Antrim Football Thread

[Gold]

What was the Antrim team?

Someone told me a fella called Bishop was doin nets for Queens on Wednesday??

[A Quinn Martin Production]

9 wides in the first half??  That's the Ants we know and...love

[WolfeTone]

Strong rumours that Sean Burke is to play in nets for Queens on Wednesday night.

Wouldnt read too much into that hardstation.  queens were without their regular goalie against cavan and had to do with a make-shift goalie.  If burkey was put in nets, it would only be a completely temporary thing! sean 'schmeichel' burke...dont think so!

[WolfeTone]

As for brolly and bellaghy...?!
No way...hasnt proved to be any sort of a manger whatsoever!
Wouldn't see him having anything near the temperament required! Gets too involved in the games

[saffron sam2]

Sung by Jody Gormley in Casement last night:

I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.
Along with the sunshine,
There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.
When you take, you gotta give, so live and let live,
Or let go.
I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.

I could promise you things like beating f*cking Queens,
But I can't make the lads put the ball straight over.
So we better think it over.
Well, if sweet-talkin' you could make it come true,
I would give you the cup right now on a silver platter,
But what would it matter?
So smile for a while and listen to Brolly:
Antrim shouldn't be so melancholy.
Come along and share the good times with Mick McCann.

I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.
Along with the sunshine,
There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.

Instrumental break.

I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.

I could sing you a tune or realise I'm a tool,
But if that's what it takes to hold you,
I'd just as soon let you go, but there's one thing I want you to know.
You better look before you leap, Creagh Concrete runs deep,
And there won't always be someone there to pull you out,
And you know what I'm talkin' about.
So smile for a while and listen to Brolly:
Antrim shouldn't be so melancholy.
Come along and share the good times with Mick McCann.

I beg your pardon,
I never promised you a rose garden.
Along with the sunshine,
There's gotta be a little rain sometimes.

To fade.

I'd go with the latter Jody.

[Gold]

Jesus Hardstation! www.IfYourHeadsAwayJustSay!

[Our Nail Loney]

Bish is a tank

[Our Nail Loney]

I don't get it

[Gold]

been here a while and plucked up the courage at long last.

so where do Antrim stand now, are they any better than they were befor Jody took over? can they progress or are we destined to be in the nether regions for ever?

the result against Monaghan would suggest we have not improved--however monaghan were v. good last year and seemed to play a strong team when compared with their 1st 2 McKenna cup games. We are also missing the Uni players and have some injuries so we wont know until well into the league how well we will fare in the championship

I would be sceptical as to our chances of beating Queens 2moro nite

[saffron sam2]

Busy, but here's a quick summary.

been here a while and plucked up the courage at long last.

Welcome to the board. What's your club?

so where do Antrim stand now?

9th best team in Ulster (arguably 8th if Down have a bad day); about 29th / 30th in Ireland.

are they any better than they were befor Jody took over?

No better, one need only compare results with previous years.  A quick glance at the Tommy Murphy Cup final would suggest we learned little last year.

can they progress or are we destined to be in the nether regions for ever?

We have a good enough squad to win promotion from Division 4 and to compete with any team outside the top ten on a one-off. To be successful needs a long-term overhaul in terms of thinking and attitudes by the Gaels of Antrim. Don't have the time to go into it now, but everyone else on the board has heard it from me a million times over.

[imtommygunn]

Sam has issues with Jody Gormley so not sure how objective his views are.

Granted we were very poor against Derry last year and the most disappointing thing was perhaps the negative attitude but I do think that the TM cup showed a lot of promise.

We now have some players of real talent around the early 20s mark and some a bit below. Jody has blended McGourty and Crozier in well. Michael McCann and Paddy Cunningham are also younger players who look to have a quality about them and I also think Tomas McCann and hopefully Hasson can also fit into that category. I think in the TM cup we played some very good football and that shouldn't be forgotten.

The big test is this year though. We need to get out of division 4 and it's not unrealistic to believe we can beat Cavan - I think we will.

Have we progressed under him - I'm not sure. This year will tell. I have no agenda and I would say some of the football we played in the TM cup was the best I've ever seen an Antrim team play. That Wicklow team could beat a few teams in Ulster too.

[saffron sam2]

Any issues that I may have with Mr Gormley has been outlined numerous times in the past (probably even on this thread). No-one has argued with any of the points I raised about him. If you like, I will raise them again, so that others can judge.

My criticism of Gormley is now based solely on his managerial record, as were my criticisms of previous managers - most notably Michael Culbert. Look at the league results over the past few years and tell me how we have progressed. It's not that long ago that we finished above Derry in Div. 2B ('03 I think). The TM Cup looked promising becuase only three took it in any way seriously, Clare and Wicklow being the other two. Actually finishing in the top half of Div. 2B and not qualifying for the TM Cup could have been construed as progress. Coming second in a poor three horse race can't. Besides Mr Gormley often spoke of how he was concentrating on us not conceding goals, yet after a full year, we concede three of the worst goals ever seen in Croke Park.

You have set the same targets as me, promotion and defeating Cavan. You are correct about some of the young talent and at full strength we have a decent first 15. It's how to develop that and I am unconvinced that Gormley is the man. As, it appears, are you, given that you can't decide if any progress is made.

If I was picking the Antrim team at full strength it would be something like this:

Red Dog

Brady C (or McClean), Doc, Loughrey
Crozier, McClean (or Convery), Kelly

Quinn (or McGourty K), Hasson

M McCann, McGourty K, Brady K
CJ, Magill, The Hands

Probably forgot a few, but certainly a more than decent defence and four or five handy forwards.

[imtommygunn]

Last year was very hard to judge. Realistically we were never going to beat Derry so the main target would have been to progress in the TM which we did and it should have ended in us winning it. Jody was new in the league so experimentation in the first year should be allowed.

Realistically we don't have depth in the squad. The team which you have set out would be what most people would go for. I would put McCann more central and I still am not sure about Doherty at full back though think he should be catered for somewhere else. Scoose did well in the corner back slot too though I'm not sure he's in the squad - I think that may be injury though. Scoose, Mark Dougan, Tomas McCann and Aidso Gallgher would be the only other ones I could think of who may trouble that 15.

I vaguely remember your issues with Gormley but not too bothered to be honest.

I hope we get promoted and beat Cavan this year however I don't think we will get promoted. I do, however, think we will beat Cavan. My reasons for that line of thinking are squad depth. Best 15 against Wicklow I think we can beat them - anything short I'm not so sure. I'm not sure the exact makeup of division 4 however if Sligo and Clare are in it anything less than full strength would be tough for us too.

[Maximus Marillius]

Slim shady kept telling us that Antrim were going to beat derry. Brolly seemed to have an inflence on the negative approach taken by Antrim

[PlayWithTheWind]

from the ever helpful bbc:

Antrim 1-11 0-16 Queen's 
The students of Queen's University pulled off another win in the McKenna Cup by overturning a half-time deficit to beat Antrim by five points.
Conor Murray scored Antrim's goal in the 22nd minute to help put Jody Gormley's side into a 1-7 to 0-7 advantage at the interval.

Murray finished Antrim's top scorer with 1-2 but his side added only four scores in the second half.

Paul McComiskey was top marksman for Queen's with six points.