Antrim Football Thread

[Aerlik]

 

begrudging "congrats" on your shock win yesterday over the holidaymakers...but please remember youse are the home of underachieving county football and hurling teams.  Go west young man!

[seth]

Just like to say Congratulations to all involved at last a bit of belief, and what makes it even sweeter no "CJ" to hug the limelight, well done lads, made my weekend, cant wait to go to the bookies this morning!!!!! Maybe some of the other lads will now get the media spotlight and totally justified.

[imtommygunn]

I think Baker deserves a lot of credit for this win.

If you look at last year we had a few shortfalls...
- no ball winners in the FF line - McCann and Burke were fit to win their own ball yesterday
- no-one of any physical size in midfield to compete with a physical presence(Mulvey cleaned us out) - McKeever addressed this as last year Gallagher would have cleaned us
- no-one to clean up any loose ball in front of the FB line - Terry O'Neill helped out in this regard
- our best corner back not in the panel(Brady)

This and switching of Crozier onto Kavanagh, which won us the game IMO, were vast improvements on anything we've had in the last few years in terms of tactics.

While we won't win any all irelands we can be proud to now support a team with a bit of belief behind them and also, for now anyway, a bit of knowhow!

[lynchbhoy]

well done to antrim and to Liam Bradley and I eat my words about the man, he has proven he does have what it takes to change a group of talented but half assed players and make them into a decent unit.
OK Donegal are the usual shoot themselves in the foot brigade, but Antrim still had to raise their level as having decent talent doesnt always mean you will achieve anything including A win !
Well done and hope they can meet us in the Ulster final now !

this does prove two things
1 I was wrong and underestimated Bradley - Apologies, and humble pies being eaten.
2. I was correct when myself and a few others said that Antrim have some decent talent, which was dismissed on here as being ridiculous.

[NAG1]

I think the talent has always been around but in the last few years the number of Antrim men competing in the Sigerson has increased and that has increased the level of belief in the squad.

Congrats on a great win, would like to see them knuckle down now for some serious work and give Cavan a good rattle. No point leaving it behind at this stage.

[imtommygunn]

I wonder where Bannside is. We all thought he was mad when he said we should be looking at getting to an ulster final...

[lynchbhoy]

I wonder where Bannside is. We all thought he was mad when he said we should be looking at getting to an ulster final...

yes yez did, and he has worked hard in Antrim underage to know that there is great talent about !

[cameltohill]

baker bradley for derry 2010!

[Gold]

baker bradley for derry 2010!

hands off the Baker!

After the league, the way he's dealt with discipline, the hunger fight and pride he's instilled in our county and our jersey and for Ballybofey yesterday we wouldnt swap him for the world.

We're behind him 100%

Bring on Clones!

[mylestheslasher]

well done to antrim and to Liam Bradley and I eat my words about the man, he has proven he does have what it takes to change a group of talented but half assed players and make them into a decent unit.
OK Donegal are the usual shoot themselves in the foot brigade, but Antrim still had to raise their level as having decent talent doesnt always mean you will achieve anything including A win !
Well done and hope they can meet us in the Ulster final now !

this does prove two things
1 I was wrong and underestimated Bradley - Apologies, and humble pies being eaten.
2. I was correct when myself and a few others said that Antrim have some decent talent, which was dismissed on here as being ridiculous.

I hope your wife isn't reading about your desire to see Antrim beat Cavan. No nookie for you for a fortnight

[Glensman]

Antrim:
S McGreevy;

C Brady, A McLean, D McCann;
T Scullion, J Crozier, J Loughrey;

M McCann, A Gallagher;

T O'Neill, K Brady, N McKeever;
P Cunningham, S Burke, T McCann.


Though I'll be there with bells on I am mystified as to why Terry O'Neill is starting.
Only on here or on the Antrim football section did I see that him and Niblock were back on the panel.
Even at that Niblock is a considerably classier football than O'Neill, a good ball winner (useful in a line with Brady) and can take a score (both right footed frees/45s and from play).
Perhaps the foraging into his own defence role has been assigned to O'Neill but while a hard worker and not a bad distributor when he has time, his scoring is questionable and he will get out muscled on the ball. 
Would much rather have seen Niblock or Edwards in there for balling winning and scoring ability.

We need a wide range of scorers on Sunday and need options. In championship the opposition is always smarter than league (and Donegal are clearly above the Division 4 level)...they see something working for Antrim and will close the door to that route.
Its been a failing of Antrim...last year when Cunningham and CJ were bottled up we had nowhere to go.

Antrim need to go into this with belief and with game plans.

•   Is Kevin O'Boyle injured?
•   We need strong running from wing half backs, guaranteed running all day but the end product/pass needs to be good. We need Tony's distribution to be spot on...and if it ain't working we need him to make those runs and lay the ball off. He can be very dangerous when he knows his limitations.
•   Strong running and work rate from Aidso. Non stop.
•   A bit of class from Mick McCann, combined with workrate and quick ball in...none of that fancy dummying. Bang, into space for Tomas and then he does damage.
•   O'Neill to forage and win dirty ball that Brady won't go near. Brady himself to pull the strings and also now and again pull the trigger...he rarely takes that responsibility.
•   McKeever needs to help midfield and throw himself about. When he wants to field he can field with the best of them in Ulster...or at least break the ball and stop them getting clean catches.
•   Not sure of what Burke's role is going to be but if its a target man he needs to make a nuisance of himself and Tomas and Cunningham to pick up the breaks.
•   The corner forwards need to make smart runs for 70 mins. Non stop...we have options to come on.

