Electric Ireland Leinster Minor Hurling Championship

Tier 2 Group 1

Antrim v Offaly

Date: Saturday 5 April

Venue: Dowdallshill, Co Louth

Throw in: 2pm

Brendan McTaggart speaks with Antrim minor hurling manager, Gabriel Crawford

Having collected the Ulster Hurling minor cup with impressive performances last month, Antrim minors travel to Dowdallshill, Co Louth for their opening match of the Leinster Minor Hurling Championship on Saturday afternoon.

The Saffrons begin their campaign in Tier 2 with the ‘carrot’ of matches in the Leinster Championship ‘proper’ to come, they face Offaly in their first of four frenetic weeks ahead.  Before the calendar turns to May, Gabriel Crawford will guide his side to matches against Offaly, Wicklow, Westmeath and Meath in successive weekends.  A challenging schedule but one Crawford is relishing. 

In their last outing in the Ulster final, Antrim were hugely impressive.  Leading 1-15 to 0-1 at half time, they were relentless in the second half as they ran out 4-27 to 2-6 winners by the final whistle.  11 different scorers and as Crawford told us, the group felt like they had something to prove to themselves: “Derry won it last year and for a lot of these boys, it was a second chance.  Antrim used their u16 squad for the minors last year.

“You have your physicality from the likes of Derry and Down but I feel like it was our stickwork that got us through those games.

“It was tough.  The schedule is so tight.  We were only out on grass a week before that first game against Derry, there was no such thing as challenge matches and with plenty involved with school hurling, it’s had its challenges.  We had seven lads who were involved with CPC (winners of the Paddy Buggy Cup) so to juggle that brought it’s own challenges but look, Joe Cassidy (CPC teacher/coach) was great to work with and at the end of the day, I have seven lads back with me here who are brimming with confidence after winning an All-Ireland.”

“The panel is made up of clubs from right across the county and I couldn’t be happier with the backroom team.  Mattie Donnelly is in there and he’s not long stepped away from inter-county and big Natty (Donal McNaughton) who’s won multiple championships with Cushendall, Alan Rainey from Davitts, Ryan McAfee and Kevin McCann – a former junior All Ireland winner with Antrim are all great coaches in their own right.  Chris Ashcroft is in there for S&C and has been unreal also.

“Every person has a role and a voice, they’re definitely good men to have around you.”

The early signs are that Crawford and his team are going in the right direction and while there is plenty of work that goes into that behind the scenes, you got the impression that things are beginning to fall into place when he told us: “Antrim hurling is in a really good place right now.  You have Davy Fitzgerald at the top and then someone of the caliber of Mickey McShane in with the 20s and that’s an exciting place to be in for any player coming up through the age groups now. 

“We’ve been saying to the lads that this is what they’ll expect to see next year when they go through to the 20s and hopefully in two or three years after that, seniors.

“We’re working a lot on the S&C and psychological side of things that will help these lads to push towards seniors and when you have the likes of Brendan Murphy in there overseeing the S&C side of things, it’s as close to a professional set up as you’re likely to see.

“With the steppingstones in place, it’s about ensuring the players are best placed and ready to make the transition.  Crawford said that while they have put in the hard yards, something has fallen into their laps when he told us: “I would say the way we set up and how I want the team to hurl is very similar to that of the 20s.  It wasn’t something that happened on purpose, it’s the hurling philosophy that I believe in and like my teams to set up with.  I was watching the u20s train one night after us and I saw a lot of similarities to what we’re trying to do. 

“That kind of thing will help these lads with their transition next year, instead of maybe starting back from square one with a different ethos.

“And look, Mickey and Davy are only ever a phone call away and they’re always willing to take that call.”

Offaly began their campaign last week with a three point win over Meath, the Antrim manager had the opportunity to watch Saturday’s opposition: “I went down to Birr and watched Offaly’s match against Meath last week in their first game.  It will be a step up from Ulster but look, we have a great bunch of lads here and I believe they have what it takes to progress from this group.”

Crawford said that while they can train as hard as they can to get things right on the pitch, that psychological barrier still exists when playing games against teams like that of Offaly.  He told us: “It still exists but it comes from not coming up against that opposition often enough.  We’ve been drumming it into them that they’re only human, just like us.  It doesn’t matter where they’re from and they are every bit as well prepared as what they will be.

“Offaly are in a similar situation to us, apart from that generational team (u20s) last year that make up the majority of their senior team now, they’ve been putting a lot of work into their underage teams.  They’re no different to us and we’re trying to tell our boys that.”

Crawford confirmed that he has no injury concerns ahead of their trip: “There’s a couple of niggles there but everyone is fully fit.  We’re pushing these lads to get the most out of them and getting them as far as they can.  It’s important that they have the right mindset going out in these matches and competing.”

