Antrim senior hurling manager Darren Gleeson.
By Cian O’Connell
“I do laugh with him,” Darren Gleeson chuckles when recalling the first time he went up to give Portroe colleague Liam Sheedy a dig out training the Antrim hurlers a couple of years ago.
“We had an early morning the first morning he brought me up. We were starting in Dunsilly one Saturday morning at 10 o'clock, I think it was just to keep him awake going up the road.
“He just wanted me to do a bit of work. There was a really young goalkeeper coming in at the time, Ryan Elliott, who is our goalkeeper now.
“Liam just felt he needed a bit of work. So I went up and from there it just took off. I got familiar with the lads, went to their matches. The following year I was coaching them and now I'm at the helm.”
That is how the coaching and management game can quickly get into your head. Gleeson senses the possibilities that exist, the belief and conviction about Antrim’s ability to rise further.
“Everyone uses the word potential, but my view on that is potential is useless unless you turn it into energy,” manager Darren Gleeson says ahead of what promises to be an interesting Joe McDonagh Cup final against Kerry at Croke Park on Sunday.
“I think what we have done this year is we have started to produce a bit of energy out of the potential. That is the most important part. You can have all of the potential in the world, but unless you put it to use it is no good.”
A strong connection has been forged between the former Tipperary goalkeeper Gleeson and Antrim, who have enjoyed a most productive stint.
Ultimately, it has been a chaotic year in so many different ways, but the facts that truly matter to the Saffrons is an Allianz League Division 2A title and a Joe McDonagh Cup decider appearance have been attained. Progress is being made.
For a first a first year in inter-county management it has been some introduction with the Covid uncertainty. “It has felt like learning how to swim in the deep end, there is no other way to really look at it,” Gleeson admits.
Darren Gleeson has made a significant impact as Antrim manager.
“Overall it has been massively challenging, but the players and the Antrim team are getting the rewards so that is hugely satisfying for me. I suppose we have an opportunity and we are a small bit ahead of ourselves in where we saw the progression coming with this opportunity to win the Joe McDonagh on Sunday.
“So we just have to take it when it is there in front of us. It is never too early if you are hurling well enough. We just have to take that chance now at the weekend when it is in front of us.”
Having operated in the Antrim backroom for a couple of campaigns Gleeson just felt that he could do something positive with this group of players.
“Definitely, when you are weighing up the options of going into management for the first time, when you get the opportunity to cut your teeth at inter-county management before you've even done club management, you really have to weigh it up to see where you are going to go with it because it is important for your first venture,” Gleeson responds.
“So when I looked at Antrim obviously there is what everyone sees in Antrim, a healthy club scene, passion, and all of that, but the inter-county potential was untapped.
“I just said to myself if I can get the right people around me and the right players in there it would be a cracking place to start off your inter-county management career.”
On and off the field Gleeson sees encouraging signs. “I think it is really important to note the people on the County Board in Antrim, people like Neal (Peden) as Director of Hurling, people in the Business Forum and Club Aontroma, and Gaelfast, who are dealing with the younger people in the county, the Cumann na mBunscoil, they are really driving at the moment,” Gleeson remarks.
“They are getting into a high gear which is important. With that Antrim are starting to realise their potential.”
Such a willingness to develop, evolve, and improve counts for something according to Gleeson. “It does, it is massive,” Gleeson replies.
“Talking about the development of a county, Antrim put in a Centre of Excellence in Dunsilly recently, they are developing their second County Ground, Corrigan Park, which you could use as an equivalent to what Dublin have in Parnell Park.
Darren Gleeson was a highly regarded goalkeeper with Tipperary during his playing career.
“They are doing that at the moment and hopefully available for National League games next year. Then Casement is coming online. Antrim as a whole is in a development stage both structurally and on the field which is really good.
“It is an exciting time for the county, the Ladies Footballers getting to a semi-final in their Championship, the Camogie getting to the Intermediate final. I think as a whole the county is starting to get up and running, realising the potential.”
Gleeson hurled with Tipperary under the greatest of sporting minds. Good days cherished, crushing losses endured too. Experience was acquired, but going to Antrim there was a sense of ambition about what could be achieved.
The travelling is considerable, but Gleeson doesn’t make an issue about it. On the trips the wonder of sport and missions that can be accomplished dominate his thoughts.
“Exactly, a lot of people from the outside make a big deal about the journey,” Gleeson states. “The journey is part of what you sign up for. It is like the players saying they are coming straight from work.
“They are gone from home at whatever half six or seven o'clock in the morning and they aren't getting in until maybe 10 or half 10 at night. It is just part of what you sign up for in inter-county hurling.
“If I was involved more locally I would be spending the same amount of time pre and post training as I would with Antrim.
“You never switch off really, you are always trying to see how the session is going to go and you are trying to analyse what went on in the session on your way home.
“Whether that is in the car or sitting at home at your kitchen table, trying to see how the night went and how you can improve, who is showing up and what we need to work on the next day? I don't look on the journey in a bad way. The journey is an opportunity to get things done.”
The early evidence suggests that significant work is being carried out. Gleeson’s adventure with Antrim is worth monitoring.
