Brendan McTaggart speaks to the Antrim captain.
Antrim Eoghan Campbell will have the honour to lead Antrim out on Saturday afternoon in the Joe McDonagh Final. The Cushendall clubman has been Mr Consistency for the Saffrons this season and he’s relishing the opportunity to play in Croke Park.
This is Campbell’s first year with the armband but he told us his role within the team hasn’t changed: “To be honest, it hasn’t really changed much. Probably the way I approach it and the way I am, it doesn’t really change much. It is just me on the pitch, the team has to be there to carry us over the line. You might get to lift the cup at the end of the day and you’ve a few extra responsibilities. In terms of hurling or what I do on and off the pitch, it hasn’t changed anything about me. It is just a title you are given for the time you are out there.
“When you are leading your county, it is always a good thing. It will probably mean more to my family, seeing me lead Antrim out. My father had followed me everywhere, to every game. My mother and my two aunties still follow me to every game.”
Since 2020, Antrim have introduced more players to the squad. Campbell told us that he and the other more senior players in the squad have been emphasising to embrace the occasion: “It was definitely unique in 2020 because there was nobody (support) there. Now, there will be people there. So, even for the boys who have been there, it is still going to be a different experience.
“What the senior boys have been preaching is just communicating with ourselves and focusing on ourselves. Trusting that we’ve done the hard yards in November and December and, if we bring the work-rate and express ourselves well, we’ve a great chance in Croke Park.
“The big thing is, we don’t want to go down there and go into ourselves, we have to embrace everything, the crowd, and just go at it. As I said, you don’t get to play at Croke Park too often, so you have to enjoy it.”
Many had predicted an Antrim and Offaly final before a ball was thrown in this season and up until the last round of games, this was still the same. Antrim had secured their place in the final only for the Kingdom to win in Corrigan and Carlow to upset the Faithful County. All resulting in an Antrim and Kerry final. Campbell wasn’t at all surprised with the eventuality: “I don’t really think there was much of a reaction to be honest. We obviously knew, depending on the results, it could be any one of Carlow, Offaly or Kerry.
“We knew we were in the final after beating Meath the week before. We really just focused on ourselves. We’d been carrying a few injuries and a few boys seen game-time against Kerry.
“The focus has just been on ourselves.”
With the McDonagh Cup Final back in its ‘home’ as the Leinster Final curtain raiser, it will be a different occasion for Campbell and his team mates. But the Saffrons captain said it’s exactly where it should be and the football powers should learn from the competition with a view to the Tailteann Cup: “I think having it before the Leinster Final is great, it works out well. You have the round-robin and, in the final, you know you are going to be playing before the likes of Kilkeny, Galway, Wexford or Dublin in a Leinster Final.
“The promotion of the Joe McDonagh Cup has gotten better and Covid probably helped with that in terms of streaming services showing the games.
“In terms of the actual promotion of the competition from the GAA – that could be better.
“The media ban didn’t really help us. In terms of the first year of the Joe McDonagh and the first year of the Tailteann Cup, it is probably night and day. Offaly and Wexford played in the first round of the Tailteann Cup and you’d hardly have known it was on.
“If you are an Antrim footballer, there is no promotion and no incentive. Whereas there is plenty of talk around the Joe McDonagh. People are chatting about, if Kerry win, should they go into the Munster Championship.
“It is night and day in terms of the promotion of the two competitions I would say.”
“The Joe McDonagh Cup is always going to be competitive and it is a great cup and it gives you competitive games and, if you win, you go into the Leinster round-robin.”
On Kerry, Campbell continued by saying there needs to be a change in the eventuality of a Kingdom win on Saturday: “Absolutely, if Kerry win, they should be in the Munster Championship. There are six teams in the Leinster Championship, there are only five in Munster so even it up? It is very simple, there’s nothing complicated about it. If I was a Kerry player knowing I’d have to play Tipperary after winning the Joe McDonagh. . . it is not a great prospect and I’d be up in arms to be honest. It is unacceptable and it is really unfair on them if they do win.”
Kerry are now playing in their third McDonagh Final in succession. They’re a team who have been knocking hard to make the breakthrough and Campbell knows it’s a sterner test than the one they faced in 2020: “From the time we played them in 2020, it is very different. They’ve players who aren’t there and some new players who have come in, some very good players. We saw that last week, Colin Walsh, Eoin Ross, Fionan MacKessy. They’ve developed as a team and as individuals and it is going to be a massive battle.
“We probably know each other inside out and we’ve played a lot over the last couple of years and we’ve been evenly-matched.
“It will come down to a real battle and whoever wants it more on the day.
“I think they’ve improved (from 2020). Even the structure they bring to their game. They’ve developed their style of play and how they want to play. They probably don’t have a reliance on Shane Conway anymore – they have a lot more scoring forwards.
“It is a different team and a different prospect.”