Antrim Football Thread

[Níl a fhios agam]

Regarding yesterdays game, watched it streamed. Commentary wasnt too flattering to Cargin and rightly so, and following the game it just made me think of how bad Antrim football is. Cargin can afford to win c'ships operating at 60% of capacity, while the rest of us busting our balls to bridge a gap and each team go hard for a year or two and drop off (ie LD, Creggan, Aghagallon) . If cargin were playing in tyrone or derry and you had to be operating at a high level all year, every year, theyd be a different animal. Thats not to say theyd win them c'ships, though to be competitive in them counties you have to have all the boxes ticked.

I just feel they tooter through antrim, won the last few c;ships playing badly and it hasnt served them well in ulster or have they fulfilled their potential operating like that.

Rant over. 2025 if Casements and St.Brigids get their act together and further development in their recruitment, they might just overthrow the current Champions

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

Firstly, I'm far from convinced that Cargin are "tootering" through Antrim at this stage.

But even if that was true, there are many examples of teams who win their county at a canter every year and go on to perform after it. In fact, it has often been claimed by Tyrone clubs that they have to put so much into their club championship that they haven't much left in the tank after it. So it can't be both things. Indeed, I don't believe it is either of them.

Antrim club football is just at a poor standard. There's not much more science to it than that.

[Níl a fhios agam]

Well i dont back that theory, coming through a good competitive championship, with no injuries would put you in good stead for a Provincial campaign. Maybe an air of complacency trying to do what st.galls done in antrim for years, trying to peak at the right time. Eventually it may catch up with them in Antrim as it did Ulster. Theres a balancing act imo to try and master that

But again we agree on the main point. Antrim footballs not in a good place. Would any of the other clubs put up a better showing?

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

Well i dont back that theory, coming through a good competitive championship, with no injuries would put you in good stead for a Provincial campaign. Maybe an air of complacency trying to do what st.galls done in antrim for years, trying to peak at the right time. Eventually it may catch up with them in Antrim as it did Ulster. Theres a balancing act imo to try and master that

But again we agree on the main point. Antrim footballs not in a good place. Would any of the other clubs put up a better showing?

You would imagine the Tyrone teams would have a better record in Ulster if it counted for that much.

[imtommygunn]

To the last question... Cargin are our best club team by a long way. No club would put up even nearly as good a showing.

[Milltown Row2]

Haven't seen the game, but I think Cargin on the day (by reports I've read) didn't play well and you can't have off days in Ulster due to the elite teams competing

[Dunsilly King]

Cargin were a complete mess yesterday, easily there worst performance in the Ulster club yet. Didn't make a game of it at all. Their first problem was their keeper, I simply lost count of the amount of short kickouts he refused to take, the amount of times I saw players on the corner of the D free by a 3 or 4 metres and he hadn't the balls to give was shocking. I saw Michael Mc Cann there twice and the keeper didn't even trust him, or more importantly himself to give that short to gain possession. And this was the platform that put Cargin into all sorts of problems as the kickout went long with no bodies around for the breaks, due to players making runs for shorts and then couldn't get to break ball position in time. Secondly their half back line with the exception of Sean O Neill were unable to support the play to break lines, resulting in minimal threat. There is no doubt that the lost of Paul McCann at chb and Gerard Mc Cann at mf for his ball winning ability, on top of Benen Kelly being injured (why isn't he starting all the time with his mobility) were heavy losses for Cargin as the players replacing them are not as good. Thirdly the amount of ball Cargin coughed up under no pressure in the first 15 mins for me was a symptom of a team that has lost alot of games in this competition and there was no genuine belief in themselves

[tiempo]

The two posts above sum it up in a nutshell

1. Didn't play to their expected level collectively
2. High number of individual errors

2 compounds 1

I don't prescribe to the trope that because a team doesn't win a provincial competition they're shite, 1 will win 8 will lose, Cargin will be disappointed along with 8 others this year

[AllStar15]

To the last question... Cargin are our best club team by a long way. No club would put up even nearly as good a showing.

Teams are catching Cargin and Cargin are slowly going backwards, the gap will be closed quicker than people think. At the end of the day Cargin's best players are still the same they were 15 years ago, and those players can't go on forever, which is why they are struggling against teams with runners. They might have another Antrim or two in them but the sun is setting on their county dominance.

[Ghost+Tommy]

Another thing that happens Cargin in ulster is the quality off ref,and his linesmen,one that doesn't get bullied

[Hectic]

Hard to know for sure but Cargin seemed to find it tough going getting out of Antrim this year and that's as poor as it has been for a while in Ulster.

