Ulster title worthless claims Neil
NEIL MCMANUS says he would scrap the Ulster shc “in the morning” given the chance. Antrim won the title for the 16th successive year earlier this month with a facile win over Armagh, but both counties’ ambitions were much more focused on the Christy ring and Nicky rackard Cup competitions which got underway last weekend. As recently as 1996, the Ulster hurling champions earned passage through to the All-ireland semi-final but it has long been a standalone competition these days. “There is no grá for it at all anymore,” says saffron stalwart Mcmanus. “I remember going to the matches when I was small, my Da taking me, they were brilliant events. “They qualified you for an All-ireland semi-final at that stage. Then they qualified you for an All-ireland quarter-final. “so there was a point to winning it, there was a prize at the end. There is no prize now and Antrim are considerably stronger than any of the other counties in it. Any competition that’s not competitive, I don’t think there is any value in.” The Ulster finals that Mcmanus recalls with fondness were played in Casement Park, a ground which is now in shutdown as redevelopment plans have stalled. Mcmanus explained: “hurling will always thrive in those hotbeds such as the glens of Antrim and there is a little pocket in southwest Antrim as well. “But Belfast hurling, the decline is extremely worrying. Casement Park is massive, hurling in Belfast fed off Casement Park for decades, we badly need Casement Park again. “But we need more than that, I think Antrim as a county, internally, have a duty to bring something forward to Croke Park. “You can’t just expect Croke Park to land in with millions of pounds and say, ‘We’re going to roll out development here’. “It has to come from Antrim, it has to come from ourselves and say, ‘here’s our plan.”