Antrim Football Thread

[Spike]

MR2, without sounding churlish, if it was a cakewalk winning Ulster then St Galls, for all their legendary status in Antrim, would have a better record than 3 out of 19. As you would know yourself, there are no easy games at that stage of competition.

I think Cargin show a naivety in Ulster that we don't see in Antrim. They tend to ship easy goals which, at that level of competition is very difficult to come back from. 

[Milltown Row2]

MR2, without sounding churlish, if it was a cakewalk winning Ulster then St Galls, for all their legendary status in Antrim, would have a better record than 3 out of 19. As you would know yourself, there are no easy games at that stage of competition.

Nothing churlish about it. Winning one game every so often would suffice.

We've lost the odd final to and a few semis in those years, even our 82 team managed back to back finals

They say you need a run at winning your own county to get a feel for Ulster, it's a simple question, as a supporter of Antrim clubs in Ulster at both codes I'd question that, same way at Newry I questioned Dunloy v S'nel

[Hoof Hearted]

MR2, without sounding churlish, if it was a cakewalk winning Ulster then St Galls, for all their legendary status in Antrim, would have a better record than 3 out of 19. As you would know yourself, there are no easy games at that stage of competition.

Nothing churlish about it. Winning one game every so often would suffice.

We've lost the odd final to and a few semis in those years, even our 82 team managed back to back finals

They say you need a run at winning your own county to get a feel for Ulster, it's a simple question, as a supporter of Antrim clubs in Ulster at both codes I'd question that, same way at Newry I questioned Dunloy v S'nel

how'd they manage that ? Must have been some team

[Spike]

I think Cargin show a naivety in Ulster that we don't see in Antrim. They tend to ship easy goals which, at that level of competition is very difficult to come back from.   They were unlucky against Crossmaglen and  Gweedore but were poor against derrygonnelly and killyclogher.   None of them bad sides.

I personally think this Cargin team have regressed since 2015, but just not as much as st galls. The Antrim championship is more even but of lesser quality as the two top teams aren't what they once were.

[CountyColours]

To be fair, I think Cargin only started to get a crack at ulster when the team was slightly (and then more gradually) in decline i.e. the last 5 years. That was down to St Gall's brilliance, so fair play to them, but it would have been interesting to see how their team from 2005 to 2012-ish got on in Ulster – I'm pretty confident that they would have progressed much further than of recent years.

Spike, may have picked you up wrong, but I think you are harsh on Sean Kelly labelling him as a  5/10 county level guy. It insinuates the old cliché that the player was a good club footballer but can't cut it at county. IMO he always seemed to get pigeon holed out of position, especially for our championship games. Think that's a fair mitigating factor?  If Mick was played half back  and Niblock was in midfield then we could make say the same about those guys. Kelly performed in enough high level club matches, ulster and beyond to quash the thought that he was not in the same grade as those guys?

[Spike]

Spike, may have picked you up wrong, but I think you are harsh on Sean Kelly labelling him as a  5/10 county level guy. It insinuates the old cliché that the player was a good club footballer but can't cut it at county. IMO he always seemed to get pigeon holed out of position, especially for our championship games. Think that's a fair mitigating factor?  If Mick was played half back  and Niblock was in midfield then we could make say the same about those guys. Kelly performed in enough high level club matches, ulster and beyond to quash the thought that he was not in the same grade as those guys?

CC - i totally get where you are coming from and yes he should be up there based on what i saw of him for St Galls but i saw him play a few times for the county and he never really did it.  He had countless and i mean countless brilliant club games but im struggling to recall seeing him play well for antrim and he didn't go up to the county for a few years for some reason.  He was played out of position at corner back against wicklow in croke park and had a moment to forget for the goal, but was poor against sligo in the div 3 final at right half back where he had a nightmare trying to deal with Alan Costello.   

In no way am i suggesting Sean Kelly wasn't a super footballer - absolutely not, a wonderful player - i just didn't see him perform at county level and that could be either fitness/form issues or out of position - a range of issues that collectively stifled him.   

[bannside]

Fair comment. SK class act but just didnt really do it for the county. Exact same can be said for Kevin Mc G. What a pity though. Add Kevin to that list of quality players from our county, who were in their prime in 09, who didnt feature in Tullamore. No one can tell me there wasnt a collective 4 or 5 point advantage had all those featured. You only had to see some of these boys at Kilmacud every year to know they could mix it with the very best.

