No surrender as O’Donovan Rossa ready and willing

LIKE their counterparts on the intercounty stage, the Ulster champions are the perennial underdogs of the All-Ireland club hurling championship; a lot of patronising guff in the national media beforehand but, when it comes down to picking the probable champion, never given a real chance.

An Ulster team in the All-Ireland final is almost as rare an occurrence as Haley's comet. At club level, however, a different tale entirely, as pointed out by a wary Adrian Finan.

"In the last ten years, the Antrim champions have won four semi-finals, drew two, lost two by very narrow margins," he says. The reason Adrian is wary?