Antrim Football Thread

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

taken from the President John Horan this morning on RTE radio.

With the big gap in result, if you look at the [football qualifier] draw we've made this morning, you see a large number of Divison 3 and 4 teams are already in the qualifier section.

Our hope will be at the next central council meeting in June to bring forward proposals to look at the introduction of a Tier 2 Championship for those teams in Division 3 and 4.

There's an appetite out there within the organisation to go ahead with a Tier 2 Championship and now is the time to grab that while the appetite is out there and I think we will possibly get it through at Central Council.

If we do we'll call a Special Congress in September/October to look at putting it forward to maybe having it introduced next year.

[Caesar]

County footballers away to Louth this weekend in the qualifiers. Probably a 50/50 game. Hopefully they can follow the hurlers example last weekend and get a good win.

[Sportacus]

taken from the President John Horan this morning on RTE radio.

With the big gap in result, if you look at the [football qualifier] draw we've made this morning, you see a large number of Divison 3 and 4 teams are already in the qualifier section.

Our hope will be at the next central council meeting in June to bring forward proposals to look at the introduction of a Tier 2 Championship for those teams in Division 3 and 4.

There's an appetite out there within the organisation to go ahead with a Tier 2 Championship and now is the time to grab that while the appetite is out there and I think we will possibly get it through at Central Council.

If we do we'll call a Special Congress in September/October to look at putting it forward to maybe having it introduced next year.

I really don't think this works for Antrim.

[BrendanAntrim]

If the tiered system runs in parallel to the existing provincial championship, and grade 2 or B only kicks in after a lower level team gets their fair crack at the provincial, then it can work. I don't think there was too much wrong with the old Tommy Murphy Cup. We reached 2 finals in a row, winning it in 2008, the year before reaching the Ulster Final and winning first of 2 successive promotions.

We broke our dismal Ulster Championship sequence in 2000, year after winning the old All Ireland B Championship.

Surely those 2 wins can be seen as having had some part in the subsequent successful seasons?

Under the Tommy Murphy Cup format our match this weekend would be in the 2nd tier, in a completion we could compete in.

[Sportacus]

That would be fair enough Brendan, I wouldn't want to see us being excluded from the big day in the Ulster Championship.  But I fear a lot of people envisage a hurling system.  Now should our hurlers win this weekend then there will be a big buzz and maybe it proves that it can work, but I'd fear if we are dropped into a lower tier in football  then it will be a big setback for football in the County.

[Milltown Row2]

That would be fair enough Brendan, I wouldn't want to see us being excluded from the big day in the Ulster Championship.  But I fear a lot of people envisage a hurling system.  Now should our hurlers win this weekend then there will be a big buzz and maybe it proves that it can work, but I'd fear if we are dropped into a lower tier in football  then it will be a big setback for football in the County.

Big set back? Ok let's visualise where we are currently and for the best part of 60 plus years. Bottom run of the ladder, we get get set back any further than we currently are and have been. Playing our level and competing with similar teams, with a view of promotion to a higher tier would be a better carrot than what we have now.

I struggle to understand how the likes of Louth Wicklow Clare Sligo and up on till recently Leitrim get out playing in their current championship format.

[imtommygunn]

It would be a big setback if we were constantly improving and competing but we are not.

How would it set us back?

[Sportacus]

If we stay in Ulster Championship then fair enough, I said that.  But there's an agenda from some to see a fully blown 2nd tier which I would oppose because any little crumb of profile that we enjoy at the moment would go up in smoke. Such a 2nd tier would be a backwater.  Media won't be interested, supporters won't be interested, coverage will be next to nothing and apathy will multiply.  I'm not in favour of the rich getting richer.

[Milltown Row2]

If we stay in Ulster Championship then fair enough, I said that.  But there's an agenda from some to see a fully blown 2nd tier which I would oppose because any little crumb of profile that we enjoy at the moment would go up in smoke. Such a 2nd tier would be a backwater.  Media won't be interested, supporters won't be interested, coverage will be next to nothing and apathy will multiply.  I'm not in favour of the rich getting richer.

