GAELIC GAMES:THE PROBLEM from an Antrim hurling perspective is they are belittled at every turn. That's just the way of it. When they win it is a shocking result for the opposition. When they lose it is the natural order of things.
If they make the four-hour trek down the A1/N11 and remove Wexford from the Leinster championship on Sunday then respect will have to be handed over.
And it will be very difficult to remove them from the Leinster provincial competition when it is reviewed at the end of a three-year trial, which also brought Galway across the borderline, come congress in 2013.
“I think our performances last year when we beat Carlow and Dublin (albeit in the qualifiers) showed we deserved to be there,” says Neil McManus, the Saffrons scoring machine from placed balls.
“Yeah, we are aware we are only in Leinster on a three-year trial basis but it has definitely helped Antrim hurling. It has also helped hurling. Who doesn’t want to see more better hurling games – like Dublin against Galway and Kilkenny against Galway, even Antrim and Wexford?”
When Antrim, under Tipperary’s Dinny Cahill for a second term, did a number on the supposedly imminent Dublin hurling revolution last year, in Croke Park of all places, the focus seemed overwhelming on the failure of Dublin rather then the progress of themselves.
“We went down that day full of confidence,” McManus continued, and he backed that up with an excellent eight points off frees. “When we play to our best we can give any Division One team a run for their money.”
And so it proved. Last weekend’s defeat of Laois in Portlaoise was not enough to really turn heads and Wexford will undoubtedly be castigated if they lose at home on Sunday. It has to keep happening over and over again for people to really believe. And McManus is aware of that fact.
“Every time we cross the border – and we know that all our games will be played in Leinster – we are expected to get beat. Or it’s hailed as a massive shock that we have won.
“Wexford retained their Division One status this year and they are a good team, but we are a championship team. This is what we have prepared for.”
Cahill has cleverly added to his backroom arsenal, with David Kennedy was brought in as a coach but the most notable addition is that of former Clare great Ollie Baker as a selector.
“Ollie has added something in the line of experience,” McManus agrees. “Dinny has won minor and underage All-Irelands with Tipperary but Ollie brings more of a player point of view. He has won All-Irelands and Munster titles with a Clare team that were underdogs in every game they played for so many years. That is something we can look at.”
