Messages

i hear violins playing!!

as i said what goes around comes around.
firehill, we'll leave it at that.

read earlier about the two mcgourty's not committing to county panel.
big disappointment
had hoped everyone would commit for the year, but not to be.


heard by all accounts with baker, it his way or no way.
takes no crap, work rate is everything with him.

look firehill, i have seen it first hand so i know what goes on.
im not naming anyone, im not being personal here.

the thing that gets me is that yous arent a bad footballing team, when yous want to.
all i was saying is try playing abit more football and cut out the crap.

fair play to ye for standing up for your club, id do the same,
but as they say if you throw enough muck, it will eventually stick.
thats where im coming from, i've seen it too many times for it just to be a coincidence.

good luck in division 2 next year, if yous stick to the football, yous will win it with ease.

firehill, maybe you are the decent soul up on hannahstown, your bound to be very lonely.

lamhs take a rough approach in every game they play.
by taking a rough approach, does this mean punching men off the ball, trying to intimidate them & so on.
its called football, why not try playing it from time to time, might win more matches.
im sure theres a boxing club somewhere in west belfast, get some of your men to join it!!

i beg to differ about yous getting on with st galls, not one of them will be sad to see yous stay in division 2 for the long term
& they arent alone either.

as i said before what goes round comes round, learnt that from karate kid the movie!!!

what a weekend!!

going into the weekend hadnt high hopes, but hoped we could manage somehow to stay up
& we did it just about.
talk about doing it the hard way!
as milltown said, took the lead only for one of our own boys to score an og!
with cargin already crowned league champs, yet again, having beat us the previous day, st galls didnt seem to mind if they won or not!
im sure there has been no love lost over the years between them and lamhs, incidents such as a st galls man getting a hiding outside thompsons garage by a mob of lamhs after the county final a couple of years back.
then theres the sevens tournament in co down last year, lamhs wouldnt call off a league match the next day, which they won.
you can say what you want about the mcgourtys but their all welcome in rasharkin any time,even sean!!
did kevin tell the baker his decision yet?
hope he does commit & plays championship, not like last year, where he left after a couple of league games.
great footballer & everybody knows antrim needs him as much as he needs them.

st johns deserved to stay after their performance yesterday, they went out did what they had to do.
rumours will surely resurface now about paddy cunningham heading for de la salle park.

in div 4 we fell into portglenones trap on saturday, not much football played.
even the managers were at it up the line!
ref threaten to walk, it was that bad.

fair play to st aggies, a good well disciplined side, but like ourselves will struggle, next year!




as the old saying goes, what goes round, comes round!
lamhs have got exactly what they deserved.

st galls will not have a chance like it again to let lamhs, who tried to stir it with them in county final,
or johnnies, who tries to bully them last week, get relegated.

another conspiracy theory!


no matter what way results go on saturday, lamhs & johnnies match is a must win for both.
might be ugly!

not sure tommy whats going on, might be played at weekend, not sure, havent heard!


you might not be far wrong though!!!
a good conspiracy theory!!

max, you should worry about beating the loup or kilrea!?

cargin v. rasharkin tonight is off!!

st johns v. gortnamona tonight casement 7.30pm throw-in.

cargin v. rasharkin tomorrow night in toome 8pm throw-in.

rasharkin v. gortnamona thursday night 7.30pm throw-in.

what would we do without lights!!!?/?

anyone know what fixtures are being played this week?

had heard johnnies & gort were to play tuesday night at casement,
but not on county website as yet.
gort were also to play rasharkin away on thursday night, which is fixed for saturday on website!

bit of a surprise creggan beating lamhs,
i hear paddy cunningham had cast cut off his foot before match,
by club members!!!!
he came on at half time, limping about, could hardly run,
still got a couple of points though.
signs of panic stations up on hannahstown!!

lamhs & st johns match could be good one next week,
if its still all to play for.

SS2, these sources, you wouldnt be talking about yourself, would you?
i know 2 teachers who works in a pe dept who would be very, very close to kevin!
one was on the front page of gael sport presenting a cup!!!

                     PL  W L D FOR AG  DIF PTS
Cargin             16 13 3 0 286 190 96  26
St. Galls           14 10 3 1 197 135 62  21
St. Pauls          17 7 8 2 196 189    7  16
Portglenone     16 8 8 0 209 219  -10 16
St. Brigids        16 7 8 1 201 202   -1  15
Creggan          15 7 8 0 172 191  -19 14
Lamh Dhearg   16 6 8 2 176 212  -36 14
St. Johns        15 6 8 1 162 194  -32 13
Rasharkin        14 5 7 2 152 181  -29 12
Gort Na Mona  15 3 11 1 164 202 -38  7


Score difference could have a say yet!!

