In for the long haul
Antrim boss Gleeson will continue his seven-hour trips from Tipp to face big guns
ANTRIM senior hurling manager Darren Gleeson has confirmed he will be in place for the 2021 season, when the Saffron hurlers head back into the elite level of the sport.
There were fears that Gleeson, who has been making a seven-hour round trip three times weekly from his home in Portroe in Tipperary, might not be able to sustain the enormous commitment.
Gleeson was introduced to the Antrim set-up by his clubmate Liam Sheedy, the Tipperary All-ireland winning manager, who had helped out with some coaching in the past. After putting down a season as coach in 2019, Gleeson graduated to management this year, retaining the backroom team and adding Johnny Campbell, the former Antrim and Loughgiel captain.
It has been a remarkable success story, as they went through 2020 unbeaten in Kehoe Cup, National League and Joe McDonagh. Questions about their progress have been answered by beating Kerry four times this year, a team that regularly defeated Antrim in recent times.
“When I signed up it wasn’t just for a flash in the pan, we’re here and ready to go, have everything in place to do it and, once we have the proper conversations now, we will go at it again,” says Gleeson.
“I have great belief in this group and I’ll be coming back up the road.”
Over lockdown, Corrigan Park in Belfast has undergone a huge amount of work, bringing the St John’s club venue off the Whiterock Road up to a serious standard. A new stand and terracing has been created to cope with attendances in the post-covid world.
As well as competing in Division One of the National Hurling League, Antrim now enter a six-team Leinster senior hurling championship next year.
Early indications are that the GAA are keen to resume the pre-covid schedule of games, which is on a round-robin basis.
That gives Antrim five quality games against Dublin, Galway,
Laois, Kilkenny and Wexford. But concern for their ability to live among that calibre of opposition was expressed on The Sunday Game by former Cork goalkeeper Donal Óg Cusack, who said “everybody would love to see a strong Antrim”.
He went on: “Imagine Casement Park full for a big game against one of the bigger teams, but I don’t want to be patronising towards them, that performance today would suggest that they are going to struggle next year.
“It almost reminded me of a boxer going up a division and just not having the weight to match the ambition.
“They have the population, they have the passion for hurling, hopefully they will benefit from their time up there, but I would worry that they are going to suffer a lot of beatings based on that performance today.”
Gleeson, however, says he is up for the challenge.
“That’s up to me and the county board to sit down and discuss how we can bring it forward. The players are there and they’re willing to do whatever it takes,” Gleeson says of the step up.
“We need to get in and raise the platform again. We’re going to a higher level. I know that Neil Peden (Director of Hurling) is working really hard on that behind the scenes.
“Ciaran Mccavana (County Chairman), Donal Murphy, Frankie Quinn, they’ve been so approachable for us this year.
“They knew we had to raise the bar to fulfil these guys’ potential. So we’ve done that to a level, and now we need to invest in Antrim again and bring it forward.
“There’s a big infrastructure stage going on in Antrim as we all know; Corrigan and Casement and Dunsilly, we can’t just look at that, we need to bring on players. Gaelfast are doing that, we need our Under-17s and Under-20s coming up to the level as well. If we can put that in place, hopefully momentum will follow.”
As for the nature of Sunday’s win, he stated: “I was delighted we dogged it out. I actually got great satisfaction out of that there.
“Two defenders in the backroom team, Johnny (Campbell) and Jim (Close), and they were delighted as well, I’ll tell you that. They don’t like the forwards getting all the praise all the time either, so I can tell you we’re delighted with digging it out.”
Captain Conor Mccann shares that sunny optimism.
“In a few weeks we’ll sit down and try to plan ahead where we’re going,” he said.
“I know the management have plans in place for us, they’re in their first year of working with the team.
“Every management in every set-up comes in with at least a three-year plan. It doesn’t get any more successful than getting promoted in the league and winning the championship.
“It’s going to be a step up but it’s one we’re happy to make and we’re going to work really hard to try and consolidate our place there.”