Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

On the topic of U 21 championship, when was the last time the favourites actually won this competition? The last few were won by the underdogs if I remember correctly, great to have a competitive championship like that running

U21 c,ship is a great c-ship often won by the team who is not expected to win it.I have 3 U21,s and lost on my 4th attempt when we were huge favourites.More emphasis should be placed on this especially with the dominance of galls at senior.

So where did it go wrong jftj? Poor management at senior level in not bringing these lads on? The standard wasn't as good as the previous winners? (us) We also lost a lot of players that never made it on the senior team, we won 5 in a row plus 4 minors in that period.  We still had old hands on that senior team but it blended in well when the youth came, plus a strict manager in Culbert. He was (is) a great trainer and motivator.

I really think we just got lucky to win when the team was so young (though great work went on with those lads early on)

[jftj]

On the topic of U 21 championship, when was the last time the favourites actually won this competition? The last few were won by the underdogs if I remember correctly, great to have a competitive championship like that running

U21 c,ship is a great c-ship often won by the team who is not expected to win it.I have 3 U21,s and lost on my 4th attempt when we were huge favourites.More emphasis should be placed on this especially with the dominance of galls at senior.

So where did it go wrong jftj? Poor management at senior level in not bringing these lads on? The standard wasn't as good as the previous winners? (us) We also lost a lot of players that never made it on the senior team, we won 5 in a row plus 4 minors in that period.  We still had old hands on that senior team but it blended in well when the youth came, plus a strict manager in Culbert. He was (is) a great trainer and motivator.

I really think we just got lucky to win when the team was so young (though great work went on with those lads early on)

galls first win was definitely a match where we should have won easily.I do believe that Culbert was a massive factor in your early success.St.pauls were the dominant team in my heyday and they were very lucky to scrape by us twice and yes I do feel our management were not as good as others when it came to the crux.I ended up with 1c,ship and I feel that with a top manager like Culbert or Mctoal I could have had6or 7.

[Gold]

On the topic of U 21 championship, when was the last time the favourites actually won this competition? The last few were won by the underdogs if I remember correctly, great to have a competitive championship like that running

U21 c,ship is a great c-ship often won by the team who is not expected to win it.I have 3 U21,s and lost on my 4th attempt when we were huge favourites.More emphasis should be placed on this especially with the dominance of galls at senior.

So where did it go wrong jftj? Poor management at senior level in not bringing these lads on? The standard wasn't as good as the previous winners? (us) We also lost a lot of players that never made it on the senior team, we won 5 in a row plus 4 minors in that period.  We still had old hands on that senior team but it blended in well when the youth came, plus a strict manager in Culbert. He was (is) a great trainer and motivator.

I really think we just got lucky to win when the team was so young (though great work went on with those lads early on)

galls first win was definitely a match where we should have won easily.I do believe that Culbert was a massive factor in your early success.St.pauls were the dominant team in my heyday and they were very lucky to scrape by us twice and yes I do feel our management were not as good as others when it came to the crux.I ended up with 1c,ship and I feel that with a top manager like Culbert or Mctoal I could have had6or 7.

Or if you had better footballers.

[jftj]

On the topic of U 21 championship, when was the last time the favourites actually won this competition? The last few were won by the underdogs if I remember correctly, great to have a competitive championship like that running

U21 c,ship is a great c-ship often won by the team who is not expected to win it.I have 3 U21,s and lost on my 4th attempt when we were huge favourites.More emphasis should be placed on this especially with the dominance of galls at senior.

I think we had 6 starting on county team at the time

So where did it go wrong jftj? Poor management at senior level in not bringing these lads on? The standard wasn't as good as the previous winners? (us) We also lost a lot of players that never made it on the senior team, we won 5 in a row plus 4 minors in that period.  We still had old hands on that senior team but it blended in well when the youth came, plus a strict manager in Culbert. He was (is) a great trainer and motivator.

I really think we just got lucky to win when the team was so young (though great work went on with those lads early on)

galls first win was definitely a match where we should have won easily.I do believe that Culbert was a massive factor in your early success.St.pauls were the dominant team in my heyday and they were very lucky to scrape by us twice and yes I do feel our management were not as good as others when it came to the crux.I ended up with 1c,ship and I feel that with a top manager like Culbert or Mctoal I could have had6or 7.

Or if you had better footballers.

[jftj]

I think we had 6 or 7 starting on county team at the time.How many had your club?

[Gold]

I think we had 6 or 7 starting on county team at the time.How many had your club?