Good result last night for Rasharkin surely!

any one of 7 teams could go down if results go certain ways!
think gorts are doomed, heard they are to play 3 matches inside the last week before cut-off.
but if they fail to beat cargin at the weekend then their down, their remaining matches are against
st johns on tues night at casement & then rasharkin away on thurs night.
rasharkin have st brigids at home on sunday, then gorts thurs night & cargin away next saturday.
thinks lamhs will get themselves safe, they have creggan at home sat, then st johns away last game next sun.
johnnies have galls away sun, gorts on tues at casement & lahms at home last game.
st brigids have got rasharkin away sunday & then away to galls which isnt fixed!
creggan still arent safe either, lamhs away sat, portglenone at home not fixed & galls away not fixed!
and even at that st pauls play portglenone this weekend, whoever wins is safe but loser could be in bother,
and as its st pauls last game they would have to sit and watch, but expect them to win!

any cobination of results could happen so totally impossible to even guess who might go down.
if rasharkin get a result on sunday against brigids it really will be squeaky bum time for everyone!!!

For anyone whos interested Bakers IN interview was posted on derry football thread here goes enjoy:


ADRIAN McGuckin, he credits, for teaching him most of what he knows. McGuckin's basic

principles on how to play the game, the fusion of ability and attitude essential to be a footballer and a winner, Liam Bradley has never forgotten.

He is into his second week of the biggest job of a career in Gaelic football rooted in a rural parish that, as a boy, did not have the

numbers to field in underage games. Antrim's new senior football manager singled McGuckin out as an inspirational influence.

Scientific football.

The man who coached him at St Patrick's, Maghera, who put trust in Bradley as a full-back on the first Maghera team that captured the prestigious MacRory Cup of Ulster Senior Colleges football in 1977, against Abbey CBS Newry, was not one to buy into the science

spin-doctors.

McGuckin famously responded to a rival school's coach, interviewed prior to a MacRory Cup match, who suggested they would win by

sticking to scientific football – "scientific football my arse". He went on to make it clear Maghera's plain and simple game plan was to "get the ball into the square". Chaos ensued as the 'Hail Marys' turned possession and pressure into profit.

The second half of the game was made academic as Maghera powered to victory.

"Adrian was a brilliant man. He was probably the greatest coach I ever played under, or the greatest coach I've ever seen. He done the simple things, learned you the basics of the game, how to catch and kick a ball, the basics, and that was what Maghera were about at that time. That is why St Pat's were different than anybody else at that time."

Bradley was working to try and make the grade the previous year, 1976, the season St Pat's reached the first of what would be 10 MacRory Cup finals in-a-row. Four wins followed in the '80s, a treble in the '90s, to cement the college's reputation as one of the country's leading football nurseries.

Football was never just about catch and kick, as Liam recalled: "Adrian installed a will to win with us that was unbelievable. I remember playing St Pat's, Cavan in a quarter-final of the MacRory and myself and Seamus Doyle, who used to manage Enniskillen Gaels, were assigned to nudge the Cavan boys even before the game, as they were coming off the bus, just to agitate a bit.

"Apart from showing us the basics of Gaelic football, Adrian's approach was probably more so to do with instilling into players that you always give it your all, that you are never beat, to never ever give up, never lie down to anyone and that's how I have always approached Gaelic football."

Bradley's introduction to it was a short car journey from his home in Glenullin to the neighbouring rival parish of Kilrea. The Glenullin club did not have any juvenile and minor teams then, so Liam and his brothers – Gabriel played on the same team as current Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill – were tutored by the parish priest, "a great GAA man", Father Leo Deery.

"The first person who introduced me to Gaelic football was the late Father Deery. He was a great man, was the priest at the time in Kilrea. Glenullin had no underage structures and myself and all my brothers played for Kilrea at that level. I remember in 1974 we played in an U16 final for Kilrea against Glack. Father Deery was the manager," he said.

"From there I went on to play for St Pat's, Maghera under Adrian McGuckin, was on the first team to win the MacRory Cup, played

full-back on a team Terence Laverty, who went on to play for Antrim, was captain of and that

Kilrea's Kevin McWilliams, who went on to win an Ulster Senior Championship for Derry in 1987, played on. There were a few

characters on it, a few who entered that team as boys and came out of it as men."

A decade later, where he lived had changed, expanded population, and the GAA club was reaping the benefits as the quality of young players allowed John Mitchel's GAC, Glenullin to field across the age groups, one of whom was to become an Allstar before his 19th birthday; Dermot McNicholl.

