Antrim Football Thread

[Spike]

We've a Antrim man who managed at the highest level and won an All Ireland club CB... played for Antrim for many years and won Ulster club himself during his playing days... is that the type of man you're looking for?

Indeed....but would  e bring along a few players...and quickly establish a training facility......Owenbeag on the Falls...

Regarding facilities etc, Antrim are in probably in a really strong position, if we think creatively, Antrim could utilize any of the  following;
UUJ training facilities, UUJ performance testing facilities, UUJ Physio department (which we could get cheap if we approached the department and allowed supervised student involvement in treatments)
QUB training facilities, QUB physical training center
Antrim training center
School Facilities, e.g St Mary's CBS (Derry won an All Ireland and trained a lot in St Pats)

All these facilities are of a high standard

Then lets consider club grounds;
Cargin, Ahoghill, Creggan, Tir Na Nog, Dunloy, etc, all have great facilities
In Belfast Falls park (??), Woodlands, Lamb Dearg, (other clubs ??),

So we have the facilities now to set up really good programs, what we need is long term plans, for the seniors and for the underage teams



You're correct in that Antrim have 'most' of the facilities, just not concentrated.  If we have no money for capital projects then we'll have to look at putting the money into personnel which takes considerably less. What noises are coming out of SV currently?

[Milltown Row2]

The only team to achieve any national success from Antrim recently was St Galls and to do so they had to pillage from every corner of Ulster and Belfast.  I know of few stand out players from others counties playing in Antrim that would be an addition to the current squad if even they were persuaded to do so therefore.....

we need a short term stability solution with a long term plan to back it all up.  I see the pride derry and tyrone men have in playing for their county and I feel its just not the same for antrim.  A lot of clubmen feel disconnected with the county, so a initiative to garner a connection needs to be implemented.  Schools need to be targeted properly, not just lip service paid.  Regarding management, All we ask is for a man and team with a proper CV to bring us forward, whether he be outside or not.  The days of 'I took Sarsfields minors for a year' are gone if we are serious about progressing antrim football.  Make no mistake, I see people on hear talking about unlunkcy to get relegated and such like.  Last year was a joke. No team (players & management), and Ill repeat NO Team is unlucky to get relegated. You've either been rubbish or out of your depth in the first place.

People speak of a centre of excellence.  Is dunsilly going to be the biggest white elephant and worst thought of plan ever?  bite the bullet and choose Cargin or Ballymena and sink proper funds into it to create a stand with terracing and a base to operate both hurling and football from.

You are leaving out other clubs in your rant lad... but carry on

[Kickham csc]

We've a Antrim man who managed at the highest level and won an All Ireland club CB... played for Antrim for many years and won Ulster club himself during his playing days... is that the type of man you're looking for?

Indeed....but would  e bring along a few players...and quickly establish a training facility......Owenbeag on the Falls...

Regarding facilities etc, Antrim are in probably in a really strong position, if we think creatively, Antrim could utilize any of the  following;
UUJ training facilities, UUJ performance testing facilities, UUJ Physio department (which we could get cheap if we approached the department and allowed supervised student involvement in treatments)
QUB training facilities, QUB physical training center
Antrim training center
School Facilities, e.g St Mary's CBS (Derry won an All Ireland and trained a lot in St Pats)

All these facilities are of a high standard

Then lets consider club grounds;
Cargin, Ahoghill, Creggan, Tir Na Nog, Dunloy, etc, all have great facilities
In Belfast Falls park (??), Woodlands, Lamb Dearg, (other clubs ??),

So we have the facilities now to set up really good programs, what we need is long term plans, for the seniors and for the underage teams



You're correct in that Antrim have 'most' of the facilities, just not concentrated.  If we have no money for capital projects then we'll have to look at putting the money into personnel which takes considerably less. What noises are coming out of SV currently?

Additional point, my son plays with an academy in England. It's a Cat 1 academy, so he plays against Arsenal, Chelsea, Spurs etc. One thing that I find interesting in the approaches to facilities that the different in Cat 1 academies have.

