By Kevin Egan

Kilkenny and Galway may have officially been recognised as the top two counties in this year’s Allianz Hurling league, but for many people the story of the this year’s truncated campaign was the performance of Antrim, who picked up five points from five games in their return to Division One.

The Saffrons have also earned their place in the Leinster championship and the Liam MacCarthy Cup for the summer, and while the phrase “a rising tide lifts all boats” could be said to apply to the Ulster hurling landscape at the moment, Belfast resident and Down senior hurler Matthew Conlan has mixed feelings watching his neighbours sail on such high seas.

“We know a lot of the Antrim fellas, our lads would have gone to college with some of them and we would have played them in leagues and stuff too. It’s a bit of a love hate relationship. You want to see them do well, but not too well!” is his summary of the unique relationship that exists between Down, and the county they played against in all bar two of their 23 Ulster senior hurling finals.

“We have been marking the best players in Antrim in the Antrim league so it’s like, if you get the better of him, then you start to believe that you aren’t too far from a Division One level” is the positive spin he hopes that the rest of his Down colleagues will take from it.

Down had plenty of positive signs of their own in the league, with three wins from five games. They travelled to Tullamore in Round Four for what was effectively a promotion playoff against Offaly and never hit the high notes, but overall Conlan is in a positive frame of mind in advance of their first ever Joe McDonagh Cup fixture against Kerry tomorrow.

“I’m disappointed with not being consistent (in the league). We hurled well against Wicklow and Meath, to beat Carlow was a good win aswell. Offaly was a bit of a disaster and then Kerry, in six minutes we conceded three goals. I was happy enough I suppose as we were just up so we had no pressure on us so we just had a stab at it.

How does that augur for tomorrow in Tralee? Conlan says that Down will travel in high spirits, based on their league clash.

“I know it was the first game and they (Kerry) probably didn’t have their full panel but we certainly didn’t either. When we analysed the game we won three out of four quarters. The third quarter, where they got the goals killed us. We went on to win the fourth quarter. We are going to look forward to it, we are not apprehensive about it. It was that six minutes so if we can change that we will give ourselves a chance.

A second trip across the full length and breadth of the country is no small matter, but there’ll be no excuses from Conlan or from Down on that front.

“I think it’s a personal thing. I don’t sleep well in hotels so everyone can react differently to those things. You could be eating a better breakfast or a different one s it’s not something you are used to and the times are all off so when I gets to hurling you could get a bit sluggish. But you just have to get on with it.

“If you get beat they are not going to remember that you stayed in a hotel, they will just remember that you lost.

**“**My mentality is to play to win no matter what game it is, or where it is played. You can easily get relegated or you can win two games and you are in a final. We are just concentrating on the first game and we will see how it goes”.