Antrim hurling manager Neal Peden.
By Cian O'Connell
“You always take pride once you are involved with your own county,” Neal Peden admits.
A couple of decades ago Peden took his first steps on the inter-county coaching ladder with Jim Nelson, a totemic figure in the Antrim hurling story.
Valuable lessons were learned, but what has always struck Peden is Antrim’s vast potential. The Saffrons endured some harrowing losses in 2018, but importantly nuggets of hope could still be located.
“It is always something I have aspired to do, working with Jim Nelson over them years and then back with my own club,” Peden remarks.
So, during the past two campaigns Peden worked with Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton, Dominic McKinley, and Gary O’Kane.
“For the last couple of years working with Terence, Dominic, and Gary it was a great group to work with,” Peden adds. “Liam Sheedy coming in gave us a great lift and personally I felt it was maybe the right time to step in to try to pull this together. It is about trying to drive Antrim on.
“We have great potential. It is getting that potential out on the pitch, that is the key for us. Getting our main players, the best team we can get out, then moving the whole thing forward.
“That is what it is about, trying to get the best response out of our players. That is our job, to get the best out of the players. If we can get a bit better out of them than last year then hopefully things will move forward for us.”
With Sheedy back in charge of Tipperary Anthony Daly will act as an advisor for Antrim in 2019 and the assistance of such high profile figures is beneficial according to Peden.
“Liam Sheedy came up last year, there is no question about it he is an immense man and immense personality,” Peden remarks.
Former Clare and Dublin manager Anthony Daly will act as an advisor to Antrim in 2019.
“He comes into a changing room and it just oozes out of him, you can see players responding to that. He gets very much enthralled in the whole thing, he isn't just in saying it for the sake of saying it. He really does feel it.
“He came up and really worked hard with us in Antrim, he tried and did his best with us. I think the players responded well to him. It is difficult when you are nipping in and nipping out, that is the only thing, and he probably would say that himself.
“It is a long travel up, he gave as much as he could and we were very appreciative with what he did. We learned from him as managers, you are learning from him and the players are learning from him.”
Daly’s character, coaching, and charisma should make a mark too up north. “With Daly coming in now, hopefully it will be the same thing,” Peden acknowledges.
“Hopefully the players will respond to Anthony as well. Again he is a big character and a big name, but it is not about the name. It is about the person. Liam Sheedy came in and there is no question that is whole personality was fantastic to have in a changing room. I think Anthony Daly's will be the same and we will learn from him.
“Hopefully the boys will respond to him, we will respond as well, and we are looking forward to him coming up to give us a hand.”
Peden is relishing the opportunity to manage Antrim, who are anxious to make an impact in Division 2A of the Allianz Hurling League.
“We started pretty late because obviously we were looking for management and I decided then to take the bull by the horns, to go for the management,” Peden states.
“Gary O'Kane has come in with me and the two new lads Karl (McKeegan) and James (Close). We are looking forward to the campaign, it is a bit different being in charge now, I will take the lead, so it was a bit different when there was four of us before.
“We are trying to just gather the troops, to get everybody ready for the National League. We have got four weeks now to our first game and it means that in the next four weeks we are going to have to work very hard.”
Prolific Antrim forward Neil McManus will miss the start of the Allianz Hurling League due to Ruairi Og Cushendall's involvement in the AIB All Ireland Club Championships.
The unavailability of the Ruairi Og Cushendall contingent is a blow for Antrim, who did summon some defiant performances despite ultimately suffering relegation from Division 1B in 2018.
“We were very competitive last year,” Peden says. “We did well, there was only a puck of the ball here or there, it could have been a really different year for us. Things just didn't go our way - that bit of luck.
“Matches we were doing very well in, we were in front, but we got caught at the end. That is the sort of thing we have to look at. We have potential in Antrim, there is no question about that. Getting them out now is another story, getting our top players out.
“Cushendall are now in an All Ireland semi-final, that is the first time in three years where we will have lost six players until they are eligible later on in the year.
“For the last two years with Antrim clubs not winning in Ulster we had a full panel and quota. That is going to be a bit of a different four weeks for us without them.”
In 2020 the format of the Allianz Hurling League will change with Antrim eager to be operating at the highest level once more.
“It is always Antrim's goal to get into Division 1, but the key to that is about sustaining it,” Peden states. “We went up and came down again which was unfortunate. That was a play/off so we weren't far off the mark. We are looking to the first match, I'm not looking any further, we will see how we go against Kerry, to see if we can push off from there.
“That is the key, getting that first League game behind you and pushing off. As you get into the League then you can see where you are going by giving it a big push if things go your way.”
