Liam Watson

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah, rather than your North Antrim friends lol

[theskull1]

Personally all I'm trying to do bring some balance to the eulogising. No one is saying anything that wasn't brought up in the press. Hard for one not to be talked about without the other with winker. Time to move on

[Sleeping giant]

Yeah, rather than your North Antrim friends lol

dont ya know mr2,   we aint got no friends    thats the way we like it!!      i made a big shout b4 shamrocks won AI,   honestly fancy the town to get to a final,  draw didnt help my claim much,  but still think they will be there

[NAG1]

Joe Canning? Ben O'Connor, and thon auld lad that played for Buffers Alley Tony, christ, he scored a right few against Rossa. And of course not forgetting King Henry playing for Ballyhale.

Tony Doran. I think he was 43 then.

Dee Murray is a better full back today than the head the ball that lined out at 3 for Coolderry on Saturday.

+1

Had to laugh when he pushed up for offside before he conceded the free for the goal, all it was missing was the arm in the air ala Tony Adams   

[theskull1]

Why am I thinking of a wheelie bin when Dee Murray comes to mind 

[shawshank]

Thats fair enough comment, thou your steady eddies don't win All Irelands. If Dunloy for example had a winker they would have had their All Ireland, maybe and probably more.

I take it you have never seen Dunloy play then Shawshank?

loads of times, and they were really great teams, and as good as some of their forwards were, none were Watsons, and I do take skulls point about the bother he has been etc, but when he's at himself and fully focused, such as he has been the past while, he is without doubt a class apart, the best forward Antrim has produce since the vintage of 89.

But to draw aparallel to Messi, he has done it at club level, but Argentina are still waiting for him to produce the same performances for them at world cups, in the same way Watson has to step up and produce it for Antrim now when he is now in his prime.

[Two Hands FFS]

I don't think Winker was as good as Ally Elliott or Conor McCambridge in their prime.

[Seamroga in exile]

I disagree. Two brilliant hurlers, no doubt about it, but I would rate winker every bit as good as them if not better. But then, this is a pointless path to go down as people like yourself won't throw off whichever coloured glasses it is you're looking through.

The rest of Ireland saw for themselves last week what winker can do. Big man for the big stage and all that.  Can the same be truly said of Ally or Conor?

[Buswhacker]

Elliot and McCambridge were good consistent players that could be depended on to not let the side down,but they didn't have that touch of genius that Watson is blessed with despite any other failings he might have.

[Atticus_Finch]

As a complete neutral I would say Liam Watson is up there with the best ever hurlers to ever come out of ulster, I know that is a bold statement.  But i've thought that long before the events of last Saturday.  I don't know if you'll remember this SIE but I came on here a good while back and enquired about Watson as i hadn't seen him about for a while and was asking about whether he was injured etc and the comments that came after that post showed what a divisive character he was.  But after last Saturdays performance and his performance in the semi, i think people now realise what a talent he is.  Antrim are capable of going on a good run and hopefully Ulster hurling will see a bit of a boost with both Derry and Armagh seeming to be making good progress at the minute.

I'm sure people after reading the first line of my post will come back and say "nonsense, what about such and such they were the best hurler to come out of ulster."

I was fortunate to be down at Croker last Saturday but i'd be the first to admit i don't get to watch as much hurling as i'd like to but I really believe that Watson is up there with the best hurlers to have ever come out of Ulster. 

In my eyes he is up there with two other hurlers:

Henry Downey - Unfortunately I didn't see an awful lot of Henry Downey hurling but people around Derry would often talk about how he really was exceptional and the fact that he made the Fitzgibbon team of the century should be testament enough to that.

Gerard McGrattan - I was only a kid when i watched that Down team of the early 90s but I'll always remember McGrattan. On his day the Portaferry man seemed unmarkable, he was unreal.

[theskull1]

In my eyes he is up there with two other hurlers:

Henry Downey - Unfortunately I didn't see an awful lot of Henry Downey hurling but people around Derry would often talk about how he really was exceptional and the fact that he made the Fitzgibbon team of the century should be testament enough to that.

Gerard McGrattan - I was only a kid when i watched that Down team of the early 90s but I'll always remember McGrattan. On his day the Portaferry man seemed unmarkable, he was unreal.

No offence AF but you must have read more about ulster hurling in the Irish News than watched it. Both good hurlers (Downey moreso than McGrattan) but you'll not get many backing you up IMO.

[Atticus_Finch]

None taken - would have watched a good bit of hurling as a kid but not so much at all now.

Fire out some names there that you would rate as Ulster's best.

Like i say i was a kid when i watched McGrattan and back then the world is black and white ... he got an all star so as a kid i probably felt that if he got an all star, he deserved an all star and that cemented him as up there with the greats.  But i do remember being impressed any time i watched him.

[Tony Baloney]

I disagree. Two brilliant hurlers, no doubt about it, but I would rate winker every bit as good as them if not better. But then, this is a pointless path to go down as people like yourself won't throw off whichever coloured glasses it is you're looking through.

The rest of Ireland saw for themselves last week what winker can do. Big man for the big stage and all that.  Can the same be truly said of Ally or Conor?

I'll say what everyone else is thinking before you boys get the carried away (I think that horse has already bolted though!). Loughgiel got the rub of the green this year with the best of Munster and Leinster being cleaned out earlier the competition.

When Dunloy and the Dall were playing All-Ireland semi-finals the teams were the likes of Birr, Portumna, Ballyhale, Athenry etc. Any of those teams would have had that Loughgiel team destroyed by half-time. But as I said at the time, you can only beat what is put in front of you. Luckily what was put in front of Loughgiel was a team with a poor full-back line. 

[Seamroga in exile]

I didn't expect anything else from you, your previous posts are full of bile and anti loughgiel shit. Worthless contribution.

[Minder]

I didn't expect anything else from you, your previous posts are full of bile and anti loughgiel shit. Worthless contribution.

I can confirm Tony was cheering on the Shamrocks in Croke Park last week, there are other opinions outside Loughgiel Seamroga, and it doesn't mean it's "anti Loughgiel bile".