Davy Fitzgerald: 'To the knockers, you're not doing Antrim any favours doing what you're doing' 

PROUD: Antrim manager Davy Fitzgerald is proud of his side after their battle with Offaly. Pic: ©INPHO/Leah Scholes

Leinster SHC: Offaly 3-15 Antrim 1-16

A strong wind blew down from the Arden Road end of Glenisk O’Connor Park yesterday, but even Storm Éowyn would have struggled to disperse the heavy clouds of tension that hung over Tullamore, with Offaly and Antrim playing for their Liam MacCarthy cup lives.

The air was thick with nerves, the hurling was laced with it.

For 45 minutes, Offaly handled it that little bit better. The midlanders established a winning position, six points up 10 minutes into the second half with the wind at their backs and an extra man on the field, which should have been enough to see it out.

Instead Antrim hung in, Offaly missed a string of chances and James McNaughton’s goal reduced the gap to one. Stephen Rooney made a wonderful block to deny Brian Duignan on the next attack but then Killian Sampson collected a magnificent pass from Eoghan Cahill and rattled the bottom corner of the net, and the midlanders had survived, at their opponents’ expense.

“Breathing again! Happy to be up in Leinster again. That's all that mattered today,” was how Offaly manager Johnny Kelly summarised his emotions.

“It's so important that we learn from this and go forward, because it's not so much a hurling battle, it's a psychological warfare here with these players.

“They've been down for so long, and so far down. To get back up to this level and stay at this level, it's a huge ask, mentally, for these lads to believe that they're good enough. That's where we really need to focus. Our hurling ability at times is as good as what's around. Probably not as fast as the top teams, or as quick as the Kilkennys and the Tipperarys of this world, but they can get there”.

There were glimpses of the quality in the Faithful County ranks. Charlie Mitchell at full forward and Donal Shirley at centre back were nothing short of immense, with Shirley adding two spectacular points to his two goal-saving tackles while Mitchell’s pass to set up Duignan for a goal to open the scoring was one of several incredible plays from the attacker.

Niall O’Connor’s dismissal for a stamp on Mitchell handed Offaly a further edge and they would have been delighted to lead at half-time, 2-9 to 0-11, their second goal coming from a Dan Ravenhill penalty. Anything more than 50 metres out of the Arden Road goal was out of scoring range, while Paddy Burke pointed from 100 metres out in the opening half, illustrating the scale of the advantage that the wind offered.

Nigel Elliot earned a free that James McNaughton converted to start the second half but Offaly were controlled and efficient for the next ten minutes, building on their defensive superiority where Ben Conneely, Cathal King, Ross Ravenhill and in particular Shirley were superb.

A couple of Duignan frees either side of a Daniel Bourke shot that was brilliantly tipped over the bar by Ryan Elliot left Offaly six ahead and cruising, but the cracks were appearing too, with several players in the top end of the field struggling to make any impact.

Suddenly two minutes without a score became five, ten, 20, and the ambush was on.

The goal that brought Antrim right back into it was typical of the game as a whole. A hit-and-hope ball into the danger area pinballed around the square for ten seconds before McNaughton snapped it up and whipped it to the roof of the net.

The prospect of a third last-day escape for Antrim in three years was suddenly on the table, until Cahill and Sampson ensured it wasn’t.

“I can't say a word to them, I thought we did really well today and we were big time outsiders down to 14” said a visibly distraught Davy Fitzgerald afterwards.

Referee Michael Kennedy escaped his ire, with Fitzgerald saying that it was a tough game to control and that he couldn’t argue the sending off, though he did fire back at some of the criticism that emerged during the week, including from Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton.

“To the knockers, you're not doing Antrim any favours doing what you're doing, that's all I'll say to you. You think you're big men, you're not big men. I'm so proud of them today, immensely proud of them. That's the character to have.

“I have so much respect for him (McNaughton) and I'm just so disappointed in what he did but he's entitled to his opinion”.

As for his future with the Saffrons, he said he’d take some time out to consider that once the dust settles.

“A friend who has been very good to me persuaded me to come up to Antrim and I never regretted it. I just need a bit of time. I'm not saying I won't, I think you can tell by me I'm just absolutely beat, I'm just tired. So we'll see what happens”.

Scorers for Offaly: B Duignan (1-7, 0-7f), D Ravenhill (1-2, 1-0 pen), C Mitchell (0-3), K Sampson (1-0), D Shirley (0-2), D Bourke (0-1).

Scorers for Antrim: J McNaughton (1-8, 0-8f), K Molloy (0-2), G Walsh (0-2), N Elliot (0-1), S Walsh (0-1), R McCambridge (0-1), P Burke (0-1).

OFFALY: M Troy; B Conneely, C Burke, C King; R Ravenhill, D Shirley, S Bourke; C Spain, D Bourke; J Sampson, K Sampson, O Kelly; D Ravenhill, C Mitchell, B Duignan.

Subs: J Clancy for D Ravenhill (half-time), E Cahill for J Sampson (64).

ANTRIM: R Elliot; C Boyd, P Burke, N O’Connor; C Bohill, J Maskey, S Rooney; G Walsh, N Elliot; S Walsh, E Campbell, R McCambridge; E O’Neill, J McNaughton, K Molloy.

Sub: C McKeown for McCambridge (55) 

Referee: Michael Kennedy (Tipperary).