Antrim Football Thread

[milltown row]

The game against the Johnnies was poor enough, I'm sure the Cargin lads who were at the match wont be too worried if Naomh Gall come out and play like that on Sunday...... I doubt though that Naomh Gall will play as bad.

St Johns played good football in the first half, good running game and were well supported but for a team to play like this the whole game requires good fitness and this showed midway through the second half. Scores became harder for them to get and we just managed to do enough to win the game.

The Cargin game will be of a higher intensity; at this stage I'd say Cargin are favourites. This is down to the head to head in the league and Naomh Galls poor form of late.

Should be a cracking game and the winner of the championship will come from this semi final, whether Lamhs or Rasharkin men like it or not they dont have enough to beat either team when they are on song

[milkman mk II]

was also at the two intermediate champ games, ahoghill and ballymena, wasnt a bad game, but after seeing moneyglass pick glenavy off in the second half, i wud say moneyglass would be favourites for intermediate now, always thought it would be between glenavy moneyglass, who ever won out of that tie would prob go on to win it.

moneyglass midfielders dominated, though to be fair thought the ref was a bit harsh on glenavy at times.

mc keffrey should maybe be looked at for the county! wasnt that over impressed with gill, think glenavy where playing him chb, he shud be used in the forwards line as i hea he destroyed rossa up there.

[bannside]

Mc Keefrey def has made good progress since the few times I saw him play under Mickey Culbert. Looking fit and strong, and more athletic. He hits hard too! County standard yes. Liked "kindo" as well.

[lurgan-gael]

moneyglass have the small problem of gettn past the g's!
up the g's!!

[gallsman]

Galls by two. Pretty poor game. Cargin led 1-06 to 0-04 at half time and then didn't score in the second half while we got seven fairly good points to leave it at 0-11 to 1-06. Gave away a lot of frees in the first half that McCann had no bother putting over, think he got four or five. Crozier got a soft point from play when he was left completely unmarked. Cargin FF (Gerard O'Boyle??? If so, what's happened to him over the last five years or so, was he not the great white hope at some stage?) flicked the goal from a high ball that Gallagher failed miserably to challenge. Ciaran Gallagher, Terry O'Neill and Anto Healy were both very poor in the first half, with Gaga being replaced at half time by CJ. Gaga was beaten for pace every time, which I'm not sure I've seen before and McCann was getting the better of Anto constantly. It should be illegal for Terry to attempt a shot on goal. McCartan appeared to have no interest in changing players or trying anything new- he just strolled the sideline with his hands in his pockets. Niblock and Burkey playing well for Galls, Nibs carrying a lot of ball and taking big hits. Burkey giving out similar hits for us.

Second half and Galls had a great point inside ten seconds. Started a running game with Kel leading the charge that brought a great sequence of points, including ones from Healey and then Kel to put us a point up. Kept playing possession football, with Andy able to move up the pitch as Cargin chased the game. McCann missed three frees over the course of the half which were the only real sniffs of chances Cargin had. Andy got the insurance point a few minutes from the end when he fisted over after a great run up the field involving several exchanges.

Gregory Walsh had a reasonable game I thought, even ifhe was a bit free and easy wit his yellow cards. McGourtys all behaved better than normal, although Kevin got a yellow for something off the ball where his man ended up on the deck. He was up pretty quickly though, so I don't think there was anything too serious. Mouthing by and large kept to a minimum for once. Cargin seem to have a good few Aidan O'Mahoneys in their team, yes, I'm looking at you number 5!  Minor incident on steps into changing rooms at half time. Didn't see it due to both sets of clubs blocking the view but Kevin Niblock allegedly either threw or received an elbow. Handbags really by all accounts.

Few candidates for MOTM- Kel, Burkey, Niblock, Karl.

Deserving, if unconvincing, winners. Thoughts of another assault on the Ulster Championship seem a long, long way off.

Heard that Lambs won by a point on Saturday, not sure though.

[Glensman]

Lamh Dhearg did indeed win by a point 1-13 2-9. Was chatting to someone today who said that Rasharkin were hard done by but seemingly they got two late goals.
Feel that Lamh Dhearg will give St Galls a better game.

The Galls Cargin game was a tight one but one that never really flowed and wasn't full of great football. Shame that Cargin didn't really come out in the second half.
For Cargin I thought their county plyers didn't exert the influence they should be...Mick McCann, Tomas McCann, Crozier (should be CHB), Scullion (the O'Mahoney candidate you speak of Gallsman) and to a lesser extent Close.
Kevin O'Boyle however proved that he's not far off the best defender in Antrim.

A bit of class and arguably fitness in the tank got St Galls through. McClean, Kelly played well. Niblock played grand but was not MOTD match and it was him who started the little incident on the way in...side of his game I hadn't seen before. St Galls never flowed in all honesty...not enough good ball went into Stewart who could have been dangerous and looked lively.

Alot of work to do for St Galls, agree about McCartan's approach...seemed a strange one. Stolling on the sideline, smiling and joking away but each to their own.

Was pretty disappointed with the refereeing in both games at Casement today (especially the first game Randalstown Ballymena).
Did either of the referees watch any of the Tyrone match at all...or any decent standard of match. It was so stop start it was appalling. No (hard) tackling of any sort allowed...when and if the Antrim teams hit Ulster for club or county they get a shock as to the hard hitting allowed. We need to see this at club football and fast.


