Ulster Hurling Under 20 Cup
Antrim v Derry
Saturday 1 February – Throw in: 12pm
Referee: Barry Winters
Venue: Páirc Mac Uílín, Ballycastle
By Brendan McTaggart
The Antrim u20 hurling set up this year has been blessed with a management team that reads like a who’s who of hurling within the Saffron County and beyond. Cormac ‘Hippy’ Donnelly, Shane Elliott, Brian McFall, Johnny McIntosh and Kevin Martin all make up the backroom team of Mickey McShane as the Ballycastle native begins his tenure.
It’s fair to say there seems to be quite a bit of emphasis on the underage teams and when you have a management team like this, it makes you sit up and take notice. McShane takes his side to Ballycastle on Saturday afternoon to face Derry in the first of their Ulster Cup matches and when we caught up with him, we spoke about the make-up of his backroom: “I wanted the best possible people around me” began McShane, “Coaching is definitely not a one-man job, it hasn’t been for some time now and I didn’t want a team of ‘yes’ men around me. They’re certainly not that. Each of those lads bring a vast amount of experience, quality coaches in their own right.
“Our remit is to get the best 17 to 20 year olds and try to develop them physically, mentally and tactically so they’re prepared to step into the inter-county senior set up when the time comes.”
Getting it right at this grade is notoriously difficult. There are a number of permutations to consider with schools, colleges and the senior squad to consider. It can become a juggling match but you get the feeling that McShane is relishing this opportunity. He continued: “We’ve been together for a couple of months now if you take in the trials. We’ve done a lot of work on the conditioning side of things but the weather that’s been, it brings its own difficulties. It has been good though.
“The one absolute that I can take away from this so far is the buy-in from the players. “Everyone of them to a man have been exceptional in how they’ve went about their business with us.”
Between Storm Éowyn and the odd flurry of icy conditions and snow, it’s all added to the difficulties facing county management teams. McShane and the u20s are no different: “We’ve had to forsake a couple of challenge games because of the weather. We were down in Newbridge last Saturday and played Kildare. That was an excellent challenge. Kildare have a fairly good side at this level and we’ve played the seniors in a couple of in-house games. That’s all part of the learning and developing process for the lads, for them to get a taste of the physicality at senior level was an excellent opportunity.”
Having spoken with the Kildare management team after that challenge match who expressed their disbelief at Antrim’s first competitive match was so soon, given the Leinster championship doesn’t begin until the end of March, it means there is no room for slip ups or bedding in periods during preparations. McShane added: “It would have been good to have another couple of weeks before competitive games. I know that he Ulster championship has to be run off before the Leinster Tier 2 as the Ulster winners go into it, I understand that but the frustration comes from not being allowed to work with the players until the 1st January and when your first match is the 1st February, it doesn’t give you much time to get much work done on conditioning, it doesn’t lend to proper preparations but it’s the hand we’ve been dealt.”
Given Derry’s recent resurgence with hurls and the strength of their schools in recent years, Saturday’s contest will be far from a forgone conclusion. They come into the game as Ulster champions but McShane said they are focussing on themselves: “We don’t know a huge amount other than maybe my own knowledge of the Derry club scene with managing Slaughtneil. There are maybe one or two dual players that are perhaps involved with football now but to be honest, we’re not focussing too much on Derry. We need to make sure we’re in a good place come Saturday.
“At the end of the day, we’re not Ulster champions, Derry are. Derry beat Antrim in last year’s Ulster final and that hurt a fair bit to those that were involved.
We know they won’t be coming to Ballycastle just to make up the numbers.”
The extended Antrim Under 20 hurling panel is made up of the following players
Adam Mullan, Austin Birt, Ben McGarry, Ben O’Kane, Brogan O’Connor, Callagh Mooney, Callum McIlwaine, Charlie McAuley, Cian Baudant, Cian O’Connor, Ciaran McAllister, Darragh Kelly, Darragh Patterson, Eoghan Richmond, Finn Jemfrey, Fiontann Bradley, Frank Kane, Jack Martin, Jack McCloskey, Joe McNaughton, Liam Glackin, Luke McFerran, Mal McGibbon, Niall Magee, Niall McClean, Oisin McCallin, Orin McCambridge, Oran Donnelly, Orin O’Connor, Paudie Martin, Pearce Patterson, Reece Cunning, Ronan McGarry, Ronan Donnelly, Ronan Fitzgerald, Sean Og Blaney, Sean Og McLarnon, Thomas McLaughlin, Tiago McGarry .
The following players are already members of the senior panel
Aodhan McGarry, Cormac McKeown, Joseph McLauglin, Sean McKay