Leinster Minor B Hurling Championship
Antrim v Carlow at Abbotstown
As Antrim minor hurlers final game of the round-robin series against Carlow in the Leinster B Championshp had no significant impact on the league table it gave manager Alan Rainey and his backroom team the chance to cast their eyes over some of the fringe players, a sitauation created due to sickness and injuries within the squad.
The tone was set within the opening sixty seconds of the game when points from Conal Dempsey and Jay Gault got the score-board up and running.
Carlow to their credit worked hard and forced Antrim to produce some scintillating hurling.
Antrims first of three green flags was worth the wait. A ball worked out of defence through the lines and into an ever dangerous forward line for Conal Dempsey to hit the back of the Carlow net.
Carlow continued to pick off points and particularly from the dead ball where they showed an exhibition of free taking.
Defensively Antrim were very disciplined and worked extremely hard limiting Carlow to four points from play.
Their midfield marshalled the game, turning ball over while grabbing some big scores themselves.
Upfront the forwards battled tirelessly together and picked off some well taken scores under pressure.
Overall a dominant performance to top the group and set up a semi-final meeting with Kerry next Saturday.