Conor McCann of Antrim in action against Paul Sullivan of Kildare, on his way to scoring his side's second goal, during the 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup Relegation / Promotion play-off match between Antrim and Kildare at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh.
By Kevin Egan
Thirty years later, one moment still stands out as Antrim hurling high point – their 1989 All-Ireland semi-final win over Offaly.
Their 4-15 to 1-15 win that afternoon in Croke Park remains one of the most remarkable upsets ever produced in such an important fixture, but competing in an All-Ireland final seems some distance away for both counties right now, as they both prepare for Joe McDonagh cup clashes this weekend.
These two counties have always had a considerable amount in common. Ask a neutral observer and it’s likely that they would each be considered to be dual counties, with a slightly better track record in the small ball code. This is despite the fact that in both, the bigger population base would be more well-known as football territory.
Offaly’s greatest days came from teams backboned by players from the south of the county, while North Antrim has always been the power base for Antrim hurling. In 1989, just two players (inside forwards Ciarán Barr and Donal Armstrong) came from anywhere south of Dunloy.
Times change however, and this Saturday against Kerry, the Saffrons will be led into battle by Conor McCann of Creggan Kickhams, who is aware of the historic significance of being handed the armband.
“It’s a real honour to be asked to lead your county team and I don’t know if there’s ever been a hurling captain from our part of the county” he said this week, before suggesting that on the field of play, it won’t be hugely significant. “I don’t ever think about it too much or let it get to me. At the end of the day you have to perform, but so does everyone else on the field, the captain is no different in that regard."
One thing McCann is clear on is that if Antrim hurling is to get back to competing at the top table and to earn a spot in the Leinster Championship and the Liam MacCarthy cup race, developing the game outside of the traditional heartland will be important.
“If Antrim’s going to try to get back to the top level, it needs the entire county driving full steam together. Whether it’s football, hurling, handball or whatever, you need every club to facilitate players that have the talent to do well, so that those players are given the foundation they need to become a valuable part of a county set up.
“There is a lot of work going on in Antrim and the Gaelfast initiative is certainly a huge help and things are going in the right direction. Certainly developing the game in Belfast is key if Antrim are going to succeed.
“I would say that around the county, the bigger teams will always be bigger because they work hard and they’ve a strong base. That’s not going to change any time soon but others are coming through and challenging that.
"I’d say in the next five or ten years you’ll see other clubs starting to break into the top echelons, and obviously I’d be hopeful that my own club will be one of those. We made a senior football final last year and we were beaten by a point. Our club is building and becoming a good dual club, hurling’s going through a big revival."
GAA President John Horan and Antrim GAA chairman Collie Donnelly pictured with the pupils of St Bride's at the 'Gaelfast' launch in 2018.
Taking one crude metric, it’s easy to see how a broader playing base pays dividends. Take last year’s All-Ireland senior finalists, Galway and Limerick, also the two most recent All-Ireland winners. In the last 40 years, there have been ten different clubs win a senior hurling crown in Limerick, and the same in Galway.
In the Joe McDonagh Cup, the equivalent numbers are Laois, Offaly and Westmeath on seven, six winners in Kerry and just five in Antrim. Even Carlow, who have just ten clubs playing the game at adult level right now, have had six different winners in the last four decades.
McCann believes that change could be imminent in this regard.
“You look at Division One of the county league and the big three or four are still on top. St. John’s are starting to creep in there and at underage it’s similar, there are clubs growing around the county. You look at St. Enda’s in particular and the underage setups they have. It can only be a good thing that some of the other clubs outside the traditional powers are starting to work hard and bring through players”.
Echoing the words of Neil McManus recently, McCann feels that getting the Casement Park situation addressed would send out a strong signal.
“Everyone in Antrim knows that we need to get our own house in order in terms of getting Casement sorted. We’re hoping that it’ll get the green light in the next year or two.
“The last few years Antrim have struggled not having that home stadium, you look at all the other teams and they have their base in Tralee, Portlaoise or whatever. Teams struggle to go down to them and Casement Park was like that for us, we had a good record in it and teams didn’t enjoy coming up to us.
“For now though, Dunloy is a good pitch and we’re happy to be based there. Kerry are coming up to us on Saturday and we’re really looking forward to it, we need to hit the ground running.
“If you want to make a final you’re going to have to win probably three out of four, you can’t go out and pick and choose where you’re going to perform. Momentum is huge as well so we’re preparing to get off to as good a start as we can and we’re delighted we got a home game first time out, because we’ve a couple of tough away trips coming as well.
“On paper, Antrim are probably ranked the lowest out of the entire group. We’re lower than all the teams so we have to just try and get one win to start with and then use that as a platform. But our main ain is to gradually build Antrim back up from rock bottom. Last year we played a relegation game against Kildare and the next step from that is to get to a stage where our status is secure and we can take it from there.
