Allianz Hurling League: 'Youthful Antrim face stiff Tipp task at Corrigan Park' - Neil McManus column

There is no underestimating the task that lies ahead for this very young, experimental Antrim side. Playing against Tipperary has always been a challenge.

Tipp are a team that have done a number on us on almost every occasion. We've had very little success there in Thurles and when they last travelled to Belfast in the 2023 league campaign, they were just too strong on the day, winning 4-28 to 2-16.

Tipp are pretty much assured their semi-final spot whilst Antrim are not fighting for anything in the league.

The Championship is only five weeks away so I don't think players coming back from injury will be risked on Saturday.

Tipp will come with players trying to secure a championship-starting position which is bad news for this youthful team, but you would hope that the performance against Dublin this season, which ended 1-20 to 1-19 in Dublin's favour, will give them the confidence despite being short of bodies.

New League format for 2025

The National League format changes for 2025 means that the top seven teams from this year's Division 1A and 1B will form a new 1A top division and then the next seven teams will make the lower 1B division, which has pretty much been decided.

Antrim are going to be in that second tier of teams and Tipperary will be in the top tier. The only thing at stake this weekend is Tipperary's place in the semi-finals of the league, which, with the strength of the Antrim team at the minute, they will all but certainly secure.

Over the last four years we have made Corrigan Park a really tough place to come to in the top echelons of hurling but unfortunately, with the number of players that are missing, we haven't been able to achieve the desired results.

We should have got a draw against Waterford in 2022, where we lost 3-21 to 2-22. We drew with Wexford in 2021. We drew with Dublin in the Leinster Championship and in 2021 we beat Clare, who a lot of people reckon are the team to bring down Limerick this year.

So we really have developed a very strong and high level of performance at Corrigan, which is brilliant for our fans because we've given them some great days coming to watch us at home.

That had been the case at Casement Park but since its closure in 2013, our home form hadn't reappeared for almost a decade, so it was great to bring that back and make ourselves competitive in the top table even if it was only really at home.

Joseph McLaughlin, 18, celebrates scoring a goal against Galway at Corrigan Park

'Antrim's best players are young'

One of the real highlights this season has been Joseph McLaughlin's introduction to the team. He's an incredibly impressive player. I don't see a better 18-year-old in the country at the minute.

He is a player who has maturity well beyond his years, works really hard at his game and has all the tools that you would want for a top-class inter-county hurler.

I don't want to weigh him down with a weight of expectation but I've even seen in club games this year, he scored a goal and a point from play off Mikey Butler, who is one of the renowned man-markers in the country playing for Kilkenny, so Joseph is an exceptional talent. He's a great young man as well, we have very high hopes for him at Cushendall and Antrim over the next decade.

He has an All-Ireland Schools final with St Killian's on Saturday. That real scoring power won't be available to Antrim, so I think Antrim will be much more worried about the performance that they get from themselves as opposed to the result against Tipp.

Looking forward, we need to get all the available players back fit, healthy and engaged again.

Antrim's best players are young. I think I was probably four or five years older than anybody else on the panel when I was playing last year. They will lead the team over the next few years and with the addition of a couple of young lads who are making a real impression, we can be competitive.

The new wave of talent in Antrim is exciting. Players my age have already started their coaching or managerial journey. My body looked after me for so long I was able to keep playing but I'm sure management is something that I will have a look at in the not too distant future.

Neil McManus was speaking to BBC Sport NI's Luke Young