Leinster Senior Hurling Championship, Round Two
Antrim v Wexford (Corrigan Park, Saturday, 3pm)

THE manner of their defeat in Nowlan Park last week spoke for itself, but Antrim’s hurlers must ensure they don't dwell on it as they welcome Wexford to Corrigan Park on Saturday.

There was no place to hide from what was a very disappointing afternoon in Kilkenny, but then not many would have expected an Antrim win against last year’s All-Ireland finalists and indeed, they still have plenty to play for in the Leinster Championship.

Wexford will also look back on their opener with a sense of disappointment as they let a five-point lead slip in injury-time at home to Dublin as late goals salvaged a draw for the visitors, so they too will feel they have a point to prove this week.

The sides met in Wexford Park last year with a slow start costing Antrim as although they whittled a nine-point gap at the break down to four, missed goal chances would ultimately cost them.

This is a game the Saffrons will have looked at with quiet confidence from the outset of the competition as last year showed they aren’t far off the Slaneysiders, but their 32-point hammering against Kilkenny last week was a reality check.

The challenge this week will be to park that game and find out just what went wrong in terms of their level of performance as although they will have belief they can turn the tables on Saturday, it will require a significant improvement in terms of performance, pace and intensity.

“You would thinking before today that your home games are going to be massively important for where you are going to end up in the championship,” said Antrim manager Darren Gleeson in the wake of the Kilkenny loss.

“Going by that level of performance and we bring that again next weekend, you won’t get within an asses roar of it.

“We put everything in front of them and it’s important we stay together as a group, regroup and go again.

“In a team environment, you always believe you can do something but that got blown up there. We were hoping to be really competitive and they to enforce some of how we want to play for the year. We didn’t do that, so we have to rebuild during the week quickly, get some honest conversations as to why we were very individual, standalone hurling.

“Kilkenny hurling is all about the collective whereas we were all about the individual stuff and not joined up the way we had wanted.”

Gerard Walsh and Keelan Molloy were unused subs in Nowlan Park as they returned from injury, but are two of three changes this week as Walsh replaces his namesake Scott at wing-back, whilst Molloy comes in for Michael Bradley in the half-forward line.

Conor Boyd came in during the second half last week and earns a start at centre-back, prompting a reshuffle as Eoghan Campbell goes to midfield and Niall O'Connor to corner-back with Phelim Duffin dropping to the bench.

Elsewhere, there are some positional switches as Seaan Elliott goes to midfield and James McNaughton joins the attack as they look to find the right blend against the Slaneysiders who seem to have made ground on a disappointing 202 with Keith Rossiter now at the helm.

Against Dublin, it was a superb display from Lee Chin that seemed to have inspired them to victory before they lost their way with the finish line in sight.

Antrim will know all about how important Chin is to Wexford and indeed, there is little research required as the teams have met on a few occasions in recent times.

Rory O’Connor and Cathal Dunbar are others who have the ability to cause problems, so defensively Antrim must get it right, find a way to gain enough primary possession and then use it accordingly when on the front foot.

Should they manage to pull this off, then the Kilkenny game will be a distant memory, but the basic minimum is to deliver a performance they will feel they owe to themselves.

“You could be looking for a lot of bodies (back) after today’s performance, but we won’t throw the toys out of the pram,” Gleeson added.

“We’ll rebuild, stick together and have a cut off next weekend.”