Ulster Hurling Championship 2009

[downgirl]

Yep was a second yellow alright

[stevecw]

As a Carlowman from what i've heard about yesterday and from what i saw on Sunday Game, Down are worrying me ahead of CR final.
The team really seems to have improved from the side they looked like in the League. Putting up that kind of score is a big worry, as we are very likely to concede soft goals.

After Westmeath going out this year, the feeling in Carlow was we had this years in the bag even before semi final v Kerry.
But only drawing at home to Kerry with such a lacklustre display woke us up i think. And in replay we hit 6-10 in Tralee to hammer them.

Hopefully yesterdays performance by Down will make the Carlow guys realise what they are up against in final. It will be a different side to the one we bet in the league.

The final i reckon will be very high scoring, and its such a massive prize at the end of it...it should be great occasion even if the 5 or 6 thousand of us will be lost in Croker!!
Can't understand why the final is not somewhere like Navan which is half way and a crowd that size would make an atmosphere.

[Tony Baloney]

As a Carlowman from what i've heard about yesterday and from what i saw on Sunday Game, Down are worrying me ahead of CR final.
The team really seems to have improved from the side they looked like in the League. Putting up that kind of score is a big worry, as we are very likely to concede soft goals.

After Westmeath going out this year, the feeling in Carlow was we had this years in the bag even before semi final v Kerry.
But only drawing at home to Kerry with such a lacklustre display woke us up i think. And in replay we hit 6-10 in Tralee to hammer them.

Hopefully yesterdays performance by Down will make the Carlow guys realise what they are up against in final. It will be a different side to the one we bet in the league.

The final i reckon will be very high scoring, and its such a massive prize at the end of it...it should be great occasion even if the 5 or 6 thousand of us will be lost in Croker!!
Can't understand why the final is not somewhere like Navan which is half way and a crowd that size would make an atmosphere.

Steve people have different takes on it. Some like yourself will say using HQ is daft for all the interest it generates but others will argue why shouldn't the lesser counties get their run out on the big stage in what is still a national final. In general a lot of these boys would never have been able to play in Croke Park before these competitions were started so I think it's great for them, their families, clubs and counties to get a run out.

[johnneycool]

Have to agree with Tony hatchet. On principle I don't like boys from other counties taking county teams (especially near rivals) and would much rather it was home grown management in all counties. But if they're going to take the team I'd expect nothing less than what they are giving to down.

You are forgetting that EACH of them (IMO) have good reason to want to stick it to S&W and/or the Antrim Exectutive. They may of course not be motivated by that but I'd be fairly sure it played some part in their mindset. They almost pulled it off as well. Down have improved under their stewardship, but they were in fairness at a fairly low level before they took the reigns.

Antrim
You look out at the team and go through 1-15 and think...jesus thats not a bad side. But the performance levels ebb and flow so much throughout that we are never able to dominate games for any length of time. There is potential there as I think there are alot of fine hurlers on the team, but it just lacks a little bit of leadership.

i remember back in the day when Sean McGuinness managed Down and beat Antrim in '92, a certain Mr Crossey, then part of Jim Nelson's backroom staff berated McGuinness as some sort of traitor for managing a team against his own county, i suppose he wasn't to know how he'd be doing the same some 10 years later, he who pays the piper and all that.  

As for the game on sunday a certain basic lack of positional sense let us down and if you are going to play a novice like Conor O'Prey in the forwards, then you really need to give him guidance on where to be especially during the Antrim puck outs where he left far too much space out in front of his half back line where we got exposed a bit and I think one of Scullions goals came from that space even if he did round Benny Ennis a bit easily. Graham's puck outs were far too central and although he did try and find Simon Wilson with a few they were still far too central. Aerially only Magic and Courtney were able to win their own ball which has always been a weakness in Down and hence why Brendan McGourty's absence as a ball winner in the forwards is a huge loss.
Aside from that we did create enough chances to win the game with Stevie Clarke hitting a point blank shot right at Ryan McGarry who pulled off a great save in the first half. The crowded area's made it harder for Dule to get going and I can understand why Jingo felt the need to bring Magic out to win ball as he was being starved on the edge fo the square but by doing so we lost that bit of potency as Magic was getting the better of Neil McGarry who resorted to the pulling and dragging from the start which is fair enough but to go down when given a taste of your own medicine like something out of platoon was a bit pathetic. Murph was very lucky to stay on the park for his swing at one of the Herrons after an Antrim goal probably bourne out of the frustration that he should have done better leading up to it. Other than that and Finty Conway's pull on Paddy Richmond (which was rightly yellow carded) I didn't see the wild pulling and wailing that some of you seen but then those red and black tinted glasses are a bit darker than the saffron ones.

