National Hurling League Division 2A

Kerry v Antrim

Sunday, Austin Stack Park, 12.30pm

ANTRIM captain Conor McCann believes that the side is finally moving away from their over-reliance on Neil McManus for scores as they prepare for Sunday’s crucial encounter with Kerry.

The Cushendall man is one of the most accurate shooters in Ulster, and too often it was left to his prowess in front of the posts to try and secure victory.

While McManus is still raising plenty of flags – he has 2-26 in their three games to date – other players are stepping up for Darren Gleeson’s side.

Eighteen players have registered in their wins over Wicklow, Mayo and Meath while seven different players have hit the net across those fixtures.

“It’s good to see the scoring coming up so high,” McCann said of the 5-27 posted against Meath last weekend.

“I think we missed a fair few chances as well and the game sort of broke up once the men went off.

“We’re happy with where we are right now, the game this weekend against Kerry and the game next weekend (v Offaly) are going to be the big ones.

“Getting a good amount of scores, and a good range of scorers, is always a good thing going into those games.

“It used to be that it was just McManus scoring and he was always nearly burdened with trying to score too much.

“If he had an off day then Antrim were basically beaten so it’s good to see there is more of a spread of scorers there.”

Antrim will head off Saturday in what is one of the longest trips for a county game. They’ll be back on the road early enough on Sunday too with the game scheduled to throw in at 12.30pm.

The management will be doing everything in their power to avoid a sleepy Sunday performance at Austin Stack Park, but McCann is not too concerned about the earlier start time.

“It’s literally the other side of the country but we are looking forward to it,” said the Creggan man.

“A lot of our players haven’t played down there so it’s going to be a big weekend, and a long one too. That’s part and parcel of sport.

“For myself, I have never seen any difference with an early start. You just try and prepare as well as you can.

“Before those games you get certain timings and you might have to go to bed a bit earlier the night before and get up a bit earlier, that’s about the height of it.

“Usually if everything is organised properly you just go through the routine as normal.”

The recent postponement of the match with Offaly has led to a blockbuster finale to the side’s league season.

This weekend’s trip to Kerry will be followed by a visit to Tullamore to face Offaly and, Antrim hope, a further fixture against one of those two in a Division 2A final. A win in either would secure a spot in the decider.

“It’s funny the way it has worked out with that Offaly game being rescheduled,” said McCann.

“It’s come to down this weekend and the following weekend and you have to throw the kitchen sink at everything now.

“You just get your best team out and you find out where you are at.

“We have won comprehensively against the opposition we have faced so far so we don’t really know where we are at.

“Offaly in the Kehoe Cup final has been our really only tell so far and we’re just hoping to get up to level we know we can.”