ANTRIM hurler Neal McAuley says it was always going to be a “difficult season” for the Saffrons following a disastrous 2015 campaign that saw them relegated out of the NHL top flight, losing their Leinster round robin status and dropping down to the Christy Ring Cup.
But the Ballycastle centre-back is hoping for a silver lining to the county’s season as they prepare to face Meath in the Ring final next Saturday at Croke Park.
Antrim endured a wretched National League campaign, losing three games on the bounce to Westmeath, Carlow and London, which yielded PJ O’Mullan’s resignation prior to the team’s Christy Ring campaign.
Dominic McKinley, Terence McNaughton, Gary O’Kane and Neal Peden stepped into the breach and have managed to guide the team to wins over Kildare, Roscommon and Down to reach the Ring decider on June 4 (5.30pm throw-in).
“It was never going to be easy after getting relegated last year,” admitted McAuley.
“We were relegated out of Division 1B and relegated into the Christy Ring so it was always going to be difficult to get the players up for the League. But we’ve managed to get to the Christy Ring final and we’ll be doing our best to win it.”
Antrim suffered a few scares against Roscommon and Down but managed to finish both games strongly.
However, McAuley insists that they need to be more consistent within games if Antrim are to add to their first Christy Ring success in 2006.
“There is more in us,” he said.
“We played 15 or 20 minutes against Kildare, we performed for about 10 minutes against Roscommon and we didn’t play for long enough against Down. It’s trying to get that 70 minutes.
“It’s not easy to get that but if you play for 40 or 50 minutes that’s usually enough to win. There’s definitely more in us, it’s just a matter of getting it out.”
Antrim’s last success in Croke Park came in 2010 when they surprised Dublin to reach the All-Ireland quarter-finals before bowing out to Cork.
While it will be McAuley’s fourth time playing at headquarters he missed that famous victory over the Dubs six years ago.
“In 2010 was the year that Arron Graffin and me decided to travel for the summer – and it was the best season Antrim had in a long time!
“We ended up watching Antrim’s matches against Dublin and Cork in a bar in New York at about eight o’clock in the morning.
“I thought at the time I’d never get the chance to travel again and it turns out I didn’t, as I’ve two kids now. I don’t regret missing those games but it was disappointing to miss the whole journey that Antrim had that year.”
Antrim almost didn’t make this year’s Ring decider after Down pushed them all the way in a pulsating semi-final.
“We didn’t start at all. It took us to be down six or seven points to start playing,” said McAuley.
“You have to give Down credit - they were very economical on the ball and they took some good scores.
“We came out in the second half and we started well, we got level but we didn’t really kick on which was frustrating, but we dug in near the end.
“I thought our substitutes made a massive, massive difference in that game – Niall McKenna made a huge impact when he came on.
“There’s lots of competition for places and everyone is looking to get in the team to play at Croke Park.”