O’Neills Leinster U20 Hurling Championship – Tier 2

Antrim 2-23 Westmeath 1-15

Saturday 29 March

By Brendan McTaggart

Antrim put in a strong performance in Mullingar to get their Leinster u20 championship off to a winning start on Saturday afternoon.  11 points was the difference between the sides at the end of an hour that saw the Saffrons start slowly in both halves but such was their recovery from that, it will merely be seen as a footnote to the game.

Fiontan Bradley maintained his excellent form at this level by top scoring for the Saffrons with 1-9 beside his name and just five of those coming from placed ball but he was edged out of the Man of The Match accolade by the returning Jack McCloskey.  In his first start of the campaign, McCloskey was at his electric best.  He finished with seven points beside his name and tortured the Westmeath defence with his pace and trickery and was part of an inside forward line that shone.

The two Antrim goals came in either half from Bradley and Aodhan McGarry, the latter coming seven minutes into the second half that gave Antrim an eight point lead but the concession of a soft goal for the home side gave Westmeath a glimmer of hope.  The Saffrons went through the gears in the final quarter however and finished superbly, adding 10 points with six unanswered before the long whistle.

The home side got off to a fast start and had four points on the board inside the opening five minutes – one each for Cormac McKeogh and Calum McKeogh either side of a brace of frees from Dylan Corrigan.  Corrigan would finish top scorer for his side with six of his eight points coming from placed ball.

Antrim began to find their feet in the game and restricted Westmeath to just another five points in the time that remained in the half and a period of dominance for 20 minutes that saw them turn the screw.

Four points in as many minutes from Oran Donnelly, Niall Magee, Bradley and McCloskey were answered by a Cody Ward point in the 12^th minute before the first goal of the game.  Donnelly and Bradley combining before the Cushendall man fired to the back of the net and give the Saffrons the lead.  It could have been even better with the next attack when Donnelly deflected the sliotar into the back of the net from a long delivery but he was penalised for a square-ball infringement but scores from McCloskey (two) and Thomas McLaughlin stretched the Antrim lead to five.

Antrim were creating chances and space in the Westmeath defence and could have had another couple of majors but Bradley and Joseph McLaughlin were both denied by some last-gasp defending.

Westmeath seemed to have weathered the Saffron storm and outscored Antrim four points to three in the time that remained of the first half to leave the half time score 1-10 to 0-9 in Antrim’s favour.

It was largely an excellent from Antrim who played with huge intensity.  Their slick passing and movement nullified the elements, the four point margin at half time was the minimum they deserved and gave Antrim an excellent platform for the second half.

The lead was stretched to five before McGarry found the back of the Westmeath net in the 37^th minute.  Collecting a sideline from Joseph McLaughlin, McGarry’s touch took him beyond the Westmeath challenges before he produced an expert finish.

The home side responded superbly however.  Another point from Calum McKeogh was followed by a fortuitous goal in the 41^st minute.  Ivan Smyth making the most of a spill from Eoghan Richmond in the Antrim goals and punished the error to leave four between the sides going into the final quarter.

While it may have been easy to put their head down following the sucker-punch, Antrim found another gear and were relentless to the final whistle.  They outscored Westmeath 10 points to three with just three of those white flags coming from placed ball to give Antrim a comfortable win in the end.

The pleasing aspect of the finish has to be the intensity levels the whole team showed right to the end.  They were relentless and never gave Westmeath an inch with their tackling and press all over the pitch.  McCloskey and Bradley will take the plaudits but there should be a nod in the direction of the work this side have done off the park with the strength and conditioning preparation work.  Outside of the first five, maybe 10 minutes of this game, this was a top performance from a talented group of players.

They turn their attention now to a game with Meath in two week’s time knowing that a win will see them into the top tier.

TEAMS

Antrim: Eoghan Richmond; Malachi McGibbon, Cian Baudant, Niall Magee; Charlie McAuley, Sean McKay, Ben O’Kane; Calum McIlwaine, Ronan Fitzgerald; Aodhan McGarry, Joseph McLaughlin, Thomas McLaughlin; Jack McCloskey, Oran O’Connor, Fiontan Bradley

Subs: Cormac McKeown for R Fitzgerald (46); Callagh Mooney for J McLaughlin (52); Cian O’Connor for C Baudant (53)

Scorers: F Bradley 1-9 (5fs); J McCloskey 0-7; A McGarry 1-00; O Donnelly 0-2; C McKeown 0-2; N Magee 0-1; J McLaughlin 0-1; T McLaughlin 0-1

Westmeath: Padraig Casey; Conor Daly, Jack Murtagh, Darragh Smyth; Sean Hayes, Brian McCabe, Peter Murphy; Calum McKeogh, Cody Ward; Dylan Corrigan, Conor Leech, Conor Heffernan; Cormac McKeogh, Ivan Smyth, Nathan Cornally

