Antrim Football Thread

[BrollysArmy]

Rock paper scissors but take out the paper and scissors because it's not a nice way to lose

[imtommygunn]

By the look of it there will be a winner this evening.

[stiffler]

LD win by 5.

[gallsman]

Goals absolutely killed it by the look of things.

Congrats LD. Wonder if they'll have anything left for the final.

[bannside]

Congratulations to Lamh Dhearg on a deserved victory. No excuses from our camp....the better team won on the night. We will regroup and come back better next year, thats the challenge for us now. May the best team win Sundays final. 

[Caesar]

Lamh Dhearg were deserved winners in the night. They look a good team who will put it up to Cargin in the final if they can recover in time!

Portglenone looked out on their feet in the second half. Almost as if 2 tough games against St. Johns, and 3 even tougher games against LD in less than 3 weeks were starting to take their toll...

Bannside there must be a lot of frustration in Portglenone?

No doubt LD and St Johns will share this frustration.

[BrendanAntrim]

I think in time Portglenone's feeling will be more fulfilment than frustration or maybe that depends on what their realistic aspirations were at the start of the year. They played in 6 championship games, twice as many as Cargin are likely to have played by teatime Sunday (notwithstanding another draw in the final....), and played a full role in an epic trilogy; that will stand to what looks like a young and emerging team.

Meanwhile this has been a terrific football championship so far. Do those games build momentum for LD, or is 4 big games in just over two weeks too much? We'll see.

An enticing minor final in prospect too between Cargin and Naomh Brid. Should be a great day of championship football.   

[imtommygunn]

Yeah I would agree that this year is progress for Portglenone. They are young too and should improve from it.

Cargin starting to appear in quite a few underage finals again after a drought for a good while.
St Bridget's I suspect favourites.

I think Cargin will win the senior game by two or three.

[Belfast GAA man]

50 years ago we had a stand at Casement and a stand at Corrigan and now we have none! Sounds like we need someone on the county board with a specific remit to sort this out.
The football has been great this year but standing in grass and getting soaked last night and facing the same possibility on Sunday isn't the way to attract new followers to our games 

[bannside]

Theres a real mixed bag of emotions round here today. We had a lot of the ball in the first half but scuffed three or four chances that should have gone over the bar and you just knew that would come back to bite us. But as ITG says we are young and can put some of this years highlights into the memory bank and kick on a bit further in the next year or two. We know where we are at and I think i did say in an earlier post that this year might be too early for us.

Its up to us and St Endas and St Marys Aghagallon, O Donovan Rossa (clubs with a good record in recent years at minor or under 20) to step up now and make every game in Antrim truly competitive and raise the standard throughout the county.

[Flanker]

BS a lot of learnings gained in your championship run... Reserve championship tucked away .... a sprinkling of talent in minor & u16 although light in numbers ..... you should be competitive over coming years.  Do you see yourselves or any of the 3 teams mentioned above lifting a SFC in the next 3 years

[bannside]

I wont duck that question Flanker, and say I think Portglenone can kick on and be a top two or three club in the near future. Id be really disappointed if we couldnt reach a final or two and win at least one in the next five years. Id be particularly excited though about what our club is doing way down the age groups and fully expect to see more than a few county titles in my lifetime. Thats because I know the work going on there is top notch, way better than anything before and i honestly believe that if clubs really got stuck properly into doing everything right in these formative years, Antrim football would be in a much more secure place in ten or twelve short years. Whatever comes from Gaelfast is added bonus territory.

[toby47]

Was Niall McKeever on the county panel this year? If not will he be back next year?

[bannside]

No, and not sure whether that was Niall or Lennys choice, maybe both. Big Niall has had a bad run of niggly injuries including waiting now on surgery over the winter, but a fully fit and hungry NMK would still be a big asset. He took on the responsibility of  club senior captain this year and seems to be enjoying his football again. The county needs a couple of serious ball winners in the middle third because imo we struggled there last year and every county we played against seemed to have three or four brick shithouses in that area.

[Flanker]

I wont duck that question Flanker, and say I think Portglenone can kick on and be a top two or three club in the near future. Id be really disappointed if we couldnt reach a final or two and win at least one in the next five years. Id be particularly excited though about what our club is doing way down the age groups and fully expect to see more than a few county titles in my lifetime. Thats because I know the work going on there is top notch, way better than anything before and i honestly believe that if clubs really got stuck properly into doing everything right in these formative years, Antrim football would be in a much more secure place in ten or twelve short years. Whatever comes from Gaelfast is added bonus territory.

Agree 100% on this BS...Not enough do though....It is a long haul with lots of hard work and no short cuts. There are a few clubs who appear to be re visiting their juvenille set up ...how serious they are remains to be seen. If a few do others should follow. It is the only way to improve though. The closest working example is probably Dunloy with the recent minor / u21 /senior achievements resulting from their underage strategy and academy. Early signs from Saturday evening would be a positive indicator that you are getting a lot of things right and building a good foundation