Antrim Hurling

[imtommygunn]

That should be a good semi now. Ballycastle looked to give the johnnies their fill of it. Hard to see them troubling Dunloy.

What has happened to Creggan? They shipped an awful hammering.

[Kidder81]

That should be a good semi now. Ballycastle looked to give the johnnies their fill of it. Hard to see them troubling Dunloy.

What has happened to Creggan? They shipped an awful hammering.

Creggan haven't really bothered with the IHC from what I can see, Sarsfields hammered them too so I'm guessing they are playing weakened teams with the football on the horizon

[Jonkunlon]

Hard to judge how good Loughgiel are as Rossa are a shadow of the team from the past couple of years. Losing Stephen and Michael was a killer blow to their preparations then losing James Connolly so early in the game was the final nail in the coffin. They simply haven't the squad to replace them. Their subs made no impact.

And yet, all that aside, Loughgiel looked very sharp and some of their passages of play had to be admired.

St John's will be concerned with their performance. If they play like that  the next day they are in for a mauling.

The Loughgiel v Cushendall semi is shaping up to be thrilling.

Good performance from the officials today too. They let the play go as much as possible and were consistent. Kevin Parke shaping up to be a damn good referee.

[breakingball]

Wouldn't disagree with any of that

Can't see Dunloy or Cushendall beat though

Hard to judge how good Loughgiel are as Rossa are a shadow of the team from the past couple of years. Losing Stephen and Michael was a killer blow to their preparations then losing James Connolly so early in the game was the final nail in the coffin. They simply haven't the squad to replace them. Their subs made no impact.

And yet, all that aside, Loughgiel looked very sharp and some of their passages of play had to be admired.

St John's will be concerned with their performance. If they play like that  the next day they are in for a mauling.

The Loughgiel v Cushendall semi is shaping up to be thrilling.

Good performance from the officials today too. They let the play go as much as possible and were consistent. Kevin Parke shaping up to be a damn good referee.

[old timers]

Hard to judge how good Loughgiel are as Rossa are a shadow of the team from the past couple of years. Losing Stephen and Michael was a killer blow to their preparations then losing James Connolly so early in the game was the final nail in the coffin. They simply haven't the squad to replace them. Their subs made no impact.

And yet, all that aside, Loughgiel looked very sharp and some of their passages of play had to be admired.

St John's will be concerned with their performance. If they play like that  the next day they are in for a mauling.

The Loughgiel v Cushendall semi is shaping up to be thrilling.

Good performance from the officials today too. They let the play go as much as possible and were consistent. Kevin Parke shaping up to be a damn good referee.

Totally agree that Rossa don't have the squad they did from last season and have not been the team they were last year.  The subs bench on Sunday appeared to be very limited and what was worse one of their young players went on as a sub and was then subbed to put on a player who appeared to be injured not too long after.  I only hope the young fella was injured as that is very demoralising for anyone in front of a large crowd in Dunsilly.   but take nothing away from the Shamrocks who took their chance and played some lovely hurling and came out worthy winners. 

The St Johns/B'Castle match was a closer match and it could have gone either way but i dont think that either will trouble the Dall or Dunloy. Hopefully both semi finals will be entertaining.

[keep her low this half]

Hard to judge how good Loughgiel are as Rossa are a shadow of the team from the past couple of years. Losing Stephen and Michael was a killer blow to their preparations then losing James Connolly so early in the game was the final nail in the coffin. They simply haven't the squad to replace them. Their subs made no impact.

And yet, all that aside, Loughgiel looked very sharp and some of their passages of play had to be admired.

St John's will be concerned with their performance. If they play like that  the next day they are in for a mauling.

The Loughgiel v Cushendall semi is shaping up to be thrilling.

Good performance from the officials today too. They let the play go as much as possible and were consistent. Kevin Parke shaping up to be a damn good referee.

Totally agree that Rossa don't have the squad they did from last season and have not been the team they were last year.  The subs bench on Sunday appeared to be very limited and what was worse one of their young players went on as a sub and was then subbed to put on a player who appeared to be injured not too long after.  I only hope the young fella was injured as that is very demoralising for anyone in front of a large crowd in Dunsilly.   but take nothing away from the Shamrocks who took their chance and played some lovely hurling and came out worthy winners. 

The St Johns/B'Castle match was a closer match and it could have gone either way but i dont think that either will trouble the Dall or Dunloy. Hopefully both semi finals will be entertaining.

I think C'Dall V Loughgiel will be highly entertaining, it is perhaps a year too early for Loughgiel but you never know, they have a lot of talented young players but Cushendall will still be favourites and rightly so.
As for Dunloy V St Johns unless St Johns get some players back and vastly improve their shooting then Dunloy could waltz through to the final relatively untested. While getting to a final is always good there is the prospect of Dunloy being slightly undercooked for the final should they make it there.

[imtommygunn]

What's the story with McManus? Will he be available? I would say that will have a big bearing on the game.

Anything I have read seems to suggest that Cushendall are strong favourites. I wouldn't be so sure.

[Sleeping giant]

What's the story with McManus? Will he be available? I would say that will have a big bearing on the game.

Anything I have read seems to suggest that Cushendall are strong favourites. I wouldn't be so sure.

I'd assume he's playing,held out of St Johns game with KO hurling in mind,don't no about strong favourites but Cdall will be favourites,really depends what loughgiel shows up. 

[paddyjohn]

What about Graffin? Haven't saw him figure much.

[Sleeping giant]

What about Graffin? Haven't saw him figure much.

.  Again assuming he'll be there.

[keep her low this half]

What about Graffin? Haven't saw him figure much.

.  Again assuming he'll be there.

From what I hear Graffin has done his knee ligaments again and has undergone an operation, out for the season. Don't know anything about McManus

[Fear Bun Na Sceilpe]

Slaughtneil so impressive yesterday-another Ulster beckons. Big crowd in

[Jonkunlon]

Slaughtneil so impressive yesterday-another Ulster beckons. Big crowd in

Winning the Derry SHC is the equivalent of Celtic winning the SPFL. Their hurling accomplishments outside of Derry deserve respect.

[johnnycool]

Slaughtneil so impressive yesterday-another Ulster beckons. Big crowd in

Winning the Derry SHC is the equivalent of Celtic winning the SPFL. Their hurling accomplishments outside of Derry deserve respect.

Glad you qualified that.
Serious hurling team is SN .

[keep her low this half]

Another big weekend on the horizon, getting down to serious business now

St Galls v Clooney    Clooney by 4
Rasharkin V Cloughmills       Cloughmills by 6
Glenarm v Armoy        Glenarm by 3 sadly
Cushendun v Glenariffe   Cushendun by 1 ( don't rule out extra time)
Minor Final C'Dall V loughgiel   Loughgiel by 5 making it 4 in a row
C'Dall V loughgiel Senior  C'Dall by 2
Dunloy v St Johns  Dunloy by 6

As an aside can anyone explain to me why in the two junior semi finals Rasharkin and Glenarm have home advantage but in all other competitions semi finals are at a neutral venue?