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[currently]

So you're not a fan of Corrigan?

What pitch/ground currently in Antrim can be used?

I've asked you this a few times but you haven't come back to me.

Been to a few grounds already this year, they are in piss poor state.

So I'll be interested to hear what's better.

Now if you are thick enough to keep going back over old ground on where Antrim are currently playing their home games then knock yourself out.
 
It's been discussed, plenty.

You've been made to look like a fool a good few times but keep coming back. I love your endeavour

It's ironic that someone who has made some of the decisions you have in public before has the audacity to call someone thick!

Like I've said before wee man, you don't know what you don't know.

You are asking an irrelevant question because no other ground received the funding and input that Corrigan did to develop it and continues to receive. That can't be undone. What bit of that don't you understand??

Most clubs are only just opening their pitches and no club has had to prepare their pitch to host county matches so what would be the rush with maintenance?  And all 5 Ft 5 (in your studs) of you calling someone thick on the internet!    

So at any of these numerous pitches you were at, did you get parked or did you have to go looking parking in a housing estate nearby?   Meanwhile another sh#t show for parking and access to Corrigan today. Keeping the Johnnies afloat. Maybe they'll be the first club in Belfast able I afford floodlights at this rate, that'll be a proud day for the gaa in Belfast, team effort paid for by us all.

How dad is Omagh's pitch? I'm surprised they are actually allowed to play on it!

Lorry load of sand in the goal mouth to patch it up?  Nah didn't think so.

[we made up all the excuses of the day]

For God's sake man, we couldn't even win the Christy Ring cup, we made up all the excuses of the day why we failed to perform in croke park etc..
We couldn't play on a proper pitch against second tier teams who we could see off no bother in Corrigan.  We ran out of steam and very exposed big time against Kerry the year we did win it.... Because we couldn't handle the pitch, nothing to do with occasion or anytime else.  The excuses were embarrassing

This paragraph was an eye-opener.

Interestingly, we lost 2 Christy Ring finals. 2016 and 2017.
In 2016, we played our home games in Ballycastle, Dunloy & Loughgiel.
In 2017, we played one home game in Corrigan and the rest in Cushendall.

But it's Corrigan holding us back....

If you're content with poor to mediocre then you'll be happy with Corrigan.  Corrigan isn't the only problem there are loads to address......but let's not pretend it's not a problem.

Can you and wee man read? It is intentional that you take specific sentences out of context? Or do you simply not see the big picture?

Are any of those pitches as big as casement was or most county grounds , or croke park? Ballycastle perhaps? The rest not.

So slowly again...the pitch (Corrigan) is one of the problems (not the only problem, no one ever said it was THE problem, that was what yourself and mighty mouse took from what I said because neither of you can see the wood for the trees).

All of the pitches that you listed could have been adjusted and developed to a full scale county pitch had the money been ploughed into developing those instead of Corrigan and a covered stand and terracing built (the only good things Corrigan has going for it).  All of those pitches have a much superior surface to Corrigan. All of those surfaces have better goalmouths as far out as the 21 (though I don't like the 3g in the small square that Ballycastle have).

Why? Because all of those clubs and communities invested in themselves and raised the money to develop their own facilities. They all have a second pitch to train on (unlike the johnnies).  The money never goes to develop grounds like that from the county, even if it's to help the county teams.

Because that's what wrong with Antrim at core level, instead it goes to a Belfast club incapable of raising the funds to develop their dilapidated ground, with no scope to extend anything, with barely standard toilets where you have to almost leave the ground again to go. With one pitch for all it's teams and all the traffic that goes with it hence the state of the pitch. With terrible access and parking.

It was a sh#t decision and it's a sh#t setup, other counties laugh at us, there are club facilities all over Ulster way above our designated "county ground". Is it any wonder Cavan objected to playing there on Ulster championship day?? Then handed us our ass on a plate when we foolishly suggested it was because they were afraid of coming to play in Corrigan. Decisions made by the same sort of individuals who think that any club championship match of any significance should be played in somewhere like hightown.

So for the last time.....
There are many other grounds around Antrim which should have been chosen ahead of the turd of the whiterock.  Had a more suitable ground been chosen we'd have had at least the same covered stand there, at least the same terrace there and scope to develop everything else including the pitch and not be confined by space and restraints.  So apart from 31 other counties laughing at our set up the only others laughing are the johnnies themselves.  And if you want and accept mediocre in the set up then accept mediocre on the pitch!

Oh and btw I'm very aware Derry beat us in 2000 rather than the 90's.
 
You're right.....a totally different generation of players!

Erm, it ended at 2013 because that's when Casement closed....which was what we were comparing today against.

The point being no matter where our pitch is we have always taken tankings.

As for not winning Ulster in the 90s. You can't say you are competitive if you aren't doing that. Simple.
Not sure why you are mentioning Derry as they didn't win Ulster in the 90s, Mr Insight.