Down were very jittery in the early exchanges, missing lifts (or dips), poor handling etc and Ruairi McGrattan got off to a bad start and he is the stereotypical confidence hurler, once things start going wrong for him, he finds it really hard to concentrate and get his game back on track and he didn't hurl anywhere near his best on Sunday. Otherwise I felt the defence did OK, could have done better with some of the goals, but overall fine. Wee andy goes through a power of work but in the tight confines hasn't the power to burst through a tackle, six pack or not but he certainly does a good job in there. Young Woods was a bit at sea but he's very young and inexperienced at this level and the game will stand by him in the future, ditto Conor O'Prey who's a good hurler and fine athelite who plays all his club hurling in defence, got a point from play but his positional sense was lacking, Forwardwise we still rely on Magic and Dule and thankfully Magic is beginning to learn how to use that physique a bit better especially against sneakey, spoiler defenders, he took dogs abuse against Derry and didn't hurl worth a f**k because of it. Stevie needs to start weighing in with more scores as he's got the ability, just needs to assert himself more on the game IMO, Simon is a defender and very one sided to try and convert at this stage of his career, so he's always going to struggle to get a shot away although he is failry accurate when he does. James Coyle is very young too but needs to work on turning as he needs a fair old circumference to get back towards the goal when in posession.

For my tuppence worth on Antrim, I think the team ethos isn't there and the win on sunday was based on individuals rather than good team play which is all well and good when you are (on paper) better than your opposite number but against the better teams like Dublin everyone needs to be disciplined to play for the team and not just the IN journalists who don't know their arse from their elbows. I've never liked the Antrim running game especially defenders over doing it, take your 4 steps, get past the man and hit the spaces in front of the forwards. The longer a defender takes to clear the ball, the more likely they are to get robbed and the more time they give the opposition defence to get into position to close the forwards down. Antrim certainly have the forwards to get scores from play and anytime on Sunday an early ball or diagonal ball into space was used a score came off it but when Down asserted a bit of pressure that went to pot with a lot of aimless hurling and only silly free's from Down and a bit of calmness from Paddy Richmond to slot over the scores allowed Antrim to get the two point victory. A victory against Laois is far from certain but Antrim should have enough but then a big challenge awaits and I'm not so sure that the wins against Down and potentially Laois will be learnt from by the players or management.


Skull,

Home advantage wins it again for Antrim  

[maxpower]

Good post Johnny,

Agreed about most, the same old arguement about Casement though, bit like croke park for the dubs, Casement ticks all the boxes, great pitch, central location (between Down and Antrim) good spectator arrangements and easy to get in and out of, no other pitch can claim that, and i would still think that if it was on the Ravenhill Road and the down teams played on it more often that the Antrim teams

Fact also is that the Antrim team are reportedly to have only been given Casement once this year for training, no much of an advantage

Watching the KK Galway last week it was refreshing to see so many youngsters allowed onto the pitch at half time, i remember as well as a kid jumping the wire at our big games whether they be in Dunloy, Cushendall or Loughgiel.  It just wouldn't happen at casement where subs aren't even allowed a poc about at half time.  remember as well last year going up for the Ulster league final and we went to go out for a poc about before getting changed but where told the pitch wouldn't be available to 20 mins before throw in.  WTF, at that stage we're going to be getting changed.

Really how much damage would a poc about do to a pitch in the middle of August, fort knox would have easier access than casement at times

[theskull1]

I really is a joke the way that casement ground keepers seem to have such a stranglehold on the use of that pitch.

[johnneycool]

I really is a joke the way that casement ground keepers seem to have such a stranglehold on the use of that pitch.

If only a handfull of games were played on a pitch a year, I could have it in tip top condition. Surely that's a waste of a facility to the Belfast clubs (including Bredagh  ) , or is there insurance issues? 

question: If Derry were to get to an Ulster final, would Ballinscreen not be a good venue considering the hoards that travel down from the glens?

[maxpower]

played in ballinascreen a few years ago and the pitch was a disaster,

being honest i think it would add a bit of a novelty factor if the game was switched about abit but it would be to an inferior pitch

[johnneycool]

played in ballinascreen a few years ago and the pitch was a disaster,

being honest i think it would add a bit of a novelty factor if the game was switched about abit but it would be to an inferior pitch

The Screen and Newry can be a bit wet in the winter but they'd be fine at the height of summer for an ulster final just for the novelty of a game out of Casement which lacks atmosphere even with a decent crowd in it.

Anyone notice how poor the PA system was on sunday? A nice big mejaa centre but pish sound on the terrace side.

[theskull1]

When Dunloy played them it was in June if I remember right and it was as like a cobbled road.

[Guillem2]

U21 Semi Finals
Derry    3-15   3-9   Down   
Armagh    5-25   1-11   Antrim

Holy f**K!! What happened in Newry? Was anyone there?

http://ulster.gaa.ie/results/

[Two Hands FFS]

Other way about. Chill out

[Two Hands FFS]

If I seen that as well I'd have been worried too....but a comfortable enough win.

[Bacon]

 
The ref must have got the scores the wrong way round. That would have been some upset!

[johnneycool]

U21 Semi Finals
Derry    3-15   3-9   Down   
Armagh    5-25   1-11   Antrim

Holy f**K!! What happened in Newry? Was anyone there?

http://ulster.gaa.ie/results/

And there's me thinking the Antrim U-21's don't like playing out of Casement either!! 

As for Down, we're really poor at minor and U-21 for the next few years with nothing of note coming through so hopefully Micky wing can work in conjunction with the clubs to stop the rot.