Antrim Football Thread

[Dreen]

played him at midfield with Fleming and McNeill inside mostly and Johnston roving abit

[imtommygunn]

Ah.

It's something we have struggled with for years having no one that the ball sticks to in there. Magill has been the only one who looks like a solution to the problem but historically doesn't seem to have stuck around. Hopefully that will change this year.

[brendanbelfast]

Gerard Walls plays midfield for LD, but was previously a keeper for them (and an Irish league keeper too). Obviously FF knows him well from club football and sees him as a viable choice for keeper. Fair enough, he did well yesterday. Be good to have 2 reliable keepers on board (at least) come NFL. I assume Ronan Hanna will also be on the panel, did v well for U21s last year.

[Rasharkin Gael]

Very poor game. That was as poor a Ranch team as i have viewed in a long time and yet if they had a reliable place kicker they would have won. Complete isolation of Fleming and McNeill in the first half, no direct ball to the FF line at all, must have been a hell of a cold stand for those 2 lads. We won the majority of possession at centrefield but insisted in lateral and backwards distribution, time and time again our half and full forwards making decent runs but having to check and check again because the ball wasn't coming in. Laverty at half back was the only player who showed ambition and confidence to break the tackle. TS looked liked he didnt care when he came on. Young O'Neill came on and his only contribution was to give away frees. Magill had an impact at FF in the second half but by that stage we had started to some quicker ball in. The down side of the faster ball was that our half forward had all withdrawn to midfield and there were no runners to feed off Magill. Early days but Russ has a lot of work to do. Lack of physicality still a problem which will take Mike McGurn alot more than a season to help. Would have thought getting him involved with our development squads would be a better long term plan.

[Milltown Row2]

Good positive post

[brendanbelfast]

Daft post too, to be honest.

[Dreen]

Not the most upbeat post right enough but I'll stand by my club mate in asking how it was daft Brendan

[brendanbelfast]

OK so its all opinion, so here's mine.

"That was as poor a Ranch team as i have viewed in a long time...."  They were well drilled, fit, with some powerful runners. Lets see how they do overall. They won't win Sigerson or anything like it, but I thought they were decent.

"We won the majority of possession at centrefield but insisted in lateral and backwards distribution" - you could call that patient build up play. I get as frustrated as anyone with sideways passing, but whats the point in lumping it into a blanket defence? Our goal came on the back of about 20 passes in a row, most of them backwards or sideways. It paid off.

"TS looked liked he didnt care when he came on" - again thats a view but I just disagree. He made runs, sought the ball and provided a useful supply line to the half and full forwards.

[Rasharkin Gael]

No point having the head in the sand Milltown. Can only comment on what i saw, and i didn't see much that was positive. I will be back at Creggan on Sunday for the Armagh game so hopefully a more positive performance by the team will generate more positive comments.

[Dreen]

Fair dues Brendan that's a better explanation and as you say it's all about opinions

[Milltown Row2]

No point having the head in the sand Milltown. Can only comment on what i saw, and i didn't see much that was positive. I will be back at Creggan on Sunday for the Armagh game so hopefully a more positive performance by the team will generate more positive comments.

Well you can only judge it on what you seen I suppose but why not be a little constructive with the critique? We are 27th in the rankings, and to be fair we need to improve.... I cant remember us being in the teens even when we got to Ulster final!! We have the talent we just need to get them and everyone else behind it. I've been critical also of many campaign's when the start out but lets use these games for what they are..... Training matches

[FullForward72]

I agree mac any time we have played the ballycastle lads up there they have always given a good account of themselves. As regards to the divisions i would prefer to see a larger div2 and div3. Does nobody any good yoyoing up and down leagues all the time. But again as I have already said its a complete guessing game as to what will happen! It seems a sensible course of action all the same

if they did make a bigger div 2/3 it would also save the mess regarding Aghagallon going down. No relegation from div 2 and all remaining teams make up div 3, not rocket science but then again it is Antrim...

Just found out there this evening that we will be remaining in div3 therefore league restructuring is on the horizon lads!

[SaffronHeart]

Any ideas on the restructure? Mitchells and Ballycastle not field teams then?

[country bumpkin]

do the restructuring of leagues not require the authority of convention, and if gaining such do those not come into effect until the following year? only asking...........

[FullForward72]

I have no idea of the details of the restructure, i remember reading somewhere its a minimum of 14 games to be played for a league season so i would imagine if that cant be fulfilled then something would have to be done about it. On the convention point technically there would have to be a motion put forward however if the aforementioned point of minimum games is not fulfilled i think the county can basically do whatever they want, all should become clear after 19th january when the competition entries are processed