That's a bit childish. Facts are you had some good footballers. A couple of good players in the half back line. Up front is where games are won and lost. You didn't have enough. You didn't have flair players with a sense of adventure. You were a solid enough team but lacking up front.

That game was v tight yes. But from then on Galls kicked on. Their great young players kicked on and got better and better, to a point where they have been a different league to anything we've seen in Antrim. The players are just a different class to the rest. Cargin have a few class players. Other teams have had the odd class player. Galls just have had more class (better) players than other teams. Im not looking for an argument because there isn't one.

And as for Pauls back in the day they had a few real awful games (finals) where about 6 points were scored. Free taking was the only way scores seemed to come. The standard (well maybe from 1 team only) has improved immeasurably since then.

[imtommygunn]

The overall standard when st pauls were on top was higher and they were a very good team too. Not near as good as st galls but john mcmanus could win them games, joe kennedy wasn't bad either, finnegans etc etc made them a very solid team.

I think a big thing for st galls was how their players were developed by the sigerson and universities too. Look how many of their team made sigerson teams who were good sigerson teams. It was rare you had many, if any, players making sigerson teams an dthey'd about half a team.

Yes they were maybe lucky with circumstance that their first came earlier than it maybe normally would have but they'd have started winning at some point.

[Milltown Row2]

The overall standard when st pauls were on top was higher and they were a very good team too. Not near as good as st galls but john mcmanus could win them games, joe kennedy wasn't bad either, finnegans etc etc made them a very solid team.

I think a big thing for st galls was how their players were developed by the sigerson and universities too. Look how many of their team made sigerson teams who were good sigerson teams. It was rare you had many, if any, players making sigerson teams an dthey'd about half a team.

Yes they were maybe lucky with circumstance that their first came earlier than it maybe normally would have but they'd have started winning at some point.

Yeah the college football  probably worked out well to a certain extent but I firmly believe that the style of play had a major impact. Being fit and quick forwards killed it against teams like St Johns and St Pauls

[Gold]

The overall standard when st pauls were on top was higher and they were a very good team too. Not near as good as st galls but john mcmanus could win them games, joe kennedy wasn't bad either, finnegans etc etc made them a very solid team.

I think a big thing for st galls was how their players were developed by the sigerson and universities too. Look how many of their team made sigerson teams who were good sigerson teams. It was rare you had many, if any, players making sigerson teams an dthey'd about half a team.

Yes they were maybe lucky with circumstance that their first came earlier than it maybe normally would have but they'd have started winning at some point.

I disagree I do think standards have improved. Although obviously Galls are only team who have won and have shown they can compete outside the County.
Yeah Pauls were solid but again where was the flair? Players are fitter now too.
The County team back then was poorer too. We have improved (if we can get our best players out) and have done well in comparison in recent years. We struggled to win league games back then (forget championship!).

Agree re Sigerson etc. Also   

[imtommygunn]

Yeah I would agree they were probably more solid than flair but I really do think the standards outside of the top 3 (or maybe 4) have dropped a lot.

I think at the minute we have a lot of guys(about 8-10) who on an individual basis are a lot better than what we had in that era however collectively I think the standard is a lot less than it was.

Once you drop beneath the top 3 or 4 in division 1 the standard is very poor.

[country bumpkin]

Im told the letter sent into UC from the "Judas"(as he is now known)referee is out there now in circulation, who knows what website that might end up on??

right so a referee with a bit of sense(totes) decides to tell the truth about a very poor referee who ruined one of the best games of the year and as a result he is called a 'judas'.MIBAG ,I believe you are Duffy(the ref in question)and I have heard you are thinking of retirement-happy days,close the door after you.Please don't follow into officialdom like all the rest of the failed refs because I don't think our county can take any more pythons squeezing the life out of our games.'URGENTLY NEEDED '!'true Gaels who wish to improve our players to an extent where we can challenge annually.'Requirements'-heart and soul.

Agree 100% jftj that particular man in black of whom you speak is arrogant in the extreme and he would certainly fit in with
those 'pythons'. He was appointed to ref the senior semi final game involving cargin and lamh dhearg and his performance was wholly biased as the stats of the game underline.....fact, 1.cargin were not awarded a single free kick within 70 metres from the l dearg posts for the duration of the game 2. cargin obviously did not record a single score from a free for the duration 3. l dearg were awarded a most dubious penalty, and of their total 1-9 scored only three came from play... I am quite certain that cargin would be delighted if he slammed the door shut on his way out.

