HE may have his sights set on another prize at the minute, but Dunloy hotshot Conal Cunning says it is his “mission” to help Antrim land a Leinster Championship at some point.
Cunning isn’t involved with the Saffrons as they prepare for Saturday’s season-opening Walsh Cup clash against Dublin, with his full focus on Dunloy’s bid for a first All-Ireland club crown later this month.
The 24-year-old was sensational as the Cuchullain’s defeated familiar foes Slaughtneil in the Ulster final, and carried that form into a dramatic All-Ireland semi-final victory over Galway champions St Thomas’s to set up a January 22 showdown with Kilkenny kingpins Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Antrim boss Darren Gleeson will welcome Cunning and the rest of the Dunloy contingent back with open arms once the National League gets under way as the Saffrons gear up for another Division 1B campaign.
Further down the track, last year’s Joe McDonagh Cup success secured a crack at the round robin Leinster Championship - those games against Kilkenny, Galway, Dublin, Wexford and Westmeath will provide a major test of Antrim’s credentials, but they go in with plenty of ambition.
“My mission is to win a Leinster Championship, and that is in all seriousness,” said Cunning, speaking at last month’s launch of the new Antrim jersey.
“Three or four years ago you’d never have said that, but we’ve played some of these teams home and away, and people might say you’re only saying that… I’m not. There is a genuine ambition for our team to go on and win a Leinster Championship.
“We know we’re doing the right things, and when you see the work the players are putting in, it’s incredible.”
Going into Gleeson’s fourth year at the helm, Antrim have shown steady progress, developing a squad capable of mixing it with the big boys at League and Championship level.
Having stayed in Division One last year, and landed a second McDonagh Cup, Cunning admits the Saffron mindset has evolved as confidence continues to grow.
“You could say there was maybe a bit more expectation on us.
“We had done well in the Joe McDonagh last time we were in it [in 2020], and people were probably looking at us like ‘is this Antrim team going to keep pushing forward or dropping down again?’
“Thankfully we won the Joe McDonagh Cup, we were delighted with that – to win that and stay in Division One, that was massive for us. There’s expectation but at the same time it gives you confidence because there’s that wee bit more belief.
“You were going into games the first couple of years going ‘happy to be here, let’s get a good performance’. At the minute, performances are good, but we want to get results. We know we can play well, we’ve shown we can play well, but now we’re more worried about getting results because that’s what really matters.”
And yet that McDonagh Cup final victory over Kerry, and the manner in which Antrim allowed the Kingdom back into the game, showed there is work still to be done. Against Cork at Corrigan Park the following week, Antrim had a golden chance to pile pressure on the Rebels, but ultimately paid the price for some wayward first half shooting.
“You look at the Kerry game - we played well in the first half, then in the second half we let in a couple of goals. But there was just that confidence that, even though we lost our way a wee bit, that if we keep doing the right things it will come good, and it did,” said Cunning.
“We were very disappointed in the Cork game because we had a lot of good performances, but we hit 11 or 12 wides in the first half – at that level, you’re not going to get away with that.
“We played well in small patches, but these teams, even when they’re not firing on all cylinders, they’re getting points off. They have that consistency where they’re always getting on the board, no matter what.
“We need to be better at that.”
