Antrim Hurling

[clootfromthe21]

See we have Laois away in the first round of our defence of the Walsh Cup - any info on the likely make up of the team/panel?

[Two Hands FFS]

Cloot..there was a friendly v Jordanstown tonight at Casement so we might find out a bit more from that.

[clootfromthe21]

Cloot..there was a friendly v Jordanstown tonight at Casement so we might find out a bit more from that.

Jeez - wouldn't have fancied getting a slap from a hurl on a night like last night. Ouch!

[Last Man]

Sure there will be no more slappin with these new rules and I think they might be stopping games if it gets too cold, which I am all for by the way, my ould circulation isn't what it was

[Glensman]

Any reports from the match v the Poly?

Jordanstown must have some team with Graffin, Magill, McManus, McAuley and a few others. Greg O'Kane taking them - any reports on his training? Would say it would be good.

[NAG]

Would very much doubt that any of the cushendal boys will be taking part for the poly or the county at this stage.

[NAG]

If they have I stand corrected but I dont think it would be worth the risk of playing in any other meaningless friendlies or pre season competitions when they have a great shot of making an all Ireland final.

[milltown row]

they defo played in the Div 2 final which UUJ won. would do them no harm. our lads played college football during the All Ireland run. no better training than playing games. you could get hurt playing or training for the club

[NAG]

Aye but the difference is that the Milltown boys were playing at a high level in the games they took part in, I dont think the same could be said of the cushendall boys.

Yes it is true you could get hurt training or playing for the club but that is exactly it they are training and playing for the club and these things would be acceptable, I doubt very much if they would if they pulled up in an Antrim Challenge v the Poly. IMO

[Glensman]

Disagree with you NAG.
Players can't be wrapped up in cotton wool and shouldn't be.
The Dall are playing friendlies (last weekend, this weekend). There is nothing like a run of matches to give you some form. You can do all the training you like but they will need to hit the ground running v De La Salle.

Those boys in the university teams are young and can handle the challenges/demands of playing games. God knows they have enough time to recover...
It would indeed be a shame if they got injured yes...but I'd rather they had game time than just train away.
There is no substituing for game time IMO so if I was the Cushendall manager I would be happy enough (within reason of course).

[NAG]

Yeah I would be happy enough for them to get game time with cushendall, playing in these games with the poly and the county only can teach them bad habits. They will need to be in the mindset of playng faster and harder than they ever have before not playing these tippy tappy games at this time of the year which all these friendlies turn into.

However rest assured if one of those players gets injured not playing for cushendall and has to miss the semi final there will be hell to pay in cushendall and questions would be asked of the manager as to why his prized assest were pissing around in friendlies at this time of the year.

Its just fact lads

[sail_in]

Did anyone hear anything about the new proposal on the way to enter regional teams in the Senior Championship? 

I think the current idea is to have a team from the south west, and one from North Antrim anyway.  As I understand it, this would be in addition to a club's own club championship, so for example, our players (Clooney Gaels) could play in the intermediate championship for us and in the senior championship for the south west.

We talked about it at a meeting last night and I don't think my club is going to be supporting it.  The players we would be sending to that would be dual players and would have enough on come August.

I think most of the other clubs in our area would be in a similar position.

There might be more of a chance in North Antrim as they would have a number of hurling-only clubs (Carey, Armoy, Cushendun and Cloughmills) and they wouldn't have the same demands on their players.

It's hard to imagine an amalgamation team going to the same level of preparation for a senior championship as the main clubs that would be entered in it, and therefore I think it would be a bit of a waste of time.  To be honest I wouldn't really want to play in a championship for anybody other than my club.

I think the main motivation for this is the withdrawal of a couple of the clubs from the senior championship. 

[NAG]

If it was done properly with a bit of funding available for the 'Regions' I think this may be one way of lifting the standard of the so called weaker clubs. If their best 6-7 players come together with the same from 3-4 other clubs instantly the standard is raised and with the right coaching and management they can then take this increased standard back to their clubs.

No one is saying they would be instantly successful but with a bit of work and tinkering it could be one way to bring the standard up.

[theskull1]

sail_in has a valid point re dual players in august, but I would love to see this happening, so creative thinking needed to come up with a solution to this problem. The ambitious hurlers playing intermediatte I'm sure would love the chance to play in the senior championship and it may very well provide an imputeous to improve the quality at that level

Isn't it great to see that suggestions/ideas discussed on this forum are being listened to.

On another point
I see Antrim played UCD yesterday losing by 2 in the end. Looked a fairly decent line out with the dall boys missing, but I was shocked that I saw one of my own club men lining out for the county when he has still not bedded himself a place in the club first 15. Conor is a terrific lad and will most likely get there this year and will be one to keep and eye on for the future, but he needs to cut his teeth in the club game first to learn the trade. The cart does not come before the horse. Dinny did the same Darren Quinn and he didn't benefit from it. Surely someone has to stand out at Senior level for their clubs to get a call up for the county? Is that not how it should work?

[sail_in]

Surely someone has to stand out at Senior level for their clubs to get a call up for the county? Is that not how it should work?

Ideally yeah.  Was Joey Scullion not playing regularly for Antrim a couple of years back when he's wasn't a regular in the Loughgiel team?