WE WOULDN’T FOR ONE second say that it was a pressing area of concern for Declan McBennett when he became head of sport for RTÉ, but it might have struck him nonetheless; how come there was virtually no Ulster voice when it came to hurling?
Last weekend wasn’t Neil McManus’s first punditry rodeo, but it might have been his busiest as he was present in the corner of Corrigan Park alongside Marty Morrissey as they gave a breathless and stressed commentary for radio on Saturday, while he was scrubbed, spruced and blazered up for The Sunday Game highlights show the following night.
He has taken to it brilliantly and given the show the freshest of fresh voices. But it helped too that he was able to wax lyrical on one of the biggest Antrim championship wins ever on Saturday when they beat Wexford in Corrigan Park. Nothing kills a punditry career before it gets going than having to dissect a hammering of your native sod, gravely muttering phrases such as ‘root and branch’ and so on.
Where does this rank in terms of the greatest days for Antrim? Somewhere behind Offaly in the 1989 semi-final. Some might say it wasn’t as significant as the win over Dublin in 2010 to make it to the All-Ireland quarter-final. Maybe. Maybe not.
Because this came just a week after a 32-point hosing from Kilkenny, and was achieved without the formerly totemic figure with the white helmet, now on co-commentary.
Think of all the great Antrim hurling days in McManus’s career. It won’t take long. The midweek league win over Dublin under the new Casement Park (remember it?) floodlights in 2007 was one. Incredibly, in 2023 he was still going strong. The offer from RTÉ was on the table last year, but he kept going in hope that the work put in by Darren Gleeson and his backroom would be paying off.
Back in 2013 he also played a role in another big day. The county U21 team beat Wexford in an All-Ireland semi-final. Then senior manager Kevin Ryan was in charge, and McManus was a selector.
So when he called it a day at the end of the season, you feared for the Gleeson era ending badly. When the Dunloy contingent of Keelan Molloy, Seaan, Nigel and Ryan Elliott said they wanted a break, you thought they were goosed completely.
Instead, all four Dunloy men played on Saturday. Antrim produced a day for the ages and it had the suitably dramatic closing acts, with Gerard Walsh’s sideline cut whizzing over the bar, dispatched from under a raucous stand.
Latest Score #LeinsterChampionship
— Antrim GAA (@AontroimGAA) April 27, 2024
36mins 2nd Half
Aontroim: 2-21(27)
Loch Garman: 2-20(26)
Aontroim point Gerard Walsh wow!!!! pic.twitter.com/I3nemPEu17
Diehards would love to have said that they team ‘took a dive’ against Kilkenny in Nowlan Park, but it wasn’t the case. For the second year in a row, they played the black and amber jerseys, not just a hurling team.
Instead on Saturday, they brought intensity, played to a definite plan and – this was a real weakness for Antrim teams in the past – didn’t let their minds stray when occasional decisions went against them, as it did for a first-half penalty call, dispatched by the excellent Lee Chin.
The Leinster championship is now blown wide open. Maybe not for ultimate honours, but for that elusive third place and a spot in the preliminary quarter-finals.
The crowds might be hopelessly dwarfed by those in Munster, but the entertainment value is high. Next weekend’s fixture of Galway heading to Wexford, before Dublin host Antrim a week later, has the potential to make the table look very different.
