Antrim Hurling

[imtommygunn]

Our club game will develop alot in next few years. A strong dunloy will, longer term, help. Realistically it has been cushendall loughgiel for quite a while until last year. Rossa are starting to show signs of wakening too, though armstrong's injury a big blow, so hopefully that will help.

Mcmanus is ploughing a lone furrow a lot so hopefully some of the younger boys will start shaping up with experience and more physical strength.

None of this will magically happen though and depends on clubs. St johns and ballycastle stepping up would help a lot.

It would be good to get the ulster club back and if we want to push on the experience the ai club gives to players is something which would be a massive help.

I don't think these managers have underachieved. Where we are is about right for the players we currently have. In addition I don't think we would have a queue for managers anyway.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

i think too many people are concentrating on the negatives rather than taking the positives and building on them.

a few years ago we would of been tanked by Galway, Dublin etc in the league. Now we are moaning about narrow defeats to teams like this? to be honest i think we have made good progress in the league and the Joe McDonagh Cup. yes we had 3 disappointing defeats but the teams we lost to would of been disappointed to lose to us as well!

thats the flip side to this. we are not in a position to be assuming that losing to teams the same level as ourselves is a low or a failure of some sort.

off the pitch SV has now got antrim into a good financial state and they are bringing in money and investment to the background, on the pitch it will take the same time to get it right as well. its time to show a bit of faith in people who want the job and have a passion for the county rather than just look for a scapegoat each time it doesn't work.

[paddyjohn]

i think too many people are concentrating on the negatives rather than taking the positives and building on them.

a few years ago we would of been tanked by Galway, Dublin etc in the league. Now we are moaning about narrow defeats to teams like this? to be honest i think we have made good progress in the league and the Joe McDonagh Cup. yes we had 3 disappointing defeats but the teams we lost to would of been disappointed to lose to us as well!

thats the flip side to this. we are not in a position to be assuming that losing to teams the same level as ourselves is a low or a failure of some sort.

off the pitch SV has now got antrim into a good financial state and they are bringing in money and investment to the background, on the pitch it will take the same time to get it right as well. its time to show a bit of faith in people who want the job and have a passion for the county rather than just look for a scapegoat each time it doesn't work.

I've said it before and I'l say it again, you're never far off the mark at all.

[MoChara]

With the talk before even the Kerry game of the current management looking to move on has this been clarified and if so any rumours doing the rounds of what next?

[imtommygunn]

i think too many people are concentrating on the negatives rather than taking the positives and building on them.

a few years ago we would of been tanked by Galway, Dublin etc in the league. Now we are moaning about narrow defeats to teams like this? to be honest i think we have made good progress in the league and the Joe McDonagh Cup. yes we had 3 disappointing defeats but the teams we lost to would of been disappointed to lose to us as well!

thats the flip side to this. we are not in a position to be assuming that losing to teams the same level as ourselves is a low or a failure of some sort.

off the pitch SV has now got antrim into a good financial state and they are bringing in money and investment to the background, on the pitch it will take the same time to get it right as well. its time to show a bit of faith in people who want the job and have a passion for the county rather than just look for a scapegoat each time it doesn't work.

I've said it before and I'l say it again, you're never far off the mark at all.

Agreed.

[maxpower]

I certainly don't share that optimism, County seniors struggled in both Div 1B and the Joe McDonagh, the key players are over 30 and no obvious replacements lined up.  U21's beat by Kildare and minors thumped by Dublin.

Senior club fixtures are a shambles, nowhere near enough games on a regular enough basis to really engage the local community.  Club players are training circa 140 times now for 14 league matches and maybe 4 games between feis and championship! Barring Rossa's fully deserved championship victory in 2004 we've seen the title shared by just 3 clubs over nearly 3 decades and we've now witnessed the Ulster Club Championship reside outside Antrim for 2 consecutive years.

If we are looking to our under safe structures for inspiration we are going to be sadly lacking, apathy has seen the collapse of the excellent North Antrim festival of hurling, under age players in Antrim can expect circa 12 games a year! Soccer teams get triple this, they can almost virtually guarantee the schedule despite it being a winter sport.

