Antrim Football Thread

[PlayWithTheWind]

any truth that mctoal had st pauls out trainin at 7 in the morning? if so, what where they doing?!!

[milltown row]

aontroim, what was the result of the portglenone game? no arrogance just simple fact, division two teams are out of their depth. just like the hurling, division two teams would be out of their depth. unless your from one of those teams that play in division 2 and senior Championship.

Gorts play Portglenone and Naomh Gall play Creggan

think the dates are August 26th at Casement double header

i'll not be arrogant and guess the winners would not want aontroim giving off

[aontroim]

14-7 is hardly a tanking milltown - i'm not from any of the div 2 clubs playing sfc - just dont like elitist attitudes where football is concerned - especially in antrim.

would you rather have a 6 team SFC - bit of a joke no?

[milltown row]

nothing elitist about it, when we dropped down to division 2 a few years ago we also should have played interm. football championship.

there are ten teams in division one football. not six

[Glensman]

St Brigids won the intermediate championship last year. Therefore the should and did play senior championship this year.
I attended both matches on Sunday and would actually say the St Brigids didn't looked out of their depth at all...they missed a few easy chances, a friend playing for them tells me they had quite a few boys carrying injuries etc and with a bit of a rub of the green who knows.
The Rasharkin St Galls game doesn't help the Div 2 argument but St Galls when they turn up (in my opinion) are still a bit above the rest of Antrim .

I would say that the Gorts and Portglenone will both be very happy with their draw.

[milltown row]

totally agree intermediate champions should play the next level, but seven points in football is a tanking.

i fancy Gorts to improve, not sure of portglenone, they blow hot and cold. gorts have a serious hunger about them, they also had plenty of support play on the night good fitness levels and kept their discipline and won a lot of dirty ball.

[imtommygunn]

Milltown with Cargin and Lamh Dhearg out there are realistically no teams that can challenge you at all. What you did to Rasharkin you could do to almost anyone. St Brigids aren't really that out of place in the senior championship and deserve to be there as they won the intermediate. Rasharkin have some fine players in Doherty, Hasson and McAleese but are maybe a bit thin on the ground in some other areas. I , to be honest, am surprised they are actually in division 2 at all. If the rules allow them to be in the senior then why shouldn't they be? You have to take into account that Dunloy, Moneyglass are in division 1 and you could probably beat them by more than you beat Rasharkin.

Your argument of division 2 teams in the senior holds the same water as an argument for division 1 teams in the intermediate. Dunloy and Moneyglass are in the intermediate and in division 1.

The Antrim scene in football is really very lop sided. St Galls and Cargin could field second teams who could beat a lot of teams first teams.

You may have a point about division 2 sides in the senior but your comments were ill formed and possibly came across as arrogant! You came up with this theory because you hammered Rasharkin - you have to realise that you could,and probably will, hammer most of the teams left and you are a club with the ability to do in Antrim what Crossmaglen have done in Armagh and the only one team in the whole county,I think, even remotely close to stopping that is Cargin and they blow hot and cold. Now if Creggan put it up to you I will eat a lot of those words but I'd be very surprised.

[milltown row]

yeah if the rules say you can enter senior then go ahead. will you win it? maybe not, could you win intermediate? possibly, and go on and represent your county in the ulster club. seems a better idea.

training from december to get beaten in the manner Rasharkin could put a club back a bit.

wining promotion to division one should put you in senior championship.

could Naomh Gall enter the intermediate Championship? 

it seems that the football and hurling in antrim is lop sided as only three teams can win both. dont think this has changed for the last 10 years.

like i say this is my opinion, i dont mean to come across as being arrogant

[johnjoe]

Can anyone teel me how the minor football c`ship is going. Who plays who next?

[imtommygunn]

No harm in having an opinion Milltown. It seemd though that you assumed you hammered rasharkin as they're division 2. They're a division 2 side who would give you as good a game as a number of division 1 sides would. What was the score between you and Dunloy on the first day of the season?

