Antrim Hurling

[Milltown Row2]

county met them last week, 8 of our panel. Shorty decided to call it a day. fair play to him as he has been a good servant to the county shirt over the years and will be badly missed.
Ryan elliott, nigel elliott, woody, eamon smyth, conal cunning, keelan molloy and Eoin O'Neill have all committed to the panel for next year

Thats a good set of lads that have committed, hopefully Antrim can make a fist of it this year, competitive from the start, regardless of the away games..

set realistic goals for theselves as players when they step out on to the pitch, have the prep done personally before getting start of the season and come in mentally ready.. too many times our lads (understandably in some cases) go out beaten already before a puck!! Losing their personal battle with their opposite number and chasing shadows.. Respect other teams yes! but respect your team/county also!

[old timers]

well lets just hope the "committment" lasts from everyone involved.  From what I remember of last year there were a lot that dropped out before the campaign even began. Only time will tell

[NAG1]

well lets just hope the "committment" lasts from everyone involved.  From what I remember of last year there were a lot that dropped out before the campaign even began. Only time will tell

Was this not the exact plan of the tough training regime?

[hurlingstick]

Article in the Irish News today in which Geoff Laverty lambasts the Ulster '5 year rule'. Cloughmills are the innocent victims but I agree with the foundations of the rule - to stop clubs taking the easy option of dropping down.

[Last Man]

Article in the Irish News today in which Geoff Laverty lambasts the Ulster '5 year rule'. Cloughmills are the innocent victims but I agree with the foundations of the rule - to stop clubs taking the easy option of dropping down.

If you are good enough to win a JHC or IHC it is a sad reflection on you if your ambition stops there even if a senior is a stretch. Its a fair system and gives developing teams a chance. I know its been a tough year for them but surprised at this all the same.

[clootfromthe21]

Article in the Irish News today in which Geoff Laverty lambasts the Ulster '5 year rule'. Cloughmills are the innocent victims but I agree with the foundations of the rule - to stop clubs taking the easy option of dropping down.

Couldn't disagree with the principle but I think 3 years is probably fairer to avoid the yo-yo effect but also stop clubs taking advantage. I think Lisbellaw have got similarly caught by the rule which means that they are obliged to play in the Ulster Senior Championship every year (there being - I understand - no Fermanagh championship)

[Milltown Row2]

Keady suffered with the same problem a few years ago, having to enter senior (they did do well in fairness) for that period also

[johnneycool]

Article in the Irish News today in which Geoff Laverty lambasts the Ulster '5 year rule'. Cloughmills are the innocent victims but I agree with the foundations of the rule - to stop clubs taking the easy option of dropping down.

Any time a non Antrim team win Ulster at intermediate they have this side effect. Cloughmills have scope to kick on and improve whereas the likes of Lisbellaw are thrown in at the deep end with no progression during the year.

I think the ruling is from Croke Park though and not Ulster, but I would shorten it to 3 years all the same.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

i see why hes annoyed at the ruling but at the same time whats the point in dropping down into whats comfortable when its tough?

5 years imo opinion is far too long if you dont have an under system to have a flow of players into the panel each season and they dont have a reserve team either but whos fault is that? i would like to see Cmills do well but realistically when they dont have an underage system nor do i see one at grass roots level - maybe im wrong here and will stand corrected but if other clubs like Moneyglass etc can all make strives to get underage hurling going then theres no reason why they cant.

3 years as JC says would be suffice for this ruling but if you have a degree of ambition to make it and improve your club you will take the hard knocks and set backs and keep going.

[johnneycool]

i see why hes annoyed at the ruling but at the same time whats the point in dropping down into whats comfortable when its tough?

5 years imo opinion is far too long if you dont have an under system to have a flow of players into the panel each season and they dont have a reserve team either but whos fault is that? i would like to see Cmills do well but realistically when they dont have an underage system nor do i see one at grass roots level - maybe im wrong here and will stand corrected but if other clubs like Moneyglass etc can all make strives to get underage hurling going then theres no reason why they cant.

3 years as JC says would be suffice for this ruling but if you have a degree of ambition to make it and improve your club you will take the hard knocks and set backs and keep going.

Middletown and Carrickmore played just before our senior semi-final with Lisbellaw and TBH both would have beaten Lisbellaw based on what transpired after that.
I'm not even sure Lisbellaw have a competitor in Fermanagh so for the next while they're thrown in at the deep end against teams playing at a much higher level week in week out and that's where there may be an issue.
The Tain league isn't bringing these teams on as most results seem to be CONC or played at spurious times of the year.

[Milltown Row2]

i see why hes annoyed at the ruling but at the same time whats the point in dropping down into whats comfortable when its tough?

5 years imo opinion is far too long if you dont have an under system to have a flow of players into the panel each season and they dont have a reserve team either but whos fault is that? i would like to see Cmills do well but realistically when they dont have an underage system nor do i see one at grass roots level - maybe im wrong here and will stand corrected but if other clubs like Moneyglass etc can all make strives to get underage hurling going then theres no reason why they cant.

3 years as JC says would be suffice for this ruling but if you have a degree of ambition to make it and improve your club you will take the hard knocks and set backs and keep going.

Middletown and Carrickmore played just before our senior semi-final with Lisbellaw and TBH both would have beaten Lisbellaw based on what transpired after that.
I'm not even sure Lisbellaw have a competitor in Fermanagh so for the next while they're thrown in at the deep end against teams playing at a much higher level week in week out and that's where there may be an issue.
The Tain league isn't bringing these teams on as most results seem to be CONC or played at spurious times of the year.

So do we open up an all Ulster league ? (been down before in early Spring) with decent fixturing in th eright time of the year, i.e with a bit of effort from the Ulster Council and some finance to back up the costs of traveling and so on, would it work?

Setanta hammered Gorts so on face value they are at an Antrim div 2 standard.. Lavey blew away Sarsfields so they would be playing at senior standard Middletown certainly at the very least div 2 in an Antrim league set up Of course S'neil and Dungiven could potentially be playing at senior level.. Probably too much to sort out, as you have the the dual codes and the seperate county boards, but the question would be.....

Would it raise the standards across Ulster, or would the cry be from Antrim, that its bring the standard down?, though based on S'Neil's two wins we wouldnt have a leg to stand on!!

[Tony Baloney]

Was reading somewhere today (possibly Curly McIlwaine's facebook) that this 5 year is only in place in Ulster and only for hurling. Why is hurling in Ulster targeted specifically? 5 years is far too long a cycle, especially for smaller clubs where a lot of boys can come and go in 5 years due to economic reasons etc.

[Antrim Coaster]

The Tain league would appear to be a bit of a joke. None of the Antrim, Derry or Down (bar those from South Down) teams bother with it.

TBH anything hurling related that Ulster organises turns out to be a cack handed load of crap.

This coming from a provincial council that could not run off a 3 team championship a few years ago.

[NAG1]

The Tain league would appear to be a bit of a joke. None of the Antrim, Derry or Down (bar those from South Down) teams bother with it.

TBH anything hurling related that Ulster organises turns out to be a cack handed load of crap.

This coming from a provincial council that could not run off a 3 team championship a few years ago.

Is there not a Hurling Development Manager for Ulster?

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Was reading somewhere today (possibly Curly McIlwaine's facebook) that this 5 year is only in place in Ulster and only for hurling. Why is hurling in Ulster targeted specifically? 5 years is far too long a cycle, especially for smaller clubs where a lot of boys can come and go in 5 years due to economic reasons etc.

are they not tied into the senior hurling championship as well for a number of years?