Antrim Football Thread

[saffron sam2]

Eleven St Gall's men have been / are to be approached about hooking up with Antrim.

All the qualifying starters bar Gribbies, Mark Kelly and Kieran McGourty.

15 - 2 (Fermanagh men) = 13

13 - 3 (Gribbies, Mark Kelly and Kieran McGourty) = 10

Eh? A sub? Hmm.

Pollock, you daft bollock.

Oh fcuk aye.

Why not Gribbies or Kieran McGourty?

I'd bring the lot in.

Baker asked Conor if Kieran would be interested. Says the young buck "Nah, he wouldn't".

[Milltown Row2]

Kieran would be a geat addition to the team. played some football this year.

when will they be back? next match?

[ONeill]

Kieran starting to show his age though. Went to bed early on the night of the All-Ireland with a 'good book' and a glass of milk.

[Milltown Row2]

 

Kieran starting to show his age though. Went to bed early on the night of the All-Ireland with a 'good book' and a glass of milk.

Paddys Day should always be on a Friday.

[Minder]

Kieran starting to show his age though. Went to bed early on the night of the All-Ireland with a 'good book' and a glass of milk.

Paddys Day should always be on a Friday.

Did your Paddys Day not end around Friday?

[imtommygunn]

Only noticed there that the U21s are playing tonight.

What have they been like this year? Any chance of a win?

[Gold]

No, we were awful

[aontroim]

Poor, poor display from Antrim - no fight, lots of handling errors and turnovers - Bakers magic not being worked with the next generation just yet.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/northern_ireland/gaelic_games/8586846.stm


CJ Gourty back with Antrim squad

CJ McGourty has become the first member of the All-Ireland winning St Gall's team to return to Antrim senior football training. McGourty is back in the Saffron fold after returning to county training earlier this week. The talented forward was dropped by Antrim manager Liam Bradley for disciplinary reasons last year. McGourty is committing himself to the Antrim cause again despite an ongoing hip problem. Prior to St Gall's All-Ireland Club Final win over Kilmurray, McGourty indicated that the injury would probably require surgery at some stage. Several other members of the victorious St Gall's squad will return to Bradley's squad in the coming weeks. These are Colin Brady, Kevin Niblock, Sean Burke, Andy McClean, Terry O'Neill, Aodhan Gallagher and Sean Kelly, who is set to rejoin the squad this season after not playing last year.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Baker...never knowingly undersold   But good to see someone with a bit of confidence in Antrim football at last...

Bradley eyes top flight for Antrim
By Colm Keys
Friday March 26 2010

Liam Bradley pleads for some understanding that his objectives are not to be mistaken for arrogance and that his opinion of Antrim's status should not be confused with anything other than what he believes to be the truth.  For a start, he expects to win promotion from Division 3 at Casement Park tomorrow night when Louth -- the closest of the four teams perched behind them in the group on six points -- come to town.  In fact, he bemoans that they didn't close the deal against Offaly in Tullamore last Sunday when they had the opportunity.  But once that objective of promotion is achieved, he can set his sights on the summer again and consolidating the status of "one of the top 10 teams in the country."  After that Bradley can then turn his attentions towards Division 1, where he feels his emerging team are well capable of playing their football in future years.  'Baker' doesn't make small talk. He doesn't talk his team down, either, because their unyielding belief is shared and over the last 12 months, their progress has been underscored by faith in what they do.  For so long we have traded them off as the weakest of the nine in Ulster; statistics have consistently backed that up in league and championship. But right now, Bradley sees a squad in front of him that's the match of anything else in Ulster. His words, not ours.  "We think we now have the best panel that Antrim have had for many, many years and we think that panel has the ability to compete with anyone else in Ulster," he said with solemn conviction yesterday.  So far, league results have borne much of that conviction out. But just in the last week Antrim football has shown some vulnerability with defeat in Tullamore last Sunday followed by an U-21 quarter-final reversal at the hands of Monaghan at home on Wednesday night.  Victory in Tullamore last Sunday would almost certainly have guaranteed them Division 2 status for next season, given their sizeable superiority in score difference.  "We were disappointed with that performance, but it won't knock us out of our stride for long. To be honest, if we can't get two points from our two remaining games against Louth and Wexford, then we don't deserve to be going up," he said.

"I'd have great ambition for these Antrim players. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sound over confident but I think at some stage in the future they are capable of mixing it in Division 1. That's where they want to be," added Bradley, father of Derry players Paddy and Eoin.
"We have a lot of players who have played very competitively at the highest level of third level with Queens, St Mary's and Jordanstown. They know the level they are capable of."

And Bradley welcomed back the remaining seven St Gall's players to training last night -- Colin Brady, Kevin Niblock, Sean Burke, Andy McClean, Terry O'Neill, Aodhan Gallagher and Sean Kelly -- eight days after their impressive Croke Park triumph over Kilmurry-Ibrickane which earned the county a first football All-Ireland title at adult level.

Earlier in the week CJ McGourty, who had fallen out of favour with Bradley's management over a discipline issue 12 months earlier, made his return. And his presence -- along with the St Gall's contingent -- should provide the impetus for Antrim to secure successive promotions, something Tipperary managed in 2008 and '09.

"People will inevitably look to last year, getting to an Ulster final and then running Kerry so close as a once off. But we see it as a stepping stone. We felt we left that Kerry game behind," Bradley said.


The advent of St Gall's as All-Ireland champions, coupled with the progress in league and championship over the last 12 months, has breathed new life into Antrim football.

"In my first game in charge against Wicklow there were no more than a hundred people in the ground -- and now the stand is full 15 minutes beforehand," Bradley said.

"Of course what Gall's did has been inspirational. And no disrespect to Kilmurry-Ibrickane, but they won that final in second gear. But we always felt we could go up even without the artillery of the St Gall's boys until the last two rounds.

He added: "It's encouraging for everyone involved, but it's not our passport to success. We know we have to work that bit harder than more successful teams. And if we don't get two points at least from our next two matches, we will have egg on our faces after the position we have put ourselves in."

[Gold]

Good man Baker

I hope we can put the Tipp/Waterford nightmare of 2008 to bed tonight.

[Milltown Row2]

could be a few Galls men on tonight, and a curve ball

[A Quinn Martin Production]

could be a few Galls men on tonight, and a curve ball

OK MR2...I'm intrigued...would the letter K be significant??

[Milltown Row2]

well a k for sure and a H 

[Milltown Row2]

O'H?
He?

a Ke and a He and a Te