TERENCE ‘SAMBO’ MCNAUGHTON has hailed the appointment of Darren Gleeson as the new Antrim senior hurling boss.
Gleeson only retired from inter-county hurling at the end of 2017 and was involved in the Antrim set-up in the two years since. Liam Sheedy, who was on board in an advisory capacity, introduced Gleeson as coach with the Saffrons.
Once their Joe McDonagh Cup campaign ended in June, Sheedy convinced Gleeson to help out as goalkeeping coach with Tipperary.
Now Gleeson is set to make the step-up to management at the age of 38.
“(He’s) a good guy too,” says McNaughton of their new manager.
“The last time I was with Antrim, Liam Sheedy came up. I would be friendly with Liam. He came up and helped us out and brought Darren with him, so Darren is not coming in cold. He knows the players and he was there last year.
“The players really like him and he seems tuned in. He’s a modern, young, forward-thinking coach. I think Darren could do nothing but good for Antrim and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does.
“I’m involved with a wee Division 2 team that are in the county final next week and he was at our game on Saturday looking at players and asking about players and doing all the right things.
“He was at every game last weekend in Antrim because I was there too and I saw him. That’s good, it shows he’s really interested, and you have to do the leg-work.”
Gleeson replaces outgoing boss Neal Peden, who is moving upstairs to become Antrim’s first-ever director of hurling.
Antrim finished in third place in the Joe McDonagh last season, finishing one point off Westmeath who reached the final.
McNaughton believes they’re well-placed to compete next season.
“I think the hurlers are there to challenge for a Joe McDonagh. The last year we were there it was only a puck of the ball that Laois beat us by. We were the only team to beat Carlow and they went on to win it. On any given day a well-organised Antrim team will challenge Laois or Carlow or anybody, there won’t be a puck of the ball in it.
“Hopefully we grow. What needs to happen in Antrim is, if you look through the last 45 years, only one Belfast team has won a county title. The clubs in north Antrim are struggling with numbers now because there’s not the big families there were anymore of six brothers and that sort of thing.
“Belfast needs to start getting more people playing the game there because that’s where the numbers are, that’s where the population is, in Belfast. It’s underachieving, but if we can get Belfast organised and producing top-quality hurlers, then Antrim can grow again and come back again.”
McNaughton says the ‘Gaelfast’ initiative must be a success if the GAA is to survive in the north.
“Gaelfast is going to be the most important thing that has happened in Ulster hurling in my lifetime. It has to work. There’s no coming back next year and trying a new idea, this has to be it. It must work.
“People have to maybe crack a few eggs to make an omelette, it has to be done. There is no choice. For the good of the game and the survival of the game within Antrim and within Ulster, Gaelfast has to work.”
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I personally would prefer a mediocre team with a majority of which irish than a world class team packed with foreign players eligible.
*that are eligible
I agree Francis, what’s the point in international football otherwise, might as well just have club football if players can switch countries as well
Noble is about as Irish as a jellied eel!
Jon Flanagan would be a nice addition to our squad. I always looked on Ireland as defensively sound and average in midfield and attack, but our current defense is shocking… Other teams will definitely target that
Mark Noble at West Ham as well by all accounts
I understand why English players who are substandard go for the Irish option as it means international football and a boos in their paypacket, but I can’t get my head around McCarthy and McGeady. Born and bred Scots, certain to make their national team (if they can make ours) but they opt for a foreign country? Weird.
It isn’t surprising at all when you see naked sectarianism in west Scotland, like N Ireland.
Both have grandparents who were irish and had to move to Scotland for work reasons and brought up there kids as irish In a foreign land and both had great respect for there parents and grandparents heritage I for 1 have no problem with them playing for Ireland . Plenty of players out there who have jumped on the international bandwagon like Matt holland who sang god save the queen I think 4 Ipswich at wembley in d play offs and turned up 4 a friendly a few days later playing 4 Ireland the likes of that makes me wonder
Mccarthys on record as saying his granddad made him promise on his death bed that if he ever got good enough for international soccer that he would play for his homeland Ireland. Hard to say no to that in all fairness.
While Stephen Ireland is on record as saying that when his grandmother was on her death bed that.. oh no wait
His ‘grandmothers’ you mean Noel? Cork lads are allowed several .
Interesting how people question the plastic paddies now who played in the past. But when they actually helped get Ireland places no one had any problem with it.
Marie, the secatrian angle makes a bit more sense, thanks. I’m not sure if deathbed promises and/or ancestral lineage would play a part (if I had an English grandfather, would I consider playing for England? No) but they might be heightened if they were subjected to sectarianism and felt unloved by a significant percentage of the population.
I think that is unfair tbh. Matt played well for Ireland and was very happy to play for us, as was a lot of English lads. He was also born and reared in England – so he was entitled to sing that national anthem. We have to get over this crap.
John Lydon summed it up. In England he was considered Irish and in Ireland he was considered English. So he was both, and there was very little difference anyway, he said.
Significant populations in West Scotland still consider themselves Irish before British. The opposite to N Ireland I guess.
When a lot of the other teams goad Celtic fans with “the famine song” what do they expect? Not just Rangers.
Anyway, a lot of countries do this. Italy have done it several times with some players.
Rossi is from New Jersey? Christian Vieri was an Aussie! They had a few Argentinians..some Swiss (Di Matteo) and wasn’t there an English born player..name escapes me.
Doubt they would care if Rossi sang Star-Spangled Banner if he ever made it back to play in the MLS..
Can’t believe Trigger has inspired a debate on the virtues of players nurtured by Irish grassroots football versus granny rulers, the serious issues of sectarianism in Scottish society or intellectual arguments around degrees of ethno-national allegiances!
To recap: Trigger believes there are Irish qualified players out there that would definitely strengthen the squad but he can’t name one for certain.