Allianz Hurling League

Roinn 1b – Round 4

Antrim v Waterford

Sunday 23 February

Venue: Corrigan Park

Throw in: 1:30pm

Referee: Caymon Flynn (Westmeath)

Brendan McTaggart looks ahead to tomorrow’s visit of Waterford

Davy Fitzgerald has made six changes to the Antrim starting 15 for Sunday’s visit of Waterford – three of them notably in the full back line.  Eoin McFerran, Rory McCloskey and Stephen Rooney coming in for Declan McCloskey, Gerard Walsh and Paddy Burke.  Conall Bohill comes back into the starting 15 at the expense of Scott Walsh while Ryan McCambridge and Joseph McLaughlin have been named at 11 and 13 – Conor Johnston and Niall McKenna missing out.

The loss of Burke in the starting line up is a huge blow given his performances over a sustained period of time.  He has been Antrim’s most consistent and top performer and his 2024 season was rightfully acknowledged with an All-Star nominee.  It’s not ideal to be without the Cushendall star but rumour has it he has been playing through an injury and perhaps the trip and subsequent match in Tullamore was a step too far.

McCambridge starting on the ’45 is as close to a like for like replacement for McKenna – both men will win more than their share of ball both in the air and in rucks if needed while have a keen eye for a score. 

McFerran was Dunloy’s ‘go-to’ man when it came to man marking during their run to the All Ireland club final a couple of years ago.  His performance against Conor Cooney of St Thomas and TJ Reid in the final itself belittled his age and given the system Antrim are looking to deploy, he would be tailor made for the role in the full back line.

Joseph McLaughlin has looked sharp for the U20s in their two matches in the Ulster Cup.  He along with Cormac McKeown have excelled and with another couple of weeks before the U20s play in that decider, giving him a starting berth against Waterford is a good call.  He’s got speed and agility, will go around his marker in a phone box and a keen eye for goal.  When you’re looking to create space in attack, there isn’t many better than McLaughlin to make the most of that opportunity.

The Offaly game was a largely forgettable 70 minutes of hurling for Antrim.  A decent opening 20 or so minutes was followed by some 40 minutes of errors that were punished by an Offaly side who visibly grew in confidence as the game progressed.

If there are any positives to take from that outing in Tullamore and there aren’t many, Ryan Elliott showed once again he’s one of the best in the business between the sticks.  A series of top saves kept the scoreboard from looking even worse and while he might be kicking himself over the Biffo’s second goal, that would be harsh.  A bouncing sliotar at speed, a ‘keepers nightmare.

Too often Antrim were second best in almost every facet of the game.  Tackling, rucks, delivery, decision making, it fell well below the standards this group have produced in recent times.  On the face of it, a match against a Waterford side who have a point to prove is far from the ideal scenario.  The Deise were defeated by Carlow three weeks ago, leaving Dr Cullen Park empty handed with a score line of 2-21 to 1-19 in what was their first outing of the year.  They recovered from that upset to see off the challenge of Laois 1-27 to 0-20 but given their favourites tag to be promoted to 1A (along with Dublin), they will have hoped for better in the opening two games and know that any further slip ups will leave them with an uphill task of achieving their promotion goals.

After Sunday, Antrim have a trip to Carlow and a home match against Laois.  If they are to maintain their status in Division 1b, you would imagine that they will be looking for two wins.  As it stands, their fate is still in their hands and as we have seen in the not-too-distant past, this group of players are capable of producing the goods when it matters and showing tremendous powers of recovery.  A win would set Antrim up perfectly for what promises to be a difficult trip to Carlow in seven day’s time.

STARTING TEAMS

Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Eoin McFerran, Rory McCloskey, Stephen Rooney; Joe Maskey, Eoghan Campbell, Conall Bohill; Seaan Elliott, Nigel Elliott; Paul Boyle, Ryan McCambridge, Keelan Molloy; Joseph McLaughlin, James McNaughton, Niall O’Connor

Waterford: Billy Nolan; Conor Ryan, Conor Prunty, Seamus Fitzgerald; Michael Kiely, Mark Fitzgerald, Paddy Leavey; Jack Prendergast, Conor Sheahan; Padraig Fitzgerald, Jamie Barron, Sean Walsh; Kevin Mahony, Patrick Fitzgerald, Dessie Hutchinson