LIAM SHEEDY WAS at a minor game last year between Tipperary and Cork when he got more than he bargained for.

Source: Lorraine O'Sullivan/INPHO

Antrim hurling legend Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton had arranged to meet with the former All-Ireland winning manager after the game, but he brought his whole management team along to the meeting.

McNaughton, who returned as joint-manager of the Saffrons at the start of the 2017 season, made a big push for Sheedy to come on board.

“Look Liam we’re struggling and we’re trying to give it one more lash and see can we get a bit of morale going again,” McNaughton told him.

“I suppose I was very honest with him in terms of the time I could give,” says Sheedy about the meeting, “but I said ‘Listen, if I can give you something twice a month then I’m happy to do so.’

“Sambo was with me in the Hurling 2020 Committee and was very helpful to me in that committee. So I said if I could give him something back, I would.”

McNaughton was happy with that arrangement and showed an absence of ego to bring a high-profile coach like Sheedy on board. It’s an experience Sheedy is enjoying and he’s been impressed with their performances so far this year.

“I get up there twice a month, I love being in the middle of them. They are very committed, there are still one or two more I would have liked to have come in that wouldn’t commit.

Antrim co-manager Terence McNaughton Source: Presseye/Dylan McIlwaine/INPHO

“That’s something I wouldn’t be used to in Tipp but it’s something I’ve had to get used to in Antrim. But for the lads that have gone in and the effort they’ve put in, they’ve been great.

“Look, I know people will look at the final standings of Division 1B and say Antrim got relegated, but if you actually look at our performances against Dublin and Galway and Offaly, there were good performances.

“The only day we didn’t really come to the table was against Limerick. The passion that exists for hurling in Antrim is as strong as I’ve seen in parts of Tipperary. I went to the county final, there was probably close on 5000 at the match that day.

“At the end of the day, I’m a hurling person, if I thought twice a month I could help that county to be a little bit better then that’s something I’m more than happy to do.”

Antrim have opened up their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign with wins over Meath and Carlow.

Beat Laois this evening and they’ll be well on the way to making the McDonagh final, as well as the preliminary quarter-finals of the All-Ireland senior hurling championship.

“We got a taster for it during the league against the likes of Galway, Dublin, and Limerick and you want that as often as you can,” says goalkeeper Ryan Elliott.

“Winning this competition would get you that. It’s a big source of motivation to get to play the bigger team.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

“Everyone’s dream is to play in Croke Park and there’s an opportunity there for counties who maybe wouldn’t normally get that opportunity as much as the bigger counties. It’s a great incentive for all the teams.”

Sheedy agrees that the structure of the second tier competition “is fantastic” but would like to see it being opened up to more teams.

“I think if we look at Kerry and the strides they made in Leinster, I think the Joe McDonagh is a fantastic concept – any of the six teams can beat the other. I think it’s hugely competitive. If there was one thing, I don’t know why they wouldn’t leave it at six, I think we should be striving to get 16 teams playing in the top tier.

“Taking two out of it this year, where the bottom one is automatically gone and the second one plays off with the winners of the Christy Ring – I would have left it at the six, because having six teams that play those five games every year, then every year they are getting better.”

Micheal Duignan and Brian Cody have both raised concerns over the relegation situation in the Liam MacCarthy Cup, which will see a Leinster side automatically demoted unless Kerry win the McDonagh Cup.

If Kerry do win the competition, they must win a playoff game against Munster’s bottom side to gain promotion.

“You wouldn’t be doing Kerry a favour by popping them into a (Munster) championship where ultimately they just wouldn’t be competitive, right now, I’m not saying that will always be the case,” says Sheedy.

“But certainly Offaly or Dublin, whether it be Antrim or Laois or Westmeath, they’ve played those teams previously and there hasn’t been a whole pile in it so I think you’ve got to use common sense in your approach and what’s right and what fits now, but making sure it’s always under constant review.

“I think, ultimately, if you are in a five-team group – and I had this right throughout my own club career and everywhere else – if you are in with five teams and you can’t find yourself getting to the top three of those five then I think your time in the championship is up, personally.”

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

Last month the GAA committed a £1m investment to Antrim over the next five years. Despite its population of over 600,000, Antrim have been long underachievers in both codes.

Their last All-Ireland final appearance in hurling came in 1989, while the footballers haven’t lifted an Ulster title since 1951.

“I think Belfast gets a wee bit underestimated,” says Elliot.

“Obviously with the population in Belfast it could be a lot better with the other clubs. There are clubs in Belfast doing a lot of good work and the money going into them will help them.

“That’s what’s happening now. You can see the crowds starting to come to matches, especially as Casement isn’t there, there’s more matches up in the Glens so you’re getting bigger crowds out.

“Hurling is just your life. That’s where your focus is always – on hurling. The clubs are strong, we just need everyone backing in behind the county teams.

“We need a home ground. In the McDonagh Cup we have three home matches at three different venues which may be good for the clubs involved, but maybe not as good for us because you want to get settled into the one place and know your surroundings.”

The new investment will see full-time coaches employed to come into schools one day a week and Sheedy says the quality of coaching must be of a high standard.

“They’ve given them £1 million but to me the biggest thing is to make sure you have top-class quality coach. Because what kept me in the game of hurling was that the coaches created a love for the game in me, because of the way they coached and the way they carried it out,” he explained.

“If you ask me, it’s putting the energy and emphasis on getting the coaching structures right in schools and in clubs and if that’s right I think they’ve a real chance. It is a sleeping giant in a lot of ways because there is definitely potential in Antrim.

“Obviously they were getting to All-Ireland finals in the late eighties, that’s not the immediate goal but I think there is scope for a bit of improvement.”