Antrim Football Thread

[imtommygunn]

Any results from the minors?

[eoinbeag]

Monaghan 2.10 beat Antrim 1.2. Poor poor result!

[imtommygunn]

Crap - another what might have been.

[Therealbrute]

Face it lads-The Baker has been found out

[Gold]

Face it lads-The Baker has been found out

The Baker didnt let the wing half back stroll past him to score the goal without f'ing taking him down away from goal. The Baker didnt give the (non) free when Ricky punched the ball clear when we were 3 up to put 2 in it. The Baker didnt make C Murray hold the ball with 1 hand, drop it and then fist it to the other team and give away a score when the game was in the melting pot. The Baker didnt make Tomas hit a 21 yard free off the deck into the keepers hands or kick the ball towards bam when he should have ran as he'd acres of space and is the fastest footballer about. The Baker didnt make Loughrey miss by an inch when we were one up and 10 to go.

We had it won, then Tomas Freeman,  individual errors, dodgy decisions and lack of frees given to us lost the game.

I'll write the same next year and after watching the minors probably for another load of years--we dont have the forwards. We dont have a Tommy Freeman. Sin e

[Glensman]

+1 for all of the below.

Alot of holding the ball with one hand...Murray, McCann...we're not the Harlem Globetrotters.

Too many hoofs in in first half which went over endline. I have seen these guys...all are good kick passers and could have given Aidso and Magill more of a chance. Angle the ball, pop it in front. Appreciate there may have been a sea of white but recycle look for a man on the run to break the gain line (T McCann/Loughrey). Andy Ward should surely be able to assist on the running angles.

T McCann runs down too many blind alleys and into tackles. Infuriating. If he was willing to lay the ball off and take a 1-2 he would double what he scores. He is a super player but needs to hone his forays.

Fact is we had them.

As noted Baker and the boys set Antrim up in a way which almost and should have seen them win. It was just the execution.

Face it lads-The Baker has been found out

The Baker didnt let the wing half back stroll past him to score the goal without f'ing taking him down away from goal. The Baker didnt give the (non) free when Ricky punched the ball clear when we were 3 up to put 2 in it. The Baker didnt make C Murray hold the ball with 1 hand, drop it and then fist it to the other team and give away a score when the game was in the melting pot. The Baker didnt make Tomas hit a 21 yard free off the deck into the keepers hands or kick the ball towards bam when he should have ran as he'd acres of space and is the fastest footballer about. The Baker didnt make Loughrey miss by an inch when we were one up and 10 to go.

We had it won, then Tomas Freeman,  individual errors, dodgy decisions and lack of frees given to us lost the game.

I'll write the same next year and after watching the minors probably for another load of years--we dont have the forwards. We dont have a Tommy Freeman. Sin e

[AQMP]

12 or 13 points is what we have been scoring for the last couple of years.  We cannot score enough no matter how much possession/chances we have.

This was the age old story.  A game there to be won and we came up short.  It seems that this is in the Antrim county footballer's DNA.

[DearyMe]

Agree with Gold - our mistakes!
Did feel for the lads yesteday.

I think taking an out and out midfielder and playing him beside the full forward tells its own story - system or not, you gotta have faith in your forwards!
It obviously a real problem - not something that will be remedied over night!

[bannside]

Just my tuppenceworth.

A real good rattle we had at them. Matched them all over the pitch, and made more actual scoring chances. Their goal inside thirty seconds was a killer blow, and was decisive in the end - but we had players emptying the tank all over the place, and there have been too many displays by this team in recent games when this has not been the case.

We outplayed them, outworked them too I thought, but unfortuntely we also made more mistakes, kicked some silly balls away which led to a higher wastage rate than Monaghan. In the end that killed us - in other words we contributed to our own downfall.

I like what the new management team have brought to the table. Tackling was back to its best again. The half forward line as listed were all rookies, but Murray, Sweeney and Mc Aleese can all hold their heads high. Unlike the Irish News ratings, I thought Justy Crozier was much better than 5.5 too - his turnovers and tackling was immense.

Think Kevin Brady maybe could have created a lot of space, with fresh legs, as he has done so often, if he could have got the last 15 minutes.

In any event, we may find out that this isnt too bad a Monaghan team. Would be giving them a good life of getting to the final, in which case we will really look back on this as one that got away.

Any chance of getting Niblock back for the qualifiers?

[optimus cheese]

Think for me the subs weren't made early enough. Team were working so hard in that heat it was clear they would sag and that's why we faded at the end I feel. Another that got away, to move onto the next level those are the games we have to win

[Gold]

Just my tuppenceworth.

A real good rattle we had at them. Matched them all over the pitch, and made more actual scoring chances. Their goal inside thirty seconds was a killer blow, and was decisive in the end - but we had players emptying the tank all over the place, and there have been too many displays by this team in recent games when this has not been the case.

We outplayed them, outworked them too I thought, but unfortuntely we also made more mistakes, kicked some silly balls away which led to a higher wastage rate than Monaghan. In the end that killed us - in other words we contributed to our own downfall.

I like what the new management team have brought to the table. Tackling was back to its best again. The half forward line as listed were all rookies, but Murray, Sweeney and Mc Aleese can all hold their heads high. Unlike the Irish News ratings, I thought Justy Crozier was much better than 5.5 too - his turnovers and tackling was immense.

Think Kevin Brady maybe could have created a lot of space, with fresh legs, as he has done so often, if he could have got the last 15 minutes.

In any event, we may find out that this isnt too bad a Monaghan team. Would be giving them a good life of getting to the final, in which case we will really look back on this as one that got away.

Any chance of getting Niblock back for the qualifiers?

Agree --great ball winner in FF line --may have helped us get our hands on the ball up front, use it smartly and help win the game in last 10-15 --better option than Bam who was in behind and couldnt be found or Doot Kelly who never got a touch (although to be fair the ball never came near him).

[bannside]

100% Gold.

Kevin was  the only player who showed up in our last championship match in the qualifiers last year against Kildare. Out in front and making things happen. No substitute for class and experience and the last 15 or 20 minutes on Sunday, dry ball et all, would have suited his style, and allowed him to bring his experience to the mix.

Hope he hangs in there for the summer.

[CitySlicker11]

strength and depth combined with experience and the better start/finish won this game for Monaghan. In between these periods Antrim dominated, did not make it count enough on the score board.

[DearyMe]

Would have left Magill on!!!
They bring Feeman on, we bring on 3 half decent club footballers!
Brady was the best option for that game me thinks!

[manballandall]

All fun and games at milltown tonight