McCann and Antrim a little bit more than hopeful

ALL-IRELAND UNDER-21 HC SEMI-FINALS:GIVEN THE number of times Conor McCann uses the word "hopefully" in the course of our short conversation, it's fair to assume Antrim aren't overly confident of winning tomorrow's All-Ireland under-21 hurling semi-final. It's not so much that Antrim have never previously made the final, but rather because they're playing Dublin – favourites to win the title outright.

Yet McCann also has a few words of warning for Dublin. The Antrim captain, who also plays with the county seniors and hit 0-6 in the close-fought Ulster final win over Armagh, reckons their best hurling is yet to come. He also remembers well what Antrim did to Dublin last summer.

“It’s going to be a massive challenge,” he says, “and hopefully we can hurl as best we can. I don’t think in the Ulster final we showed how well we can actually play. We’ve nothing to lose now against Dublin. The pressure is on them, and hopefully we will get a performance.

“Beating Dublin in the senior championship last year definitely gives us a lot of hope, and I think in the minors last year we gave them a tough enough game too. So we’re going to have to go out and hurl as best we can, hopefully it goes alright.”

Tomorrow’s game, which has a 4.0 start in Newry, will see Dublin arrive as heavy favourites – partly because of their superb progress at senior level this summer.

Dublin manager John McEvoy also has a fully fit panel, including seniors Liam Rushe and Daire Plunkett, both of whom figured in last Sunday’s All-Ireland senior semi-final defeat by Tipperary, plus other senior panellists Martin Quilty and Danny Sutcliffe.

For Antrim, who are managed by county senior manager Dinny Cahill, another part of the challenge is the fact they’re coming in relatively untested, given the weaker nature of the Ulster under-21 championship compared to Leinster. On that basis, McCann reckons Antrim would be better served if the minors and under-21s joined their senior counterparts in Leinster.

“Definitely,” he says, “because playing at that higher level just brings you on better and better as you come up. It is showing in the last two or three years that the Antrim seniors are starting to get back up to that better level.”

Galway are in a similar position going into their semi-final against Limerick, which has a 6.0 start in Thurles, given they don’t have the benefit of a provincial championship, and are thus unsure of their form.

“We’ve been answering this question for a while now,” says Galway midfielder David Burke, “and it’s kind of the same every year. But we know our form. We have six under-21 panel members on the senior team. Everyone is due a big performance the next day, so that’s what we’re gearing ourselves towards on Saturday. And I’d say we have most of last year’s team (that lost the final to Tipperary).

“We have the talent, we have the players to do it. It’d be a big boost to the morale of the county. I know the minors are already through to the final but we kind of need this as well.”