Seaan Elliott who had his best game in an Antrim jersey for quite a while with a top class display

Leinster Senior Hurling Championship

Round 1

Antrim 1-19 Dublin 1-19

Saturday 22 April

Brendan McTaggart reports from Corrigan Park, Belfast

Pulsating, breathtaking, heart stopping yet you didn’t want it to stop.  Corrigan Park opened its arms to the Leinster Championship on Saturday afternoon and Antrim stepped up to the challenge of Dublin in the throws of Championship hurling and put the men from the capital to the pin of their collar.  

In the end, the sides couldn’t be separated at the end of the 70 plus minutes of action in a contest neither really knew if it was a point dropped or earned.  Antrim lead for the majority of the game yet had to dig deep after Donal Burke’s 67^th minute goal gave Dublin the lead for the first time in the game.  And dig deep they did.  Points from Coby Cunning and substitute Paul Boyle looked like they had given Antrim the best start possible to the 2023 Leinster Championship but were pegged back in the sixth minute of injury time with Cian O’Sullivan firing over his sixth point of the game.

In a performance that belittled the bookies, Antrim played with huge intensity.  They met fire with fire against a Dublin side who they had come up second best in the physical stakes in the recent past.  Dublin are a physically imposing side and have plenty of flare in their ranks and Antrim matched them all over the pitch.

Cunning the top scorer with seven of his 0-9 coming from placed ball but he played the vast majority of the game around the middle third.  Chasing, harassing, tackling anything that moved and creating where he could.  The Dunloy man has become much more than meets the eye.  Despite losing Nigel Elliott late in the first half, his brother Seaan also shone.  Playing with a freedom, an abandonment and confidence that may have been lacking in recent times, Elliott was back to his mercurial best from midfield.

Defensively, the Saffrons were quite simply outstanding.  Behind them, Ryan Elliott’s reflexes denied Dublin three if not four certain goals while captain Eoghan Campbell lead by example and was in the thick of everything.  Gerard Walsh and Conal Bohill were superb throughout while Paddy Burke’s display rightly earned him the man of the match award.  Scoring a point, he made an amazing goal saving tackle in the second half among numerous turnovers, the Dublin attack will be glad to see the back of the Cushendall man.

A scintillating start laid the foundations for the Saffrons performance.  Before the game, Darren Gleeson called for his side to produce something different and to make the Dubs react to them instead of playing catch up.  A trademark score from Keelan Molloy below the Corrigan Park stand opened the scoring before Donal Burke replied.  It did little to stop the early Saffron charge however as Antrim hit three of the next four scores to lead by two after eight minutes.

Antrim’s goal came through a piece of individual brilliance from Seaan Elliott.  Picking the sliotar up around midfield, the space opened up in front of him and Elliott took off, leaving a trail of blue shirts in his wake.  His shot was superbly saved by Sean Brennan in the Dublin goal but as the sliotar spun high, Conor Johnston was on hand to bat the rebound to the back of the net.

By the time Coby Cunning fired over his third point of the game in the 13^th minute, Antrim held a deserving five point lead.  The visitors began to find their range however and fired four points in three minutes thanks to O’Sullivan (two), Alex Considine and Cian Boland.

Antrim’s response came from two gargantuan frees from Gerard Walsh and Cunning before the Dunloy marksman scored his first from open play in the 30^th minute.

Paul Crummey left the major between the sides before a sumptuous sideline cut from Elliott sailed between the sticks.  A trio of points from Dublin through Donal Burke (two frees) and Daire Gray left the minimum between the sides but Cunning had the last say of the half with a free deep in injury time following a great catch by Neil McManus, to leave Antrim two ahead at the short whistle.  

Half time score: Antrim 1-11 Dublin 0-12

It was a huge half of hurling from the Saffrons and they probably deserved to be further ahead at the interval.  They had the wind at their backs in the first half and it was going to take something special in the second half and Antrim duly obliged.  Five of the opening six points of the second half came from an Antrim hurl with Cunning firing over a brace of frees and scores from Walsh (free), Paddy Burke and Seaan Elliott.  A hotly disputed sideline from O’Sullivan the solitary response from Miceal Donoghue’s men.

Dublin reorganized and put Antrim on the back foot before Michael Bradley fired their next score.  Donal Burke was having a rare off-day from placed ball but still managed to fire over two frees and a ’65 to reduce the Antrim lead to three points.  It could have been more but for the brilliance and bravery of Paddy Burke to deny Sean Currie from close range.

With the game in the melting pot, both sides looked to the bench for legs and energy for the final quarter.  O’Sullivan and Donal Burke cut the Antrim lead to two once more before firing the goal in the 67^th minute.  Ronan Hayes gathering the sliotar close to the end line on the right hand side, he looked to have overcarried before passing to O’Sullivan.  He fed the sliotar to Donal Burke and he expertly found the bottom corner of Ryan Elliott’s net.

Antrim rallied in the time that remained with Cunning restoring parity with the next Antrim attack.  With the game reaching into injury time, they rolled the dice once more.  Paddy Burke breaking from defence and finding Seaan Elliott.  The Dunloy man lured the Dublin defence before finding substitute Paul Boyle and as the Corrigan crowd held its collective breath, the sliotar sailed over the bar.

It was the Dubs who dug deep this time and could have had another goal but for the bravery of Conal Bohill to throw himself in the way of Cian Boland’s goal bound effort.  The sliotar went out for a ’65 and while Donal Burke’s effort was far from accurate, the Dublin attack recycled and found O’Sullivan with the half yard he needed to bring the sides level once again.

Referee John Keenan called time with the next poc out to bring an end to what was a hugely entertaining game of hurling.  Antrim played with greater intensity, hunger and work rate to anything we had witnessed in 2023 and made the step up to top tier championship hurling.  The journey takes us to the sunny south coast next weekend where Wexford lay in wait.

TEAMS

Antrim: Ryan Elliott; P Burke (0-1), Ryan McGarry, Niall O’Connor, Gerard Walsh (0-3 frees), Eoghan Campbell, Conal Bohill; Michael Bradley (0-2), James McNaughton, Seaan Elliott (0-2, 0-1 sideline), Keelan Molloy (0-1), Nigel Elliott; Conal Cunning (0-9, 0-7 frees), Neil McManus, Conor Johnston (1-0) 

Subs: Joe Maskey for N Elliott (29), Eoin O’Neill for K Molloy (62), Paul Boyle (0-1) for C Johnston (66), Domhnall Nugent for J McNaughton (69), Rian McMullan for M Bradley (72)

Dublin: Sean Brennan; Mark Grogan, Eoghan O’Donnell, Paddy Smyth; Paddy Doyle, Conor Burke, Daire Gray (0-1); Conor Donohue, Chris O’Leary; Danny Sutcliffe, Donal Burke (1-9, 0-6 frees, 0-2 ‘65s), Cian Boland (0-1); Alex Considine (0-1), Cian O’Sullivan (0-6, 0-1 sideline), Paul Crummey (0-1) 

Subs: Ronan Hayes for A Considine (49), Sean Currie for P Crummey (56)

Referee: John Keenan (Wicklow)

Paddy Burke receives the Fibrus Man of the Match award after the game