At the youth to U14 level you have the top clubs with state of the art facilities; Chelsea, Arsenal etc,
Then you have clubs with state of the art playing facilities but have temp cabins for changing rooms, training, classrooms etc, (e.g. Reading, Bournemouth,)
Finally you have clubs who co-share facilities that are either privately run or college owned (Crystal Palace, Fulham, Cardiff, QPR,) Different models of operation, but the second two basically maximize, as much as possible, money into coaching etc to improve playing standards and only invest in facilities if they have secured additional money.

Antrim now need to invest in the coaching structures, with the aim of being the Dublin of the North

[bannside]

No one will disagree with that Kickham. If you trust the county officials who are trying to secure a deal with Croke Park for a package that could deliver new full time coaches for Belfast then I think you won't be disappointed, as this process is developing nicely.

I was at the Saffron Business Forum breakfast this morning and it was highly impressive. Only going less than a year and £25k already donated exclusively towards the area of juvenile development and that should be recognised.

Rome wasn't built in a day but I'd say the vast majority of the several hundred businessmen present this morning can see some very obvious changes in the quality of the work going on and a year or two of this momentum will make a massive difference.

[Spike]

The only team to achieve any national success from Antrim recently was St Galls and to do so they had to pillage from every corner of Ulster and Belfast.  I know of few stand out players from others counties playing in Antrim that would be an addition to the current squad if even they were persuaded to do so therefore.....

we need a short term stability solution with a long term plan to back it all up.  I see the pride derry and tyrone men have in playing for their county and I feel its just not the same for antrim.  A lot of clubmen feel disconnected with the county, so a initiative to garner a connection needs to be implemented.  Schools need to be targeted properly, not just lip service paid.  Regarding management, All we ask is for a man and team with a proper CV to bring us forward, whether he be outside or not.  The days of 'I took Sarsfields minors for a year' are gone if we are serious about progressing antrim football.  Make no mistake, I see people on hear talking about unlunkcy to get relegated and such like.  Last year was a joke. No team (players & management), and Ill repeat NO Team is unlucky to get relegated. You've either been rubbish or out of your depth in the first place.

People speak of a centre of excellence.  Is dunsilly going to be the biggest white elephant and worst thought of plan ever?  bite the bullet and choose Cargin or Ballymena and sink proper funds into it to create a stand with terracing and a base to operate both hurling and football from.

You are leaving out other clubs in your rant lad... but carry on

Hardly a rant - 2 lines - sensitive soul?    Sorry, St Pauls were guilty of a bit of it too but 2000 was a marketing disaster.  If you don't believe St Galls were the biggest beneficiaries or exponents of a successful transfer system in Belfast and Co Antrim Senior football then you are clearly deluded.   All clubs have transferees yes, point taken, but none so much as St Galls. Still doesn't get away from the fact that Antrim clubs or county cant seem to achieve success solely with their own men. I'm sure you have your own reasons and explanations for that.......But that digresses from my main post point that you appear to have missed so feel free to re-read at your leisure

[Kickham csc]

No one will disagree with that Kickham. If you trust the county officials who are trying to secure a deal with Croke Park for a package that could deliver new full time coaches for Belfast then I think you won't be disappointed, as this process is developing nicely.

I was at the Saffron Business Forum breakfast this morning and it was highly impressive. Only going less than a year and £25k already donated exclusively towards the area of juvenile development and that should be recognised.

Rome wasn't built in a day but I'd say the vast majority of the several hundred businessmen present this morning can see some very obvious changes in the quality of the work going on and a year or two of this momentum will make a massive difference.