The senior final will no doubt be a feisty one with a bit of history between the two of them.

Casement held up well with 6 games in 4 days.

[Gold]

Galls will beat Lambs by as much as they want--they couldnt care and wont get excited until they play Mayobridge

[Great Leap Forward]

As a Rasharkin man saturday nights match left a bitter taste in the mouth. While I didn't think Money-grabber Mullan was a good referee, I just really never realised he was so bad. To be fair he was bad for both teams. There were several times fans from both teams were left scratching their head in confusion at the award of some frees. Every time the ball came into our defence he either awarded a free in or a free out. Cunningham scored 8 points from frees while our full back line won about 15 frees. It was surreal watching it.

My main gripe would be the way he conducted himself during the last 5 minutes of the game when it was level.

First off all he sent one of our players off for an incident that no-one in the whole ground witnessed.

He then awarded Lamh Dearg a soft enough free to take the lead. He compounded that by blowing one of our players up for wasting time taking a free despite the fact we were getting beat.

To top the lot he blew the final whistle when we were on the attack with one of our players having 20 yards space in front of him.

All in all a draw probably would have been a fair result but to lose under those circumsatances was like a kick in the balls.

I hold no malice to Lamh Dearg because they had to play under the same circumstances and I hope they go on to win the final. Any team with Paddy Cunningham has a good chance to win because he is a classy finisher.

It just feels horrible not to get another crack at getting to our first final in 43 years due to the ineptitude of a referee. St Pauls are well rid of him.

[davincicode]

Totally concur with your views GLF, he was scandalous to say the least, a lot of his decisions where completely off the rule book, and he killed what should have been a great game of football and a great occasion for your club, you where by far the better team in the second half and deserved at least another crack at it.

The lamhs will struggle against the might of St Galls, county needs a good ref for that one. Why do you call him Money Grabber?

[Great Leap Forward]

The lamhs will struggle against the might of St Galls, county needs a good ref for that one. Why do you call him Money Grabber?

Why do you think he joined St Brigids?

[Dunloy]

Didnt get to see your game on saturday GLF, but i suppose the old saying alls fair in love and war rings true, cant say Geard Duggan was great in the first round when he gifted use a one point victory over us in injury time? I called it from day one that use would get beat by 1-2 points simply becasue of Paddy Cunninghams free taking. Made it up to the cargin, st galls game and i must say it was terrible, neither team seemed that interested in actually winning which i found strange(especially from carigns point of view), The fire and determination they showed in the championship when they beat st galls in the first round( two years ago?) was no where to be seen, possibly bad blood in the camp from the whole JC Devlin thing? Was really disappointed with their county men who were none existant, thought Tomas McCann hit 3-4 frees wide off the deck that Close could easily have put over from his hands(regardless of which side they were on) and also agree with the comments above about diving, i was embarrassed at times by it. Thouch St Galls were good in the second half, Karl Stewart i thought was always their biggest threat although they didnt give him the right ball, thought Sean Burke played well along with McLean and id have to say my Man of the match would have been Kevin Niblock, was always effective on the ball and showed well, Terry O Neill was terrible as was the number 6(gribbies?) would say St Galls will be L D easy enough, after the customary 15 rough and tumble. But clearly if they want to do anything in ulster theyll nedd to up it big time.

[bannside]

From what I saw Niblock had a great game, a really underestimated player, best winner (and keeper, and user) of dirty ball in the county. Strong as a bull. Ciaran Mc Gourty also hasnt got the credit he deserves, very hard working, unselfish, and a great team player. Probably my MOM, a close run thing with Kevin O Boyle.

Why the hell was Crozier at 11, def dosent strike me as a natural forward?

[Great Leap Forward]

Dunloy, I understand your greivance about the free which led to our winning point in the first round, but in all fairness your goal came from a free that should have went the other way. Unlike Mullan on Saturday night Duggan wasn't working from an agenda.

Until Saturday night I used to think the notion that you can't win a tight match in the city against a city team was just a myth. I am now a firm believer in that notion. Several members of our clubs have been approached by neutrals at the game saying that the way we were treated by the ref was disgraceful. A high up member of the Derry county board who was at the game said it was the worst display of refereeing he had ever seen.

He is a low f**ker anyway. He charges £100 a match for refereeing Camogie.

[gallsman]

Crozier was completely wasted at CHF. If they'd been able to get him the ball he might have been able to do something but instead had to focus on vainly attempting to stop a rampaging Sean Kelly. Niblock has always been a good, strong footballer, think he was playing senior championship when he was 16. However, he was injured and essentially burnt out for a good while, and never seemed to justify the early hype about him. All changed this year hopefully. Great at winning and holding the ball on Sunday and kicked a fine point as well. Last time I saw him was against Cross and he couldn't kepp hold of the thing to save his life. He was hit hard and often on Sunday, and took them all without spilling it once. Great performance.

[Glensman]

One point I will say about Niblock is that he needs to get himself a new pair of boots.

Against Cross (all day) and then again (a few times) on Sunday he slipped all over the place.  A pair of studs needed.

Had heard he was some underage player and no doubt he has done well. Hopefully he wil be able injury free to fulfil that potential.