[Milltown Row2]

Im told the letter sent into UC from the "Judas"(as he is now known)referee is out there now in circulation, who knows what website that might end up on??

right so a referee with a bit of sense(totes) decides to tell the truth about a very poor referee who ruined one of the best games of the year and as a result he is called a 'judas'.MIBAG ,I believe you are Duffy(the ref in question)and I have heard you are thinking of retirement-happy days,close the door after you.Please don't follow into officialdom like all the rest of the failed refs because I don't think our county can take any more pythons squeezing the life out of our games.'URGENTLY NEEDED '!'true Gaels who wish to improve our players to an extent where we can challenge annually.'Requirements'-heart and soul.

Agree 100% jftj that particular man in black of whom you speak is arrogant in the extreme and he would certainly fit in with
those 'pythons'. He was appointed to ref the senior semi final game involving cargin and lamh dhearg and his performance was wholly biased as the stats of the game underline.....fact, 1.cargin were not awarded a single free kick within 70 metres from the l dearg posts for the duration of the game 2. cargin obviously did not record a single score from a free for the duration 3. l dearg were awarded a most dubious penalty, and of their total 1-9 scored only three came from play... I am quite certain that cargin would be delighted if he slammed the door shut on his way out.

More bullshite, seriously do you think Naomh Gall need the referee to 'help' us win the championship?  We don't give away too many frees either in our games, do it in the opositions half as they can lead to scores (if you're going to foul, do it in their half of the pitch, have you learnt nothing?)

More referee flogging, teams lose games, if you're good enough you'll win, we haven't complained about too many refereeing decisions funny enough

[country bumpkin]

Im told the letter sent into UC from the "Judas"(as he is now known)referee is out there now in circulation, who knows what website that might end up on??

right so a referee with a bit of sense(totes) decides to tell the truth about a very poor referee who ruined one of the best games of the year and as a result he is called a 'judas'.MIBAG ,I believe you are Duffy(the ref in question)and I have heard you are thinking of retirement-happy days,close the door after you.Please don't follow into officialdom like all the rest of the failed refs because I don't think our county can take any more pythons squeezing the life out of our games.'URGENTLY NEEDED '!'true Gaels who wish to improve our players to an extent where we can challenge annually.'Requirements'-heart and soul.

Agree 100% jftj that particular man in black of whom you speak is arrogant in the extreme and he would certainly fit in with
those 'pythons'. He was appointed to ref the senior semi final game involving cargin and lamh dhearg and his performance was wholly biased as the stats of the game underline.....fact, 1.cargin were not awarded a single free kick within 70 metres from the l dearg posts for the duration of the game 2. cargin obviously did not record a single score from a free for the duration 3. l dearg were awarded a most dubious penalty, and of their total 1-9 scored only three came from play... I am quite certain that cargin would be delighted if he slammed the door shut on his way out.

More bullshite, seriously do you think Naomh Gall need the referee to 'help' us win the championship?  We don't give away too many frees either in our games, do it in the opositions half as they can lead to scores (if you're going to foul, do it in their half of the pitch, have you learnt nothing?)

More referee flogging, teams lose games, if you're good enough you'll win, we haven't complained about too many refereeing decisions funny enough

[thecracken]

This is unreal lads, st johns and cargin must really have it in for GD, JFTJ as I said before and again I was there and listened to the lads that presented at UC, to stand up and deny that they said and behaved poorly is pure bull, and be honest with yourself they did it, they should take the punishment and move on, you could hear it nomatter where you stood on the day. Your making this all about an individual which is masking the problem as a whole, some individuals in your club believe they can do anything they want without concern and are bringing a bad rep to the club and members that are working hard to establish a positive platform in the club. IMO they have gone too far and I dont see this going away for a while yet, on the referee supporting what went on at UC that night, I believe he will regret this and im sure he didnt expect it to blow up the way it has, I would question his reasons however?

[Points a Good Score]

Yeah I would agree they were probably more solid than flair but I really do think the standards outside of the top 3 (or maybe 4) have dropped a lot.

I think at the minute we have a lot of guys(about 8-10) who on an individual basis are a lot better than what we had in that era however collectively I think the standard is a lot less than it was.

Once you drop beneath the top 3 or 4 in division 1 the standard is very poor.

I'd tend to disagree with this, there is certainly a gap between the top four and the rest in Division 1 possibly even the Top 3 with St Galls obviously still ahead of the pack however i think this is more to do with these teams progressing at a quicker pace.

Id argue that if the teams ranked 5th to 10th in Division 1 now would beat the Teams ranked the same 10 years ago on the majority of occasions.