Realistically only two sides can win antrim senior at the minute unless Creggan have seriously come up which would, pleasantly might I add, surprise me. All the rest just make up the numbers.

If every team that couldn't win the senior went down to intermediate then there'd not be too many left! I think there is some merit in what you say though.It should be enforced  senior comes from division 1 plus previous years intermediate winners and intermediate comes from division 2 and maybe top half of 3 with junior from the rest.

You had the example of a division1  playing a division 3 team in the championship which shouldn't be happening. All be it that the division three team won but even so it's a game shouldn't be happening!

Johnjoe minor football is down to about 4 teams now if I'm right. Sarsfields, Rossa, St Galls and Cargin. If I'm right I think St Galls play Cargin?

[rashCharacter]

Its a crazy situation but league standing has no bearing on what championship you play in.
At the start of the year you can enter whatever championship takes your fancy.

With regard to the Rasharkin St Galls game, St Galls at a different class and could of won the game by a lot more.
Rasharkin however were in div 1 and are looking like being there again next year, and fit into a bracket of about 6 or 7 clubs who could beat each other on their day but would be tanked by St Galls/Cargin.
For the promotion of football within the county these teams need to be competitive with the top teams and should then be in the senior championship.

Teams like Dunloy, Moneyglass and Glenravel are in that bracket and should be playing senior.

[johnjoe]

Thanks TommyGunn.

Hadnt heard the result of Gorts v Galls minor match, and thought it would be a close call. Gorts hammered Stinsons who have been unbeaten and impressive all year in SW league, so Galls must be good too.

In fairness, although they can be a bit OTT and in your face, particularly at their tight little pitch, Gorts do deserve a helluva lot of credit. They have made huge strides in recent years, poss top 2 or 3 in minor , u-21 champions, and now into senior semis.

Antrim needs a few teams coming through to challenge St Galls and Cargin, and certainly in the city, we need the Turf lodge area, as well as the huge South Belfast area (ST Brigids) with a passionate GAA fraternity.

As far as I can see, the traditionalists such as St Johns and Rossa are really struggling to make an impact, with St Pauls, Lamh Dearg and Sarsfields another 30% to find from somewhere.  St Endas quite simply are under performing year on year, with their huge catchment. So fair play to Brigids and the Gorts for at least being on a progressive curve.

[imtommygunn]

Gort Na Mona have a steady stream of underage talent coming though so I would expect them to be top three in the next few years. Creggan were doing really well at u14 a few years ago but I've not seen anything at minor yet - maybe they're a year or two young? No other club has a steady stream of underage talent coming through.

You get the odd team like Davitts winning minors but they were never able to sustain it and you need multiple good underage teams to make a good senior team - one just isn't enough. I think Sarsfields are picking up though and Rossa being in a minor semi is the first in a long time.

From the south west Cargin aside there hasn't been too much since Stinsons of the late nineties and even four in a row didn't translate to senior success.

[culchy1]

as previously pointed out, it is up to every club as to decide which championship they play in.
obviously some clubs would rather take the easier option of intermediate, thus having a better chance of winning and then representing antrim in the ulster.
lets take the county hurlers for example. they entered the christy ring last year instead of liam mccarthy. does anyone think this helped them improve as a team.
it maybe builds the confidence up a bit, but your beating lower level opposition, or in some cases getting beat by them.
this year they have improved because they were playin top teams in the top league and championship competitions.

take gortnamona for instance they are now in the semi of the senior, they could have taken the intermediate option at the start of the season which they could have won.
they now have a very good chance of making the final and good luck to them.

in my opinion all division 1 teams from the previous year and the present incoming year should be in the senior championship along with the winners of intermed. the year before. open draw. no option in the matter.

[johnjoe]

Kinda disagree with your opinion re Gorts ITG.

I think there is some kind of movement up there at the minute, and even if their minors didnt win the c`ship, I really liked four or five of them. At least four class players, notably keeper, centre half back, a midfielder and a few very good forwards, one in particular with some left foot.

Would say they will be around for a few years, they looked more like gaelic players than soccer players, if you get my drift!