Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah a few away games to come, but bar the Rossie's I'd say we are with a very good chance of promotion again. Keep a winning team playing I say. The current team seems to have gelled well with plenty of strong options on the bench.

[Gold]

Good win alright. Should have been out of sight long before we were. Hit a lot of wides. Offaly full back got a straight red in the 1st half for "cursing" apparently. Umpires alerted the ref to it. Very strange. We'd have won easy enough anyway, I think. Tomas McCann scored a cracking goal at the start of the second half. Magill came on but was ineffective.
Next two are big games.

Fair enough assessment. Offaly very poor and we were very good. If you think of the shite we've had to watch this if the best team we've ever had.

And as MR1 says it is a 'team.' There may be better individuals in the county but a team without egos is vital. Players playing for each other with noone thinking they're better than the rest and upsetting the team is the way forward. We had it that way at the beginning of 2010 but lost it after March.

Some fantastic scores, 2 outrageous ones from Bam, one from C Kelly, 3 from Loughrey, great goal from PC, even better individual run and goal from Tomas, great score from Armstong and a super score from the tireless Tony Scullion following a high catch from Loughrey in defence and end to end move were the highlights.

On this evidence we are too good for Div 3.

IF we hadda somehow stayed up in Div 2 last yr we could've consolidated this year but that would take some serious belief and guts that at that level we've never shown before.

We are a couple of high scoring forwards shy of being a serious Div 2 team.

Need to push on and secure promotion though

[Northern Light]

The key message is that this is a return to a team performance. The 'star' players in the team, and there are some 'stars', play within the team, and clearly this group enjoys playing football together.

The fiasco that was the promotion from Division 3, last time, ensured that Antrim could not survive in Division 2. Hopefully, Baker has learned the lesson, and the 'panel' is the team itself!

Thanks due to the players who suffered most from the fiasco, but stuck with the County.

Great combination of 'young' players who earned the hard promotions from Dv 2, and 3, with an even younger bunch of top players! Think that the main group of 'senior' players are around 25/26 years!

The next two weekends will be a real test! Supporters required in Roscommon, and particularly Longford.

[Magicsponge]

Divisions 3, 4 and 5 to start on Sunday. Div 1 and 2 on the 15th of April and Divisions 6 starts on the 1st of April.

DIV 3
Sarsfields v St. Brigid's
Cargin v Casements
Con Magees v McDermott's
Ardoyne v O'Donnell's
Dunloy v Davitts

DIV 4
Creggan v St. Gall's
Lámh Dhearg v St. Paul's
Eire Og v St. Agnes'
St. Comgall's v St. Malachy's
St. Enda's v St. John's

DIV 5
Gort na Mona v Aghagallon
Pearse's v Lisburn
Ballycastle v Rasharkin
Sarsfield's v Glenavy

[bannside]

Fair play to Baker and the lads. There is a nice fresh feel to the set up this year, and the vibes coming from the camp are all very positive - unlike last year!

I watched the squad train last week up at Cloney and I was very impressed with the content, delivery and intensity of the session. Had a feeling we were going really well, big numbers out and everyone really going at it.

Paddy Finn getting the team tackling well all over the pitch and Geroid getting the ball moving quick and good support play built in.

Its early days, but good so far. Keep it going for sure - but lets hope we have a bit of something extra up our sleeves for the summer months too.

[Rasharkin Gael]

Poor J.C. had to put up with too much last Sunday at the O'Cahan Cup match. Subs one of his own players who proceeds to belt him on his way off the pitch with a judas punch! Cant get my head around that. Aldergrove playing really well, put us out in the first round, then Dunloy, the players should all be singing off the same sheet but seemingly not. Who would be a manager?

[bannside]

They would do better to appreciate him while he is there. Top man JC.

He managed Aldergrove against us in an ugly enough u-21 c`ship a few years ago. We were leading by 2 at half time, but the referee got a score mixed up, and called it level. The referee asked JC - who put him right - against the best interests of the team he was managing. He easily could have bluffed it off and said he didnt know ( as most of us might). Good touch - a mark of a proper sportsman and gael. Great man around a football team.

[subterranean saffron]

Has the idea of a divisional team made up of players from Inter & Junior playing in the Senior Championship ever been proposed? I know they do something similar in southern counties. I'm just thinking purely from the perspective of players with clubs who may never get the chance to play Senior, and also with a look to add another competitive (would it even be competitive?) team to the championship. I can think of a plethora of reasons why not, I just think the positives would greatly outweigh the negative.

[Magicsponge]

Has the idea of a divisional team made up of players from Inter & Junior playing in the Senior Championship ever been proposed? I know they do something similar in southern counties. I'm just thinking purely from the perspective of players with clubs who may never get the chance to play Senior, and also with a look to add another competitive (would it even be competitive?) team to the championship. I can think of a plethora of reasons why not, I just think the positives would greatly outweigh the negative.

I think they tried it with the South West in hurling. I'm sure the teams would be competitive, to a point. Against the likes of Cargin and St Galls they would likely struggle but probably would be competitive against the middling and weaker teams in the SFC. Would the players still be eligible to play intermediate and junior championships with there own clubs? It might put a strain on the fixtures as games in the IFC and JFC might have to be postponed due to player involvement in the SFC

[Sportacus]

A combined colleges team from Belfast in mccrory cup could work. I think they've done it in Dublin hurling to good effect.

[bannside]

This idea has been mooted on several occasions. Not sure the schools in question were even in favour of it. In any event, its less likely to happen now that St Marys CBS has shown a school can be competitive at this level in its own right.

[AQMP]

According to Club Aontroma the Antrim team to play Roscommon is:

1  Chris Kerr (St Gall's)

2  Patrick Gallagher (Glenavy)
3  Deaghlan O'Hagan (St Brigid's)
4  Sean Finch (O'Donovan Rossa)

5  Tony Scullion (Cargin)
6  Justin Crozier (Cargin)
7  James Loughery (St Brigid's)

8  Michael McCann (Cargin)
9  Conal Kelly (St John's)

10 Tomas McCann (Cargin)
11 Michael Magill (Randalstown)
12 Michael Armstrong (O' Donovan Rossa)

13 Brian Neeson (St John's)
14 Mark Sweeney (St Brigid's)
15 Paddy Cunningham (Lamh Dhearg)

[saffron sam2]

A combined colleges team from Belfast in mccrory cup could work. I think they've done it in Dublin hurling to good effect.

Already in operation. Team called St Mary's CGBS.

[Tony Baloney]

A combined colleges team from Belfast in mccrory cup could work. I think they've done it in Dublin hurling to good effect.

Already in operation. Team called St Mary's CGBS.

CBGS.

Somewhere an angel has lost its wings.

[bannside]

Big test tomorrow in Dr Hyde Park. Not an easy place tp pick up points - a good result here would be a huge sign we are going in the right direction.