THAT HUMAN EXCLAMATION mark, Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, has found himself swamped over the past fortnight with Clare coming to the village of Cushendall this Sunday for their Division 1B hurling league fixture.
Proprietor of The Lurig Bar and McNaughton Guestrooms, he has experienced an unusual jump in demand as all of his rooms were booked out by Banner hurling enthusiasts taking a pilgrimage to the Glens of Antrim.
Most welcome in late January.
But it didn’t end there.
“I am not joking, we have spent last week and the week before, sorting people with places to stay. Apparently, everybody thinks I am working for Bord Fáilte!” he says.
“So, we are booked out and I have filled nearly every B&B in the Glens. Christy (his son and Derry hurler) had to put something up on Facebook asking people if they had any rooms going.
“But everybody is starved for a bit of hurling at this time of year. We had that shite of Christmas over, eating turkeys and people trying to be nice to each other.
“So now we are freewheeling into Paddy’s Day and getting the cabin fever out and trying to work out what tactics Davy is going to use this year!”
The last bit he says with a thick layer of satire and tongue firmly in cheek after a mini-storm blew up last year, after he criticised Davy Fitzgerald’s tactical approach in his first year in charge of Antrim. In due course, Fitzgerald had his cut back.
This weekend is also, lest we forget, the latest meeting of Fitzgerald and Clare manager Brian Lohan, once comrades, now fractured.
Behind the bar of the Lurig, he’s privy to all the craic. The latest one is that when Wexford got out of jail with goalkeeper Mark Fanning planting a late, late free to the net. The flourish to the yarn is that it was a size four ball.
McNaughton knows how these stories go. Leave it for a year, he says, and Wexford people will soon be telling you that Fanning pucked a golf ball to the net.
Back in the real world, you wonder why the Ruairí Óg Cushendall pitch is a weapon that Antrim don’t use half enough.
Because for most hurling teams to reach Belfast and Corrigan Park, it’s more than a slog. But Cushendall is another hour on the road to the coast. Another hour folded up on a team bus might be some low-grade shithousery, but many would use it more regularly.
The last time it was used was actually McNaughton calling in his favours. In 2018, he and Dominic ‘Woody’ McKinley were joint managers of the Saffrons and they hosted Limerick in late February.
Sambo and Woody in charge of Antrim in 2018. John McIlwaine / INPHO
John McIlwaine / INPHO / INPHO
The visitors scorched the hosts, 3-21 to 0-13. McNaughton turned to McKinley halfway through the match and said that Limerick were going to end their hunt for Liam MacCarthy, dating back to 1973, that very summer.
Those that saw Limerick duty on the sandy banks of the Irish Sea that day included Tom Condon, Richie McCarthy, Richie English, Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey., Cian Lynch, Aaron Gillane, Séamus Flanagan and Graeme Mulcahy, all of whom played in the All-Ireland final win over Galway.
He wouldn’t be sure, but he would imagine a crowd of a couple of thousand might show, especially with the chance of seeing the Tony Kelly Show.
“It’s great for the club and great for the county and that, but at the end of the day, it’s a match in January really, isn’t it?” McNaughton downplays.
This being Ireland, the rain has been incessant the last week. Croke Park will send a representative for a pitch inspection on Saturday morning before Clare begin their long crawl north.
However, given this is the coast and the pitch is as sand-based as can be, it should be okay. Just don’t expect to take cover in a stand – “We wouldn’t want to block that good fresh air coming in off the sea!”
70 miles south, it’s another big day for Ulster hurling as Wexford travel to play Down in the same league, at McKenna Park, Ballycran.
While the Down hurling talent pool has widened, essentially the heartland of the sport in the county remains at the southern tip of the Ards peninsula.
The 1968 Sam Maguire winning Down captain Joe Lennon put it best when Down won an All-Ireland junior hurling title in 1964; that the peninsula was an index finger hooking around Strangford Lough, and the hurling area was the fingernail.
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Just 13 miles separate Ballycran, on down through Ballygalget and onto Portaferry on the very tip.
This is the first time since 2007 that Down are back in Division 1.
Ronan Sheehan has been manager since the end of 2018 and plotted their course all the way.
A relentless promoter of Down and Ulster hurling, this Sunday ties his love of culture, sport and a sense of place.
Ronan Sheehan. Tommy Dickson / INPHO
Tommy Dickson / INPHO / INPHO
He writes the piece for you; Gary Savage was coming to the end of a long tour of duty for Down in 2007. This Sunday, his son Liam will be playing.