Subs: Connaire Martin for B McCabe (44); Caolan Ready for C Leech (46); Adam Cassidy for C Heffernan (50); Sean Jackson for I Smyth (55)

Scorers: D Corrigan 0-8 (6fs); I Smyth 1-00; Cormac McKeogh 0-2; Calum McKeogh 0-2; C Ward 0-2; C Heffernan 0-1

TO SEE MORE PICS FROM THIS GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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Leinster Under 20 Hurling Championship – Tier 2

Westmeath v Antrim at Cussack Park, Mullingar

Antrim Under-20s step into the unknown tomorrow (Saturday) when they take on Westmeath in the Leinster Championship in Cussack Park, Mullingar. (Throw-in 2pm).

When we spoke to team manager Michael McShane he sounded upbeat about things, saying that training has been going really well since beating Down in the Ulster final three weeks ago. The four senior players in the panel, Sean McKay, Cormac McKeown, Aodhan McGarry and Joseph McLaughlin were away last weekend with the senior squad at their warm-weather training camp in Portugal, returned a few days ago and trained with the rest of the squad last night.

Michael and his management team will not name the starting 15 until they arrive at Cussack Park as there are a couple of players with slight niggles and they want to asses them in the morning to be sure they are good to go. However the Ballycastle man assures us that the spirit in the camp is very good. They have worked very hard for a few months now and are really looking forward to the challenge of playing in Tier 2 in Leinster.

Their group in the second tier contains Westmeath and Meath and McShane stressed that nothing short of a win on Saturday will suffice. One team of the three advances to Tier 1 and that is something the management team have set their sights on since the campaign started. They have seen Westmeath in action on a couple of occasions and have been impressed with what they saw.

“I have got to see the opposition in action in a couple of games. They are a very big, strong team and they play a very distinctive running game. We know that any time you go into Mullingar to play Westmeath you are going to be up against it.” Like ourselves their aim is to get into Tier 1 and to do that they need to win tomorrow. McShane added “ To be honest whoever loses tomorrow will be more or less out of it.”

The way the group works sees whoever loses out tomorrow facing Meath next weekend, while the winners of tomorrow’s game face the same opposition the following weekend on April 12^th.

Summing up McShane added “We are all very excited about this game, which should have a real championship feel about it, We are really looking forward to it and hopefully we get the win.”

The Saffrons have qualified for this stage of the competition by winning the Ulster title which saw them beat Derry and Down in the round robin section, and them beat Down in the final in Ballycastle. Down provided stiff opposition in that final and at half time there was only four points between the sides. However they pulled away in the second half and were comfortable enough winners in the end.

McShane and his team have had a wide selection to pick from, especially with St Killian’s winning last season’s Paddy Buggy Cup (All Ireland Colleges B Championship) and Cross & Passion doing the same this year. There is deep pool of talent available and they have been given their chance during a series of challenge games, plus their Ulster campaign.

We would expect to see a team along the lines of the one that beat Down in the Ulster final. Cormac McKeown did not start that day because he selected to start on the senior team the following day against Laois in the National Hurling League Division 1 B game at Corrigan Park. However he did get a run out during the second half of the Down game and looks certain to start tomorrow.

The team who beat Down in that Ulster final was

Antrim: Eoghan Richmond; Ciarán McAllister, Liam Glackin, Malachi McGibbon; Charlie McAuley, Ben O’Kane, Niall Magee; Sean McKay, Calum McIlwaine; Aodhan McGarry, Oran Donnelly, Thomas McLaughlin; Callagh Mooney, Joseph McLaughlin, Fiontan Bradley

Subs: Sean Óg Blaney for C McAllister (28); Cormac McKeown for O Donnelly (38); Orrin O’Connor for J McLaughlin (58); Austin Birt for L Glackin (58)

Scorers: F Bradley 0-10 (5fs); A McGarry 1-1 (1f); J McLaughlin 0-3; S McKay 0-2; O Donnelly 0-2; C Mooney 0-2; O O’Connor 0-2; N Magee 0-1; C McIlwaine 0-1; C McKeown 0-1

THE WESTMEATH LINE-OUT

Tomorrow is the biggest game most of these young men have faced. The stakes are high and it promises to be a great contest. Get yourself down to Mullingar to cheer them on.

