Antrim must target All-Ireland series spot - Burke

Paddy Burke (centre) helped Antrim earn a surprise victory over Wexford in the Leinster Championship last April

Antrim joint captain Paddy Burke says the Saffrons must target progressing from this season's Leinster Championship to the All-Ireland series rather rather merely focusing on retaining their Liam McCarthy Cup status.

The Saffrons will aim to repeat their surprise victory over Wexford in the Leinster campaign last year when they travel to Wexford Park for Saturday's opener (14:00 BST).

That will be the first of five games in a six-week period in the round-robin Leinster series.

After Saturday's opener at Wexford Park, Antrim have home games against Kilkenny and Dublin on 27 April and 10 May before away contests in Galway and Offaly on 17 May and 25 May.

The top three teams will progress to the All-Ireland series with the fourth and fifth-placed counties retaining Leinster status and the bottom side suffering relegation to next season's second-tier Joe McDonagh Cup.

"Both the group of players and the management with Davy [Fitzgerald] there, are not just there to stay where we are," said Cushendall man Burke, who is recognised as one of the finest defenders in modern day hurling.

"We've been competitive over the last couple of years but we've also been very inconsistent and we've got to get the competitiveness consistently, hopefully take the next step and get out of Leinster and progress in the championship as a group."

Clare hurling legend Fitzgerald's presence on the sideline for Antrim adds more intrigue to Saturday's contest as he takes on a Wexford side that he knows well, having managed the county for five years between 2017 and 2021, which included the 2019 Leinster Final triumph over Kilkenny.

Burke says the Antrim squad are "loving" the increased profile that Fitzgerald's arrival has given the team.

"When Davy was announced as the manager, there was a great buzz around it. That helps to raise the profile of Antrim hurling with more eyes on it. That's exactly what we want.

"It's well known that they are large pockets of Antrim where hurling is not really played for such a big population so the more eyes we can get on Antrim hurling and the more conversations you can get going within the county and buzz about hurling, that can only benefit Antrim long-term."

Antrim boss Davy Fitzgerald will be up against a county on Saturday that he guided to the Leinster title in 2019

Burke admits Antrim's Allianz Hurling League Division 1B campaign was a "mixed picture" with a heavy defeats by Dublin, Offaly and Waterford before a last-gasp draw with Carlow and thumping home win over Laois meant they avoided the drop to Division Two.

"Even when results weren't going our way, we knew we were still putting in really good work that would hopefully stand to us as we went along," added the Cushendall man.

"Thankfully we finished the league strongly with a couple of good performances and hopefully we can find a little more consistency throughout the championship."

Fitzgerald wanted the Saffrons to adopt a more direct playing method to the short-passing game favoured by previous boss Darren Gleeson and it did appear to confuse some of the players in their early league games.

However, Burke feels that the Antrim players are now on the same wavelength as the former Clare goalkeeper.

"We want to get to the next level and that's what it's going to take.

"He's massively knowledgeable about hurling and what both individuals need to do and from the team perspective as well. That's exactly the environment we want to be in to take that next step as a team."

Wexford will face Antrim in Division 1B next year after suffering relegation but that doesn't tell the full story of a campaign that included Keith Rossiter's side beating the last two All-Ireland champions Clare and Limerick so the Saffrons will undoubtedly go into Saturday's game as underdogs.

Antrim: Ryan Elliott; Stephen Rooney, Paddy Burke, Conor Boyd; Joe Maskey, Eoghan Campbell, Conal Bohill; Niall O'Connor, Gerard Walsh; Nigel Elliot, Keelan Molloy, Scott Walsh; Paul Boyle, James McNaughton, Seaan Elliot.

Subs: Cormac McFadden, Eoin McFerran, Ryan McGarry, Declan McCloskey, Sean McKay, Ryan McCambridge, Joseph McLaughlin, Eoin O'Neill, Cormac McKeown, Rory McCloskey, Aodhan McGarry.