Antrim Football Thread

[paddyjohn]

Jeez...this is a new record of some kind. Lenny has been in post less than a full day and already some people - Antrim supporters apparently - are prepared to write off his tenure as a failure. He deserves the support of us all, and all our clubs as he tried to turn around our fortunes. Best wishes to him and whatever backroom team he brings on board.

I think that is because we've been good down this road before, a West Belfast manager who is an ex county man and has mates on the committee. Now, before I get accused of being negative etc, I've no gripe with Lenny Harbinson or whoever his backroom team is.

Hey, let us know when you are being negative, just so we know. Thanks.

Nice of you to come out of the woodwork Brendan.

I'll back Lenny to the hilt, St Galls played some lovey Football when he was in charge and I hope he gets Antrim playing the same but he needs support of all our best players and the respect of them to.

Eh? All of our best players? Is he going to play the worst players ? Jesus lad stop getting caught up it the us and themuns!! Child ground stuff

Jesus lad, there is no us and themuns, he needs a full deck of fit, committed players who want to play county football. Not a load of primadonnas who think they are bigger than the county and who want to spend their days talking to Brendan Crossan!

Stop stirring and twisting people posts!

[Milltown Row2]

You are stirring the pot lad! Crossan and now CJ ?!!!! Get a fecking grip will you? Unreal. But hey keep digging a hole for yourself now that you've let the mask slip

[paddyjohn]

You are stirring the pot lad! Crossan and now CJ ?!!!! Get a fecking grip will you? Unreal. But hey keep digging a hole for yourself now that you've let the mask slip

Who mentioned CJ?

[Milltown Row2]

You are stirring the pot lad! Crossan and now CJ ?!!!! Get a fecking grip will you? Unreal. But hey keep digging a hole for yourself now that you've let the mask slip

Who mentioned CJ?

Now you're being a dick

[paddyjohn]

You are stirring the pot lad! Crossan and now CJ ?!!!! Get a fecking grip will you? Unreal. But hey keep digging a hole for yourself now that you've let the mask slip

Who mentioned CJ?

Now you're being a dick

Settle big stuff, no need for the insult! At least one day every week we have an Antrim footballer or hurler on the back of the Irish News or Irish Star complaining about something, that's the point I'm making.

[Milltown Row2]

You are stirring the pot lad! Crossan and now CJ ?!!!! Get a fecking grip will you? Unreal. But hey keep digging a hole for yourself now that you've let the mask slip

Who mentioned CJ?

Now you're being a dick

Settle big stuff, no need for the insult! At least one day every week we have an Antrim footballer or hurler on the back of the Irish News or Irish Star complaining about something, that's the point I'm making.

You are giving off about players who talk to jounos ... every county have players that chat to journos, it's a seriously bad news day if the likes of the Irish news needs a story from a div 4 county player or players as you put it...

If you feel that's one reason why Antrim are failing then you'll never be happy

It's down to management to curtail that if that's a policy they want to to take...

[Saffs on Tour]

Sorry state of affairs when some so called fans write off the tenure of our senior football manager 1 day after his appointment based on what exactly? Being from Belfast? Jesus wept. Give the man a chance - All Ireland winning manager to boot. 

Just to pick up on a few points in terms of funding and the constant criticisms of the Saffron Vision group from some.

Looking in from the outside the Saffron Business Forum seems a uniquely creative business venture that stands to make Antrim thousands (and already has). I honestly haven't heard of a model like this anywhere else in the country and it seems to be going from strength to strength - more coverage needed on our brilliant social media platforms.

One point that does irk me is this - where on God's green earth do certain posters believe this money that is going to turn us into an 'ultra professional set up' is going to come from? One of Theresa May's magic money trees? Let's get real - this current county board inherited a dire financial state of affairs - anyone who does not acknowledge that either has absolutely no clue about Antrim GAA in the slightest or is deliberately ignorant for some reason only known to themselves. Initiatives like the Saffron Business Forum are helping immensely, but won't turn us into big financial hitters overnight. A two year term to date to solve years and years of financial woe ain't gonna be enough guys - anyone with half a brain cell and one iota of business knowledge should know this. Sorry to offend those who have neither.