Every club has good men working in isolation but we need to admit we have problems, I am convinced participation levels are dropping or at best have hit a plateau.

How would I solve the problems
1. Paid development officer should as a priority focus on fixtures and support for clubs. 
2. Guarantee each team 25 games, switch the balance from 80/20 training games to 50/50
3. Structured, promoted adult leagues
4. Divisional boards to have a unified approach to age grading and fixture schedules to addresss the ludicrious situation where players have to choose football or hurling at u8's!!!
5. These underage blitzes to be reviewed, all of them, football, hurling and camogie are on Sun resulting in clashes
6. Astronomical amount of games called off due to waterlogged pitches, with the amount of money washing through the GAA now it would be a massive investment in infrastructure if they built a number of 3G pitches around the county available for games
7. Clubs to take responsibility for the improvement in skill standards and to be given the opportunity to do this.
8. Schools to be supported but only with the  involvement of the local clubs

[Megaman]

Totally agree with all of that.

[cfclg]

I certainly don't share that optimism, County seniors struggled in both Div 1B and the Joe McDonagh, the key players are over 30 and no obvious replacements lined up.  U21's beat by Kildare and minors thumped by Dublin.

Senior club fixtures are a shambles, nowhere near enough games on a regular enough basis to really engage the local community.  Club players are training circa 140 times now for 14 league matches and maybe 4 games between feis and championship! Barring Rossa's fully deserved championship victory in 2004 we've seen the title shared by just 3 clubs over nearly 3 decades and we've now witnessed the Ulster Club Championship reside outside Antrim for 2 consecutive years.

If we are looking to our under safe structures for inspiration we are going to be sadly lacking, apathy has seen the collapse of the excellent North Antrim festival of hurling, under age players in Antrim can expect circa 12 games a year! Soccer teams get triple this, they can almost virtually guarantee the schedule despite it being a winter sport.

Every club has good men working in isolation but we need to admit we have problems, I am convinced participation levels are dropping or at best have hit a plateau.

How would I solve the problems
1. Paid development officer should as a priority focus on fixtures and support for clubs. 
2. Guarantee each team 25 games, switch the balance from 80/20 training games to 50/50
3. Structured, promoted adult leagues
4. Divisional boards to have a unified approach to age grading and fixture schedules to addresss the ludicrious situation where players have to choose football or hurling at u8's!!!
5. These underage blitzes to be reviewed, all of them, football, hurling and camogie are on Sun resulting in clashes
6. Astronomical amount of games called off due to waterlogged pitches, with the amount of money washing through the GAA now it would be a massive investment in infrastructure if they built a number of 3G pitches around the county available for games
7. Clubs to take responsibility for the improvement in skill standards and to be given the opportunity to do this.
8. Schools to be supported but only with the  involvement of the local clubs

Excellent post. I also feel strongly about this, we don't get enough regular (I mean weekly, not 3 in one week and none for 3 weeks!) games. Soccer and rugby are years ahead in this regard and we are seeing the draw from GAA towards theses sports. Players want to play games, not endless training sessions from January. It is upto the county board/CCCC (i.e. someone at the highest level in Antrim GAA) to make this radical change. Forget about interocunty being priority no.1 in Antrim, lets put the club at the centre of everything we do.

[paddyjohn]

Hear a rough enough event down the Ards yesterday.. Tut tut!!

[Tony Baloney]

Hear a rough enough event down the Ards yesterday.. Tut tut!!

And the ref delayed the start of the second half as he left his pencil in the changing room. Amateur hour 

[Milltown Row2]

Hear a rough enough event down the Ards yesterday.. Tut tut!!

And the ref delayed the start of the second half as he left his pencil in the changing room. Amateur hour 

[Tony Baloney]

Hear a rough enough event down the Ards yesterday.. Tut tut!!

And the ref delayed the start of the second half as he left his pencil in the changing room. Amateur hour 

[Milltown Row2]

Hear a rough enough event down the Ards yesterday.. Tut tut!!