And you mention making pathetic excuses. This pitch ballix is one big excuse!

As I had already said, we have always taken hidings (read the whole thing man, then you won't look like a fool)....now we ship them virtually every day out against a big gun.

Merely quoting the margin of defeat is a lazy man's argument. We shipped some heavy defeats in the 90s and up to 2010 or thereabouts because teams took us seriously and saw us as a threat and even within some of those games we were more competitive than the scoreline would suggest.  Now we ship drubbings from second strings playing within their comfort zone.  Your stats don't reflect any of that. In other words they're s#@t!

Why not throw out the bearings by more than 20 points since 2013 for comparison?

I'm not making excuses, far from it. We are poor, we are nowhere near the top teams, but accepting the set up we accept and expecting anything different is unrealistic. 

If you're content with poor to mediocre then you'll be happy with Corrigan.  Corrigan isn't the only problem there are loads to address......but let's not pretend it's not a problem.

[We were at a low ebb before he came in and he's really turned it round.]

Only in the 90s and under Danny Cahill have we been very competitive. We've made really good progress under gleeson though. We were at a low ebb before he came in and he's really turned it round.

Most of the years between the closure of Casement and the appointment of Gleeson we hurled out of Ballycastle, not Corrigan.
Anybody who thinks that our pitch has any bearing on why we are not top table standard at senior inter county hurling needs their head looked at.
Our juvenile teams are miles off it every single year so we're extremely unlikely to produce senior teams that can properly compete at the top table.

And "The 90s" is maybe a bit of a stretch too. There was the odd big performance and hard luck story but, I mean, we didn't even make it out of Ulster on 3 occasions

Why did your list of drubbings end in 2013?

Why did it not start in the mid 80's when we did play on casement?

You highlighted one sentence that I said and completely ignored what I said after the full stop...that we still shipped big beatings.

You produced a handful of big beatings in your statistics you rolled out.  What are you comparing them to? Why did you stop at 2013? Why didn't you include the Corrigan years? 

What are you comparing Einstein? Apples to apples or apples to nothing??

For God's sake man, we couldn't even win the Christy Ring cup, we made up all the excuses of the day why we failed to perform in croke park etc..
We couldn't play on a proper pitch against second tier teams who we could see off no bother in Corrigan.   We ran out of steam and very exposed big time against Kerry the year we did win it.... Because we couldn't handle the pitch, nothing to do with occasion or anytime else.  The excuses were embarrassing.

Would you rather we kept it tight in Corrigan in Feb and march and when we have to go elsewhere take a tanking or would you rather we played on a pitch that we should expect to encounter when it matters??

No one said we'd be winning national leagues or all Ireland's, but setting up to play on a small (by club standards) pitch, with diabolical goalmouths (likely played a part in the last goal we conceded last weekend against the dubs) and a heavy sod is not how to progress an intercounty team on any front.

You proved your total lack of insight when you knocked us nothing getting out of Ulster. That Down team that beat us back then in Ulster, they went on to give Cork the fright of their lives in the semi final. And that Derry team also delivered in croke park, they were very competitive, they didn't fold like a pack of cards like we do now outside Corrigan when we have to run.

Agree with the Corrigan point. If the invested money was afforded to another club with larger grounds they could've developed a better facility.

This was discussed at length at the time and I think everyone was in agreement that there could have been better and more central facilities that could have been invested in.

But we are where we are and going over old ground will not make the builders go in and lift the stands at Corrigan and move them to Randalstown or Antrim

Unfortunately with Antrim there has been plenty of if's and everyone is an expert looking in. We'd only, at this point been without Casement had we just kept it open and played there till when the builders came in.

Whether this was discussed or not before is irrelevant to the current discussion.

You don't dictate the terms on here as you like to try elsewhere wee man.

It's relevant because it does our county teams no favours at all. And as usual there's no accountability for any of these ridiculous decisions.

[We were largely competitive against anyone]

Casement was a fantastic surface and a big wide open field.
Not a blind bit of difference did it make to the quality of hurling our county team served up.

Total tripe.

We were largely competitive against anyone. Yes we took some big beatings but nothing on a par with what we regularly ship against the big guns nowadays. 

Amuses me the inferiority complex on here.

Are you being serious?
We're as far away from the big guns today as we have been at any time in the last 25 years (at least)

You've misunderstood.

As I implied we are further away from the big guns than we have ever been.

We never shipped the hidings by the margins we do now on a regular basis.

Jesus, you talk some turd!

Where should it be played? Try and deal with the here and now btw.

Read my post.

Any number of venues could have been developed.

You keep rambling on about health and safety, rich since your own club's set up is a total health hazard.

So I'd asked about the here and now and but you harp on about something not related to my post?

Having great facilities doesn't bring success   and your club is?

Again.....you miss the point completely. 

You are referring to the here and now regarding Corrigan, I pointed out that the only positive things about Corrigan are where the facilities that the investment paid for,  the rest is still a hole.

