Allianz National League Division 1B relegation play-off: Antrim 0-17 Laois 1-16
YESTERDAY’S relegation showdown will be remembered for two things: the horrendous chill that gripped Dunloy and the 17 wides that undoubtedly cost Antrim their place in Division 1B next season.
The Saffrons fought back manfully from a five-point interval deficit to edge in front after 55 minutes – but Laois showed dogged spirit in the closing stages to preserve their top flight status.
Yesterday’s two-point defeat was a crushing blow to Antrim as they contemplate Division Two hurling again next season.
Their League campaign probably deserved more than ultimate relegation, but these are the fine lines of Division 1B.
This young Antrim team leaves behind glowing performances against Galway and Dublin and a win over Offaly – but you’re as good as your mistakes. And, in the final analysis, Antrim made too many to stay afloat.
It’s true they came out on the wrong side of too many 50-50 refereeing decisions yesterday and they played gallantly throughout the second half.
But the small details are what killed them.
Even during their good spells against Laois yesterday, mistakes crept in.
Misplaced hand passes, silly fouls within scoring range, poor decision-making in the final third.
At this level, everything adds up and is deducted from the good patches. The net result was still relegation for Antrim.
“You can see by the heads that we’re seriously disappointed,” said Antrim’s joint manager Dominic ‘Woody’ McKinley.
“Maybe we’ll reflect back on the first half, we probably sat back too much. Again, there were a lot of fouls in it [like the first match with Laois].
“But, over the course of the match, I think we’d a enough chances and we only have ourselves to blame because we did create the chances and we maybe didn’t make the right decisions at the end of those chances, and that came back to haunt us.”
Neil McManus won a 61st minute penalty but saw his effort brilliantly turned over the bar by visiting ‘keeper Enda Rowland.
As a result, Antrim found themselves tied 0-16 to 1-13 instead of two ahead going into the home straight.
Once again, Ross King proved a thorn in Antrim’s side.
He gave an exhibition of free-taking in Portlaoise a few of weeks ago and although he missed a couple of chances in Dunloy yesterday he was still the man for the O’Moore County in a nail-biting finish.
Cushendall’s Eoghan Campbell drew Antrim level again in the 65th minute but King hit two stoppage-time points – one from play – to see Laois over the line.
It was the second time that an Eamonn Kelly team has relegated Antrim.
Three years ago Kelly was over Kerry when they sent Antrim back to Division Two.
Relief was Kelly’s over-riding emotion afterwards.
“We knew it was going to be difficult coming up here. It was a long spin up,” said the Laois boss.
“We hadn’t been going well over the last few games and Antrim had shown a bit of momentum, so we knew it was going to be tough.
“There was only a puck of a ball in it. Neither team wants to go down. We’re very fortunate to come out the right side of it, but our players gave it everything.
“It means everything to Laois. You could see the way we fought out there. It wasn’t pretty. Relegation games are like that. It was a war of attrition.”
If Antrim were counting the cost of their creeping number of wides in the second half, they were lucky not to be further behind at the break [1-9 to 0-7].
Ryan Elliott in Antrim’s goal made an excellent save to deny Stephen Bergin in the 25th minute, and the corner-forward was desperately unlucky to see another goal chance come back of the home side’s crossbar a few minutes later.
The Antrim defence was wilting at that stage. On the half hour mark, Laois midfielder Patrick Purcell gave the Dunloy ‘keeper no chance when he walked through the centre of the home side’s defence unopposed to slap the ball home to put the visitors 1-06 to 0-6 ahead.
McManus, Michael Armstrong and Conor Johnston hit eye-catching scores in an otherwise disappointing first half.
But there was a marked improvement in the second period as Antrim clawed their way back into the tie.
Defenders Arron Graffin, Paddy Burke and Joe Maskey rose to the occasion and substitute James McNaughton lent more pace and direct running to the Antrim attack – but they couldn’t transfer their territorial advantage into more scores.
King kept pick-pocketing the Antrim defence and midfielder Ben Conroy was hard to handle. But just as the home crowd found its voice, it was Laois who took their chances in the closing stages.
“We hit 17 wides but if we’re at ourselves this Joe McDonagh Cup is going to be interesting, but it’s hard to think about that at the minute,” said ‘Woody’.
“We are gutted - we’re seriously gutted. We got Laois on our home ground, we got back to level and we had the opportunities…”
Antrim: R Elliott; A Graffin, J Dillon, R McCambridge; J Maskey, C McKinley, P Burke (0-1); E Campbell (0-1), G Walsh; C Johnston (0-2), N McManus (0-10, 0-5 frees, 0-1 ’65, 0-1 pen), M Armstrong (0-1); D McKinley, C McCann, N Elliott (0-1) Subs: J McNaughton (0-1) for G Walsh (h/t), S McCrory for C McCann (59), C Clarke for M Armstrong (62)
Yellow cards: M Armstrong (22), G Walsh (35), P Burke (54), N McManus (70), S McCrory (71)
Laois: E Rowland; J Phelan, L Bergin, L Cleere; J Ryan (0-1), M Whelan, P Lawlor; P Purcell (1-1), B Conroy (0-1); W Dunphy, C Dwyer (0-1), PJ Scully; R King (0-12, 0-9 frees), N Foyle, S Bergin
Subs: C Phelan for S Bergin (29)
Yellow cards: L Cleere (61)
Referee: P Murphy (Carlow)
