Allianz Hurling League Division One Group B round four
Antrim 3-18 Laois 1-18
THE sense of relief around Corrigan Park yesterday afternoon was palpable. Throw the muck and rain and the general greyness of the day, the Antrim hurlers finally saw off a gutsy Laois side to preserve their Division One status.
It’ll be four years and counting Antrim will be playing top flight hurling under Tipp native Darren Gleeson.
But they were made to fight for everything. Trailing by six points towards the end of the first half, a Neil McManus goal swung this absorbing clash in Antrim’s favour.
This Division 1B clash was still in the balance right to the end, with Conal Cunning’s 52nd minute major proving another key score for the home side.
Niggled all year by Antrim’s narrow defeats in Division 1B, Gleeson was a relieved man – and full of praise for the heart his players showed in desperately difficult conditions.
“Laois were by far the better team in the first half,” said Gleeson.
“The amount of unforced errors we had, we let them dominate the shape on us. But we got our house in order at half-time. That was player-led, and that’s being honest about it.
“Managers and people over them can say what they want, but players make the decisions on the field. At half-time they were very positive and it was work-rate in the second half, pure honest work-rate, putting our bodies in front of the ball and that gets you results.”
Everything Laois hit in the first half seemed to split Antrim’s posts with Aaron Dunphy slapping to the home side’s net after 22 minutes.
But the Saffrons improved by a good 50 per cent in the second half and finally managed to put some League points on the board – enough to stay in the division next season.
Nigel Elliott was one of several man-of-the-match contenders. Starting his first game for Antrim since 2019 after time in Australia, the Dunloy attacker grabbed an early goal – but it was his appetite for doing the ugly things that really impressed his manager.
“Nigel Elliott set the pace all day long,” said Gleeson.
“He was absolutely immense. What Nigel Elliott did out on the field there was phenomenal – phenomenal.
“I don’t know how he came out with some of the balls. He came in straight away after Dunloy's season and it would have been easy for him to say, ‘I’ve had my county career’, but he put his shoulder to the wheel and he’s in really good shape. He's a really good guy.”
Rounding off their NHL campaign against Tipperary next week, Gleeson added: “We can prepare for Championship for the first time ever. I feel like I’m up here a life-time and this is going to be our first time to have six weeks to prepare for the Championship and we’re going to have to really prepare for it.”
Laois boss Willie Maher rued his side’s decision-making in the second half but also felt they deserved to be further in front at the break.
“We played very, very well in the first half but that 1-1 by Antrim in injury-time killed momentum as we should have been six or seven up with the way we played,” he said.
“But we were prepared for everything coming up here; it’s a very difficult place to come, a partisan crowd, the referee maybe giving the 50-50 not to us but we’re very disappointed. Absolutely gutted.”
Asked about his very public admonishment by referee Patrick Murphy in front of the main stand in the first half, where the Carlow whistler wagged his finger at him, Maher said: “It was very, very disrespectful. I don’t know if I deserved it but I suppose it’s give respect – get respect, and that wasn’t it.”