He was still 19 when he captained the club to win the Derry SFC title. He earned his stripes with Glenullin as an U14 and U16 Derry

Championship medalist and, like Bradley, won MacRory with Maghera – four of them from five

finals (1980-84).

Bradley was part of the club's underage management team at that juncture, working with manager Danny McIlvar and Gerard O'Kane. The coaching bug had bitten him despite being only 21 and playing for Derry.

"In the early '80s there was a great underage set-up at Glenullin, a very good U16 team that came through that included Dermot McNicholl, Danny O'Kane, my brother Dominic, Cathal McNicholl. All those guys went on to play for Derry.

"We won U14 and U16 county titles and were going for a three-in-a-row of minor titles when pipped by the great Lavey team that came through in '82.

"I got involved in coaching at the club at that time and that whetted my appetite. That's when I started coaching and it's just progressed from there. I then took the senior team for a while in the late '80s, Gerard O'Kane and myself were player-managers, and it's esculated from there."

On the playing side of life, that part of his Gaelic football passion did not draw to a close until the mid-1990s.

A minor, U21 and senior with his native Oak Leaf, his days with Derry ended with the arrival of Mickey Moran for his first stint in charge.

"I played right through to senior level, played a few McKenna Cup games," recalled Liam but, in an honest assessment, the reasons for not pushing on to the NFL and Championship arenas were that "I never really cut it at senior with Derry as in the early '80s I was just down the pecking order a bit."

He continued: "I went into the senior panel under Frankie O'Loan and Harry Shivers. They left and Mickey Moran came in. I wasn't part of Mickey's plans. That is just the way it goes."

In 1996, at the age of 36, the need for a place on the washing line for his Glenullin jersey came to an end too.

"I actually played in a Reserve Championship match against Dungiven that year along with Patrick (Derry's 2007 Allstar forward). I was playing middle of the field, Patrick was corner- forward. It was a father-son effort that day. I think Patrick scored nine points and, of course, I supplied most of the bullets. That was my swansong. Dungiven beat us in the semi-final by a couple of points."

Sipping coffee, sitting relaxed at Walsh's Hotel in Maghera, the conversation, spiked with humour as he delved into a selection of memories and milestones that brought him to where he's at now, takes on a more serious note as the focus turns to Antrim, the new job, the great challenge.

On the night he was selected as the successor to Jody Gormley he was described by one official as "a straight talker".

Once he was approached by a club asking if he would allow them to put his name forward, once his mind was made up despite half-a-dozen clubs nominating him for the senior Derry post Paddy Crozier vacated – Bradley was brought into Crozier's backroom team in 2006 – he would decline an interview as Damian Cassidy was "short-odds favourite" and duly appointed, the talking started.

His two sons, Paddy and Eoin, both county seniors, were sounded out. Go for it they advised. His "good friend" Richard Ferris, who brought him in to coach when he was with Drumsurn and Derry's minors before he took charge of Derry U21s seven years ago, was sounded out, so too former Allstar Tony Scullion.

All were in agreement.

"It was a thrill to be asked by an outside county and hopefully it will work out. I knew when this job became available there was plenty of talent in Antrim and I felt that if I could get in there that I could maybe do a job with them.

"Now in Gaelic football a lot of counties go for the home town man but there's a lot to be said for an outsider in some cases. I was delighted to be asked, delighted that Antrim put their faith in me and my backroom team of Niall Conway, who I believe is one of the top young coaches in Ulster, my other selector Paddy McNeill of Rasharkin and Tony McCollum of Creggan, who is the liaison officer."

He is aware of the polarised city/country opinion and outlook that has unfortunately reared its head to divide Antrim often in the past. The topic is unavoidable. But, the new manager insists that whatever happened previously, whatever problems there were – large or small – are of absolutely no interest.

There is a clean slate for every club to sign up to, every player who believes he has something to contribute positively to the cause, for whom wearing the jersey means what it should mean.

"We have listened to stories down through the years about country and city fellas not getting on, but I don't care about that. I know nothing about it. Myself and Niall Conway are coming into this from Derry and we carry no baggage.

"We are going to treat every individual on a level par. I don't care what happened in the past.

Everybody who should be playing for Antrim will be given a chance. All the good footballers in Antrim will hopefully be playing for us come 2009. We are starting off on a level playing field."

Antrim are still wearing the straight-jacket of Division Four. A competitive assembly of opponents, not easy to get past. Jody Gormley's team had its chances but lost their way in the final two rounds, defeat by Waterford at home fastening the basement buckles for another NFL campaign.

Promotion then perhaps?

Liam's eyes run through the fixture list. Wicklow, the county that beat Antrim for the Tommy Murphy Cup in '07, the county that lost to Antrim in that same cup's final at Croke Park in August, at home first clip. Leitrim, managed by the county manager who didn't see him as part of his senior Derry plans as a player, Mickey Moran.

