Antrim Football Thread

[Maximus Marillius]

so max - does all county players get that as well as managers

I'm almost sure that is the standard rate for all, except for those who are on central council duty which is a bit more.

[Cromagh]

Getting paid or expenses??

travelling from glenuillen to belfast - approx 60 miles?? thats 120 round trip - 40p per mile.....thats £48 per night travelling - round up to £50 times 4 or 5 times aweek for various training, planning etc - so Baker is probably on £200-£250 a week which makes it approx £1000 per month - £12,000 per year.

Just my take on it.........

Sambo & Woody - getting paid or expenses?

Cromagh it is 52p per mile when on county duty, so you doing the guy.

OK then...so baker gets £63 per night x 5 = £315per week = £1260 per month which means £15120 for the year. So all the begrudgers saying how much hes getting........well thats what hes owed under Croke Park rules. Add in Niall Conway on prob similar expenses......Sambo travels a bit further than Woody - and both will be sit in around £12,000 each.

Just my calculations. Not slating them for it

[Glensman]

Anyine know the Galls Rasharkin result?

[imtommygunn]

draw.

0-10 to 2-4

Rasharkin could stay up yet. They've more favourable games left than the johnnies. Johnnies have to play st galls but judging by the tones of some of milltown's posts there's no love lost. Lamh Dhearg too so another derby.

Rasharkin could be fit to beat gorts and brigids.

Johnnies getting relegated - who'd have thought it? (they always seem to pull it out of the bag though so maybe counting my chickens...)

A few years ago the johnnies reserve team could probably have competed bottom end of current division 1. How time change.

[Glensman]

Cheers...good resut for Rasharkin

[milltown row]

draw tonight. league gone, maybe no interest after tonigh,  flood lights at casement i noticed on way over tonight, what was on?

[culchy1]

Good result last night for Rasharkin surely!

any one of 7 teams could go down if results go certain ways!
think gorts are doomed, heard they are to play 3 matches inside the last week before cut-off.
but if they fail to beat cargin at the weekend then their down, their remaining matches are against
st johns on tues night at casement & then rasharkin away on thurs night.
rasharkin have st brigids at home on sunday, then gorts thurs night & cargin away next saturday.
thinks lamhs will get themselves safe, they have creggan at home sat, then st johns away last game next sun.
johnnies have galls away sun, gorts on tues at casement & lahms at home last game.
st brigids have got rasharkin away sunday & then away to galls which isnt fixed!
creggan still arent safe either, lamhs away sat, portglenone at home not fixed & galls away not fixed!
and even at that st pauls play portglenone this weekend, whoever wins is safe but loser could be in bother,
and as its st pauls last game they would have to sit and watch, but expect them to win!

any cobination of results could happen so totally impossible to even guess who might go down.
if rasharkin get a result on sunday against brigids it really will be squeaky bum time for everyone!!!

[billy the kid]

Could someone post up the Div 1 Antrim football table if possible. Cheers

[culchy1]

                     PL  W L D FOR AG  DIF PTS
Cargin             16 13 3 0 286 190 96  26
St. Galls           14 10 3 1 197 135 62  21
St. Pauls          17 7 8 2 196 189    7  16
Portglenone     16 8 8 0 209 219  -10 16
St. Brigids        16 7 8 1 201 202   -1  15
Creggan          15 7 8 0 172 191  -19 14
Lamh Dhearg   16 6 8 2 176 212  -36 14
St. Johns        15 6 8 1 162 194  -32 13
Rasharkin        14 5 7 2 152 181  -29 12
Gort Na Mona  15 3 11 1 164 202 -38  7


Score difference could have a say yet!!

[Hoof Hearted]

McCann eager for Australia move 

Antrim ace Thomas McCann is a target for Aussie Rules clubs
Saffrons star Thomas McCann is the latest young GAA player to be linked with a move to a professional career in the Australian Football League.

The 21-year-old Cargin clubman will travel Down Under in March with Geelong among the clubs expressing an interest.

McCann has indicated his desire for a move to the AFL and said that "it's one of those things which you might never get the chance to do again".

Tyrone minor star Kyle Coney is among the recent recruits to Aussie Rules.

[imtommygunn]

He wouldn't remind me of the sort o boy who'd have a physique for aussie rules?

[JimStynes]

Irish are running hot
Dan Silkstone | November 13, 2008

HEAVING, beet-red and slathered in zinc cream the two young Irishmen hurled themselves onto the grass at Gosch's Paddock yesterday. And smiled.

Welcome to Australia.

"It's tough, no doubt about it," said 19-year-old County Antrim man Niall McKeever after training with Richmond's senior group. "The weather is just brutal."

They had left a chilly autumn with temperatures hovering in single figures and arrived on Sunday. Yesterday as they were put through their paces on their second day of a week-long trial at Tigerland, the two AFL aspirants slogged through 35-degree heat.

McKeever — a lanky 195 centimetre ruckman type with shoulders burned to red — grabbed a gulp of water as a minder from player manager Ricky Nixon's stable advised him to pick up some aloe vera on the way home.

"What's that then?" he wondered aloud.

Apparently there is not much call for it in Northern Ireland.

On the basis of yesterday's session, if the pair do not make it as AFL footballers it will not be for lack of application. Watching on, you wondered how they were possibly surviving under the punishing sun, but still they smiled and kept going.