This is a chance and we need to step up and take it...and flipping bust a gut either way.

A small slice of humble pie eaten since Sunday re O'Neill (and a couple of pints consumed...).
O'Neill did very well in that extra defender role and thankfully Donegal played into our hands in this regard.
Apart from a couple of wayward passes he did very well, which weren't largley his fault as he had no other option available...at times for the half backs and midfield it must have been soul destroying to see so much space up there with not much to hit.

Kind of been feeling ever since the euphoria died down slightly that Donegal lost it rather than we won it ... but then the euphoria kicks in again, so feck it. A fair few of Donegal's wides were kicked under pressure (though not by any means all of them)...and we deserve a bit of the rub of the green. They've worked as hard as anyone in the country and so have made a bit of luck for themselves.
Gallagher spoke well after the game exuding some of the confidence that having won so much in the past with St Galls must give and having just won for Antrim. A bit of belief in themselves and if they want to use the begrudgers within the county and outside of it as motivation then so be it.
Amazing what a win can do for a county and more so and more importantly for a panel.

Thought all played a part.
Fair play to Peter Graham ...after the first kick wasn't great he certainly got the head down and got some distance. Worth considering varying them a bit as though Gallagher and McKeever are great target men it was predictable enough.
Full backs were solid when they got to grips with their men and had the confidence to know O'Neill was sweeping. Half back line was very good with Justy and Scullion doing well. Loughrey was immense - bottling up Michael Hegarty, not sure how many times I have seen him pull the strings for Donegal in the past. Unfortunately Loughrey's dangerous running forward and support play were curtailed due to his role but what can you do. It was referred to on the Antrim Donegal thread who from Antrim would start for Derry...Loughrey would get in before any of the others in my opinion.

Gallagher and McKeever did well - though round the middle I counted 3/4 times (may have been more) where there were clean catches/breaks which we won and then lost the ball almost immediately in the tackle. Will need to work on that. Admiittedly first thought on winning is to start an attack quickly but when the ball is instantly lost it arguably loses the whole point of fielding/winning the ball.
Similarly Antrim need to be stronger in those tackle areas when opposition win ball.

Not sure what to do up front for the next one. Cunningham almost missed as many frees as he scored and as he was out foraging a bit more than he normally would be he was kind of lost in this role - not a big fan of the dirty ball. Not sure whether his frees could be sacrificed. Close equally as accurate with the left boot? Niblock rarely misses.
Mick McCann did well up there (if only we had two of him) - he might be supported by Niblock/Edwards the next day or a combination of both. While Burke showed out in front a couple of times I think its time to have another scorer in there.

Hope the team had a well deserved couple Sunday night (just a couple) and back down to business with a serious chance v Cavan. Would have been able to have a good look at them in their Fermanagh game and the dangers were clear to see from last year with Johnston still there and another big man in the role that McCabe filled last year.
Will be interesting to see how they approach Johnston...but smarter men than me involved so I'll leave it to them.

How fecking good is it to win?
Wish I could bottle that feeling in the stand at about 60 mins when 4 points up and the "Antrim, Antrim" cheers going round.


On another note Dr John was down just across the way from me in the stand.
He may have his detractors and all but the man was as excited and involved as any man here right the way through and whether it was the right or best call at the time to plump for Bradley it seems to have worked on this occasion.

There are personalities on here whose identities would appear to be known by others and evidentially known (or not...) by the Admin on the Antrim website. Maybe this has been played out on other parts of the board or I have missed something.
But for f*ck sake Antrim just won a first round football match v Donegal and, though not getting carried away, we have a realistic chance of progressing to an Ulster final.
All hands on deck and forget petty rivalaries for at least two weeks?

[Glensman]

PS just throwing it out there but was chatting with a fella yesterday - would there be any merit in having Sean Kelly back in there...at least in the panel to aid competition in training. He is a class act.

I am not drawing direct comparisons between us and Tyrone as I would get ridiculed for getting carried away after one win but if its good enough for the greatest manager of our times (Harte and Stephen O'Neill last year) then why not for us.

Would draw the line right in front of CJ though.

[NAG1]

Na I think the group dynamic would be damaged by adding anyone at this stage even Kelly who was a good servant. Just wondering what are his reasons for not being there was it just a personality clash?

[milltown row]

Backer has his squad, two extra additions in Terry and Niblock should be enough. Antrim to win in Clones and set up a cracker in the final against whoever.

stop ball going into Johnstone and we will win. by playing a man in front of the space he plays should cut out a lot of ball.
no reason why we cant win the majority of kick outs. and if we improve our shooting then we will get an extra 5/6 scores

might be another 1 point win.

no clash NAG1 just done his bit i'm sure, and has other things to concentrate on

[glens abu]

would love to see Kelly back in the squad as he has been a great servant and player for us,dont think anyone would begrudge him being called back into the panel,as for cj he is best staying were he is for now but good players are hard to find so hope he learns his lesson and some day plays for the county again.