Hurling-mad Antrim out in force for visit of Tipp
IT WAS a lesson in how to bring hurling to the people – a challenge match on a Saturday afternoon in early February attracting such interest that it was made an all-ticket affair.
That’s what the involvement of the All-Ireland champions can do – Tipperary adding a touch of stardust to a game against Antrim to mark the new pitch opening of Davitts GAC, a club on the Falls Road of Belfast with a century-old tradition of Gaelic games.
The charm offensive started on the Friday night with Liam Sheedy and his squad arriving with the Liam MacCarthy Cup. The manager’s connection with Antrim has been heartfelt since Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton convinced him to lend a coaching hand a couple of seasons back. McNaughton then passed on the baton to Darren Gleeson, Tipperary’s former All-Star goalkeeper, 2016 All-Ireland winner and a Portroe friend of Sheedy’s, who is now the Antrim manager.
Gleeson, goalkeeping coach with the All-Ireland champions last summer, helped make it all happen. He set in train the match that drew a crowd of over 3,000 to the impressive new facilities.
The sight of All-Ireland winning captain Seamus Callanan, mobbed at the final whistle by kids seeking to get their hurls signed, quickly went viral – the match doing so much as a promotional tool.
‘He was the star of the show,’ says Gleeson who explains what went on too behind the scenes. ‘Seamus was brilliant. The time he gave on the field afterwards was fantastic. But it’s a lot of the unseen stuff too. That morning, Davitts had organised for their own juveniles to meet – we had Padraic Maher, Cathal Barrett, John O’Dwyer, Noel McGrath, Brian Hogan, Barry Heffernan, Paul Maher – they were all up in Davitts doing a little bit with the young lads.
‘There’s a primary school involved with Lámh Dhearg – they had breakfast with the Tipperary team.
‘I think Tipp really held the hand out. Liam went up to the Davitts clubhouse on Friday night and made a presentation to them to mark the opening of the field on behalf of Tipperary.
‘We’re a bit spoilt in Tipperary the last six or seven months. Liam MacCarthy is readily available to get your picture with it. There were queues on Friday night and Saturday just to see it, let alone hold it.’
It’s the Cup that cheers. Gleeson gives a bit of background as to how he ended up sharing a sideline in Belfast city with his old mentor.
‘Liam first went in to Antrim in 2018. He took a real shine to the place and got on really well with the people up there. Where myself and Liam are from, it’s a small hurling club in the middle of a hurling heartland. He has a bit of an affinity with Antrim now. Similarly, they are working off a small base up there, fighting against the tide. He bought in to their whole mentality and kept close links.
‘Liam put me forward for the coach, then I made my own way in becoming manager. That’s the basis of how the relationship came about.’
Life on the Falls Road is a bit of a culture change from village life in Portroe.
‘It’s a small bit quicker pace up there,’ smiles Gleeson who points to the shared love of the game. ‘They’re great hurling people. The stories they have. When Casement Park was opened in the ’60s, there was soil taken from Semple Stadium to be buried, to be put into the field. The connections between Antrim and Tipperary going back to revolutionary times.
‘If you go to any Munster hurling match, and I’ve noticed this since I got involved with Antrim, you’ll meet Antrim and Ulster people at those games. Walking around the back of the stand or into your seat – “oh, there’s Damian from Dunloy or there’s Bobby McIlhatton from Loughgiel”. These guys are all over it. They’re wearing their Antrim club jerseys or Tipp or Cork or Clare jerseys.
‘They have a huge appetite for these matches. When they get them on their own doorstep, they lap them up. You saw that in Newry for the SlaughtneilBallyhale match. The amount of neutral Antrim and Ulster people who were at that with a Derry team involved. They’re crying out to see the stars of hurling.’
The sense of occasion attached to that All-Ireland club semi-final just proved the market that exists for hurling in Ulster is clearly there.
Last weekend was another example. The effect is not just superficial either. Before Storm Dennis struck, Antrim were due to travel to Offaly today for a crucial Division 2A Allianz Hurling League fixture, surfing the wave of supporter interest.
‘Clubs are now putting on buses to go to our match. Usually you’d only have one bus come out of Antrim from the Casement
Social Club – they go to every match. Now other clubs are getting involved, and they are bringing juveniles and supporters buses for the game,’ Gleeson said.
He also describes the League carrot of promotion and Division 1 hurling as ‘massively important’. The fortunes of Antrim, Offaly and Tipperary were all bound up in that summer of 1989 when the Ulster champions beat Offaly in the AllIreland semi-final before being steamrolled by Tipperary in the final.
While Tipperary’s status in the game hasn’t changed, it’s about trying to get back to hurling’s top table for Antrim and Offaly.
‘Offaly have been successful in the more recent past than Antrim, they’ve picked up AllIreland titles,’ says Gleeson. ‘The big thing for Offaly and Antrim is to create modern memories. Wouldn’t it be lovely to be talking about Antim and Offaly in 2020, 2021, 2022, that there is a spark of a revival there.’
Judging by last weekend, there’s certainly no doubting the hunger for that revival.