McGarry appointed as new Antrim hurling captain

Defender Neil McGarry has been appointed as the new captain of the Antrim senior hurlers for 2009.

The Saffrons begin the defence of their Walsh Cup title against Laois in the first round at Rathdowney on Sunday.

McGarry says that although he has been elevated to this role, it will not shift his focus from the task at hand.

"It was always a goal of mine to represent my county and once I got that opportunity it was always going to be another goal of mine maybe someday to represent them in a captain's role," the 25-year-old admitted.

"But we, as a panel and as a team, have 15 or 20 captains. Just because they haven't captain attached to them doesn't mean to say that they can't do what a captain can.

"Yes, it's a great honour but nothing changes. My role doesn't change and I'll still be the same player tomorrow as I was four or five weeks ago."

And McGarry believes that the mindset is changing within Antrim and that the focus is now heavily switching towards a winning mentality.

"Antrim is as passionate about hurling as any county in Ireland. There is a renewed interest, we have the players who have the capabilities, it's just the belief that some of the players are lacking in Antrim and that's a mindset that we are looking to change.

"I know from this year especially, we are only started back a couple of weeks - but you can tell because of the goals down the line that we have and the opportunities that we have, not to speak of any of them now, we have a realistic opportunity of progressing this year.

"Maybe in other years we wouldn't have really had that opportunity and from what I can see there's extra momentum and belief in training and training thus far has been first class."

Nothing will be easy as Antrim begin their title defence, according to the Loughgiel Shamrocks clubman.

"We are expecting a tough game from Laois. They are a good side and they have good quality players, with James Young just one of those," he said.

"Any team that Laois puts out on the field will be hard work. We are expecting a tough, physical, good encounter and hopefully we'll come out on the right side of it."