"People warned me that Melbourne would be four seasons in one day, but since I got here it has been one season all day and every day," McKeever laughed afterwards.

McKeever and compatriot Conor Meredith are among five of the Gaelic game's brightest prospects, chosen from a camp held by Nixon in Ireland in August and flown to Melbourne for extended trials at Richmond, North Melbourne and St Kilda.

For those who make the grade, a spot on the rookie list and a potential new career on the other side of the world beckons.

The training drills are not entirely different to those of the amateur Irish game, both said, nor the aerobic capacity required to keep up. Yesterday, as the entire group ran a callous series of unending 200-metre sprints Meredith and McKeever impressively kept pace with their new colleagues.

But when the shirts came off the difference in size and power was stark.

"I'm competing well out here," McKeever said. "But in the gym it's the total opposite. I'm fairly fit, but for strength and power there is a big difference."

Then there's the swimming. In a recovery session at the beach on Tuesday, the two Irishmen struggled to do much more than prevent themselves from drowning.

Muscle can be added — it is what conditioning staff do with all rookies. Other things come harder. McKeever says the kicking is the biggest obstacle and you can see it as he puts his boot through the pigskin in a kicking drill and gives it a high, up-and-under arc unlike the flat, stab pass of a modern AFL player. Overhead marking is handled more assuredly. He has been working at home with a rugby ball, but has hardly ever kicked an Australian rules ball.

"I know that will get better, though," he says. "I hope that I've shown that I can improve physically in the gym and that I am capable of competing with these players."

The professionalism of the Australian game, he says, is the biggest attraction. "The coaches are so disciplined, there's so much help and support, anything you need, they help you."

It's a long way from the amateur pursuits of Gaelic football and the surveying degree at university that awaits him at home if his trial is unsuccessful.

McKeever was a senior listed player at his county, as was Meredith. They are among the brightest talents in the Irish game. The player many judge as the brightest — Tommy Walsh — will arrive in just over a week for a trial with St Kilda.

In Melbourne, they are pasty curiosities with big dreams, but these boys — and their journey — are big news back home. At yesterday's session they were watched by an Irish newspaper journalist and filmed by a camera crew from RTE, the Irish public broadcaster. Their more illustrious Tiger teammates were clearly amused at the media attention and responded with the obligatory ribbing.

Director Stephen McQuillan is making a documentary about Nixon's Irish experiment and the growing player exodus to Australia.

"It's quite a controversial thing over there," he says. "There's a movement from the players towards some sort of payment. When you see a player like Tommy Walsh coming out here who is the young player of the year over there, he's like a young Chris Judd. Marty Clarke before that was the best young player of his generation. They are losing heroes."

Walsh's imminent arrival is already big news in Ireland with Nixon hoping the young star is not pressured into withdrawing from the trial. Walsh's decision to try his luck in Australia is an even greater blow considering his father — Sean Walsh — is chairman of traditional powerhouse County Kerry.

McKeever has no idea what position he might play — though he says others have told him he'd make a good half-back. He has a background in soccer as well as Gaelic football and says he has dreamed of making a living from his talents.

"To do something you love and be paid and do it every single day of your life would be just unbelievable," he says.

Meredith — from County Louth — is 19, shorter but still athletic and more of a power runner. He can't stop smiling, though he looks as though he might vomit from the workout he has just completed.

"I love it here so far," he says. "I wasn't expecting such a high level of intensity in the training. The ball is tough, but this heat is a major factor. It's just so draining."

The word they both use to describe their adventure is lifestyle. "You see the life these guys live, the city, the weather, the training they put into their bodies and it is amazing," Meredith says.

Word has spread around the talented youth of Ireland — the achievements of household names such as Tadhg Kenneally and Clarke have not gone unnoticed. The exotic dream that brought Jim Stynes to Australia is becoming a commonplace ambition. Who knows what that will hold for the Irish game?

"People talk about it a lot," Meredith says. "There are more windows opening up here for us all the time. There will be nine or 10 Irish players here soon and they are all top players back home. The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) people will be mad and definitely be against it, but what can they do to stop it? It's the individual's choice and for me the lifestyle here, the weather, everything is just great."
http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/irish-run-hot/2008/11/12/1226318743800.html?page=2

If you go to the link it shows a picture of him aswell

[bannside]

Thanks for that JS. Niall Mc Keever is from the same club as myself, and a really good prospect. Because of his lanky frame, he is naturally very lean, but at 19 years old he has plenty of time to develop into it.

Whatever about his career prospects, or his undoubted football ability, he is a complete gentleman. Wouldnt know how to say a bad word, and probably gets Mass every morning. Would be a huge loss to his club, but hopefully it all works out for the best for Niall.

( To be honest I`d like him home to play for his club and county next year! )

[JimStynes]

His aul fella doesnt want him to go either but how do you turn down an opportunity like that. Could turn out to be Antrims gain if it doesnt work out for him, he would come home built like a shit house after 2 years professional training and walk straight into the midfield position for Antrim for the next 10 years. Best of luck to him.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

He wouldn't remind me of the sort o boy who'd have a physique for aussie rules?

Wouldn't think so, very skillful footballer but not you typical AFL man???