Savage netted a first-half goal to have Down going in at half time 1-9 to 0-8 ahead of Carlow in last weekend’s opener at Dr Cullen Park. Losing Ruairí Óg McCrickard on a red card after a helmet offence led to a poor second half and it finished 2-18 to 1-11.
Ballycran will be unusual for Keith Rossiter and Wexford, but hardly intimidating says Sheehan when he makes an estimation on the crowd.
“It’s hard to know to be brutally honest. I think to be fair, we might get a better crowd in Newry for Antrim, than Wexford in Ballycran. You are hoping for 500 or so anyway,” he says. 500 wouldn’t be long packing the stand in Ballycran.”
“It’s a great occasion and it’s brilliant. We are not just going up to take part, we want to compete. And I think we did compete until the red card against Carlow,” says Sheehan.
“There are small wee stories around it. On Sunday, our two mascots are Shay Deegan’s two wee boys. Shay is a Wexford man and moved up to county Down and he started hurling in the Saul club.
“So, his boys are going to be the mascots on Sunday. He is doing really good work in Saul. I am not sure if the two lads are wearing Wexford or Down jerseys to tell you the truth!”
As a county, Down are reaching into parts unknown by spreading hurling. They have even revived a long-dormant Kilcoo hurling tradition, with the local school St Malachy’s winning the 2024 Cumann na mBunscoil title, beating Ballygalget in the final.
This Sunday there will be mini games at half-time, with kids from every club taking part.
“I suppose for us, as a team and a management group we are trying to stay away from the hype and keep focused. But at the same time, you want to embrace it too because these are the days you play the game for,” Sheehan continues.
“Big games, big opportunities, the chance to test yourself against one of the top teams.
“I think Ballycran as a club are looking forward to hosting it as well. They have been very good to us down through the years, hosting maybe not so glamorous games and paying the price in terms of the damage to their pitch.”
They’ve paid many prices for hurling in Ballycran.
The Down hurlers have a number of mixed marriages. One man who has helped out for over 25 years as a hurley carrier or anything that needed doing, is a Protestant.
And yet, the clubhouse at McKenna Park has been burned down by Loyalists, twice in short succession.
“On Sunday, the clubhouse is where ourselves and Wexford will be sitting down to have our post-match meals,” says Sheehan.
“There will be a bit of history in that, sitting down in the exact same hall that when you go back 25 years ago, it had been burned to the ground.
“Those are the kind of things that make the GAA great, those kind of nuances.”
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Northern hospitality: Antrim and Down gear up to host illustrious hurling guests
THAT HUMAN EXCLAMATION mark, Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, has found himself swamped over the past fortnight with Clare coming to the village of Cushendall this Sunday for their Division 1B hurling league fixture.
Proprietor of The Lurig Bar and McNaughton Guestrooms, he has experienced an unusual jump in demand as all of his rooms were booked out by Banner hurling enthusiasts taking a pilgrimage to the Glens of Antrim.
Most welcome in late January.
But it didn’t end there.
“I am not joking, we have spent last week and the week before, sorting people with places to stay. Apparently, everybody thinks I am working for Bord Fáilte!” he says.
“So, we are booked out and I have filled nearly every B&B in the Glens. Christy (his son and Derry hurler) had to put something up on Facebook asking people if they had any rooms going.
“So now we are freewheeling into Paddy’s Day and getting the cabin fever out and trying to work out what tactics Davy is going to use this year!”
The last bit he says with a thick layer of satire and tongue firmly in cheek after a mini-storm blew up last year, after he criticised Davy Fitzgerald’s tactical approach in his first year in charge of Antrim. In due course, Fitzgerald had his cut back.
This weekend is also, lest we forget, the latest meeting of Fitzgerald and Clare manager Brian Lohan, once comrades, now fractured.
Behind the bar of the Lurig, he’s privy to all the craic. The latest one is that when Wexford got out of jail with goalkeeper Mark Fanning planting a late, late free to the net. The flourish to the yarn is that it was a size four ball.
McNaughton knows how these stories go. Leave it for a year, he says, and Wexford people will soon be telling you that Fanning pucked a golf ball to the net.
Back in the real world, you wonder why the Ruairí Óg Cushendall pitch is a weapon that Antrim don’t use half enough.
Because for most hurling teams to reach Belfast and Corrigan Park, it’s more than a slog. But Cushendall is another hour on the road to the coast. Another hour folded up on a team bus might be some low-grade shithousery, but many would use it more regularly.
The last time it was used was actually McNaughton calling in his favours. In 2018, he and Dominic ‘Woody’ McKinley were joint managers of the Saffrons and they hosted Limerick in late February.
