Ulster U20 Hurling Cup Round One: Antrim v Derry (Saturday, Ballycastle, 12noon)
ANTRIM’S new U20 hurling boss Michael McShane wants to “wrestle” back the Ulster crown they lost to Derry last season – but the bigger picture is moulding as many senior inter-county hurlers as possible while he’s at the helm.
The former Slaughtneil and Tyrone manager was persuaded to put his shoulder to the wheel in his native Antrim in 2025 and has been hugely impressed by the buy-in from the panel of players assembled.
“I suppose it was something I wrestled with for the first couple of weeks especially coming from a background like Slaughtneil and the Tyrone hurlers where you were trying to win.
“With the Antrim U20s we will try and be successful in the competitions we’re in - and our first focus in 2025 is to become Ulster champions again and wrestle that crown away from Derry.
“But at the same time my remit must have a bigger picture. I’m effectively looking after three year groups – U20, U19 and U18 – all in the one. We’re trying to develop around 32 players and prepare them for senior inter-county life.”
Ten clubs are represented in McShane’s U20 panel with four of them already part of Davy Fitzgerald’s senior panel: Cormac McKeown (Glenravel), Joe McLaughlin (Cushendall), Aidan McGarry (Dunloy) and Sean McKay (Cushendun)
Even though the Ballycastle man is working away from the coalface of elite club hurling, he’s deriving great satisfaction from his new role.
“I’m enjoying the role more than I thought I would have done,” McShane said. “That’s because I’m working with the cream of 18-20-year-old hurlers in Antrim but also the buy-in I’ve got from the players has been incredible – way above what I ever expected.
“In turn, I would also like to think the players with us will go back to their clubs as better players, better conditioned, better technically and tactically. So we’re trying to feed them into the seniors and once they make that jump from U20 to senior the gap maybe won’t be as big as it has been in the past.”
Antrim are in a three-team group with Down and Derry and after last season’s Ulster final defeat to the Oak Leaf County at Corrigan Park, Saturday’s opener at Ballycastle couldn’t be any more intriguing.