Conor McCann and Antrim get set to hit the hurling highway – once it opens

Conor McCann is that rare thing – a sentient human for whom 2020 was broadly a pretty good year. Yes, you had your pandemic, your lockdowns, your complete upheaval of societal and planetary norms. But on the other hand, he got married (eventually), captained Antrim to a league and Joe McDonagh double and on Monday named the 2020 Joe McDonagh player of the year.

“I didn’t expect it all, someone messaged me this morning to tell me,” he says. “It was such an unusual year. I think towards the end of the year, from September onwards, it seemed to lighten for us. Obviously to get back playing, winning in December, getting promoted first of all and then winning the Joe McDonagh. It was huge for us.

“First off was the league. We wanted to get promoted first of all. Hurling was pulled just before the final in March so it was our first game back. It was an unusual situation in that you were going into a final not knowing where you’re at or where Kerry were at. You didn’t have anything to go off. So winning that was a big thing for us.

“It was definitely unusual. No supporters, no form or nothing to go off. Our league final was probably a better spectacle than the Joe McDonagh final. It was our second meeting of four in the year against Kerry. It was a bit more open. Getting that first result set us off on a good run, we worked off that for the rest of the way.”

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Having ruled the narrow roads, Antrim’s next moved will be down the off-ramp and onto the motorway where everything moves faster and nobody gives you a break. If and when hurling starts up again, they will be playing in the Leinster Championship and competing in Division 1B of the league. Whenever it comes around, they will have no way of knowing whether or not they’re ready. Hold hands and jump of the cliff, same as everybody else.

“We haven’t seen each other in two months,” McCann says. “And we’re lucky enough – other teams we’re finished up three, four, maybe six weeks before us. So we don’t have it as bad really. It’s going to take a bit of time to get used to it – this season could be affected even worse than last year. That’s probably the biggest thing that teams and managements have struggled with, trying to keep teams together somehow. You’re talking four or five months apart from each other.

“Getting momentum going in that scenario is very tough. We’re lucky enough, our management came in at the start of 2020 – I wouldn’t like to be trying to get something going now with new management.

“For us, the biggest thing is going to be keeping the group working together even though you’re not together. Antrim is a big county in terms of geography – Ballycastle to Belfast is about an hour’s drive. So that’s going to be a challenge. Teams who are able to keep some sort of consistency going, some sort of togetherness, they’re the ones that will do well.

“It’s a huge shift in how things are done. I started in 2011 and you came in, you went to training, you went home, you played your match on the weekend. You weren’t hooked up by WhatsApps, you weren’t in group chats, you weren’t doing digital team meetings, none of that.

“It’s completely different now and I think, on some level, the last year has probably pushed the GAA to go a bit more professional on that front. It was probably lagging behind a bit before this happened.”

Joe McDonagh Cup team of the year 2020

Brian Tracey (Carlow); Tomás O’Connor (Kerry), Matthew Donnelly (Antrim), Stephen Rooney (Antrim); Jason Diggins (Kerry), Aonghus Clarke (Westmeath), Ger Walsh (Antrim); Shane Nolan (Kerry), Keelan Molloy (Antrim); Niall McKenna (Antrim), Shane Conway (Kerry), Daniel Collins (Kerry); Chris Nolan (Carlow), Conor McCann (Antrim), Ciaran Clarke (Antrim).