He insisted: "You should hurl for the place you were born in."

"I'm an Antrim man and I couldn't see myself going out to wear a Cork jersey. You have to have the pride of where you are from and that bit of heart in your own county."

The painter and decorator leads his side into Guinness senior hurling championship action this Sunday against London at Casement Park and expects nothing to be easy.

"We don't know what type of a team they could have. Their side could vary so much from year to year.

"Teams always have to be prepared to expect the unexpected and we will be just treating them like we would any other team, with the attitude that these boys could beat us and we need to get off to a good start, try to put them down and pull away as soon as possible."

However despite this, there is at least one London player who Delargy is familiar with - his Cushendall club-mate Kevin Martin.

"Kevin, from my own club, is on the London team and he has represented Antrim at minor and Under-21 levels so he is a county hurler.

"Who knows how many others like him that they have," added Delargy.

The Glensmen underachieved in the National Hurling League, according to their skipper, and he feels it is hard to pinpoint exactly why it went wrong.

"It was a very disappointing league campaign for us. We don't seem to be competing with the top teams on a regular basis. We run temporarily within eight points and then instead of getting better, we get worse.

"It's inconsistency which is the problem at the moment and when we fall behind, our heads just seem to slip."

Should Antrim defeat London this weekend, Delargy feels that this year's Ulster championship race is wide open and that the likes of Down will pose a huge threat to his side's title aspirations.

"Down are always a threat to Antrim and they are a dogged team. It doesn't matter where you are from, they just keep pounding and coming back at you and it is never easy. Hurling isn't easy no matter who you are playing."