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| Sport: | Hurling | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Irish: | Aontroim | ||
| Nickname(s): | Saffrons The Saffron men The Glensmen | ||
| County board: | Antrim GAA | ||
| Manager: | Davy Fitzgerald | ||
| Captain: | Conor McCann[1] | ||
| Recent competitive record | |||
| Current All-Ireland status: | Leinster (6th in2025; relegated toJoe McDonagh Cup) | ||
| Last championship title: | None | ||
| Current NHL Division: | 1B (5th in2025) | ||
| Last league title: | None | ||
| |||
TheAntrim county hurling team representsAntrim GAA, thecounty board of theGaelic Athletic Association, in theGaelic sport ofhurling. The team competes in theJoe McDonagh Cup and theNational Hurling League. It also contests theUlster Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) when the competition is run, winning the latest title in2017.
Antrim's home ground isCasement Park,Belfast. The team's manager isDavy Fitzgerald.
The team last won the Ulster SHC in 2017, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.
The team is nicknamed theSaffrons, theSaffron men or theGlensmen.[2][3]
Antrim is the only Ulster county to appear in anAll-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC) final, the first of which was in 1943 losing toCork and the second was in 1989 losing toTipperary. In 1943 Antrim defeated bothGalway (by 7–0 to 6–2) andKilkenny (by 3–3 to 1–6) in the old Corrigan Park, but disappointed in the All-Ireland againstCork.[citation needed] Two years previously, Antrim had been graded Junior a year before, and had been beaten byDown in the Ulster final. It was only competing in the Senior Championship because the Junior grade was abolished. Antrim hurlers featured strongly in Ulster Railway cup final appearances in 1945, 1993 and 1995. In hurling, the progression that began with Loughgiel's success at club hurling level in 1983 (with players like 15-stone goalkeeper Niall Patterson) culminated in an All-Ireland final appearance in1989.[4]
Antrim's first All-Star,Ciaran Barr starred in a 4–15 to 1–15 All-Ireland semi-final win overOffaly in 1989. The final was one of the poorest on record, as stage fright overcame the Antrim team. It was no flash in the pan: Antrim failed by just two points against Kilkenny in the 1991 All-Ireland semi-final.
Antrim qualified for the2020 Joe McDonagh Cup final.[5]
On 12 August 2024, Antrim officials appointedDavy Fitzgerald as the senior team's manager, for two years, with a third one optional.[6]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(June 2022) |
Dominic McKinley ?–1997
Seán McGuinness 1997–1998
Seán McNaughton 1999–2001
Tom McLean 2001
Dinny Cahill 2001–2005
Jim McKernan 2005–2006
Terence McNaughton &Dominic McKinley (2) 2006–2009
Dinny Cahill 2009–2011
Jerry Wallis 2011–2012
Jim Nelson 2012
Kevin Ryan 2012–2015
P. J. O'Mullan 2015–2016
Terence McNaughton (2) &Dominic McKinley (3) 2016–2018
Neal Peden 2018–2019
Darren Gleeson 2019–2024
Davy Fitzgerald 2024–
Antrim has 5 All Stars, as of 1993.
1988:Ciaran Barr
1989:Dessie Donnelly,Olcan McFetridge
1991:Terence McNaughton
1993:Paul McKillen
denotes that a player also won Player of the Year for the year in question.
2006:Malachy Molloy,Paddy Richmond,Ciarán Herron
2016:Simon McCrory,Eoghan Campbell,Ciarán Clarke
2017:Paddy Burke
2020:Mattie Donnelly,Stephen Rooney,Gerard Walsh,Keelan Molloy,Niall McKenna, Conor McCann , Ciarán Clarke2nd
2022:Ryan Elliott,Joe Maskey, Gerard Walsh2nd,Eoghan Campbell, Keelan Molloy2nd,Conal Cunning, Ciarán Clarke3rd
Antrim unveiled a sponsorship agreement with Fibrus in December 2022, projected to last five years.[7]
Winners (3): 1978, 1981, 1982
Runners-up (1): 1974Winners (1): 1970Winners (1): 2002Runners-up (2): 1959, 1963Winners (4): 1956, 1970, 2003, 2020Winners (1): 1946Winners (1): 1971Winners (58): 1900, 1901, 1903, 1904, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1910, 1911, 1913, 1916, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015,[9] 2016, 2017Runners-up (11): 1902, 1906, 1914, 1915, 1923, 1932, 1941, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2000Winners (1): 2008Winners (5): 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970, 1973Winners (15): 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1968, 1969, 2002Winners (24): 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016[10]Winners (56): 1931, 1933, 1935–41, 1945–56, 1958–66, 1969, 1970, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1993, 1995–99, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015[11]Saffrons captain Conor McCann understands the magnitude of the game, and he says that they have learnt from mistakes made in the past.