For those not able to travel the game is being streamed live on Clubber

Main pic – Man of the match James McNaughton celebrates after scoring the first of Antrim’s four goals

Allianz Hurling League Division 1B 

Antrim 4-22 Laois 0-21

Antrim hurlers are almost sure of maintaining their Division 1B status for next season after beating Laois convincingly in their last league game of the season on Sunday at Corrigan Park. Leading by 2-15 to 0-08 at half time it was clear that if the Saffrons could keep out the goals in the second half they were would be pretty sure of victory, and while the Leinster men did show a marked improvement in the second half, they could make no inroads into Antrim’s lead and the thirteen points that separated the sides at the interval, was still there when match referee Michael Kennedy sounded the full time whistle. It has to be said that much of credit for that goes to the Saffrons goalkeeper Ryan Elliott who made a series of excellent saves throughout the game, with a couple of them during the final quarter right out of the top drawer.

Elliott’s performance had him in contention for the man of the match award, but that honour has to go to full forward James McNaughton who scored 2-11 over the seventy minutes, both goals taken expertly from play in a great all round display.

The win does not guarantee Division 1 safety as both Laois and Carlow have two games left to play. The O’Moore county have a home fixture against Carlow next week and if they were to win that they would still be in contention if they also beat Dublin the following week, a game that is also in O’Moore Park.

However a defeat in Sunday’s game would have left Antrim with no chance of survival and so it was vital that they came through. There were two very nerve-wracking moments for the Saffron fans in the opening minutes when Laois corner forward Tomás Keyes twice came within inches of an early goal, the first one hitting the side netting and the other fizzing past the far post, both of them from a narrow angle.

Gerard Walsh had given Antrim and early lead and when James McNaughton added two more and Conor Johnston one, daylight began to appear. The first goal came on 12 minutes when James McNaughton cut through the middle and just when it appeared he was about to lay off a pass, he produced a burst of speed that took him clear of is marker before firing the ball past Cathal Dunne in the Laois goals.

The home side kept the scoreboard ticking over and the gap widened before goal number two arrived, centre back Eoghan Campbell breaking forward before finding Conor Johnston in front of goal and the Johnnies sharp-shooter flicked the ball home one handed to the net, and when Ryan McCambridge and debutant Cormac McKeown added points the gap was out to 2-25 to 0-08 at the interval.

Keeping the goals out in the second half was undoubtedly the Saffrons aim and though they were not as dominant as they had been in the first 35 minutes they were still in control. Of course they did have Ryan Elliott to thank for that on more than one occasion and as the game entered the final quarter the play became a little scrappy.

Antrim had a good few chances to add to their own goal tally but good moves just kept breaking down at the last minute. However their persistence paid off eventually and James McNaughton grabbed his second with a finish as stylish as the first and Keelan Molloy put the icing on the cake with a sweet finish to wrap it all up.

That is league season wrapped up for Saffrons but they will have an anxious wait over the next two weeks to see if they have done enough to survive in 1B for next season.

Antrim scorers: J McNaughton 2-11 (0-9f), C Johnston 1-2, G Walsh 0-3, K Molloy 1-1, R McCambridge 0-2, C McKeown 0-1, J Maskey 0-1, E Campbell 0-1

Laois scores: A Dunphy 0-9 (0-5f, 0-2 65s),  P Purcell 0-2, P Delaney 0-2 (2f), C Dwyer 0-1, F C Fennell 0-1, M Keyes 0-1, D Dooley 0-1, M Keyes 0-1, M Dowling 0-1, C Byrne 0-1, J Lennon 0-1

ANTRIM: Ryan Elliott; Eoin McFerran, Paddy Burke, Stephen Rooney; Joe Maskey (0-01), Eoghan Campbell (0-01), Conor Boyd; Conall Bohill, Gerard Walsh (0-03); Ryan McCambridge (0-02), Keelan Molloy (1-01), Nigel Elliott; Cormac McKeown (0-01), James McNaughtonn (2-11, 0-09 frees), Conor Johnston (1-02).

Subs: Scott Walsh for R McCambridge (50), Seaan Elliott for G Walsh (55), Eoin O’Neill for C McKeown (55), Fred McCurry for N Elliott (70), Aodhán McGarry for C Johnston (70).

LAOIS: Cathal Dunne; Padraic Dunne, Lee Cleere, Padraig Delaney (0-02, 2f); Fiachra C Fennell (0-01), Donnchadh Hartnett, Jordan Walshe; Aidan Corby, David Dooley (0-01); Aaron Dunphy 90-09, 5f, 2 65s), Cha Dwyer (0-01), Willie Dunphy; Jer Quinlan (0-01), Paddy Purcell (0-02) Tomás Keyes (0-01). 

Subs: John Lennon (0-01) for A Corby (29), Cormac Byrne (0-01) for C Dwyer (33), Mark Dowling (0-01) for P Purcell (50), James Duggan for W Dunphy (57), Cody Comerford for J Walshe (69).

REFEREE: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary)

TO SEE MORE PICS FROM TODAY’S GAME CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

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