Antrim Hurling

[theskull1]

Cushendall dominated the first half, Alex Delargy was excellent with 3 points from play. Dunloy came well into it in the second half and closed the gap to 2 on one occasion but could never get closer than that. Ryan Mc Cambridge went onto Shorty after about ten minutes and did well on him. Dunloy forwards wern't great, Shorty from frees did the most of their scoring. I think he got about 1-8 or 1-9 from frees. Referee allowed Dunloy away with a savage amount of over carrying.

Dall more than good value for the win. Our forwards apart from Shorty were anonymous for most of the evening. If we can't make the ball stick under pressure then we're not going to make much headway.

No idea where the over carrying comments come from....nothing stuck out for me. Wonder is there a bit of gamesmanship at work here JJ ?

[Jesusjones]

Skull were you at the match at all? We only got 2 points from frees, Dunloy got 8. I was standing behind our subs and with about ten minutes to go our stats man said Cdall have had four frees and Dunloy 16. There wasn't a dirty stroke in the game & I don't even think there was 1 yellow card. Poor show from the ref, I hope we don't see him come Championship.

[Milltown Row2]

O`Donovan Rossa GAC 0-22   0-22   St.Patricks, Portaferry       
Cuchullains-Dunloy 1-14   1-17   Ruairí Óg   Cuchullians-Dunloy
Ballygalget 3-10 1-17 St John's GAC   Ballygalget       
Loughgiel Shamrocks 0-17 2-11 Mac Uilin CLG

Both interesting results? any game reports ?

Interesting indeed!  But according to all critics we're not even on the radar!  Beat them once, drew with them once and beat by them by only couple of points.  Our lads had unbelievably ropey first half and to come away with a draw is more than heartening.  They fought for all they were worth in the second half and deserved the draw at the very least.  At the end of normal time the Town were two points clear. Jackie Carson played for the draw without a shadow of a doubt.  But hey.......we'll settle for the draw and see what Championship brings!!

What a load of balls, played for a draw? Hmmm how do you do that? as a referee?

To the referees defence as anticipated......How can you comment as you weren't even there!  You've expressed your views numerous times before and weren't responded to by 'load of balls'.  My opinion......and entitled to it!

Then answer the question, how did the referee play for a draw in a hurling match? Did he say to himself before he went to the game , I'll play for a draw and If Loughgiel go 20 up I'll bring it back by giving a few penalties? Stupid comment but like you said you're entitled to it

[johnneycool]

That's goodnight for Rossa hardstation!
Great game tho!

A draw a fair result in the end - great game to watch.

I don't think there was ever more than a couple of points in it to either team. Final score was 22 or 23 points a piece. Says it all!

On the whole I felt Rossa seemed to battle hard for their scores whilst the ports seemed to pick of easier points - read into that what you will.

Puck outs were a big point - portaferry had the upper hand here. They had strong forwards winning possession while Rossa were a bit lighter.

For Rossa - bell & Hamill are the only players who seem to force the game. Whilst Michael Armstrong was best up front. Shannon also had a good game.
For the ports - branniff is a great player and was their go to man - not sure the other number11 johnnycool - a big fella was also winning ball.

All in all in was a smashing game of hurling - a result that suits the ards men more than Rossa I think!

Most likely Kevin McGarry,  slow over the ground but good hand.

We'd a strange game vrs the Johnnies, they were 10 points up at half time and full value for it, played some good hurling and we were at 6's and 7's and as poor as we've been for a while. Then we made a few substitutions and positional moves and started motoring, started getting good ball into Danny Toner who picked off a few points, got a goal, then we followed up with another two goals and a few points to bring it level, the Johnnies smallish corner forward got them back in the lead with a good point and as the darkness descended we failed to take a few chances and that was that.

Johnnies looked good when they were given the time and space to play and have some very good hurlers, but once we decided to play a bit and put in some challenges and effort they looked decidedly ordinary, especially in their fullback line. Simon McCrory started off left half back and if I was Jonty, I think they need him in fullback to shore it up as all the good stuff they do out the field will result in nothing if they leave the back door open in the championship.

Who would the big lad in their forwards be? He started out centre forward and was throwing the timber about, got booked for a bit of a shaft, was moved to full forward, but fell like a big oak when getting some of his own medicine.

