Messages

Don't see Slaughtneil getting to the Ulster final, never mind beating Cushendall. I expect Ballycran to get to the final and to come up short against Cushendall. The Dall are a much better team than they are being given credit for and won't be afflicted by complacency this year. Their second half recovery on Sunday was a marker for how good they can be. I think that they will prevail in Ulster and could Spring a surprise or two beyond that.

Re PJ and the Antrim job. Interested to hear if people think that he could be the answer. Great record with the Shamrocks, but the bitterness between the North Antrim clubs is contriving to hold us back forever, not to mention the City clubs rivalry and the North Antrim v City bias.

The response to the near tragedies at the weekend was absolutely outstanding. Wouldn't it be great if it was like this all of the time.

Lecale 2 is right. Bredagh had the exact same situation last year in the 2013 AI JHC SF and Conor Costello was deemed to be eligible, despite being U16 in 2012. What a bunch of poor losers Ballysaggart are. A total embarrassment to the game of hurling, with their antic and despicable sportsmanship.

Very sorry to hear about James McNaughton's sudden passing. A superb hurler in a great Cushendall halfback line. He's now joined his brother Danny, the Dall's finest hurler in many people's books and they'll be taking their places together on God's 15. May they rest in peace.

Geez Johnney, you've a short memory about Devlin. You had him to thank for for winning the Ulster Club title in 98/99 when he played on deep into added time until the Galget got an equaliser to take the final to a reply. Ballycastle (who were there by default) were raging with him and you won the replay.

Have to say you are spot on with most of your observations and your analysis is normally excellent, but you should be more grateful to Gereard Devlin!

P.S. Bredagh are looking for a new coach/manager. Interested?

Mark O'Neill is the best referee I've seen this year and did an excellent job of the U21 final. I've also been very impressed with a lad from Glenravel, Ryan O'Reilly, who is very much in the same mould as Mark, quietly going about the job and barely noticeable in the games I've seen him ref. Not one of the big names, but very good IMO.

Spot on Johnnie C. Belfast has no resemblance to Dublin. Just check the demographics on the NINIS website. Better if we concentrated on getting the right coaches in place, role models for our juveniles and not unknowns, albeit passionate ones. Much better if we paid young stars/current players who our young aspire to.

Skull 1. Best explanation is the biblical quote; 'let he who has never sinned cast the first stone'. Matty hasn't a bad bone in his body and your lot are condemning him for the incident with Shorty. Knowing Matty, whatever happened wasn't intentional. Pretty simple link, I think!

Skull 1. Do you recall the incident I'm referring to, late 90's early 00's, stand side in Casement. If not ask your manager, he'll recall it well. At a risk of repeating myself, a savage attack on one of Antrim's greatest. Check out the Antrim team of the century and you might understand. 

Some of us have long memories and can recall Porky Boyle's hurling career being brought to an end by a despicable challenge by a Dunloy man. Was very sad to see one of Antrim's greatest taken out by someone who couldn't have laced his boots. Anyone else recall this, or maybe we should draw this discussion to a close!

Johnny, I happen to know a number of the Antrim 89 team very well and all would say that the foundations were laid by Sean. Although I'm Antrim to the core, I'm more acquainted with inter-club relations in Down now and I know for sure that there are a number of people (some would say, quite a few) in the Ards who can't stand the progress being made in Bredagh, not to mention Carryduff and other non-Ards clubs. Then you have the big clown from Carryduff who wished Fullen Gaels the best of luck before we played them in the Junior S/F. Sorry for introducing Down discussion to an Antrim board, but I also recall Ards folk roaring their heads off in support of Ballycastle, when they played Portaferry and Ballycran in Ulster finals in the late 70's early 80's. Don't make it out that everything was rosy in the garden in Down then, it wasn't. The point is, you get nowhere at county level with the damaging rivalries that still persist today, particularly in North Antrim.

Definitely not Saf89, but know both well and know about Sean's role in developing our heroes of 89. If you don't believe me, ask them!

Good idea KT.

Returning briefly to Sean McGuinness. Many of the 1989 Antrim team credit Sean with doing the groundwork and addressing club rivalries which were preventing progress. Was it not Sean's Antrim team that scared the proverbials off a Cork All Ireland winning team in the early/mid 80's (in an AI SF, I think). Thereafter, we were taken seriously for a time, through 1989, until our scores got embarrassing again. A lot of the credit for our progress at that time was down to Sean.

Also, widely respected in Down and in hurling circles across Ulster, the Ultimate Friend of Ulster hurling, I'd say.

This is well worth a listen and an Ulster select may be worth a try, but there are a few other aspects which need to be addressed IMO

1. Improve hurling standards right across Ulster; we need stronger club and county teams in all of our 9 counties. The Liam McCarthy will never come to Ulster until standards rise throughout Ulster. Also, we need to be look more positively at other counties (in Ulster) and help them to improve, e.g. by accommodating more teams in the Antrim leagues, accommodating challenge matches etc.

2. Parochial attitudes need to change. Players need to realise that representing their county and winning the Liam McCarthy is the ultimate honour/achievement. Talk to KK, Cork, Tipp players; they know where their priorities lie.

3. Tackle the issue of poor relations between clubs/supporters, be that between North Antrim clubs, Belfast v North Antrim and even the Ards clubs and others clubs in Down (like Bredagh) trying to promote hurling. Sean McGuinness made excellent strides in this regard when he managed Antrim and Down. I think we've lost our way a bit since then and the negativity, between so called supporters, in both Antrim and Down is shocking at times. We need to unite behind our county banners - all for one and one for all.

Thought ex-Ballycastle hurler, Mark O'Neill did an excellent job last night. Refereed with a bit of common sense, when others would have been flashing cards left, right and centre. The usual argy-bargy stuff at the start was handled with a quiet word of warning. Some of the Johnnies supporters got a bit irate towards the end when one of their players got cut around the eye. The incident happened right in front of me at a 2 man ball and it was a broken stick (flying up) which caused the cut. St Johns were excellent and fully deserved their victory. Some fine talent on show and yes, it would be good to see the Johnnies and the Town win senior honours in the not too distant future. The more competition at senior level, the more successful the county senior team will be.