Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B: Dublin 1-25 Antrim 0-14
From Brendan Crossan at Croke Park
SINCE assuming the Antrim reins, Davy Fitzgerald hasn’t pulled any punches.
Over the course of the season there will be pain and there must be patience. Dotted around the resplendent field of Croke Park on Saturday evening, a lot of re-wiring was going on.
Antrim are attempting to play a different way than before - and with different thought processes come hesitation and mistakes.
And lots of them. Fitzgerald has always had a distinct way of playing.
In crude terms, the 2013 All-Ireland winning manager plays a sweeper system with good, educated ball going into the full-forward line.
What the Clare man is trying to introduce is a quite a radical move away from the playing style former Antrim boss Darren Gleeson went with for five years.
A bit like what’s going on at Manchester United, a flat back four wouldn’t go amiss occasionally, if only to shore up the gaping holes down either side of the Red Devils’ defence.
That system, however, simply isn’t in Ruben Amorim’s DNA. For good or ill, the Portuguese will steadfastly stick to his 3-4-3 system which has brought success in his managerial career.
Similarly, when it was crying out for Antrim to run the ball through the lines on Saturday night – even just to retain possession for a little while longer – they sent the ball down the throats of the Dublin full-back line which yielded very little.
Some argue Amorim doesn’t have the players to play 3-4-3. Some in Antrim would argue the team doesn’t have the inside forward profile to pull off this more direct style of hurling.
But don’t expect Fitzgerald to flinch from his philosophy any time soon. He’s got skin in the game and his weighty CV demands that the Clare man be given time and space.
In any case, the margin of defeat – 14 points – wasn’t much different to previous outcomes against Dublin.
Under new management themselves – Na Fianna’s All-Ireland winning manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin – the Dubs will almost certainly be the toughest opposition Antrim will face in the new-look Division 1B.
And not having Davy Fitz on the sideline on Saturday night, due to a suspension from his last game in charge of Waterford last season, didn’t help Antrim’s cause.
Selector Pat Bennett was the unfamiliar figure patrolling Antrim’s sideline, and it was the Waterford native tasked with articulating the feelings of the camp after this chastening defeat.
Cautioning Antrim supporters that it could take “up to a year” before the recalibration starts to yield results, Bennett added: “Our guys were two steps off it and once Dublin got the ball, it was over the bar.
“It’s just that indecision. But they’re learning. It’s five weeks and we’ve just got to stick with it. We couldn’t ask for anymore from the players.
“They’ve trained as hard as anyone else. We told them that we’ll get these hidings along the way. But you will learn more tonight than winning another day.”
Ryan Elliott’s puck-outs were on point throughout the night. Mostly fizzed to the flanks but once the next ball was launched into their two inside men, the Dublin defence invariably came out with it.
“We’d be a bit disappointed with the ball going into them,” Bennett acknowledged. “It didn’t stick as much as it should be sticking and when it went into Dublin, it did stick – and that was the difference.
“You’re throwing so much at the players and they’re used to playing one way, then you’re changing it and all of a sudden you’re telling them what to do and once you’re thinking, you’re in trouble. We gave away seven balls for over-carrying. We’ve got to be in a position where they don’t think.”
For Dublin’s ninth-minute goal, Antrim’s sweeper system hesitated and was cut open by one long diagonal ball before dangerous wing-forward Conal Ó Riain came running down the centre to hammer home.
Ryan Elliott, Paddy Burke, James McNaughton and Nigel Elliott were the best in saffron on the night while David Lucey, Brian Hayes, Chris Crummey, Conal Ó Riain and the dead-eyed Cian O’Sullivan excelled in sky blue.
Niall McKenna mined two points from play when he was moved from inside to wing-forward in the second half, but the visitors were chasing a lost cause at that stage having trailed 1-14 to 0-9 at the break.
“We got what we probably expected from Antrim,” said Dublin boss Niall Ó Ceallacháin.
“They knew what they were at from an organisational perspective and with their puck-outs.
“They had a huge amount of energy and they made a lot of gamble runs. We had to be really, really disciplined to stay with their runners but I thought our lads handled it well.”
Dublin: E Gibbons; J Bellew, D Lucey, I O hEithir; P Dunleavy, C Crummey (0-3), D Gray; B Hayes, C Burke (0-1); C Ó Riain (1-3), C O’Sullivan (0-12, 0-9 frees, 0-1 ‘65), D Power; F Whitely, J Hetherton (0-2), D Purcell (0-3) Subs: D Ó Dúlaing (0-1) for F Whitely (43), S Gallagher for D Gray (46), C Hayes for B Hayes (57), D Purcell for J Hetherton (60), J Lambert for P Dunleavy (63)
Yellow card: C O’Sullivan (57)
Antrim: R Elliott; C Boyd, R McGarry, P Burke; D McCloskey, E Campbell, C Bohill; S Walsh, P Boyle; N McKenna (0-2), N Elliott (0-1), J McNaughton (0-10, 0-8 frees); K Molloy, E O’Neill, N O’Connor (0-1) Subs: E McFerran for C Boyd (h/t), G Walsh for R McGarry (h/t), S Elliott for N O’Connor (48), J Maskey for C Bohill (54), J McLaughlin for E O’Neill (66)
Yellow card: C Boyd (22)
Referee: J Owens (Wexford)
