THE one and only time the Antrim hurlers featured in a Joe McDonagh final was in the throes of a global pandemic played in an empty Croke Park in December 2020.
While Antrim triumphed that day, James McNaughton is hoping to create better memories in Saturday’s decider against the same final opponent Kerry.
Now in his fifth year with the Saffrons, the Loughgiel attacker says the 2020 final was an “extremely weird” affair.
“The last time we were there we had nobody supporting us because of COVID. So, this time round, we’ll have our family and friends cheering us on.
“[In 2020] You could hear every instruction and I suppose in one sense that made it a wee bit easier. It just felt like another game of hurling – same dimensions, same pitch – but we didn’t want the empty stadium distracting us.”
Saturday’s McDonagh final, to be screened ‘live’ on RTE and RTE Player, will act as a curtain-raiser to the eagerly anticipated Leinster SHC final between Kilkenny and Galway at headquarters.
By virtue of qualifying for this season’s decider, both Antrim and Kerry will play All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final ties, with the winners facing Cork and the runners-up Wexford. Both Antrim and Kerry will have home advantage for these ties, scheduled for the following Saturday.
Arguably a bigger incentive for Antrim, though, is should they beat Kerry they gain promotion to the Leinster SHC round robin series next season, while the hurlers of Kerry, somewhat controversially, will be forced into a play-off with Tipperary to gain entry into the 2023 Munster SHC series.
“Obviously winning Joe McDonagh comes with getting back into Leinster and that’s the main aim for this year,” insists McNaughton.
“We set out our stall to stay in Division One and win the Joe McDonagh and do better in Leinster if we get there. Saturday will be a great occasion, don’t get me wrong, but it’s Leinster next year we want.”
Despite the ravaging effects of the COVID pandemic, McNaughton says a huge amount of work was done during those dark days that has ultimately served the group well.
Reflecting on the last couple of seasons, the 24-year-old centre-forward says: “We said to each other at the start of COVID that we wouldn’t allow it to hold us back and that we’d remain truthful to each other and we’d put everything we can into it.
“We trusted each other that we’d do the work. It also gave you something to do when others didn’t have much to do; we were still flat out training in small pods and individually.
“We were lucky we were able to do that.”
Like every hurler’s career, McNaughton’s has suffered a bit of turbulence in 2022. A leg injury prevented him from training properly for over three months and when he under-performed in Antrim’s first NHL Division 1B game against Kilkenny – a three-point defeat in Nowlan Park – McNaughton was dropped from the starting line-up.
“I was struggling with an injury at the start of the season and I did precious little,” he says, “and whenever I started against Kilkenny I was off the pace a bit. It was tough. I suppose when you hurl badly after every game, you’re always down in the dumps and I knew myself I didn’t have a good pre-season.
“But I also knew I’d get back up to speed. It was something I’d never faced before.”
McNaughton found his rhythm again as a second-half substitute in Antrim’s morale-sapping Division 1B defeat to Laois before they retained their top flight status with an impressive play-off victory over Offaly in Navan a fortnight later.
Since that day in O’Moore Park, McNaughton hasn’t looked back. A highly-rated amateur boxer in his teenage years with Scorpion ABC, McNaughton threw his lot in with hurling once he turned 16.
While the modern player seems to prefer a lighter hurl, McNaughton wouldn’t look past a heavy piece of 35-inch ash with green or orange grip.
“A lot of people prefer the lighter hurls because it’s easier to swing but personally I think the heavier the hurl the further you can strike it. I couldn’t hurl with a lighter one.”
Despite the time demands associated with playing inter-county hurling, McNaughton has got plenty out of his Antrim career to justify the last five seasons of commitment.
“You’re maybe out five or six nights a week between November to July. Everything is planned around hurling – your social life and at times your work life. It’s very time-consuming. But I’m enjoying it so much and I get enough out of it.
“The squad is extremely close-knit squad, probably because we spend so much time with each other. I probably see Eoghan Campbell more than my own Ma or Da!
“It’s work, training, home. But that time together has helped in a lot of ways. Over the years with Antrim, there would’ve been wee rifts and cliques and stuff but there is none of that anymore because of the time we spend together and wanting to achieve the same goal.
“Just to be able to hurl at the highest standard is great. I love testing myself against the best and when you see the kids running up to you after matches, asking to shake your hand or wanting your signature, it’s a great feeling. Whenever you’re an inter-county hurler you are a role model whether you like it or not and I suppose that’s a very nice thing.”