[pullhard]

2 up & 2 down in hurling league. I don't see Rossa gettin any more points minder - they don't travel well and still rely to much on old hands. Ports may escape that's ur oisins biggest threat.
Only issue I have with that is are st galls & sarsfields better than any team there already - time will tell.
I'm happy it looks like two city teams up at least!

Interesting results at the top end in anticipation if championship but - LEAGUE IS LEAGUE AND CHAMPIONSHIP IS CHAMPIONSHIP. I still think loughgiel will beat Dunloy or cushendall in the final.

Very true. But at this stage of the season, league games between these four teams suggest a cracking championship. Very unlikey that any of the teams were going anything back. Fingers crossed none of the players in any teams pick up an injury.

Thanks CastleCamog, sounded like a good match. Any shamrock posters have an alternate view of the game? (not the refs performance).

This championship could be a classic!

[Seamroga in exile]

Ballycastle at 10/1 are a bog cert.

[theskull1]

Skull were you at the match at all? We only got 2 points from frees, Dunloy got 8. I was standing behind our subs and with about ten minutes to go our stats man said Cdall have had four frees and Dunloy 16. There wasn't a dirty stroke in the game & I don't even think there was 1 yellow card. Poor show from the ref, I hope we don't see him come Championship.

You seen my previous reply JJ....you know I was at the game. One minute you talk about blatant over carrying by us and next youre talking about the free count discrepancies.....make up your mind what to whinge about stick to it. Or maybe youre saying the 'frees youse should have got' were over carrying decisions not given

[Jesusjones]

Skull I'm questioning the free count and the amount of over carrying that was let go, is that ok with you?

[theskull1]

Ballycastle at 10/1 are a bog cert.

I'm gonna pay off my mortgage on that one. Like how many times have you seen shock results in the league and the favourites winning come championship?    ...youre just right (and no subliminal smugness about it either  )

[theskull1]

Skull I'm questioning the free count and the amount of over carrying that was let go, is that ok with you?

Now you've cleared up the confusion ... cheers

[pullhard]

Ballycastle at 10/1 are a bog cert.

is that to win championship or against the shams??? Might be worth a few teams throwing games and cashing in, a win would keep the wovles away from the door. normal order could be restored next year

[Megaman]

Skull, i have to believe your just winding JJ up, cause i honestly dont believe you think that one team didn't get frees a lot easier than the other team last night. IMHO it was laughable towards the end.

Anyhow, we won the game so nothing to whinge about.

We should be reasonably happy last night, we played well in patches in the first half, though we where very poor and lethargic for most of the second half, but never looked like getting beat.

Plenty to work on but a lot of good signs IMO.

[theskull1]

Skull, i have to believe your just winding JJ up, cause i honestly dont believe you think that one team didn't get frees a lot easier than the other team last night. IMHO it was laughable towards the end.

I'm not winding anyone up (intentionally anyway)

My take on the free count was that youse didnt get the same frees because in too many positions on too many occasions we weren't close enough to make a challenge. Hence why youse scored so many from play. Whenever we had the ball, your players were close enough but on many occasions fouled. Kapish?

The over carrying assertion is just stupid IMO

[Megaman]

Skull, i have to believe your just winding JJ up, cause i honestly dont believe you think that one team didn't get frees a lot easier than the other team last night. IMHO it was laughable towards the end.

My take on the free count was that youse didnt get the same frees because in too many positions on too many occasions we weren't close enough to make a challenge. Hence why youse scored so many from play. Whenever we had the ball, your players were close enough but on many occasions fouled. Kapish?

if that's your take on it, i think its just best to agree to disagree 

[Milltown Row2]

Skull, i have to believe your just winding JJ up, cause i honestly dont believe you think that one team didn't get frees a lot easier than the other team last night. IMHO it was laughable towards the end.

My take on the free count was that youse didnt get the same frees because in too many positions on too many occasions we weren't close enough to make a challenge. Hence why youse scored so many from play. Whenever we had the ball, your players were close enough but on many occasions fouled. Kapish?

if that's your take on it, i think its just best to agree to disagree 

So what you're possibly saying is that a Johnnies man wanted to give Dunloy more frees than Cushendall? Or what? I'm not sure. Were they frees or not? Does your stat man record whether it's a foul or not?