Does anyone here honestly believe the county board are actively withholding funding from our senior football team? In relation to the hurling comparison - I read in the Irish News a few weeks ago that G Adams did not feel there was a disparity in funding? Perhaps there is, I'm not sure - would've thought funding was decided at the start of the year when managers make their pitches etc

Which brings me to my last point - the statements seem to make it pretty clear how the manager was selected. A 3 man committee actively sought interest and went through an interview process before selecting who they believed to be the strongest candidate. This was then recommended to county committee (which is made up of club reps?) for ramification? Am I missing something here? I would have thought if the county board wanted the cheapest option they would have handpicked that themselves or at the very least not left it open to chance?

Unless of course the 3 man committee are also in on this conspiracy theory to exclude SW Antrim and keep all of King Midas's gold from the footballers.

PS a big rant for first post I'm aware but just disgusted at the negativity of some in relation to volunteers giving their time to try and actually help our county move forward

[ciaran1988]

Championship Predictions

Creggan v Lamh   - Creggan by 2 points
Cargin v St Johns  - Cargin by 3 points
Moneyglass v Dunloy - Moneyglass by 5 points

[paddyjohn]

Championship Predictions

Creggan v Lamh   - Creggan by 2 points
Cargin v St Johns  - Cargin by 3 points
Moneyglass v Dunloy - Moneyglass by 5 points

Creggan by 1
Cargin by 8/9
Dunloy by 4

[bannside]

Great first post there Saffs on Tour.  Love your "looking in from the outside", bit lol. Welcome on board, and some excellent points.

Now that the appointment has been made I want to make one or two quick points. The rest will wait until after I talk to JMK once he receives his feedback from Alec, head of the appointment committee later today.

I was firmly in the JMK corner and make no apology for that. He  is an outstanding candidate who, along with Conleth Gilligan are hugely regarded in the hotbed of club football in Derry and Tyrone. They will be hurting today, but are young enough to suck this up because they will have many good years ahead of them in top level management.

Finally, sincere congratulations to Lenny Harbinson. He is thoroughly likeable individual, and a good football man who the players will get to like and respect. 100% best wishes to him and his backroom team. I sincerely do hope he achieves his stated aim of putting pride back into Antrim Football, if that happens everyone is a winner.

[Stillwater2]

Any word on who Lenny backroom team is? Few rumours going around.

[Spike]

God forbid some Antrim supporters have the temerity to suggest following the same pattern of failure in appointing managers is not the best idea. Is there some fascist mindset out there that we must all be overjoyed at whoever the board stick in front of us, regardless of reasoning? 

Make no mistake about it, Lenny played in an era (3 decades) in Antrim club and county with those same assessors so he has more in common with them (not suggesting a conspiracy), he is an Establishment man, and he represents 'best value for money' so ticks a lot of their boxes. He also has an all-Ireland in his back pocket. He is also more of the same.

By far Lennys biggest advantage is that the only way is up. We are at rock bottom so any improvement in our situation can only be good.  I've no doubts at all that he will get us into Div 3.

I'm presuming Lenny follows Antrim club football (ie he hasn't been on a hiatus since he quit st galls) and therefore wont follow the example set by Dawson.  He has kept himself busy so should be fresh enough to follow modern tactics, trends and set-ups.

Lenny's biggest problem will be convincing the best players that this is not a continuance of the last 3 years.  No more training ground bluffers, Fair chances for all, Hard work in the gym & training ground will be rewarded, and that under no circumstances will non-trainers be parachuted into the squad in the weeks leading up to championship.  His S&C work will be critical.   Antrim are far too light at the moment and one pre-season in the gym wont correct that. The players are educated enough now to know in the first week whether he knows his stuff regarding S&C.

