Antrim Hurling

[Minder]

Watson stands his ground

Watson stands his ground

Loughgiel's sharp shooter says he is a reformed man ahead of the club final
Christy O'Connor Published: 11 March 2012
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Liam Watson lines his hurleys up against the wall, each one delicately garnished with red and white coloured grips. The handles are thicker and the bas bigger than normal but Michael and Denis Scullion know Watson's exact requirements. On Wednesday, Watson followed his usual ritual the week before a big game by picking up three new sticks from Scullion's workshop opposite Loughgiel's pitch. The clean ash was all that differentiated them from Watson's mini-forest of timber, each stick as primed as the next. Perfect.

Watson gathers the new hurleys and makes his way down Lough road, entering Fr Healy Park through the little back-gate. He crosses the gravel track and jumps the three-foot wall before emptying a batch of sliotars on the pitch. The quality of ash is soon authenticated by the smooth cracking sound from the sliotars pinging off his hurley as Watson goes through his free-taking routine. His striking is almost flawless. Perfect.

Watson has been in the zone for a while. In the All-Ireland semi-final against Na Piarsaigh, he bagged 0-16. Watson's sublime striking on a wet day illustrated his talent but that performance was fermenting for 12 months before he uncorked it. "I was useless in last year's semi-final against O'Loughlin Gaels," he says. "I wanted to go back to Parnell Park to prove a point. I knew that whoever I was marking against Na Piarsaigh was going to be in for some treatment."

Big scoring returns have been a constant throughout Watson's career; he scored 0-13 out of 0-16 in the 2007 county final defeat to Dunloy. His talent was never in doubt. His attitude and mentality always was. He has carried the tabloid caricature of a maverick and his indiscipline has consistently rhymed with that reputation. Hurling often operates on the dynamics of a village and one bad word often borrows another. Yet most of Watson's indiscretions were so public that he had no defence against the gossip which accompanied them.

"I'm the type of man who does what he wants to do," he says. "Some people can take that, some people can't. I would never look back with regrets but I will admit that I have done piles of things wrong. I'm far from perfect but God gives everyone a talent and the main one I was given was hurling. Once you're given it, you have to try not to waste it. I wasted it for a couple of years but I'm trying hard to redeem that now."

He first showed that renegade streak as a 19-year old in Antrim's 2002 All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary when he struck Paul Ormonde on the side of the head with the butt of his hurley. A yellow card was later upgraded to a red and red cards became a recurring theme throughout his career. He was sent off against Derry in 2008 while he was also red-carded twice in the 2010 season, including the All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork when he was marched after scoring six excellent points from play.

It also blighted him at club level. Watson was the pulse of Loughgiel's scoring power but he was also their jugular vein and teams often went for the jugular. "I have been targeted but I was letting my family and my teammates down for years," he says. "I got sent off in a championship game against St John's one year. I came home afterwards and Eoin (his seven-year-old son) had this wee stick. He jagged it into the side of me and goes, 'You shouldn't have done it'. He's very close to me and I had to cop on. I've nearly been sent off more times than I've got up in the morning so you have to catch on some time."

His indiscipline on the field though, was too often a reflection of it off the field. One year he missed a club championship game when he disappeared on a lost weekend at the motorcycle world championships in Toomebridge. He didn't play with Antrim in 2007 and 2009, while he was dropped from the squad the night before they played Galway in the 2008 qualifiers for playing a low-key soccer tournament in Limavady two nights previously. Joint-managers, Terrence 'Sambo' McNaughton and Dominic 'Woody' McKinley, were building a new team and Watson's reputation conflicted with their standards and ideals. It wasn't just them. Watson breached a drinking ban imposed by Dinny Cahill before the 2010 Leinster championship against Offaly by going to a close friend's stag in Liverpool. He was also involved in a fight in training with a fellow player. He was dropped from the panel before being restored and not all of Cahill's management team were happy to see him come on against Offaly.

Yet he became an All-Star nominee and there has always been a conflict between his immense talent and the perception of him as a liability. "If I went in to a bar today and drank two pints, the word in Cushendall would be that I was drunk off my head," he says. "I like getting out, having a drink and enjoying myself. If people think I'm an alcoholic or drinking as much as I'm supposed to be, I'd hardly have scored 0-16 against Na Piarsaigh. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I'll have my opinion after March 17."

In such a passionate hurling heartland, opinions have often been easier to form with Watson's soccer commitments. He spent three seasons in the IFA Premiership with Donegal Celtic, where he was popular with the supporters, before signing for Ballymena United last August. "The supporters were crazy, I was as crazy as them, we enjoyed our football and we had a drink afterwards," he says. "That's what life is all about: enjoyment. This guy said to me one day, 'Are you a hurling or soccer man? I said, 'If a bill comes in my front door, will you pay it if I only play hurling? The soccer was giving me a few pounds to pay bills but I've always been mad into all sports."

Watson wasn't immune from controversy either on the soccer field; he was sent off after 15 seconds against Coleraine in 2010, while he was suspended by Ballymena last November for an alleged breach of discipline. It doesn't provide him with a defence but Watson has been troubled at times.

"I'm my biggest critic and I'm always beating myself up," he says. "There are always people trying to knock you and there would be times when I wouldn't want to come out of the house, win or lose. If I came out, I could end up hitting somebody. Everyone has good and bad days. I'm usually upbeat and cheery but there were times when I might have been in bad form and I just didn't want to go to the field. Maybe I was suffering a bit from depression. I wouldn't say yes or no but there were times when I was very down."

