Antrim Football Thread

Started by theskull1, November 09, 2006, 11:48:40 PM

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reddog

sorry i meant ciaran hamill. strong cases for pat magorrian, paddy cunningham senior, michael johnstone, aidan donnelly, donal armstrong, peter murray, ciaran o'neill, lennie harbinson and was it stphen lynn?? from cargin

milltown row

John McManus, while a gifted footballer i found that he lacked something, now can anyone fill me in on what that was?

ONeill

Quote from: milltown row on December 09, 2008, 06:49:45 PM
John McManus, while a gifted footballer i found that he lacked something, now can anyone fill me in on what that was?

Good looks?
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

bannside

Good side there Saff 2. Would have seen all of your team in action, and you`re definitely not far away. Raymond Mc Guckin prob the best club player I saw, but not rated enough by the co manager of the time.

Each generation throws up half a dozen good players, good enough for any team - but we need to get this figure up to 15 or 20 at the same time.

Plenty of talent out there at the minute, esp at under age level. That St Johns u-14 side is unreal. Sean Stinsons u -15`s about 3rd in Ulster og sport, and the Lamh Dearg u-16`s full of classy players.

Antrim minors last year not a mile off a good Cavan team, who in turn ran Tyrone to a point. St Marys CBS making decent progress too. Creggan minors also going well in the St Pauls comp.

The challenge is to get at least 20 top class talents all together at the one time, and no one will tell me that there isnt more than that out there in the fourteen to eighteen year olds across the county.

But it is the responsibility of the "doctor" to see this and action a plan to develop this.

To date this whole area of underage development has been a disaster, and dont get me going into specifics. There are far too many.

milltown row

Quote from: ONeill on December 09, 2008, 07:12:05 PM
Quote from: milltown row on December 09, 2008, 06:49:45 PM
John McManus, while a gifted footballer i found that he lacked something, now can anyone fill me in on what that was?

Good looks?

whatever tickles your fancy

imtommygunn

Bannside I would agree with a lot of what you say but antrim minors got cleaned by cavan last year. The scoreboard may have ended up close but that was one of the most porous defenses I have ever seen...

I do believe underage talent is getting better though. I had high hopes for the u21s this year but unfortunately that didn't happen. Hopefully there'll be a few good seniors out of that yet though.

Current players Michael McCann, possibly Tomas, and with his head right Conor McGourty could and should surpass anything in that team. Whether they do time will tell. Paddy Cunningham not in "great" teritory IMO.

Minder

If you take away the frees from Cunningham, albeit he is very good at them, im not sure he is as good as some tout him to be.
"When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us"

ONeill

Quote from: Minder on December 09, 2008, 09:38:33 PM
If you take away the frees from Cunningham, albeit he is very good at them, im not sure he is as good as some tout him to be.

I believe some say the same about Madden.
I wanna have my kicks before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

imtommygunn

Madden was unmarkable in club football and there were a few games for the county where he just rattled in the goals. His, short, career was very blighted by injury though so I don't think we ever saw the best of him.

Would have loved to have seen more of him the year we should have beat Derry to get to the ulster final but wasn't to be unfortunately.

saffron sam2

Quote from: ONeill on December 09, 2008, 07:12:05 PM
Quote from: milltown row on December 09, 2008, 06:49:45 PM
John McManus, while a gifted footballer i found that he lacked something, now can anyone fill me in on what that was?

Good looks?

A left foot?

Personality?
the breathing of the vanished lies in acres round my feet

bannside

ITG, last year the u-21`s had a good panel, but because the work wasnt done with them, they got well and truly hammered. Jody didnt give a shit, and the Doc obviously didnt either, or else he mght just have made it his business to find out what was going on.

I`d say if he took a look at the entire area of football development across the spectrum, he would have seen very little going on - certainly in in direct comparison to some of our neighbouring counties.

It is becoming more and more evident that either he hasnt a clue, or possibly more sinister, he just dosent care!

As Ive said a lot of ties before, I could put up with temporary lack of success at senior level, if I was content we were doing a lot more at underage level

like a true politician, he makes sure his own immediate area of interest is well catered for in this sector - North Antrim underage hurling development.

Its obvious Football is the poor relation, and its time this was pointed out. ( If he needs specifics, I will provide more than enough to back up my argument)

saffron sam2

Quote from: imtommygunn on December 09, 2008, 11:25:56 AM
Interesting post Sam.

A few of those boys would be a bit before my time. How good was Paul McErlain - he's the only one I can think of that might merit inclusion? I only really saw him in his latter years. I'd also share that opinion of John McManus. I've unfortunately seen him destroy many a defender in the club scene.

Given the increase in Derry people hijacking this thread a few selections should provoke discussion.

I genuinely think the phrase "the sublime and the ridiculous" was invented for Mackers. He scored some of the most incredible points I have ever seen; one from under the Hogan Stand in a NFL quarter-final against Kerry and the winner in a Sigerson semi-final in Trinity being two that stand out. However either shot could as easily have ended up setting off in totally the opposite direction than was intended. His flirting with Alliance party membership would also veer towards the ridiculous.

In fairness he suffered because successive Antrim managers couldn't agree on his best position - he could have been selected anywhere in the midfield diamond. Had he been given a few years at chf and nowhere else then he could have been a really good player. Still prefer Connolly myself.

Quote from: ONeill on December 09, 2008, 11:53:46 AM
You seriously have to question the validity of this side. The premise states that the players chosen played the best football for the county over the last 25 years. To chose McKiernan is like including Chris Lawn in the best Tyrone side 2005-2008 whereas he might have featured 1998-2008, .

If I was picking the best Tyrone team from 2005-08, I would be very tempted to pick Lawn. Two of my full backs would be McMenamin and Justin McNulty, the latter almost by default. The half back line would be Harte, Gormley and Jordan. So one full back spot up for grabs. The stand out performance for me in that time frame was Lawn's 20 minute cameo in the 2005 final. Added to what he had done over the previous decade and a bit, then I think I could justify his selection. A bit like John Wayne's Oscar. Hence, my selection of McKiernan is valid.

Quote from: ONeill on December 09, 2008, 11:53:46 AM
Did McKiernan contribute more to the Antrim cause from 1983-2008 than Kevin McGourty?

The brutally honest answer (and I'm expecting a deputation at my door later) is yes he did.

Quote from: ONeill on December 09, 2008, 11:53:46 AM
Did McKiernan contribute more to the Antrim cause from 1983-2008 than ... Brady...even the younger lads like McLean or the McCanns?

Brady and McLean aren't midfielders, hence your comparison isn't valid. You could argue Brady vs. Gough, but Brady (Kevin I'm assuming) too often flattered to deceive and wouldn't even make my short list. One or other of the McCanns will eventually replace McKiernan on the team.
the breathing of the vanished lies in acres round my feet

Minder

Quote from: bannside on December 10, 2008, 08:47:43 AM

like a true politician, he makes sure his own immediate area of interest is well catered for in this sector - North Antrim underage hurling development.

Its obvious Football is the poor relation, and its time this was pointed out. ( If he needs specifics, I will provide more than enough to back up my argument)

Obviously i am no fan of Johnny Ping. In fairness Intotommygunn the good work being done in North Antrim hurling development is being done by the North Antrim board itself.
"When it's too tough for them, it's just right for us"

lynchbhoy

BTW SS2, Neither Lynn in your selection - even though one was a TV 'star' (for all the wrong reasons) at one stage?
..........

saffron sam2

#3044
No neither Lynn would have been good enough.
the breathing of the vanished lies in acres round my feet