Antrim Football Thread

NAG1 · July 02, 2014, 10:47:28 AM

Quote from: Walter Cronc on July 02, 2014, 10:21:49 AM
Quote from: bannside on July 02, 2014, 10:14:41 AM
Good picture in todays Irish News of the All saints feile winning team. To go six games without defeat in a high standard division two is well worth another mention. Great to see their hard work at juvenile level paying off. From what I have been told, most of the main men on that team are expected to come through to senior. Well done to all involved.

Meant to post this. Superb result. Great to see!! Any idea how this came about? Were local primary schools targeted by the County Board and lots of coaching given?

From what I hear lots of work going on in the primary schools, also with good out reach programmes to involve non traditional kids. There are number who have come from the rugby club and local soccer clubs from what I hear, really pleased for a club who had their fair share of trouble over the years.

Milltown Row2 · July 02, 2014, 11:41:10 AM

Quote from: bannside on July 02, 2014, 10:14:41 AM
Good picture in todays Irish News of the All saints feile winning team. To go six games without defeat in a high standard division two is well worth another mention. Great to see their hard work at juvenile level paying off. From what I have been told, most of the main men on that team are expected to come through to senior. Well done to all involved.

You know that's not always the case bannside, under 14's can take so many different routes in life, this is an exceptional team no doubt, did the line when the beat Rossa at O'D's pitch and I noticed they had a few big lads which at that level makes a big big difference. Now shoot forward 4/5 years these lads will be the same height as everyone else and the standard of football that they will have played in, in Antrim will not have moved them on that much. Now here's the hard work finding the motivation to keep these lads all together and moving onto a senior team. We've lost countless players that have played in successive Feile teams and Championship winning minor and Under 21 teams (5 years in a row) a lot of these lads are lost now, god knows where they are.

By the way I'm not pissing on their parade, I'd love to see (at the expense of my club) other teams challenging for the championship, lets see if traditional clubs like Rossa and St Johns who've had great success at those levels also can make the grade be fore saying Ballymena will have these lads at senior.

For Ballymena the real hard work starts now, I hope to see them do well

bannside · July 02, 2014, 04:35:41 PM

Fair points well made MR2. The main thing is that "something" is working to allow Ballymena to get out of Antrim and prove beyond doubt that there was nothing lucky about that. Anyone who had done the feile thing (Sean Stinsons were beaten in a div 3 final a few years back) will know its not easy getting through the group stages and most of the better teams will need to have their quota of top quality players to have any chance of success.

Hopefully the core of the team will stick around, but time will tell.

A special shout out to Jim Brady who worked wonders in his short time as principal in St Marys primary Portglenone. He won all county and Ulster honours with the primary school at that time, and nearly every one of the Portglenone team who won the county U-21 title earlier this year were under his influence during those key formative years.

Now Jim has been principal in the Ballymena primary school for the past seven or eight years, and you can start to see a pattern emerging here. He wont be doing this on his own, but getting the basics right at primary school level and sowing those initial seeds can have a very positive medium and long term effect.

But of course this feile victory is just a stepping stone and not all will see it through to senior level. Another question is whether there is another batch or two in their pipeline to back this group up? Wouldnt rule it out.

AQMP · July 05, 2014, 03:52:13 PM

FT Limerick 3-11 Antrim 0-15. Nine goals conceded in three games shows where the problem is.

glens abu · July 05, 2014, 04:29:13 PM

Quote from: AQMP on July 05, 2014, 03:52:13 PM
FT Limerick 3-11 Antrim 0-15. Nine goals conceded in three games shows where the problem is.

Problem has to be management,root and branch chance needed in county,putting in place a 5/10 year plan.County Board need to think outside the box and put a team in place with resources to improve from Minor through U21 to Senior.Get Bannside and people like him to put a plan in place.

country bumpkin · July 06, 2014, 09:54:28 AM

Aye right u are Glens abu..................but will such grand plan involve ensuring that all will make themselves available..............

?

glens abu · July 06, 2014, 01:09:35 PM

Quote from: country bumpkin on July 06, 2014, 09:54:28 AM
Aye right u are Glens abu..................but will such grand plan involve ensuring that all will make themselves available..............?

Don't think it is about all being available,think it is about CB getting the right dedicated team in place to put such a plan into action.There are many ex county players out there who have shown an interest in being involved with the county from Minor up.Put the money in and get them on board with a 5/ 10 year plan not putting another Dawson or Baker in place hoping to win one C'chip game or get a promotion one season and down again the next.

bannside · July 07, 2014, 10:20:38 AM

Another year done and dusted for our county footballers and here is a brief resume from my own personal opinion.