Jim Nelson and Joe McGurk are two outsiders in Loughgiel's backroom team and their input has helped Watson reform. "Joe is a teacher but I call him my counsellor," says Watson. "Sometimes he might be able to tell that I'm not in great form. If I'm not happy with something, I feel I can speak to someone. Joe keeps me right."

They have all benefited from management's guidance. Loughgiel lost six county finals in a row from 2003 before cracking it in 2010. Nelson had built his reputation on bringing organisation and structure and his methods created the conditions to move forward. He got them working harder, removing the individualism which had often blighted their play.

The calmness they showed in extra-time was also mirrored by Watson's composure. Na Piarsaigh tried to twist his tail but he didn't take the bait. He sees the bigger picture now reflected in his son's excitement. Last week, Eoin got a new Loughgiel fleece with his father's picture and name on the back.

"I want to make my family and Loughgiel people proud," says Watson. "I feel at the top of my game at the minute. Everything is going well for me on and off the field. All I can promise is that I'll give 100% work rate. I can't say that I will reproduce what I showed against Na Piarsaigh but I love the big challenge, the hype, the atmosphere. The big stage is definitely for me."

The stage is set. And Watson finally looks primed for it.

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[gelvis]

Christy O'Connor has a full page profile/interview with Winker in The Sunday Times today. He manahed to get a wee jag at the Dall too...

What has he said?
[/quote]"If I went in to a bar today and drank two pints, the word in Cushendall would be that I was drunk off my head".
[/quote]


Must have been edited...he doesn't even say "yano" in the paper

[Sleeping giant]

didnt think there was much wrong with any of the above?

[Tony Baloney]

didnt think there was much wrong with any of the above?

His disciplinary record makes for sorry reading in that article.

[btdtgtt]

I think Liam revels in the whole George best wild thing. A rebel with a cause and all that. Prsonally I have more time for the shefflin canning way but if he produces next week we will all be happy. The closer the game gets the more I want a loughiel Antrim northern victory.

[Seamroga in exile]

didnt think there was much wrong with any of the above?

His disciplinary record makes for sorry reading in that articlle.

He's the first to admit it. He has improved on that side of things over the last year or so though.

[Last Man]

didnt think there was much wrong with any of the above?

His disciplinary record makes for sorry reading in that articlle.

He's the first to admit it. He has improved on that side of things over the last year or so though.

Sounds like a man happier in his own skin these days.

[NAG1]

Any reports on yesterday?

[theskull1]

Theres one on anfearrua NAG

[Milltown Row2]

Going into Sunday's National Hurling League game in Ennis team manager Jerry Wallace had said he wanted his side to be competitive in their meeting with Clare, and during the first half of the game they certainly were. However after the change of ends the home team got on top and despite losing Donal O'Donovan to a straight red card they ran out convincing winners by 0-20 to 0-12.
In a highly competitive first-half there was little to choose between the sides and with Neill McManus totally dominant at midfield Antrim gave as good as they got.
Clare had the first two points on the board but once PJ O'Connell opened Antrim's account in the seventh minute they began to find some confidence. Shane McNaughton brought them level from a free and while Nicky O'Connell edged Clare back in front, two excellent points from McManus put Antrim 0-4 to 0-3 in front after fourteen minutes.
Points from John Conlon, Colin Ryan and Cathal McInerney put the home side two in front before McManus cut the gap to the minimum again following Antrim's best move of the match on twenty-four minutes.
Conor McGrath gave Clare a two point cushion once again but McManus and Karl Stewart replied for the Saffrons to square the game, only to see McGrath restore Clare's lead in first-half injury time.
                            CAUGHT COLD
The Antrim management must have been pleased with their team's first-half display but the Saffrons were caught cold at the start of the second-half as Clare hit five unanswered points in the opening eight minutes to leave them a mountain to climb.   Shane McNaughton got their first score of the second-half in the forty-fifth minute when he sent over a free from sixty metres and two more points from the same player in the next six minutes had the gap back to four.
Donlon and McNaughton exchanged points to keep the gap at four, but following a bad miss from Karl Stewart in the sixty-first minute the Saffrons were made to pay dearly as Clare hit four points in two minutes to put the game beyond Antrim's reach.
Things got worse for Antrim when Neill McManus received a second-yellow card near the end, but in truth it had no bearing on the outcome of the game at this late stage as Clare deservedly kept their 100% record intact as they moved clear at the top of the Division 2 table.

[Buswhacker]

How many Loughgiel men,when available, will be drafted on to the team.

[Seamroga in exile]

Not sure how many will be on the team but I think there are 6 or 7 to come into the squad. DD is a cert, although I hear Chrissy made a couple of great saves yesterday.

[saffronog]

not sure how many shams will slot in the starting 15 but i will off course offer a very educated opinion

eddie mccloskey and winker i would have thought need to be accommodated in the forward division.

johnny campbell in defence along with dd and i would really not be that sure after that.  hear martin scullion isn't goin up, not saying he should be playing, or that he shouldn't be playing just to ward off red and white uproar.

Also heard neil McAuley was for shipping off to the land of Oz.

[Seamroga in exile]

Martin Scullion was called up but couldn't commit this year because of family commitments.

[Milltown Row2]

Hard to commit when you have two years of hard graft behind you.