Now let me say this really slowly again..... The investment should never have been into Corrigan especially as it's so close to the casement site.  Pick any number of club grounds in north or southwest Antrim and put the same covered stand and terracing there, loads already have better toilets and parking easier to facilitate and......loads of clubs have a second pitch so that the goal mouths that our county teams have to play in aren't the embarrassment that Corrigan is.

Comprendre my little friend?

Casement was a fantastic surface and a big wide open field.
Not a blind bit of difference did it make to the quality of hurling our county team served up.

Total tripe.

We were largely competitive against anyone. Yes we took some big beatings but nothing on a par with what we regularly ship against the big guns nowadays. 

Amuses me the inferiority complex on here.

The whole yes it's not ideal but we'll make do with it, it's better than what we had.  Do people think guys like Mickey Harte would put up with that shit?  We will always be average if we accept average in all aspects of our set up.  Of course it doesn't guarantee success on the pitch but it's all part of the mindset.

And before the rest of the inferiority complex arrive let's not laud and fawn over the gym facilities at at dunsilly, there are clubs up and down the country with superior gym facilities with more space paid for by themselves. 

Jesus, you talk some turd!

Where should it be played? Try and deal with the here and now btw.

Read my post.

Any number of venues could have been developed.

You keep rambling on about health and safety, rich since your own club's set up is a total health hazard.

I thought we were ok, but that's a poor as I've seen Dublin for about 15 years.  Dublin didn't look sharp or fit at all and personally I don't think that was necessarily down to us making them look poor.


Corrigan pitch is poor, it's always been poor, there's always a breeze/wind, the pitch is tight, it's heavy and it does us no favours in terms of development.  Why are we looking to get results against teams on a tight pitch in the middle of winter when we get annihilated on bigger pitches when it comes to meaningful games in the summer on a dry sod and a big pitch? What's the point?  Surely we should be trying to get better at playing on pitch dimensions that we are trying to compete on in championship.

All that investment in Corrigan, but you can't polish a turd.

What sheltered, wide open, dry club pitch would you like developed instead of corrigan then??

Take your pick.  The only things Corrigan has going for it, the covered stand and the terracing have been paid for and developed recently. The toilets are hardly handy. 

The johnnies have one pitch for all their teams and it also serves as our county ground. The goal mouths are always a mess given the traffic on them.

Tbh there are loads of options should have been considered in north or southwest Antrim or somewhere more central. Take your pick. Why should Corrigan have been developed when it's a few miles down the road from Casement?  What's the point of pouring the money into 2 grounds beside each other when the fan base for all major club games comes from outside Belfast in hurling and football.

It's a turd, but imagine the state of the place if the johnnies had to pay for it like all other clubs.

I thought we were ok, but that's a poor as I've seen Dublin for about 15 years.  Dublin didn't look sharp or fit at all and personally I don't think that was necessarily down to us making them look poor.


Corrigan pitch is poor, it's always been poor, there's always a breeze/wind, the pitch is tight, it's heavy and it does us no favours in terms of development.  Why are we looking to get results against teams on a tight pitch in the middle of winter when we get annihilated on bigger pitches when it comes to meaningful games in the summer on a dry sod and a big pitch? What's the point?  Surely we should be trying to get better at playing on pitch dimensions that we are trying to compete on in championship.

All that investment in Corrigan, but you can't polish a turd.

Delighted to see St Thomas' win it. O'Loughlin Gaels will feel aggrieved about the one that looked over the line but I can't stand simulation and karma bit them in the ass, that was never a red card.

Much to be admired about St Thomas' mentality, physical and mental toughness and endurance over the 2 games, the semi final and final.  But they have some amazing hurlers too, Conor Cooney obviously, the Burke's etc. Those last 2 points of Eanna Burke's were simply magical, worth the admission fee alone.

With Ballyhale missing a few last year O'Loughlin's will see that as a huge missed opportunity. They lack a few forwards and have relied on scores from further out. It's a long way back for them. 

Agree - very hard to see that as a red card. Mind you, Burke could easily have got a second yellow just before he scored that amazing point. You know, I sort of wanted O'Loughlin Gaels to win it, but I fancied Thomas', and they were the better balanced side.

Yep he should have been off for a second yellow for the loose slap at the gaels player's hand.  I can't recall what the first yellow was for though.

Dragged down Mikey Butler off the ball in the first half?

Yeah that was a daft one too. Lucky boy.

This is the depths Oso has sunk us to, we're finding ourselves sticking up for MR2. God I hate him

Maybe you can answer the original questions I posed?

1-1 for Glen directly from bad calls from the referee between the 58th and 60th minute in a one point game!!

I doubt you've the literacy tbh

The f*ck am I debating with you wee man but keep going you're entertaining if nothing else

Just curious if you rate Glen at all yet but also don't really want you to answer

Update - Glens 3rd night of celebration cancelled as Oso still won't acknowledge them

Good...know your place!