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Surprising there are no St Brigids players listed given they won last years u16 championship. Maybe a lot of them are over age with the new Minor age.

I'd take a punt on Rossa ahead of Ballycastle.  They could be the dark horse this year.

I think the management team might have been made aware prior to the first game, but perhaps decided to go ahead anyway.  Maybe go caught up in the possibility of "bright lights of success" and the chance to win. 

The whole concept behind the Celtic Challenge is to give all players - particularly on the fringes of minor squads the opportunity to compete at inter county level.  With the 2 year gap between the then U16 and U18 (minor) competitions a significant amount of players were getting lost.  However, with minor now at U17 this has changed the situation.

Yes I had heard Down were playing Minors even though they too are graded.  Could be an interesting situation they find themselves in with regard to the regulations.

In South Antrim its the CCC who decide if a club is A or B.

Early in the season I know, but the Belfast clubs seem to be picking up where they finished last year.  Both A & B boys Feile going to city clubs.  Could it be another clean sweep for Belfast? 

I think Antrim are playing an u16 squad in the competition.  Antrim are a "graded county" therefore minor panelists are not eligible to play in the Celtic Challenge.

The following is taken from the Operations Manual:

Involvement in the County Minor Hurling Panel
Players who are on the Inter-County Minor Hurling Panel in the following Counties are not eligible to participate in this competition: Antrim; Down; Carlow; Clare; Cork; Dublin; Galway; Kilkenny; Kildare; Laois; Limerick; Meath; Offaly; Tipperary; Waterford; Westmeath; Wexford.
A player will be deemed to be on the Inter-County Minor Hurling Panel if he is one of the 24 named match day players for the Provincial Minor Hurling Championships.

Before getting onto the game, the setup for last night's game was shameful.
As for the game itself, at least Lenny will have worked out by now who isn't going to cut it. Centre half back is a major problem-Antrim got back in the game twice only for St Mary's to cut through the middle for easy goals.
Having heard much about CJ and his fitness, he still has the ability to take scores from range that is lacking elsewhere in the side.

The set up?

Patrons only allowed on one side of pitch, no scoreboard, no facilities for hot drinks, no flag, no anthem...........

This was the only pitch available? where would you have preferred it? Athletic Grounds?

Cargin would have been a better venue. Jesus they even have a scoreboard!!

We have access to a great facility when most other pitches in Ulster are not available at this time of year (how many McKenna Cup games called off on Sunday???) and people still find something to complain about.  Why do you think the Cavan game was played at Woodlands too? None of the clubs could/would make their pitch available (understandable given the weather)

I was there PJoe.  Lenny presented really well and urged club delegates to get behind the county team and encourage players to make themselves available. He came across as very organised and articulate (no surprises there) and has a plan for how he hopes to deliver it.

It's important the whole county gets behind him now. Though I was a strong advocate for JMKs bid, I also see a lot to like about what Lenny is doing and the way he is going about it. But more importantly the players are starting to say good things about the set up.

Thanks BS. Hopefully we get clubs and players behind Lenny & team. And hopefully Lenny & team continue to build confidence inside and outside the squad. Not expecting to "build Rome in a day", however I hope we see some of this starting to transfer to on pitch performance and results too!

I see from twitter Lenny was presenting at Convention last night. Anyone see the presentation or hear any feedback from the clubs?

Another title gone to Belfast with St Brigids winning the U16 title.  Thats their 3rd in 4 years.

The question remains - why do we need 3 divisional boards and and all county (i.e. 4 separate) organisations managing and running fixtures? We don't one central structure to manage and organise is more than sufficient.  Having a central management structure does not prohibit the playing of fixtures on a regional (aka divisional basis) at certain times of the year (dark nights when travelling can cause issues with getting fixtures played).

I'm not saying this will cure the issues with FTF and the level of apathy within Belfast, but fixing the problems require solving many interlocking issues. 

I agree with many previous posters it all starts (and in the case of Belfast, ends) in the schools. 

All county for U-14+ is the only option and time to scrap the Divisional Boards - we don't need 4 different organising/scheduling functions within the county. A classic example of this arise last week one divisional board had scheduled a referee for an U-14 championship match, while the county CCC had scheduled the same referee at the same venue to ref a senior match.  Far to much duplication on the administration side and not enough focus on getting more teams and more games.

I'm not "you mate". Just making an observation that the statement I highlighted is BS (in my humble opinion which is slightly more informed on the U17/Minor squad).

"There was a Mexican army eventually looking after the U17/minors when it became apparent there was a whiff of success about them, no corners would be cut here."

What a load of BS. When you don't know what you are talking about nor any of the fact I find it best to keep quiet in these circumstances...