I would hope the new full time coaches would be for the whole of Antrim

[Milltown Row2]

The only team to achieve any national success from Antrim recently was St Galls and to do so they had to pillage from every corner of Ulster and Belfast.  I know of few stand out players from others counties playing in Antrim that would be an addition to the current squad if even they were persuaded to do so therefore.....

we need a short term stability solution with a long term plan to back it all up.  I see the pride derry and tyrone men have in playing for their county and I feel its just not the same for antrim.  A lot of clubmen feel disconnected with the county, so a initiative to garner a connection needs to be implemented.  Schools need to be targeted properly, not just lip service paid.  Regarding management, All we ask is for a man and team with a proper CV to bring us forward, whether he be outside or not.  The days of 'I took Sarsfields minors for a year' are gone if we are serious about progressing antrim football.  Make no mistake, I see people on hear talking about unlunkcy to get relegated and such like.  Last year was a joke. No team (players & management), and Ill repeat NO Team is unlucky to get relegated. You've either been rubbish or out of your depth in the first place.

People speak of a centre of excellence.  Is dunsilly going to be the biggest white elephant and worst thought of plan ever?  bite the bullet and choose Cargin or Ballymena and sink proper funds into it to create a stand with terracing and a base to operate both hurling and football from.

You are leaving out other clubs in your rant lad... but carry on

Hardly a rant - 2 lines - sensitive soul?    Sorry, St Pauls were guilty of a bit of it too but 2000 was a marketing disaster.  If you don't believe St Galls were the biggest beneficiaries or exponents of a successful transfer system in Belfast and Co Antrim Senior football then you are clearly deluded.   All clubs have transferees yes, point taken, but none so much as St Galls. Still doesn't get away from the fact that Antrim clubs or county cant seem to achieve success solely with their own men. I'm sure you have your own reasons and explanations for that.......But that digresses from my main post point that you appear to have missed so feel free to re-read at your leisure

Again you leave out the SW clubs that have used this transfer system you refer to, we won god knows how many juvenile titles with players that were in the club from under 12, could we have went on and won the big one? Yep i fully believe we would have, one or two players dont make a team/panel

as for discussing the main topic, I've done it many times, if you dont feel like reading through my posts thats your problem

[Spike]

The only team to achieve any national success from Antrim recently was St Galls and to do so they had to pillage from every corner of Ulster and Belfast.  I know of few stand out players from others counties playing in Antrim that would be an addition to the current squad if even they were persuaded to do so therefore.....

we need a short term stability solution with a long term plan to back it all up.  I see the pride derry and tyrone men have in playing for their county and I feel its just not the same for antrim.  A lot of clubmen feel disconnected with the county, so a initiative to garner a connection needs to be implemented.  Schools need to be targeted properly, not just lip service paid.  Regarding management, All we ask is for a man and team with a proper CV to bring us forward, whether he be outside or not.  The days of 'I took Sarsfields minors for a year' are gone if we are serious about progressing antrim football.  Make no mistake, I see people on hear talking about unlunkcy to get relegated and such like.  Last year was a joke. No team (players & management), and Ill repeat NO Team is unlucky to get relegated. You've either been rubbish or out of your depth in the first place.

People speak of a centre of excellence.  Is dunsilly going to be the biggest white elephant and worst thought of plan ever?  bite the bullet and choose Cargin or Ballymena and sink proper funds into it to create a stand with terracing and a base to operate both hurling and football from.

You are leaving out other clubs in your rant lad... but carry on

Hardly a rant - 2 lines - sensitive soul?    Sorry, St Pauls were guilty of a bit of it too but 2000 was a marketing disaster.  If you don't believe St Galls were the biggest beneficiaries or exponents of a successful transfer system in Belfast and Co Antrim Senior football then you are clearly deluded.   All clubs have transferees yes, point taken, but none so much as St Galls. Still doesn't get away from the fact that Antrim clubs or county cant seem to achieve success solely with their own men. I'm sure you have your own reasons and explanations for that.......But that digresses from my main post point that you appear to have missed so feel free to re-read at your leisure

Again you leave out the SW clubs that have used this transfer system you refer to, we won god knows how many juvenile titles with players that were in the club from under 12, could we have went on and won the big one? Yep i fully believe we would have, one or two players dont make a team/panel

as for discussing the main topic, I've done it many times, if you dont feel like reading through my posts thats your problem

We were talking about St Galls not SW.  SW Antrim doesn't have the same problem as you well know. You wouldn't have got out of Antrim never mind all Irelands with a home grown crop (nice deflection on the u12s but that antrim development officer was never good reading post codes  )  Actually I have read your posts on the subject, some things I agree with, some I don't. You choose to ignore my reasons then fine, the short cut to success worked for st galls in the short term and now its catching up with them.  Unfortunately antrim needs something more substantial than a short cut. 

