ANTRIM’S HAPHAZARD preparation didn’t stop them shocking Wexford in last year’s All-Ireland U21 hurling semi-final despite one of their players pre-match meal consisting of a bag of pick ‘n’ mix sweets on the bus to the game.
Antrim’s win over Laois in last weekend’s Leinster round-robin game has set up a senior hurling quarter-final clash with Wexford next Sunday. The game has awakened painful memories for Wexford forward Jack Guiney, part of the U21 team that suffered that stunning loss.
Wexford were 1/80 favorites before that game and rank outsiders Antrim had only 14 players at their training session the Thursday before the game. The Antrim county board listed 23 players for the official match programme but only 20 travelled.
Yesterday Guiney was at the Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 hurling launch in Thurles and revealed that Antrim’s Stephen McAfee had given him a further insight into Antrim’s build-up to that game.
“Stephen was telling me about their preparation. One of the Antrim players stopped into a garage for pick-and-mix. A massive bag of pick-and-mix sweets. Now, this is very hard to listen to when they’re after beating you in an All-Ireland semi-final.
“But he was eating pick-and-mix sweets, the whole way down on the bus. And he must have had a sugar overdose by the time he got into the dressing-room. He (Stephen) said they didn’t realise they could win that game until they got into the dressing-room at half-time.
“Your man that was eating the sweets on the bus was going around the dressing-room telling all the lads to eat some of the sweets. If you compare that to what we were saying at half-time. It’s very hard to listen to.
“But I wouldn’t begrudge Antrim their win. They’re a very solid bunch and you could see how much it meant to them. If we weren’t focused going into the game, we didn’t deserve to win. Simple as that.”
It was a difficult experience for Wexford but one Guiney hopes they can utilise to ensure they are focused next Sunday. Dublin await the winners in the Leinster semi-final yet Wexford aren’t thinking about that potential encounter.
“We learned a very tough lesson last year. Everyone is focused. Even Sky were down checking out Wexford Park for the Dublin game. Our focus is not the Dublin game at all. It’s completely on Antrim because we know how dangerous they would be.
“It was a real kick in the teeth last year, to be honest. We played Westmeath and Carlow in the run up to the Leinster U21 final. We were very poor in those games.
“We thought maybe we could play poor again and maybe still get a result. But Antrim came down and showed us how to hurl for most of the game.
“Our focus was on the All-Ireland final. But they definitely deserved to win the game. It was a lesson, hard-learned.”