The pluses were brief. A sublime 45 minutes of excellent football against Fermanagh, and good too for one half of the game against Donegal (but really they were just toying with us TBH).

Probably our most disappointing season in living memory. We totally collapsed in second half of matches time and time again with the exception of the London game. We threw away leads against against Wicklow, Carlow, and Waterford. We lost leads that should have been impossible to lose. We tried our best to lose to Fermanagh (but for the foot of Kobo). We didn't turn up in the second half against Donegal. We lose the second half to Limerick by 7 points - playing with a good wind.

Started the year 26th in the all Ireland ratings - probably have slipped to 28th/29th. Our worst rating ever. Our supporters are voting with their feet. Our turnouts at league games are non existent, and our support in Clones and at in Limerick was woeful. And we still have players missing who could be contributing a lot more to our cause.

Baker really must be wondering why he ever came back again. He left a decent legacy after his first term, but looks in real danger of totally destroying that. Paddy too certainly hasnt got his coaching/managerial career off to the start he envisaged, - and unless its all about the money- then they really do need to be thinking about their positions right now. Not just for our sakes, but for their own too. They have tough decisions to make, because if they try to flesh out another year, and it has even more potential for disaster, then they would not just lose any remaining credibility they have, but would lose their reputations into the bargain.

We cant go about blaming managers all the time, thats far too easy. The players need to look at why they are losing large leads in the second half of games. The board needs to ask what could it reasonably do to obtain a better result than 2014.

But Baker has the biggest call to make. Does he really still feels he can do anything more for us by seeking a sixth year out of seven?

themac_23 · July 07, 2014, 03:33:35 PM

Anyone any idea when club championships are due to start now that there are no County distractions?

culchie11 · July 07, 2014, 08:36:44 PM

I think Kevin madden summed our season up well in Irish news today.

I don't think money comes into it bannside as like urself baker and paddy r football men. Both have other commitments football and other, the time and effort needed for county management is unreal and I don't think ur time can have a price put on it. Sure paddy cudve got plenty of work with bbc tv or radio.

The mac as far as I know these r the dates for sfc, IFC and JFC.

Weekend of 10th August - prelims IFC and JFC

Weekend of 17th August -prelims sfc, qtr finals IFC and JFC

Weekend of 7th sept -qtr finals sfc, semis IFC and JFC

Weekend of 27th sept - semi finals sfc

Weekend of 5th oct - finals IFC and JFC

I could be wrong or as they wud say on county website, ask ur club secretary lol

culchie11 · July 07, 2014, 08:47:10 PM

Forgot about sfc final

Weekend of 18th oct sfc final.

Here's a link to draws

www.antrimgaa.net/uploads/assets/2014antrimchampionshipdraws.pdf

Hopefully our 1st class pro will try his best to get the games and dates promoted nearer the time!

bannside · July 08, 2014, 08:05:18 AM

Maddens article in yesterdays Irish News Culchie was spot on -in fairness he is never too far off the mark. He knows that there are a lot of issues which need resolved before Antrim can attempt to be any sort of respectable force in football. All the faults cannot be laid at any one door and he isn't rushing to blame the management in particular. As I said too yesterday, that would be too simplistic. We have been doing that for too long.

But on the subject of management, they do need to consider their own options very carefully. They have as much to lose as to gain and I'm sure that point isn't lost on them too.

If they plan to stay I would run with it for another year. But I would like to know what exactly they might do differently in order to get a better net result than what we got in 2014,, which they need to man up and admit was a major disappointment in terms of their (and our) expectations.

delgany · July 10, 2014, 10:36:15 AM

CB exucutive only interested in winning championship match v fermanagh this year and promotion out of div 4. Madden offered a mmore long term progressive approach . In terms of strength and conditioning work , antrim are a long way behind. There is good work taking place at development squad level but it needs to be more organised and consistent. It is interesting to see the diFference in approach with senior hulers; this is a more pragmatic , building the squad and systems of play. I wonder what kevin ryan makes of the set up in antrim?

Farrandeelin · July 19, 2014, 12:25:02 AM

Are there many football only clubs in Antrim?
Just wondering.

imtommygunn · July 19, 2014, 12:34:45 AM

North antrim is hurling territory. South west more football territory and city mixed.

South west tend to have hurling teams in lower leagues but it's picking up a good bit and even a division one team in ahoghill now.

Offhand portglenone and aghagallon. Belfast have some hurling amalgamations and have lost track of who is represented...probably st malachys and st brigids too. Lisburn and antrim town as well.