If it was only in Antrim would have thought likes of St Brigids and Portglenone are improving but yesterday's showing along with their county championship games suggest Cargin are starting to fall back towards the pack. 

And that shouldn't be a great surprise given the profile of their team. Some great servants in there but lads don't improve as they head on towards the back half of the 30's.

Good win for St Galls yesterday.  Don't think anyone was mentioning them at the start of the championship.  While U21 gets squeezed into the calendar it's generally still a good pointer to which clubs have good talent coming through. More so than minor I would say.

[thebigfullforward]

Hard to know for sure but Cargin seemed to find it tough going getting out of Antrim this year and that's as poor as it has been for a while in Ulster.

If it was only in Antrim would have thought likes of St Brigids and Portglenone are improving but yesterday's showing along with their county championship games suggest Cargin are starting to fall back towards the pack. 

And that shouldn't be a great surprise given the profile of their team. Some great servants in there but lads don't improve as they head on towards the back half of the 30's.

Good win for St Galls yesterday.  Don't think anyone was mentioning them at the start of the championship.  While U21 gets squeezed into the calendar it's generally still a good pointer to which clubs have good talent coming through. More so than minor I would say.

Don't follow the Antrim football scene, do Cargin have much coming through in terms of youth? They looked like a team that was a bit over the hill yesterday.  Wouldn't be a fan of the same team winning like Cargin have done over the past 10 years so would be good to see other teams winning

[bannside]

Look we all wanted to see Cargin being more competitive yesterday. Especially the clubs in Antrim who feel they arnt that far away, despite the opinions of others on here who think there is still a fairly wide gap.

Everyone entitled to their opinion on this, mine is that the gap is fairly small at this stage and to match Cargin others need to find the extra percentages that are needed.

Cargin will always be around the top end of Antrim football, and some of yesterday's defeated have 9 senior championship medals, something that none of us will ever see in our lifetime again. Will we see Justy Mick and Tomas all back out again in green next year, I wouldn't be so sure, but what class acts they have been.

Next year a new year for all as we wrap up the proceedings for 2024.

[Gael-in-exile]

Without viewing it's hard to know much but I was surprised to see Mick McCann at no8. He is a superb footballer but as the game has progressed there is a lot of pressure on teams to be able to convert defence into attack as fast as possible.
Certainly if it involves kicking the ball forward then Mick would still be able to play the modern game at the pace required but in terms of up and down at that high level intense speed I'm not sure if he would have that in him anymore for a full game without a break further up the field.
He is very important to Cargin as his ball retention and brain allow him to play at the top club level still (although many times with 14 on his back) but as I have seen in others does their play although excellent at ball retention slow the game down and keep possession when what the team needs is to move quick.
Paul scored a goal v St Brigids through the speed he broke at. Did the missing players mean Mick was forced to play more out the field?  And not to take away from him personally but as players age they are still important but sometimes by keeping possession and providing a cool head etc they take away from the speed needed in moving the game forward.

Or alternatively did Cargin come up against a team who pressed them so much Cargin had no answer to once they lost long kick outs - and maybe struggled with a plan B. Not many in Antrim would go on the front foot so much and win the battles like it seems EC did.

[thebigfullforward]

Without viewing it's hard to know much but I was surprised to see Mick McCann at no8. He is a superb footballer but as the game has progressed there is a lot of pressure on teams to be able to convert defence into attack as fast as possible.
Certainly if it involves kicking the ball forward then Mick would still be able to play the modern game at the pace required but in terms of up and down at that high level intense speed I'm not sure if he would have that in him anymore for a full game without a break further up the field.
He is very important to Cargin as his ball retention and brain allow him to play at the top club level still (although many times with 14 on his back) but as I have seen in others does their play although excellent at ball retention slow the game down and keep possession when what the team needs is to move quick.
Paul scored a goal v St Brigids through the speed he broke at. Did the missing players mean Mick was forced to play more out the field?  And not to take away from him personally but as players age they are still important but sometimes by keeping possession and providing a cool head etc they take away from the speed needed in moving the game forward.

Or alternatively did Cargin come up against a team who pressed them so much Cargin had no answer to once they lost long kick outs - and maybe struggled with a plan B. Not many in Antrim would go on the front foot so much and win the battles like it seems EC did.

Keeper wasn't interested in going short at all. Not sure if it's a coaching thing but when you are going for 50/50 kickouts every time even when it's not working it's going to backfire. Cargin probably lucky it wasn't more considering the amount of easier chances missed. Are Cargin normally at that level of fitness or is it the 4 week break because they didn't look up for it at all apart from 5 minute spells in each half