Neil McManus hopes for more Belfast representation for Antrim in the future, but he's excited to see what Davy Fitzgerald can do to build the current squad in the coming years.
Fitzgerald's appointment was confirmed early this week to end speculation that the 53-year-old might be taking over the hurlers of the other capital city on the island.
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The appointment of the man who won two Celtic Crosses as a goalkeeper for Clare before leading the Banner to the ultimate prize in 2013, coupled with Wexford's only Leinster title for Wexford in the last 20 years, reflects the current ambition of Antrim GAA.
"It came as a surprise that he was interested in the job," McManus said on RTÉ's Sunday Sport.
"But whenever he had been nominated for the post, and he had let his feelings be known that he wanted the job, I think we were all of the notion that he would get it.
"The track record that he has as an All-Ireland winning manager with Clare as a Munster [Championship] winning manager with Waterford and as a Leinster [Championship] winning manager with Wexford really speaks for itself.
"He has a huge CV, a massive amount of experience; both at club level, with his own club, as well as inter-county management.
"I think he was a top, top candidate for any job in the country, but I was definitely surprised, because it's a long way from Clare to here."
Antrim beat Wexford and Carlow in this year's provincial campaign but ultimately couldn't crack the top four in Leinster as they lost out to Galway, Dublin and champions Kilkenny to finish fifth.
Their placing means that they avoided relegation and so we can look forward to a tantalising meeting of the Yellowbellies and The Saffrons in the south-east next April or May.
And while 2024 marked the first season of 'Neil McManus, the former Antrim hurler', he remains close to many members of the squad who hope Fitzgerald can bring the team on, like he did with Wexford.
The purple and gold hadn't reached a Leinster final since 2008, but the Clare native got them there in his first season in charge nine years later. They went one better two years later, and haven't been back to the final since.
"The players are very excited, which is very, very important," McManus pointed out.
"They'll want to know how did Davy go so much out of the Wexford side to bring them from where they were. Antrim would have been very competitive with Wexford up until Davy's arrival. And then the next thing Wexford were winning a Leinster title.
"Antrim will get that effect and really want to get some of it, and I think there's been a great buzz about the county."
The traditional hotbed of hurling in Antrim has been in the Glens in the northern part of the county, providing prominent clubs like Loughgiel Shamrocks, Dunloy, Ruairí Óg (Cushendall) and, going a little further back, McQuillan's of Ballycastle.
In a wide-ranging discussion on the state of hurling in the county, McManus added that he would like to see more hurlers come from Belfast if Antrim are to progress.
"We've got a huge population base in Belfast and we're not getting very many hurlers out of that area.
"There's only been two or three guys who've been regularly starting on the Antrim team over the past number of seasons from Belfast.
"We need to get more participation in Belfast, right through the juvenile structures and age groups, and let that be something that can provide more players for the senior team in the future because it's an untapped resource at the minute."
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