ANTRIM went into the Dublin game in round three of the national league having won one game and lost one game in this year’s division one. Pundits, including our own columnist Shane Elliott, as well as former player Brian McFall had expressed how impressed they were by how Antrim had played this year.

They were underdogs going in to play a Dublin team in round three of the National League last year. While few expected a win, many predicted that Antrim would give the Metropolitans a real good game.

They ended up losing by 1-26 to 1-18.

According to the coaches that we contacted this week, there were some important match performances to note. They included Gerard Walsh’s display at full-back. The Dubs only managed to score one goal, but the Rossa man marshalled the defence very well and put in some important tackles.

The challenge for Antrim was how they handled Dublin’s Danny Sutcliffe who had scored three points before half time.

What Sutcliffe showed was how important it is for Antrim to track runners. Sutcliffe was able to charge through the middle unattended so that will be one area that Antrim manager Darren Gleeson will seek to address.

Winning primary possession was also a challenge. According to the coaches who watched the game for us, only Niall McKenna was able to win any significant ball during the clash. McKenna scored three points against Dublin.

One of the issues that Antrim face is getting their forwards to perform well consistently at the same time. Keelan Molloy and Ciaran Clarke had good games against Clare. James McNaughton was very good against Kilkenny, and McKenna was on form against Dublin. But all their attacking players have not played well on the same day.

One of the issues that Antrim face is how they handle the rucks. What our coaches noticed was that at times the Saffrons committed too many men to the ruck. In doing so they created gaps in the field and the Dublin runners, like Sutcliffe were able to charge through.

So over-committing to the ruck allowed Dublin to pick off a string of points.

One of the successful tactics that Dublin used was to drop players back in each line and put two players in the full-forward line and that allowed them to have players who could swarm over the Antrim puck-outs when they went long.

Dublin seemed to win a good deal more puck-outs, of their own and of Antrim’s. Teams will struggle if they don’t win their puck-outs. Dublin were able to manufacture a situation where they got the chance to smother those puck-outs by making sure that Antrim goalkeeper Ryan Elliott did not get a chance to take as many short puck-outs. Forced to go long, Dublin were able to use their strength to win primary possession.

It was a similar tactic that Kilkenny had used the week before, in that they would puck the ball out to their bigger men. They weren’t afraid to go head-to-head with Antrim in 50-50 balls. What they could do was win the ball, which would draw attention from two or three Antrim players, which in turn would allow players from Dublin to get free.

But perhaps the key issue in the game was in the second period of the first half when Dublin pushed on and put clear daylight between themselves and Antrim. What was clear for Antrim is that if they don’t score their frees they are going to be in trouble. The normally brilliant Ciaran Clarke had a difficult day from placed balls and that meant that Antrim were not able to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Had they scored the frees that he missed then they would have been in touch with Dublin. It is hard on Clarke to make that analysis, but it can be swings and roundabouts for forwards. Two games previous he was the star.

So in conclusion, there were three issues that Antrim will address. Allowing runners to get at them through the middle, winning primary possession and making sure that they don’t waste any of their free-taking opportunities.

CLASH… Winning primary possession was an issue for Antrim last weekend against Dublin in the National Hurling League

THREAT… Dublin’s Danny Sutcliffe was hard for Antrim to handle last weekend