A last gasp Antrim goal meant that Carlow had to settle for a draw on Sunday but Tom Mullally was satisfied overall

Tom Mullally has always been a straight talker. He doesn’t over-celebrate. On the face of it he doesn’t get too down either. Perhaps the best way to describe him is that he is a realist. He is a man who doesn’t use superlatives. “Yeah, we are happy.

It was a disconsolate group of players who, on Sunday 26th May last season, trooped off Corrigan Park after being beaten by Antrim. The host county had emerged triumphant in the final round of the Leinster senior hurling championship.