Quote from: BrendanAntrim on May 27, 2024, 12:12:34 AMHow are we miles off Dublin? We drew with them in championship last year, snd they beat us by a point in the league this year. The championship result this year was very disappointing but hard to say we are miles off them.
Brendan, you are looking at Antrim seniors in isolation. Wrong way to look at it.
You need to look at the overall picture in Antrim hurling. By saying that Antrim drew with Dublin last year is all well and good but Antrim needed to beat Carlow yesterday to stay up.
By your take, Carlow drew with Kilkenny the other week so they're in a great position hurling wise. No they're not. They're now down to the Joe Mc Donagh again, but looking at the bigger picture, they've only about 4 or 5 senior hurling clubs. They've have a golden generation of players like Mouse Kavanagh, Chris Nolan and the Coadys. They've punched well above their weight this past few years. Will they get up again to Div. 1b again? I doubt it.
The key thing for Antrim is who's coming up from the Joe Mc Donagh for next year. Offaly or Laois? I think they'll both be better than Carlow. That will cause Antrim a big problem next year I think. Gleeson has done a great job with Antrim. Is he there for another year?
Regarding Dublin, they were in the Leinster Minor and U20 Leinster Finals this year. Granted both teams were beat by two very good teams in Kilkenny and Offaly respectively. Both of them will take stopping in the AI series. Antrim are in Tier 2 of these competitions. As a matter of fact, their U20 weren't even in Tier 2 of Leinster at U20 level this year.
As I say, you need to stop looking at it in isolation and look at the bigger picture.