Antrim Football Thread

[bannside]

I agree Hoof but lets remember this time last year Spillane was lambasting us to a national audience for our negative tactics and Dawsons keep the defeat down low and please dont beat us by too much shambles. At least this year he is giving credit to Paddy for instigating some really expansive forward play that resulted in beating them on the scoreboard in a score fest.

And Country Bumpkin - yes tonight is a good place for those who put Baker in place and believed in him. This year was about getting out of Div 4 and beating Fermanagh, and the more important part of that criteria has been delivered. For that he deserves credit and space to see how we measure up to Donegal (one of the giants of the game at present) and no doubt the full Saffron army will be out in force.

Thats nothing less than what the full panel and management team deserve. Lets remember we went down there a few years ago with what may have looked a stronger team on paper, with lots of Gallsmen who were on top of their game at the time, and got turned over.

Credit where its due. Lets all enjoy TWO great wins today and get behind both teams for the next three weeks by which stage we will all be wiser about where we stand in the bigger picture.

When was the last time we pulled off a minor/senior double?

[bloodybreakball]

Kobos legend status was delivered a long time ago when he scored the winner against Donega in 09. This just means the legend continues.
The real mystery is why he needed tony scullion to hold his hand throughout the antrim club championship last year, I think he could have handled the centre back duties on his own without a seventh defender.
Anyhoo, well done antrim & tbh id be a lot happier if so called media whores like Conor John were in the team. Well done all, it would make you wonder why baker didn't get the Derry job, but isn't that why we are all here??!!!

[theskull1]

We beat a div3 team with seriously underachieving div4 team. Great result at one level but the manner in which the lead was squandered would be a real concern.
You'd have to wonder if people understand what perspective is. Far better to enjoy the day but maintain some sense of reality going forward to the next game.

[manballandall]

This year was about getting out of Div 4 and beating Fermanagh, and the more important part of that criteria has been delivered?

Really? I'd prefer we got out of Div 4 than win one game in championship (realistically but hope I'm wrong ).
Long term it's better to plying your trade against better quality teams on a more regular basis so promotion would have been my aim and I do believe that was the aim of baker as well but didnt go to plan.

[glens abu]

Great win for boths sides.happy to be a Saff this morning.Well done to the Baker boys.

[bannside]

Manballandall, no one here will disagree that the league was a shambles and about how badly it hurt to see us at the bottom of the basement. It is/was a blow to our pride because none of us think we belong there. And of course its a priority to get out of there as quickly as possible.

But when you have a dressing room that has got all the wrong synergies, players thinking they can do what they want, players talking back to the management, and players in fighting (yes it actually came to blows) then its no surprise that we were getting results on the field that reflected that. What Baker has now got is a team without a few classy individuals, but a much more united team, with proper team spirit and who know that if you step out of line you are gassed.

Kevin Madden made a great point in todays IN. If Pollock and CJ had been on that team yesterday its most likely Bam Neeson wouldn't have started. And yesterday Bam was outstanding.

But for me personally the highlight was the performance of Kevin Niblock who must have won a railway cup start based on his performance. When lots of St Galls players turned their back on the cause this year, one after one, it was Niblock who stood up and made his own statement. The best Gallsman of the lot.

[country bumpkin]

Well said Bannside...................Madden got it right in the I News, but have a gander at Paddy Heaney's match report which was quite obviously compiled by someone who had predicted, and hoped for a Fermanagh win.
The obviously biased review penned by an individual who only ever delivers condescending, patronizing comment on all things Saffron begins as he continues in an opening paragraph which proclaims, "Only Antrim could have lost this game and they very nearly did".
Heaney got it wrong in his preview of the game and he looked to stick the knife in again in his last comment to-day, "Their (Antrim's) reward, if it can be called that, is a semi final clash with Donegal.
Jeez did Donegal beat Derry last week Paddy? Sure u said they wouldn't............

[theskull1]

Don't think anyone should be overly confident with the side on the fence they're on. We were only a kick off a ball away from Heaney being right and Madden being wrong.

The fact that Antrim we're so dominant and yet came so close to losing tells a tale. The top teams know they can play poorly and still grind out results. Antrim will need to show more resilience before their fortunes over the medium term improve.