[Milltown Row2]

Spike, may have picked you up wrong, but I think you are harsh on Sean Kelly labelling him as a  5/10 county level guy. It insinuates the old cliché that the player was a good club footballer but can't cut it at county. IMO he always seemed to get pigeon holed out of position, especially for our championship games. Think that's a fair mitigating factor?  If Mick was played half back  and Niblock was in midfield then we could make say the same about those guys. Kelly performed in enough high level club matches, ulster and beyond to quash the thought that he was not in the same grade as those guys?

CC - i totally get where you are coming from and yes he should be up there based on what i saw of him for St Galls but i saw him play a few times for the county and he never really did it.  He had countless and i mean countless brilliant club games but im struggling to recall seeing him play well for antrim and he didn't go up to the county for a few years for some reason.  He was played out of position at corner back against wicklow in croke park and had a moment to forget for the goal, but was poor against sligo in the div 3 final at right half back where he had a nightmare trying to deal with Alan Costello.   

In no way am i suggesting Sean Kelly wasn't a super footballer - absolutely not, a wonderful player - i just didn't see him perform at county level and that could be either fitness/form issues or out of position - a range of issues that collectively stifled him.

So in your a opinion Sean was a bang average county player ? But the lads you've mentioned were top county players but couldn't perform for their club in Ulster?

[CountyColours]

Fair points Spike, I can't argue with you there, and agree, we didn't see the best of Kelly in saffron for whatever the reason. Which is unfortunate, because he ticked alot of boxes re: what you want in a county footballer.

100% Bannside, those lads would have made a difference in '09, Especially with Kevin McG around the middle/ half forward line, it would have given us a serious option. Not sure if we would have beat Tyrone though, think they would have had another gear in them, but Kerry were there for the taking. We caught them off guard that day and they were fortunate to squeeze by.

[Spike]

MR2 - ill refer to earlier post - if you could actually read the words rather than imagining what you think you read , it would be a whole lot easier to understand.  Sean was a super player but i never saw that in an antrim jersey. Just my view.

[Spike]

Cc - agree, we were so close to kerry, tyrone probably too cute but would have went to the wire.

BS - yes, if only......those last couple of percents.   

[Milltown Row2]

MR2 - ill refer to earlier post - if you could actually read the words rather than imagining what you think you read , it would be a whole lot easier to understand.  Sean was a super player but i never saw that in an antrim jersey. Just my view.

Ok so imagine this, you said he was 5-10 as a county player so he was in your opinion he was average! Take your green tinted glasses off please

[Milltown Row2]

MR2, without sounding churlish, if it was a cakewalk winning Ulster then St Galls, for all their legendary status in Antrim, would have a better record than 3 out of 19. As you would know yourself, there are no easy games at that stage of competition.

Nothing churlish about it. Winning one game every so often would suffice.

We've lost the odd final to and a few semis in those years, even our 82 team managed back to back finals

They say you need a run at winning your own county to get a feel for Ulster, it's a simple question, as a supporter of Antrim clubs in Ulster at both codes I'd question that, same way at Newry I questioned Dunloy v S'nel

how'd they manage that ? Must have been some team

They won in 82 and lost final to Burren in 83. They were some team

[Spike]

MR2 - ill refer to earlier post - if you could actually read the words rather than imagining what you think you read , it would be a whole lot easier to understand.  Sean was a super player but i never saw that in an antrim jersey. Just my view.

Ok so imagine this, you said he was 5-10 as a county player so he was in your opinion he was average! Take your green tinted glasses off please

He had average performances for the county. Yes, i stand by that.    Im not saying he was an average footballer, for reasons only known to him he didnt transfer his st galls form to the county scene.   If you disagree then fair enough

[Milltown Row2]

MR2 - ill refer to earlier post - if you could actually read the words rather than imagining what you think you read , it would be a whole lot easier to understand.  Sean was a super player but i never saw that in an antrim jersey. Just my view.

Ok so imagine this, you said he was 5-10 as a county player so he was in your opinion he was average! Take your green tinted glasses off please

He had average performances for the county. Yes, i stand by that.    Im not saying he was an average footballer, for reasons only known to him he didnt transfer his st galls form to the county scene.   If you disagree then fair enough

So I did read you post well enough?

It's always about opinions I suppose