CONSISTENCY in performance is the target for Antrim’s hurlers heading into the League campaign as they fine-tuned their preparations for the opening game away to Kilkenny next Sunday in their final Walsh Cup game at the weekend.

Galway were six points better on the scoreboard, but the performance was perhaps the main focus after a hugely disappointing display against Offaly the previous week and while the Tribesmen were supposed to provide a much more daunting challenge than the Faithful, Antrim acquitted themselves much better.

The intensity levels were much higher, hurling crisper and sharper, while across the board the players appeared to be better switched on and at the top level that is crucial as any lapses are ruthlessly exposed.

“It’s down to the mindset,” said selector Johnny Campbell.

“Those boys asked themselves a few harsh questions during the week, as did we (management), and thankfully we got a reaction.

“To a certain extent we got the reaction, but it has to be a more consistent thing for us going forward. Day-in and day-out, every training and every game, we need to be bringing that intensity and work-rate.”

Antrim used 30 players over the three Walsh Cup games while others did not see game time due to injury, but the squad is due to be cut ahead of next week’s trip to Nowlan Park.

Some new faces such as Scott Walsh and Aaron Bradley got their opportunity, as did the returning Deaglan Murphy and Daniel McKernan, while platers like Seaan Elliott, Aaron Crawford, Paul McMullan and Conal Bohill who had been fringe squad members last year also got their opportunities in January.

Finding players who can push onto the starting team is crucial and really what the pre-season campaign is all about and that’s been very pleasing factor for the management team with Campbell admitting there were mistakes made between the League and Championship campaigns in 2021.

“You are going into week-on-week games in the League and there will be injuries and there will be knocks,” he accepts.

“It’s something we know from last year coming out of the League that the couple of weeks coming into Championship we didn’t deal with well, so the more options you have down the line the better.

“The more games you can get at this level the better. Dublin, Galway and Offaly brings you on, no doubt about it.

“Again, it is pre-season and there is no taking away from that fact. We got a lot of minutes into players and made eight or nine changes there again today, and that’s important going forward.”

There have been plenty of positives for Antrim this moth and even in that disappointing defeat in Tullamore in their second fixture, the Saffrons did display their battling qualities as they whittled a 12-point deficit down to four and has they been able to take some glorious goal chances, the outcome may have been different.

That was also a feature against Galway at the weekend as there were three big chances for goal that came and went over the course of the game.

In the cutthroat environs of Division One,  such opportunities need to be taken as the chances are much more difficult to engineer due to tighter defences and top-class goalkeepers.

Putting the ball in the net is an area that Antrim must improve on but there will be no hitting the panic button as there are the forward there to make the most of their chances and improving their finishing is high on the agenda over the coming days as they prepare for the trip to Noreside.

“Not worried because we know we have the quality there to finish,” Campbell insists.

“Hopefully when it comes to Division One those chances hit the back of the net. That is something we’ll continue to work on in training and hopefully we’ll see a few going in.”