Dinny Cahill is hoping senior players Conor McCann, Matthew Donnelly and James Black can lead Antrim to a shock victory over Dublin in Saturday's Bord Gais Energy All-Ireland U21HC semi-final at Newry.

"I think we have a lot of very good young hurlers in our side and they will not be short on courage and commitment. Several of our players have had experience in the senior side and this should stand to them," said Cahill, who doubles up as Antrim senior and under 21 boss.

Antrim secretary Frankie Quinn, meanwhile, admits that Dublin's emergence as a hurling force should inspire other counties to improve their standards.

"We are certainly not a weak hurling county but Dublin have been setting a very fast pace in terms of development. Also in conditioning and overall preparations they are ahead of the pack. The under 21 side we will face on Saturday will be physically imposing and very, very fit," he said.

"Certainly we have a number of talented individual players but it's functioning smoothly as a team on the day that counts and Dublin have shown they can achieve this.

"We have played just one game, the Ulster final against Armagh, so we have not had what you might call an ideal programme of preparation for this semi-final. But we are where we are and hopefully the players will be able to respond positively to a very big challenge." Tweet

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