The visitors scorched the hosts, 3-21 to 0-13. McNaughton turned to McKinley halfway through the match and said that Limerick were going to end their hunt for Liam MacCarthy, dating back to 1973, that very summer.
Those that saw Limerick duty on the sandy banks of the Irish Sea that day included Tom Condon, Richie McCarthy, Richie English, Diarmaid Byrnes, Declan Hannon, Dan Morrissey., Cian Lynch, Aaron Gillane, Séamus Flanagan and Graeme Mulcahy, all of whom played in the All-Ireland final win over Galway.
He wouldn’t be sure, but he would imagine a crowd of a couple of thousand might show, especially with the chance of seeing the Tony Kelly Show.
“It’s great for the club and great for the county and that, but at the end of the day, it’s a match in January really, isn’t it?” McNaughton downplays.
This being Ireland, the rain has been incessant the last week. Croke Park will send a representative for a pitch inspection on Saturday morning before Clare begin their long crawl north.
However, given this is the coast and the pitch is as sand-based as can be, it should be okay. Just don’t expect to take cover in a stand – “We wouldn’t want to block that good fresh air coming in off the sea!”
70 miles south, it’s another big day for Ulster hurling as Wexford travel to play Down in the same league, at McKenna Park, Ballycran.
While the Down hurling talent pool has widened, essentially the heartland of the sport in the county remains at the southern tip of the Ards peninsula.
The 1968 Sam Maguire winning Down captain Joe Lennon put it best when Down won an All-Ireland junior hurling title in 1964; that the peninsula was an index finger hooking around Strangford Lough, and the hurling area was the fingernail.
Just 13 miles separate Ballycran, on down through Ballygalget and onto Portaferry on the very tip.
This is the first time since 2007 that Down are back in Division 1.
Ronan Sheehan has been manager since the end of 2018 and plotted their course all the way.
A relentless promoter of Down and Ulster hurling, this Sunday ties his love of culture, sport and a sense of place.
He writes the piece for you; Gary Savage was coming to the end of a long tour of duty for Down in 2007. This Sunday, his son Liam will be playing.
Savage netted a first-half goal to have Down going in at half time 1-9 to 0-8 ahead of Carlow in last weekend’s opener at Dr Cullen Park. Losing Ruairí Óg McCrickard on a red card after a helmet offence led to a poor second half and it finished 2-18 to 1-11.
Ballycran will be unusual for Keith Rossiter and Wexford, but hardly intimidating says Sheehan when he makes an estimation on the crowd.
“It’s hard to know to be brutally honest. I think to be fair, we might get a better crowd in Newry for Antrim, than Wexford in Ballycran. You are hoping for 500 or so anyway,” he says. 500 wouldn’t be long packing the stand in Ballycran.”
“It’s a great occasion and it’s brilliant. We are not just going up to take part, we want to compete. And I think we did compete until the red card against Carlow,” says Sheehan.
“There are small wee stories around it. On Sunday, our two mascots are Shay Deegan’s two wee boys. Shay is a Wexford man and moved up to county Down and he started hurling in the Saul club.
“So, his boys are going to be the mascots on Sunday. He is doing really good work in Saul. I am not sure if the two lads are wearing Wexford or Down jerseys to tell you the truth!”
As a county, Down are reaching into parts unknown by spreading hurling. They have even revived a long-dormant Kilcoo hurling tradition, with the local school St Malachy’s winning the 2024 Cumann na mBunscoil title, beating Ballygalget in the final.
This Sunday there will be mini games at half-time, with kids from every club taking part.
“I suppose for us, as a team and a management group we are trying to stay away from the hype and keep focused. But at the same time, you want to embrace it too because these are the days you play the game for,” Sheehan continues.
“Big games, big opportunities, the chance to test yourself against one of the top teams.
“I think Ballycran as a club are looking forward to hosting it as well. They have been very good to us down through the years, hosting maybe not so glamorous games and paying the price in terms of the damage to their pitch.”
They’ve paid many prices for hurling in Ballycran.
The Down hurlers have a number of mixed marriages. One man who has helped out for over 25 years as a hurley carrier or anything that needed doing, is a Protestant.
And yet, the clubhouse at McKenna Park has been burned down by Loyalists, twice in short succession.
“On Sunday, the clubhouse is where ourselves and Wexford will be sitting down to have our post-match meals,” says Sheehan.
“There will be a bit of history in that, sitting down in the exact same hall that when you go back 25 years ago, it had been burned to the ground.
“Those are the kind of things that make the GAA great, those kind of nuances.”
*****
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Antrim Down GAA GAA HURLING Northern Exposure On The Road up north