"It is a coincidence that Mickey has taken up a new managerial post with Leitrim and I've been

appointed by Antrim. One of the hardest games Antrim will probably have next year will be playing in Carrick-on-Shannon in our fourth game of the National League. I will be looking forward to that game alright. It will be an interesting game.

"I know it is Division Four football, but there's a lot of strong teams in there with us, Carlow, Sligo, we're at home to Wicklow in our first game. None are pushovers. It's a tough, very, very competitive League."

Promotion a realistic target then perhaps? He isn't making any promises because the "realistic target" he will set the new Antrim squad assessed and put in place for January's tune-up for the NFL, the Dr McKenna Cup, is what he believes is a first base basic essential. If achieved, and he is adamant that it will be, Antrim will move forward.

"We will not be setting any targets at this stage. It is only the beginning of November and all we will be telling our players when we meet them is gain a bit of respect for Antrim football. The first night we meet them, that's what we will tell the players – get respect for Antrim football.

"If they can gain that respect then they will not be that far away, I think. That is the target we will be setting ourselves. I would not have taken the job on if I didn't think I was capable of doing it and capable of, I'll not say bringing them forward, but getting Antrim a bit of respect.

"First and foremost Antrim football, and guys might say no this isn't true, but I'd say they have very little respect throughout Ulster.

"You know, the first draw everybody wants in the Ulster Championship is Antrim. They think it is going to be an easy thing and probably rightly so because they've won so few games in the Championship in the past 20 years and more, so we know we're the whipping boys of Ulster.

"Fermanagh used to be whipping boys in Ulster also but not anymore. Fermanagh have set the benchmark of where Antrim want to be. Gaelic

footballers have to realise that, when they join a county panel, they are ambassadors for that county and you have to get a mindset into them that it is about a will to win, a will to improve.

"That is what we will be trying to install. The management team I've drawn up know it is a big, big task but I think with a bit of work, things might change next year."

Respect. The initial target he wants delivered. He could not be any clearer on that. Players have to raise their collective game to earn the respect he states, from someone unattached to the county previously, Antrim does not attract from others.

Driving them along will be the tried and tested approach to Gaelic football, and an uncompromising will to be winners, his college coach taught him.

It's taken Liam this far. He intends to make sure Antrim in '09 stick to the same principles he believes can see the Saffrons prosper.

When the MacRory Cup old boy sends his players out to take on Donegal in next summer's Ulster Senior Championship, the coach he respects so much from his college days is likely to be on air, a radio match analyst, calling it – as he's renowned for – as he sees it.

That Sunday's report will be interesting to listen to. His former pupil will obviously hope the final assessment is one of straight As for his Antrim side.

yeah read that too glensman, aw well its done now, lets just get on with it.

ss2 so reading between the lines, because our county chairman is from a hurling club he shouldnt be involved in picking football manager!?
do you want two separate county boards, one for football & one for hurling, catch a grip man.
i thought teachers were educated people.

as for bakers IN interview, i dont care what he says in paper, its what he says to players & results that im looking for.
i think the trials are good idea, baker knows more about antrim football than most will think, if he doesnt already know it
he will make sure he does.
he took an average glenullin side two or three years ago, to a derry club title last year, its not the actual title im impressed with but the way, he got them up to a certain standard & kept them there & worked with them improving them all the time.
thats what i would be looking from him with antrim, realistically, we arent going to win ulsters or all-irelands, but we have to start competing against teams at a higher level for the whole match,not just in patches, before we can think about beating them & then stay at that level, becoming consistant.
the talent is there for it to happen.

[There are no rules/regulations that stipulate that a prospective candidate needs to be nominated by a club. It may be custom and practice - that's all! Who do think nominated Dinny Cahill for example? .]

SS2 - where are you hearing these stories?
Where is it set in stone that a candidate for the Antrim job has to be nominated by a club? (a serious question, not a rhetorical one)

Woudn't agree with the rule if that was definitely the case - surely it should be open to all parties to apply?

Aside from whatever the rule is and the specific reasons for the decision when it was made the process certainly seems to have worked well and been adhered to so there should be credit where credit is due.

this question was asked on the official antrim website just after appointment was made, reply was that clubs didnt have to nominate baker. more or less that it was same situation as dinny cahill.

to be precise this is the admins reply:

There are no rules/regulations that stipulate that a prospective candidate needs to be nominated by a club. It may be custom and practice - that's all! Who do think nominated Dinny Cahill for example? .

hope theres a good turnout at trials tonight, as baker says hopefully if he gets 5 or 6 out of it, it has been a good exercise.