Antrim Football Thread

[imtommygunn]

I think we miss Tony Scullion a lot in these kind of games. He always went at teams. You can say what you want about his kicking at times but he was prepared to try and break tackles and go forward. We don't have enough like that. We also had lots of space in the wings but didn't take anyone into it as Fermanagh knew we had a guy in the middle and that was it. 

[bannside]

Great analysis and everyone here seems on the same wavelength.

From a coaching perspective it was poor. We were far to slow in moving the ball - and thats because there was no target to hit. Support play was practically non existent, extremely disappointing. Kevin Madden correctly pointed out that we were too passive in meeting the tackle. It was like we were inviting them onto us before we decided to engage. Why not start that 40 yards further up the pitch?

We really could have pinched a result as Fermanagh were poor too. We were awful at times and yet got within a score of them with seven minutes left.  They only managed 1-04 from play so thats well done to our defence. But we didnt score from play ourselves until 43 mins and that is a horrendous statistic.

Thats the hub and whoever is setting us up to play the way we do needs a rethink. Players dont like it. Supporters dont like it. Trust the players for goodness sake. When we went man to man we looked much better.  Id just love to see Bam Tomas and Ryan up front at the same time, all within the thirty yard line. Keeping it wide, creating space, and making them mark us. Three artists every bit as good as Tomas Corrigan if they get a good supply.

What we are doing is inviting them on and saying give us your best shot. But that is useless if we are not hurting them on the scoreboard and where the hell were our scores going to come from. Five hail Marys on top of Bam, the smallest player on the pitch. Jesus wept.

We gave Frank Dawson terrible manners on here about the same thing. Lessons need to be learned very quickly here because not one person I spoke to has any appetite whatsoever for watching that type of shite/puke fare we were forced to watch yesterday.

Trust the players please. We can play football when allowed.

[paddyjohn]

Great analysis and everyone here seems on the same wavelength.

From a coaching perspective it was poor. We were far to slow in moving the ball - and thats because there was no target to hit. Support play was practically non existent, extremely disappointing. Kevin Madden correctly pointed out that we were too passive in meeting the tackle. It was like we were inviting them onto us before we decided to engage. Why not start that 40 yards further up the pitch?

We really could have pinched a result as Fermanagh were poor too. We were awful at times and yet got within a score of them with seven minutes left.  They only managed 1-04 from play so thats well done to our defence. But we didnt score from play ourselves until 43 mins and that is a horrendous statistic.

Thats the hub and whoever is setting us up to play the way we do needs a rethink. Players dont like it. Supporters dont like it. Trust the players for goodness sake. When we went man to man we looked much better.  Id just love to see Bam Tomas and Ryan up front at the same time, all within the thirty yard line. Keeping it wide, creating space, and making them mark us. Three artists every bit as good as Tomas Corrigan if they get a good supply.

What we are doing is inviting them on and saying give us your best shot. But that is useless if we are not hurting them on the scoreboard and where the hell were our scores going to come from. Five hail Marys on top of Bam, the smallest player on the pitch. Jesus wept.

We gave Frank Dawson terrible manners on here about the same thing. Lessons need to be learned very quickly here because not one person I spoke to has any appetite whatsoever for watching that type of shite/puke fare we were forced to watch yesterday.

Trust the players please. We can play football when allowed.

Those 10 words say enough about the day.

Hopefully the shackles come off for the qualifiers.

[culchie11]

we play like we did in the 1st then we wonder why the bbc dont choose to show us playing live!!

omg it was horrendous, u can say fermanagh r so many places above us in league standings, which is true & for a reason, but this was championship, what u train for all year. a bit of heart, passion & fight is all u can ask for. i hate this bit of shadowing a man, standing off him 5/10 metres, get in his bloody face, put him under the same pressure they put us. we played with sweepers yest, they needed to attack when we had the ball or at least free up others to attack. we needed to push up on the kickouts make them kick them long. better to go down fighting.

yes it got better in the 2nd half but it had to. carron tried hard, mcaleese & murray made a diff when introduced. the players were playing within themselves i think. we got back into the game then murray didnt bend his back to lift the ball, sloppy and they hit us for a goal.

we may hope for a kind draw in back door, but then everyone else will be hoping to get us!!

[BrendanAntrim]

Funny enough I was thinking about Tony Scullion when watching it - ok he hasn't the pace he had a few years ago, but he would have let the Fermanagh players know they were in a game. I was delighted to see Sean McVeigh introducing himself to the game with a decent hit - it cost a yellow card but it said something about us.

