Who hurled well for Antrim, sid? I wasnāt at our Division 2 game against them this season but I was up in Belfast last year for the corresponding fixture and I came away thinking they have 5 or 6 decent players but a good bit of filler. They didnāt seem to be going anywhere under the management team last year as the year progressed but Cahillās obviously got them moving in the right direction again.
de duds hurling defeat makes a mockery of all the idiots that keep saying stick hurling is getting more popular in dublin- it will always be hated in dublin
SHC qualifier: Stewart the hero for Antrim
Antrimās Liam Watson with Dublinās Peter Kelly during the hurling qualifier at Croke Park.
17 July 2010
Antrim 1-17
Dublin 0-19
Antrim upset the odds to edge out Dublin this afternoon at Croke Park and book their place into the last eight of the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.
In a thrilling encounter, it was Karl Stewartās injury-time point that made all the difference for an Antrim side which overhauled a six-point deficit in the final 20 minutes.
Through their ace forward Alan McCrabbe, Dublin settled into the game nicely and held the lead for much of the first half.
However, a PJ OāConnell goal put a spanner in the works and at half-time the sides were dead-locked at 0-10 to 1-7
McCrabbe belted over more frees to re-establish the capital menās lead and they pushed on from there to open up a 0-18 to 1-9 advantage.
The Ulster champions looked dead and buried, but they dug deep and came roaring back to equalise towards the finish and had still had enough left in the tank to set-up a last ditch effort for Stewart, who made no mistake to send Antrim into a first All-Ireland SHC in six years.
I have to admit the following: i) I was drinking cans beforehand ii) My complacent attitude meant I was only there for the second half iii) I donāt know a donāt know a whole lot about the Antrim team and iv) I wasnāt focussing on their players - so Iām probably the wrong man to ask.
Former Clare stalwart PJ OāConnell got their goal - Iām sure I saw the tache poking out from under his helmet, and Karl Stewart got the winning point. Karl McKeegan looked to be doing a fair bit of damage on Oisin Gough but was taken off late on Dublin just had a total systems failure in the last 10 minutes. They were out on their feet. Liam Ryan went through and went for a goal with about two or three minutes left and put it wide. That was pretty much Dublinās only attack in the last 10.
I am glad for Antrim though. I got talking to some lads from West Belfast after the Dublin v Meath match, proper hurling people, and ended up on a fucking epic session with them. Also had dealings with another group of hurling people from West Belfast when doing a thesis last year who couldnāt have been more helpful - they even got me free tickets to watch the Leinster hurling final last year with them in the Ard Comhairle, so Iām delighted for them and there are worse counties to lose to, but itās a dreadful result for Dublin hurling.