And the ref delayed the start of the second half as he left his pencil in the changing room. Amateur hour 

It nearly ran out of lead by the end of the game!

[Tony Baloney]

  Seems like a busy second half!

[Gall the way]

I certainly don't share that optimism, County seniors struggled in both Div 1B and the Joe McDonagh, the key players are over 30 and no obvious replacements lined up.  U21's beat by Kildare and minors thumped by Dublin.

Senior club fixtures are a shambles, nowhere near enough games on a regular enough basis to really engage the local community.  Club players are training circa 140 times now for 14 league matches and maybe 4 games between feis and championship! Barring Rossa's fully deserved championship victory in 2004 we've seen the title shared by just 3 clubs over nearly 3 decades and we've now witnessed the Ulster Club Championship reside outside Antrim for 2 consecutive years.

If we are looking to our under safe structures for inspiration we are going to be sadly lacking, apathy has seen the collapse of the excellent North Antrim festival of hurling, under age players in Antrim can expect circa 12 games a year! Soccer teams get triple this, they can almost virtually guarantee the schedule despite it being a winter sport.

Every club has good men working in isolation but we need to admit we have problems, I am convinced participation levels are dropping or at best have hit a plateau.

How would I solve the problems
1. Paid development officer should as a priority focus on fixtures and support for clubs. 
2. Guarantee each team 25 games, switch the balance from 80/20 training games to 50/50
3. Structured, promoted adult leagues
4. Divisional boards to have a unified approach to age grading and fixture schedules to addresss the ludicrious situation where players have to choose football or hurling at u8's!!!
5. These underage blitzes to be reviewed, all of them, football, hurling and camogie are on Sun resulting in clashes
6. Astronomical amount of games called off due to waterlogged pitches, with the amount of money washing through the GAA now it would be a massive investment in infrastructure if they built a number of 3G pitches around the county available for games
7. Clubs to take responsibility for the improvement in skill standards and to be given the opportunity to do this.
8. Schools to be supported but only with the  involvement of the local clubs

I agree with some of the stuff you say, but not all;
1. Fixtures are a focus for CCC, not a Development Officer. We don't have a full
Time Development Officer in our schools introducing the sport and strengthening school and club links in North or south west Antrim, and certainly not enough in Belfast; even with 5 new "dual" coaches coming in (whenever that may be). I think a Dev Officer should focus on introducing the sport to kids as young as 4/5/6, and getting them to our clubs. Then helping Clubs and giving them advice/resources as to how to coach, providing coach education and also helping grow the volunteer base.
2. Guarantee teams 25 games, yes I agree, but don't then ask county players to play that, before sending them back to their county training the next night knackered. I think starred games are something we could look at again. The 50:50 ratio isn't enough IMO, what about the player who plays 5 mins, or doesn't play at all? How can he develop once a week in a 60-80 min session? 2:1 ratio of training to games is fine, providing we are actually given the game!

6. 4G pitches are def something we need more of in North and South West Antrim, whilst I agree with you, the whole of Ireland suffer bad weather, so for the GAA to fire a load of money up to us without doing it all over Ireland is a bit far-fetched. I think It's something our saffron business forums should be looking to fundraise toward. Although 4G pitches aren't great of players bodies either!

7. I think your 7th point contradicts your 50:50 proposal. How can they have the opportunity to develop skill if they only get 1 session a week. The biggest difference for me is the fact that hurling is a way of life in the likes of Kilkenny. The hurl goes everywhere with them, primary schools promote it themselves too with in house ball wall competitions etc. We can't rely on hoping some paid Officer will do it for us, because they likely won't! I feel MOST Clubs don't do enough with their schools. Teachers being from outside the county doesn't lend its hand and the amount of work they have to do now means they have little time to help GAA teams.

I agree with your other points, there is a lot of work needs done to help Antrim grow, but I think far too many people still see Antrim as a top level team. We are not at that standard, we, as Clubs, have not produced the players to be at the top level.