[Spike]

First half shooting was terrible and put the pressure on ourselves the longer we went without scoring. Fermanagh's Nr 10 caused us no end of problems but for some reason was left alone. No point in having a defensive system and then leave a huge space in side of it.  McKeever was a big loss, McBride looked lost, the kickouts were telegraphed and Bam is not a lone target man whether the ball is hit high or low to him as it keeps coming back out again. His shot selection on the few occasions he got the ball was extremely frustrating.  Thought Johnston handled Quigley well but naïve for the goal which burst the bubble. McVeigh threw himself about well when he came on and murray livened things up as well as Antrim got a grip in the 2nd half.  We are a better outfit than we were last year as we have improved upgrades in every position, its just that our start and shooting in that first half were very very poor and in tight games you cant afford to do that.   

[theskull1]

Not disagreeing with the preference to 'come out swinging' rather than the 'bury the head into the gloves' approach. Certainly makes games more watchable (I struggle to watch it now with the 'high percentage' tactics employed .... as much as I can appreciate the workrate required to play these systems well, the entertainment factor is low) but I can hear the 'we were far too naive' comments being bandied about if we'd have got beaten by the same or more doing so. 

[bannside]

Well done to the minors. Good win against Fermanagh - is that three years in a row now we have beaten them?

Really impressed with a few of them. Paddy Mc Cormack (Moneyglass) and Liam Quinn (Creggan) were standouts for me, the latter broke an ankle I hear and will be missing now. Our club had Michael Hagan corner forward (1-01) the son of Damien Hagan who played for Tyrone for a good few years and we would be expecting him to be a very big player for our seniors in the next few years. Class act. Goes to St Louis where he couldnt get a place on their school team which I personally find totally incredulous!

[north aontroim gael]

Some people far too willing to believe the hype.
Antrim topped Div 4 .... a full 12 places below where Fermanagh ended up in Div2. Championships is Championship and all that, but come on gents. How sure are you that we 'should' be able to consistently put it up to the likes of teams like Fermanagh. Results wouldn't suggest that we should AFAICS. Very easy to look slick against Div4 teams. Div2 opposition will always be better drilled and put a Div4 team under pressure.

A lot of toys strewn around the place this evening for no good reason other than unrealistic expectations being set.

I couldn't understand the hype myself.  The only high quality players Antrim have are Michael McCann & Niall McKeever.  None of the rest would get on a Division 1 team and most of them would barely get on a Division 2 team.  From the football I've seen Bam and Tomas are very flaky and struggle to win their own ball. Niblock can do a job but against a well organised defence he struggles. Unless Antrim get a Division 4 team or lower Division 3 team in the qualifiers they will be out.

[BrendanAntrim]

Minors were v good and yes thats 3 years in a row we have beaten Fermanagh at minor. Liam Quinn was outstanding in the first half especially, I thought Nagle was a clever footballer and Kevin Small in ff was strong too. I would like to see Joe Finnegan on the starting team along with his brother, both can have a big influence on games. I see we now play Donegal, in Ballybofey, on Sunday 29th May. It's a standalone game yet is on at 7pm???

[Points a Good Score]

Minors as I said previously played well, as BS stated McCormick and Quinn both had great games, I was also impressed with Nagle and McCabe both very industrious and important to how Antrim played. Paul Mulholland at corner back had an excellent game as well.

Id imagine Eamon Fyfe will come in for Quinn for the quarter final, where would you see young Finnegan coming in at Brendan I dont know the lad at all other than what I seen when he came on?

[BrendanAntrim]

Well, I'm not going to say who should be out / in...thats a hard enough job for management! I have seen Joe a good few times over recent seasons and he is a big, strong player who wins dirty & clean possession, retains it and uses it well inc getting scores. Hope to see more of him in saffron in the future.

[bannside]

Unfortunately that's not likely Brendan. Joseph is part of Ulster rugby under 20 development squad and for the foreseeable future that's where his sporting focus will be. Both twins very capable at least we still have Patrick to look forward to in Saffron. 

[Erinlong]

North Aontroim Gael I take your point on Antrim needing a div 3 or 4 team to progress,but Kevin Niblock and Tomas mccann are players that have carried the team along with Michael and Nial Mckeever at times this year. Niblock taking a lot of knocks along the way including Sunday's game,I'd love to see his assists for the year,Tomas was outragous in the league final, when in full forward is a ball winner and a threat,were he wasn't playing at on Sunday,Bam is as you said and I was surprised not to see Ryan Murray or even Sean Burke didn't get the nod for Sunday's game.

Going forward Antrim need a game plan, they looked lost compared to fermangh getting numbers back and break with intent.

[country bumpkin]

A lot of games in the next couple of weeks......wonder will Cargin make the top seven...........think JB doesn't care