Antrim Football Thread

[SaffronHeart]

Competition is a headache that the management will be happy to accept. Only 15 can play. Management do need to keep players interested tho and I feel after Wexford we have the chance to make changes.

Tomas could be the most in danger of losing out when changes are made. I'd like to see Ronan Hanna given a go in nets aswell. It's great that there is such competition

[culchie11]

Bannside while all ur points r valid, u can hardly say a hometown decision when u r promoting players from ur own club to replace them lol
i do agree dermot is becoming an awesome player for club and hopefully county too. still only 21/22!!
its great to have such a strong squad, everyone on the squad would merit a starting place on their day. i wouldnt be one for putting idle threats out there that if they dont get on they wont hang about, bit early in the year for that, maybe the university boys r being eased into it.
when i looked at the team before the game, i wondered who would be our scoring forward, conor murray & mick did most of the damage!
it was great to see all our scores came from play, 1-12! (correct me if i am wrong)
no goals conceded also a bonus.

every game is a championship game to get out of the basement division!

on the club scene, club championship draws r on tonight, lets hope the top seeds get their rightful place in the same pot lol

our pro will undoubtedly keep us well up to date as it happens, who needs jim white & the transfer window ha ha

[bannside]

Cant argue with any of that to be honest Culchie. And I have no influence over players they are big enough to handle their own affairs. Id say if they are treated with a bit of respect and told why they arent playing most will be fine with that!

Managers have opinions on players, and whether a player can translate club performance to the county stage or not. The only way of finding out is by giving it a try - no problem with that.  As a level two coach and a supporter Id say some of what the management were looking for yesterday worked out, and other things didnt. Thats normal. Hopefully it will be a long and successful season with lots of time to arrive at our best permutation.

In the meantime there is a necessity to rotate the squad a bit and allow players to feel valued. All successful teams need a competitive panel and the challenge for a manager is keeping 30 egos happy at the one time. Not easy with such good competition around and great to see.

[SaffronHeart]

Paddy McBride is another cert to come in when fit. I really think we are too good for division 4. While solidity is key I really hope we arnt too overly defensive and invite teams onto us. Carlow commentators were complaining about our fouling, however cynicism is a necessity, I just hope we can continue to express ourselves at the scoring end when we take the lead.

Most positive the football team has been in a while, long may it continue.

[country bumpkin]

Championship draw made and looks like there is the possibility of another Cargin Gall's final, unless ...........

[erinsboy]

That is a good draw a lot of good games there could be same final as last year!😜😜😜

[country bumpkin]

Jeez has everybody gone away?

[bannside]

Today is a good test to see where we are at. Wexford have promotion aspirations too so there mightnt be much in it but these are the games we need to learn how to win. Especially at home. Good luck to all.

[AQMP]

Ant 0-07 Wex 0-04 HT

[AQMP]

Result Antrim 1-08 Wex 0-07. Good win

[country bumpkin]

Good result at Corrigan, but we sure made it hard.
Hate to be gurning the victory, but why did we take up the defensive stance in the second half and invite them on to us?
We had the big breeze behind and a lead and obviousl a better team but the change of tactic nearly cost us

[bannside]

Firstly, great to dig out any sort of victory that keeps our promotion hopes alive. We arnt playing that well and still picking up points so I will keep a few concerns I have about this "style" of ours to myself.

Is it fair to say that Niblock was our only real standout player on the day? What a player. In my book he's our very best player (or put another way the only one we could truly not do without) with a bit of competition from Ryan Murray who can be almost unmarkable at times too. Can't understand why he is getting such little game time tbh!

Leitrim up next and that will be just another similar dogfight. No one needs to start getting cocky just yet or it could come back to bite us.

[Spike]

perhaps a wee bit of overegging regarding Niblock there but true he is a quality player when he is on form.  certainly wouldn't say he is our best though. the 'bull in the china shop' analogy certainly fits him. Ryan Murray is a real livewire but like Niblock, his decision making is erratic. well overdue a couple of starts to get into rhythm. 2nd half a grind yesterday but eventually got there.  still on track for promotion and yet to find top gear is a decent place to be in.

[SaffronHeart]

Any word on the fixtures? Becoming slightly irritated at this stage

[NAG1]

Any word on the fixtures? Becoming slightly irritated at this stage

This was one of the jobs that the new administration hadnt catered for and no one wanted. Wonder is that the reason for the delay.