[Milltown Row2]

Short term? We've been rattling around for many years, no team stays at the top long, no deflection with the underage talent either... Its just a cycle, ive mentioned that a lot also... may take us another 20 years to get back at Croke again

[JimStynes]

Don't dublin use DCU as their training base?? As someone said, can Antrim not avail of the UUJ and Queens facilities?

[country bumpkin]

No one will disagree with that Kickham. If you trust the county officials who are trying to secure a deal with Croke Park for a package that could deliver new full time coaches for Belfast then I think you won't be disappointed, as this process is developing nicely.

I was at the Saffron Business Forum breakfast this morning and it was highly impressive. Only going less than a year and £25k already donated exclusively towards the area of juvenile development and that should be recognised.

Rome wasn't built in a day but I'd say the vast majority of the several hundred businessmen present this morning can see some very obvious changes in the quality of the work going on and a year or two of this momentum will make a massive difference.

I would hope the new full time coaches would be for the whole of Antrim

Now can you answer the question BS......

Seems our new senior manager has been appointed and all will be revealed on Monday evening......but methinks a little leakage....

[Milltown Row2]

You can get treated for the leakage CB

[bannside]

The plan is for Belfast CB, not for Antrim. The GAA has identified that it is strong in rural areas, but is being hit hard by soccer and increasingly rugby in the cities and large towns.

With Dublin now flourishing Antrim officials moved swiftly to make a case for games development in Irelands second largest city, and that process is going well through the discussion stages.

There's not really a big soccer tradition, of rugby either in Toomebridge, Portglenone, or Loughgiel etc, so that's not their focus. I was going to say unfortunately, but will change that to gladly.

Let's say Belfast gets funding for 10 coaches for schools etc..Id say brilliant. But others will say "what about the South West." It really all depends on your outlook. Belfast has slipped way back and as a county we need it strong.

Oh and yes. The trickle down effect will see extra coaching in SW and NA. So while you mightnt see that written down maybe some good faith could do the trick.

[country bumpkin]

The plan is for Belfast CB, not for Antrim. The GAA has identified that it is strong in rural areas, but is being hit hard by soccer and increasingly rugby in the cities and large towns.

With Dublin now flourishing Antrim officials moved swiftly to make a case for games development in Irelands second largest city, and that process is going well through the discussion stages.

There's not really a big soccer tradition, of rugby either in Toomebridge, Portglenone, or Loughgiel etc, so that's not their focus. I was going to say unfortunately, but will change that to gladly.

Let's say Belfast gets funding for 10 coaches for schools etc..Id say brilliant. But others will say "what about the South West." It really all depends on your outlook. Belfast has slipped way back and as a county we need it strong.

Oh and yes. The trickle down effect will see extra coaching in SW and NA. So while you mightnt see that written down maybe some good faith could do the trick.

Think the gaa need to get a reality check BS......only one club in the S West has managed to gain a senior football championship in the past 60 years......

[Belfast GAA man]

While all new money is good for Antrim GAA I hope, if you are right and Antrim get money for 10 new coaches for the schools, there is money to run a proper fixture schedules for juveniles. As a coach across a number of age ranges in Belfast our main problem is the season is so short i.e. April to September with no matches in July so 5 months only. This isn't enough matches to stop lads drifting off to other sports. We need money for full time competition administrators to book 4-G pitches, run winter leagues etc so lads will have enough of a season to dedicate themselves to GAA and fulfill their potential. Simply lads want to be play more than be coached and ignoring the lack of a 9/10 month fixture calendar and concentrating on coaching only is a mistake - like to hear others thoughts on this issue...............