Lenny had a great system to work with at St Galls that Is now superceded.  Can he develop a new system with a different collection of players with Antrim to allow the best end product with the players at his disposal?  I haven't seen Ballymacnab play - is there anything about them that would hint at what Lennys preferred system would be?

Bottom line is, while I don't agree with thinking behind the appointment, Lenny has experience and hasn't been idle so he must have enough about him to take Antrim to Div 3.  Therefore, id like to hear what Lenny will bring to the party to get us to Div 2 and a good, progressive run in Ulster and the qualifiers.

[bit of banter]

Were not going to div 2 because were not good enough, s&c is given too much press about county squads,  if u ask me players gym work should be 365 days a year with a lifestyle to match, this should be imprinted on our young generation at development squads etc . What good is a s&c coach to players like cj who is our best finisher by far but is clearly out of shape and hasnt a great lifestyle. S&c is one ingrediant in the make up of a county player committment, attitude, lifestyle, etc are others that we are really short of with our players. We have players choosing soccer over training, stag party weekends and then the usual bluffers who attend training but use slight injurys to rule themselves out. We r worried too much about the make up of our managers ie what clubs he from, whos he managed , whos his team all of which need to be creditable yes but we have forgotten about the players on the pitch what qualities are they bringing and all too often that is what lets us down. Development is the key word here and development squads are where all our attention should be. Lets have a long term plan developing the next Antrim senior team who bring all the right tools in their bag.

[Spike]

Were not going to div 2 because were not good enough, s&c is given too much press about county squads,  if u ask me players gym work should be 365 days a year with a lifestyle to match, this should be imprinted on our young generation at development squads etc . What good is a s&c coach to players like cj who is our best finisher by far but is clearly out of shape and hasnt a great lifestyle. S&c is one ingrediant in the make up of a county player committment, attitude, lifestyle, etc are others that we are really short of with our players. We have players choosing soccer over training, stag party weekends and then the usual bluffers who attend training but use slight injurys to rule themselves out. We r worried too much about the make up of our managers ie what clubs he from, whos he managed , whos his team all of which need to be creditable yes but we have forgotten about the players on the pitch what qualities are they bringing and all too often that is what lets us down. Development is the key word here and development squads are where all our attention should be. Lets have a long term plan developing the next Antrim senior team who bring all the right tools in their bag.

If the board were concerned about development for the future they would have chosen O'Rourke and not Harbinson.
You make some good points but I would also say a footballer who is committed to training and S&C is usually committed in other walks of life as well.
Regarding CJ, its time to let go. Fantastic finisher, probably the best Antrim has ever seen, but the game is too fast and powerful now to carry a luxury like him. Every year we hope he will spend Xmas and spring fully training and committed and every year we see him start, get a mystery injury and then gets trotted out in May out of shape. Isnt Lenny related to him? so chances are if CJ wants to be there, he'll be there. Does Lenny have the ruthlessness to do what is needed?

[Hectic]

Great first post there Saffs on Tour.  Love your "looking in from the outside", bit lol. Welcome on board, and some excellent points.

Now that the appointment has been made I want to make one or two quick points. The rest will wait until after I talk to JMK once he receives his feedback from Alec, head of the appointment committee later today.

I was firmly in the JMK corner and make no apology for that. He  is an outstanding candidate who, along with Conleth Gilligan are hugely regarded in the hotbed of club football in Derry and Tyrone. They will be hurting today, but are young enough to suck this up because they will have many good years ahead of them in top level management.

Finally, sincere congratulations to Lenny Harbinson. He is thoroughly likeable individual, and a good football man who the players will get to like and respect. 100% best wishes to him and his backroom team. I sincerely do hope he achieves his stated aim of putting pride back into Antrim Football, if that happens everyone is a winner.

BS I always find you informative and interesting but I am not sure if I was JMK I would be wanting you to announce that you will be updating us all on your views after having a conversation with him - that conversation probably better kept private IMO especially given he is an outstanding individual and manager who has years ahead of him.  I would be sure if he had anything he felt needed to be highlighted he would be well capable of doing that himself.