Flashback: Dublin Senior Hurlers v Antrim 2013 Allianz League

Tue, 6th February 2024

By Conor Martin

All roads lead to Belfast as our senior Hurlers head to take on Antrim in our second Allianz National Hurling League Division 1B fixture this Sunday.

Trips north on the M1 have a history of producing positive results for the Dubs and we’ll be hoping this weekend is no exception.

The 2013 Allianz Hurling League fixture saw us visit Casement Park for the last time before the famous stadium closed that summer and we would head back to Dublin with a 3-12 to 1-10 win.

Paul Ryan would put Dublin in control in the eighth minute when he hit the back of the Antrim net to give Dublin a five-point lead with the hosts scoreless.

Antrim would get up and running thanks to Neil McManus, but Dublin were just sharper than the Saffrons throughout the course of the match. Antrim would finish the game with 13 wides, compared to Dublin’s total of five.

Johnny McCaffrey, Danny Sutcliffe and Ryan kept our side of the scoreboard ticking over, while at the other end, Eddie McCloskey was doing his best to bring Antrim back into the game.

Then, just before half-time, Michael Carton hit a speculative effort from 70 yards that unbelievably found its way past Ryan McGarry for Dublin’s second green flag of the game.

McGarry semi-redeemed himself when he denied Sutcliffe from point-blank range before Karl Stewart added an Antrim score to leave the home side trailing 2-7 to 0-5 at the break.

Antrim made a stronger restart than Dublin after the break and managed to reduce the gap between the sides to five.

However, the Glensmen were the victims of their own downfall when Dublin capitalised on a defensive mix-up, which allowed David Treacy to pick out David O'Callaghan, who grabbed Dublin’s third goal.

Additional scores from Joey Boland, McCaffrey, O’Callaghan and Treacy wrapped up the win for Dublin.

Antrim would get a consolation goal at the end, but it was Dublin who took the spoils and points home with them.