Dublin uphold their status

A crock of goals, plenty of youthful vibrancy, and the guarantee of top league status next season. Yet, no one came away from Parnell Park yesterday totally convinced that Dublin hurling is coming out of recession.

Kevin Fennelly is certainly under no illusions about what lies ahead, and, for the moment, is staying with the wait-and-see attitude. The Kilkenny man may know his game, but he's still learning about his Dublin team.

"Keeping Division One status was the first priority here," he said. "But there is still a lot of work to be done. I found out a little more about the players today but we are still a long way behind the top teams in the country, and it's simple as that."

If Fennelly's priority is to unearth some new faces then surely things are headed in the right direction. Two years ago, Shane O'Neill was staring for the Dublin minors. Yesterday, he produced four goals in his first senior game, revealing the sort of scoring talent that Dublin has been crying out for.

Conal Keaney and Stephen Hiney are even younger and displayed some fiery pace in the half-forward line. The defence too appeared far more stable, with full back Stephen Perkins and centre back Shane Martin both reaching new heights.

Familiar faces like Shane Ryan, back in the picture after concentrating on football this summer, provided the ultimate edge. He ended up with 1-8 - just two from frees - after one of his best ever days at full forward.

All that proved far too much for the Ulster side to handle. They were eight points down before the 20-minute mark and never truly recovered. But they were also desperately short of scoring ability and even more so in defence.

Dublin's goals, however, were all well executed. O'Neill swept in the first after just five minutes when Gareth Magee failed to hold a shot from Hiney. Two minutes later, Hiney again set up the second, this time finished by a sharp-eyed Shane Ryan.

All of Antrim's scores came in isolated bursts. Centre forward Brian McFall was the main contributor, mostly from frees, and he helped halve Dublin's lead from eight points to four in time for the turnaround.

There were a couple of moments in the second half when Antrim could have put the ball in the net, but Brendan McLoughlin was totally in tune with the posts.

So to those other three goals. Carl Meehan sent in a long ball from midfield 15 minutes into the half and O'Neill kicked that one into the net. 10 minutes later, Hiney saw his shot come off the posts and O'Neill was there again to poach his third.

Five minutes from the end he had his fourth, this time coming off a prefect pass from Keaney. Antrim clawed back three late points without replay but the last word fittingly went to Shane Ryan. Dublin hurling needed an afternoon like this.

DUBLIN: B McLoughlin; J Cullen, S Perkins, A de Paor; J Lawlor, S Martin, L Ryan; T Moore (0-1), C Meehan; D Sweeney, C Keaney (0-1), S Hiney; S O'Neill (4-1), S Ryan (1-8, two frees), K Flynn (0-1). Subs: D Curtin for Sweeney (50), S Daly for Lawlor (65), P Brennan for Cullen (66).

ANTRIM: G Magee; M McCambridge, C McAllister, M Kettle; M Malloy, R Donnelly, K Herron; C McGuckian, E Graham; C McCambridge (0-2), B McFall (0-7, four frees), L Richmond; P Richmond (0-3), P Graham, M Currie (0-1). Subs: C Cunning (0-2) for Donnelly (34), J McIntosh (Graham (half-time), C Kelly for Herron (43).

Referee: J McDonnell (Tipperary).