Ulster Hurling Championship 2009

[cville]

The London Derry game will be at .................................? 

Casement..

[Lecale2]

Down beat Derry in very poor conditions at Casement to set up a final with Antrim.

[Lecale2]

Any word on the teams for Sunday's final?

Both Antrim and Down have bigger fish to fry in the coming weeks but I know the Down lads would love Ulster medals.

[downgirl]

Antrim: R McGarry; K McGourty, N McGarry, A Graffin; S Delargy, C Donnelly, N McAuley; J Campbell, K McKeegan; B Herron, N McManus, S McNaughton; E McCloskey, P Richmond, J Scullion.

Down: TBC


This was on BBC on Friday.

Hope Down can do it.

[downgirl]

I agree hatchetfield, great 2nd half, tension was unreal!  A pity the result wasn't the one I wanted but Down should be proud of their performance you could see their hunger in the 2nd half.  A bit of discipline would need to be worked on before the Christy Ring final, a lot of yellow was shown!!

[milltown row]

Great game of hurling - just what the Ulster Championship needed

ya think??

first and some of the second half both teams couldn't pick the ball up. and the striking by antrim in the second half was terrible. the game became enjoyable during the second half because more space was available due to tiredness and some nice scores were taken. 3-21 and 4-16 is some scoring though.

strange seeing Jingo McKillen and Tosh cheering the Down goals

[Minder]

What is the difference in Jingo cheering and Humpy and Tosh. Do you think they will have been training them all winter and then want Antrim to win?

[Tony Baloney]

I'm talking about the tension and excitment.  Yes there was lots of missed dips and some poor striking but the intensity was good and you watch any munster championship match and you'll see lots of missed dips which is all down to pressure.  Fair play to Down though for their effort, could have stolen it. 

From a performance point of view, Antrim were rough and very good in spells.  We stopped getting the ball into Joey Scullion who was on fire at the beginning along with Shane McNaughton.  Full back line which is normally very strong were very suspect.  Lots of good ball winning demonstrated and either Antrim have went a wee bit backwards or Down have upped their game - bit of both i think but either way there was lots and lots of kids today who will remember an exciting game of hurling in the sun in Casement.

Have to say, i can understand Jingo's position but i have to say to see Tosh and Humpy showing that much passion v Antrim was a bit unforgivable in my opinion.

Grow up. Neither of them owe Antrim a thing. They're there doing a job with Down and are bound to form an allegiance with the players they've worked closely with. If the Down boys suspected they had divided loyalties they'd have them back up the road.

[Lecale2]

I left Casement very disappointed yesterday because Down had a real chance to win their first USHC in years. Fair play to Antrim they didn't panic and kept taking the points.
The Down lads can take a lot of positives from the match. They have come on well under Jingo and hopefully can lift the Christy Ring in a couple of weeks.

Was the sending off at the end for 2 yellows? I just saw the red card.

[Tony Baloney]

Grow up???  Come on hey boy, we're all allowed opinions.

Anyone who has been reading my posts will know that i'm fair and that i'm a fan of Tosh's in particular.  Of course they will form an allegiance with the players.  Minder i think think there's a difference between between wanting Down to win and that line that i think they all crossed at the match.  There was something there that was a bit more than just wanting Down to win - a certain 'i'd love to get one over S&W' maybe??  On top of that, Down were letting the stick go something shocking and each time they were wailing, Humpy was going nuts encouraging it.  I was standing beside him.

I think the difference between Jingo and the two lads is that Jingo is manager - simple.  He left Antrim with a large amount of dignity against what IMO was an injustice and has been doing a good job with Down.  I know the man well and i know he was really hurt by what happened after what he's given to Antrim - regardless of what people think about him.  The other two lads i believe had that aforementioned incentive to come in that wasn't about just improving Downs fortunes!!

But lads, relax, don't tell me to grow up because i've expressed an opinion on a forum please.  Is that not what its there for?  Oh jesus 3am - note to self, don't fall asleep watching the Sunday Game on the sofa in future, it'll take me an hour to go over again here!! 

Apologies Hatchetfield - "wise up" instead then

Was the sending off at the end for 2 yellows? I just saw the red card.

Yea from what i saw it was

Two yellows. He was booked the first time just below us so I knew the line was the only option for the ref on the second offence.

Disappointing for Down alright - if they don't come back strong over the next few years they will regret not winning it yesterday.

[theskull1]

Have to agree with Tony hatchet. On principle I don't like boys from other counties taking county teams (especially near rivals) and would much rather it was home grown management in all counties. But if they're going to take the team I'd expect nothing less than what they are giving to down.

You are forgetting that EACH of them (IMO) have good reason to want to stick it to S&W and/or the Antrim Exectutive. They may of course not be motivated by that but I'd be fairly sure it played some part in their mindset. They almost pulled it off as well. Down have improved under their stewardship, but they were in fairness at a fairly low level before they took the reigns.

Antrim
You look out at the team and go through 1-15 and think...jesus thats not a bad side. But the performance levels ebb and flow so much throughout that we are never able to dominate games for any length of time. There is potential there as I think there are alot of fine hurlers on the team, but it just lacks a little bit of leadership.

[Tony Baloney]

Fair enough lads.  As is said before (or at least i think i did), if the motivation is to develop Down then fair play to them.  I don't think i could ever coach another club side never mind another county.  But in each of their cases, it was about sticking it to S&W and the County board - not a good motivating factor i think and i suppose i'm coming as a passionate Antrim fan who saw Antrim men going nuts because Down men were pulling like hatchet men on other Antrim men and it made my blood boil.  But your points are all valid. 

Regarding the team, i think you hit the nail on the head Skull - buckets of potential and ability.  We play well in spurts but we just don't seem able to play for the full 70 at that intensity.  Down looked very dangerous.  Regarding S&W, i think they were too impatient.  They should have stayed one more year with minors (their progress was very evident), then took the under 21s for a few years and then they would have had 6 years with a particular group of players and would have naturally been the choice for the senior job. 

As for the minors, jesus,i thought they were awful.  Very lackadaisical, little or no team play, unconvincing regardless of what the county website says.   We'd about 5 lads who seemed to refuse to give the right ball every time!  Wanted to do it alone and ended up running into trouble.  Was impressed with Conor McCann from Creggan and to be totally honest, that was about it.  Very ordinary Antrim minor side i thought.

I have no doubt if Down had won yesterday it would have been all the sweeter for the Antrim boys on Jingo's backroom - with good reason too imo. However I doubt very much they'd drive from N. Antrim down the peninsula on a regular basis for that reason alone.

Something I noticed is that none of the Antrim boys seemed to show much leadership and try to get a grip of the situation when Down were all over them at the start of the second half.

[NAG1]

There is a difference in showing leadership and playing for yourself (and the IN) which is what McM is engaged in far too often for my liking.

[awfulynice]

A game i didnt see myself lads, but just looking at the scoreline, could there be an argument made to bring Down into the Leinster Championship aswell, seeing the closeness of the two sides?? Also by the looks of the results London seem to be showing very strongly this year?

[slow corner back]

Down will be in leinster if they beat Carlow in 2 weeks awfuly. As for London with the way the economy has gone they were always going to improve.