[Milltown Row2]

I'm all for a unified dressing room, it's the only way to have a proper team ethos. Well done to Baker and Paddy, if we know anything of Baker is that he manages to get something in Championship. Now can we still play the same way against Donegal? Will tactics change for this game? At least it will be a neutral venue, Clones I'd imagine.

Wasn't at the game so looking at the time we stopped playing and allowed Fermanagh to score what they did at the end of each half is there anything we could do to stop that happening again? Did we stop pressing them or did they just improve? Would Donegal allow us the same space?

I'm with Skull to a point, this was a poor enough Fermanagh team that we should beat most years, but Championship isn't too kind to Antrim

[bannside]

I re-read Paddy Heaneys review again, and better still, had a good look over his Saturday pre match column too, and to be very honest I am trying really hard to see parts I can take exception to. He talks about our "ability to implode" when hitting the front, and mentioned us throwing away a six point lead against Carlow etc. His exact words were "brittle to the touch". He cant be faulted on that. Yesterday we were 11 clear and still just managed to hold on - and not too many of us would have fancied another couple of minutes!!

Personally I like Heaneys reporting. He has a real insight into whats going on behind the scenes, and has his finger on the pulse.

In todays paper he talked about our "fragile confidence" and lets be honest, from being 11 clear we were holding on for grim death at the finish. Paddy got that one 100% right Im afraid. He called how luckily we got away with a Fermanagh disallowed goal in the 8th minute after Paddy Flood was impeded. But I have spoken to a few people who think we got out of jail and many referees might have allowed that goal to stand. Thats proper journalism, and if the shoe had been on the other foot we would have been squealing our heads off about it.

He finishes with "considering the quality of Antrims forward play it would have been brutally unfair if we had lost this match. Their victory was deserved" - so all in all theres not anything he has said on this occasion that taking a balanced view, we could really take exception to.

Finally, it has to be said that if he is not Antrims biggest fan, it is probably because he is frustrated at the way Antrim continues to underperform in relation to our potential. He is not stupid. He knows that Antrim football could and should be in a better place ambitionally and structurally, and that a county of our size should be in the top tier long before now.

What he sees is year after year of underachievement, and for that we obviously dont have his respect. Thats our fault Country Bumpkin, not his.

We need to enjoy a year that our minors, under 21`s and seniors all didnt lose their first championship day out, and thats colossal for us. In turn Paddy, Derry lost all three - for the third year in a row.

[imtommygunn]

You can say what you like about fermanagh being poor but we were about 3rd from bottom of every country out there so we're not exactly in the high quality bracket either unfortunately.

This is our 6th or so championship win in about 35 years. Any win should be celebrated and no one will remember that fermanagh got close in a year or two - at the end of the day they still lost the game.

With the form of the footballers in the league and the fallout in the dressing room this year as well as last year's debacle of a year expectations , from me anyway, haven't been high so more than happy to see a win.

[bannside]

When our seniors were getting warmed up, and were hearing that our minors  were winning comfortably, this would have send a great positive vibe throughout the seniors too. Well done to them for kick starting a memorable double. Nothing short of deserved for the way Sean, Niall, Gareth and Conor have pulled out all the stops to get this team in shape.

Donegal minors may be a bridge too far, having hammered us in the league - but last week they stuttered past Derry by a couple of points and we would be as good as Derry I would think. On the day everything is possible! Great to see captain Ruairi Scott from St Endas in full flow. Shouldnt be too long before he is in the senior colours.

[manballandall]

Bannside not disagreeing with anything you have said in your last two posts . What I did disagree with was you saying that the most important part of promotion and beating Fermanagh had been achieved . To me promotion was the most important aim this year.
As regards the galls boys decisions , they are all men and name their own decisions . Who is anyone to judge them on this?. Not me, I'd never judge anyone on whatever decision they make, it's their choice.
However I dare say there might be an ounce of what if going on in their heads this morning but they made their decision so let it be.

[Gold]

Promotion and a win over Fermanagh would've been ideal. But wasn't to be due to all sorts of factors.

How did we nearly throw that away--id love to see us tank a team and keep our foot on their throats when we get ahead.

Not good for the nerves 

[brendanbelfast]

"Not good for the nerves"

There's an understatement