the field and in the stand.

The Carlow players trooped of as Antrim celebrated with the trophy and their manager Bonnar was magnanimous in defeat.

“We were driving at them and we brought it back to a point but when you look back we had five wides in the last 10 minutes and when there’s only a point or two in it that makes a lot of difference. It was very tight near the end,” he said.

“We can’t complain, the scoreboard is never wrong.

“It was tight near the end, but we just didn’t take our chances and hats off to Antrim, they’re heading up Division 1B. It’s what we wanted, our goal was to come here and win and we’re hugely disappointed that didn’t happen for us.”

The sides will meet again in the Christy Ring Cup in three weeks’ time and Antrim will hope to win that competition and then look ahead to Division 1B next year.

McKinley said: “Our long term goal is, say in three years’ time that we’re playing in the quarter-finals of the National League. That’s not getting ahead of ourselves, but we need to rejuvenate the whole thing and go again and go again and go again.”

There’s a long road ahead, but Saturday was certainly a step in the right direction for Antrim.

Antrim: C O’Connell; S Rooney, J Dillon, C McKinley; S McCrory, M Donnelly, P Burke (0-1); E Campbell (1-0), P Shiels; N McManus (1-4, 0-1 pen, 0-3 frees), C McCann, C Johnston (0-1); N McKenna (0-1), N McAuley, D Murphy (0-4 frees)

Subs: O McFadden for McAuley (49), C Clarke (0-1) for Murphy (57), J McNaughton for Campbell (69)

Yellow cards: McKinley (13), Campbell (21), Dillon (31), Shiels (35)

Carlow: J Carroll; A Corcoran, P Doyle, G Bennett; D Byrne, D English, R Coady; J Kavanagh, S Whelan; JM Nolan (0-1), M Kavanagh (0-3, 0-1 65), E Byrne (0-1); C Nolan, P Coady (0-7, 0-6 frees, 0-1 65), S Murphy (0-1)

Subs: J Doyle for Whelan (35), K McDonald (0-1) for C Nolan (44), R Kelly for English (52), D Murphy for S Murphy (57), J Murphy (0-1) for J Kavanagh (60)

Blood subs: K McDonald for S Murphy (40), S Murphy for K McDonald (42), S Kavanagh for Byrne (70)

Yellow card: J Kavanagh (23)

Referee: M Murtagh (Westmeath)