But in favour of the humiliating defeats against Tyrone Donegal Monagahan Armagh (Ive left out Fermanagh, Cavan, Down and Derry who ant present would beat us also)

[imtommygunn]

If we stay in Ulster Championship then fair enough, I said that.  But there's an agenda from some to see a fully blown 2nd tier which I would oppose because any little crumb of profile that we enjoy at the moment would go up in smoke. Such a 2nd tier would be a backwater.  Media won't be interested, supporters won't be interested, coverage will be next to nothing and apathy will multiply.  I'm not in favour of the rich getting richer.

This year on year beating we are getting is not improving us at all though and you can see more and more apathy towards the county setup. Something has to give.

I would agree to a point though that I would worry about the GAA's agenda with 2nd tiers. I also am not sure I subscribe to the theory that throwing more money at it will solve the issue.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

lets be truthful, we arent good enough to compete at the level we are in. We're the Waterford in Munster, the Louth in Leninster, the Leitrim in Connaght. we are that team that everyone wants to draw for a guaranteed win.

It pains me to write that but its the very harsh truth. We are where we deserve to be.

My first reaction to the tiered hurling was the one of anger and disgust. how could we be treated like this, we are too good for this Christy Ring shite!

But the hard truth was that it was our level and we, at that time, were not good enough. Fast forward a few years and were in the Joe McDonagh cup, a competition that the media ignore but one that has produced the most competitive hurling we have had in years. We have 5 teams who all can beat each other, who are all on their day on a same level with each other. the games are extremely competitive with a massive prize at the other end for the winner and a massive drop down for the bottom team.

The two tiers will come in, no matter how much we moan about it, mainly because the bigger counties dont want to play a pointless game e.g. Dublin v Louth. No one gains from that game or a fixture like that.

I dont know what format it will take but if it gives us 4 good games like our hurlers are getting how can that be a bad thing? If we win on sat we have a final in Croke Park and then another guaranteed game in the Liam McCarthy Cup. 6 championship  games, all at a level we can compete at.

to me that is better than 2 beatings every single season.

[imtommygunn]

My view would be the same as yours DR. I don't think we would lose anything from being in a 2nd tier. We might get more winnable games.(Although I would be hopeful we will win saturday night)

I'm not sure on the GAA's agenda on it but that's a different story. To be honest if they do this they should be able to compress the county season making more time for club football.

[imtommygunn]

They have to make it better than the Tommy Murphy if it is to fly at all though. As someone else said in some post somewhere on this board it is very likely this will happen whether we like it or not anyway. They can't just make it best of some set of losers so need to think very carefully.

[Sportacus]

Is the hurling model a true comparison? We'd be upper 2nd tier in hurling so it's always going to offer possibilities to Antrim. I just don't think it's the answer in football, more like just another straw to clutch at and the impact could be quite negative. For instance young lads need to have the dream of playing for their County on the big day.  I don't think there will be any big days for us in 2nd tier.  Don't forget we've been to an Ulster Final more recently than Armagh and Cavan who are both enjoying the limelight at the moment and their young lads, 11 and 12 year olds, will be catching the bug.  Our answers lie in a whole series of things that need to be done within our county to get the County team motoring again, not changing the competition.  We'll be so far down the pecking order in a 2nd tier that I would fear the life will go out of the thing altogether.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

id say you will find the provisional championships go the same way as the hurling - group games where the winners go through to the Ulster final for instance and the bottom team relegated to the 2nd tier.

the winners of the second tier play a 3rd/4th place team in the next round.

Its only a rough idea but its more or less the same model as the hurling. they still have the lenister and munster finals in each case.

On another note i do think that we will beat Louth this weekend and move onto another game but if getting 2 games a year guaranteed is what people want to stay in the current format then we will continue down the same path we are on.