Antrim Football Thread

[imtommygunn]

Mayo beat Cork in 06 by 2 points in the final.

Tyrone lost by 1 poin AET in the semis...

[bannside]

Good call ITG. Pretty sure then that the winners Mayo beat Tyrone after ET in the semis.

For the record Simon I managed the team in 04, when we lost by three points in Crossmaglen to an Armagh team that went all the way. We went out without two injured (Paul Doherty and Stephen O Connell) plus Karl Stewart and Michael Magill who was hurling that year. I believe we could have beaten them with a full team. Considering they won the All-Ireland it goes to show that Antrim was actually producing great quality footballers through the under-age system.

Mickey Culbert was the manager in 05 and 06 - as the responsibility lay with the county senior manager. Along with others I had a backroom role.

Be great to see something positive again at this very important age-group. Good luck to Fitzy and all involved tonight.

[imtommygunn]

We haven't been too bad at underage but I guess where it's all going is the question. I recall going to the sigerson weekend the year Mick McCann, Micky Herron, Paddy Cunningham and James Loughrey were playing(maybe more too) and thinking our players looked as decent as any other counties.

My view is that 2 issues we have never had the personnel to resolve, Kevin Niblock aside, is the half forward line and a decent target man in full forward.

[Gold]

Poor, freezing cold shite tonight.

Gave away 2 unforced goals when 0-3 to 0-00 up after 10 mins. Kicked ball across our own square to Derry FF.

If we stayed ahead we had a chance. Heads then dropped as usual.

I'm never goin back

Pish

[Simon Says]

Antrim football is in a terrible state at the minute, saturday was a shambles from the seniors and last night was just embarrassing. I dont know what the under 21 management were telling the players, if the corner back o neill had have been more concerned with marking his man properly instead of hitting off the ball then maybe he wouldnt have gifted the ball to the no14 when antrim were in pole position. im a proud johnnies man and expect big things from our young lads but young mc bride wasnt at the races and paddy nugents position as goalkeeper is safe for another few years as young allsopp wasnt great either. Declan lynch kept kicking the ball away. Christy sherrin, carron, bradley and gallagher were our stand out players. i dont know if i could face sunday after these past two matches.

[brendanbelfast]

And our minors lost 1.17 to 0.2 on Tuesday v Tyrone.

[Gold]

Antrim football is in a terrible state at the minute, saturday was a shambles from the seniors and last night was just embarrassing. I dont know what the under 21 management were telling the players, if the corner back o neill had have been more concerned with marking his man properly instead of hitting off the ball then maybe he wouldnt have gifted the ball to the no14 when antrim were in pole position. im a proud johnnies man and expect big things from our young lads but young mc bride wasnt at the races and paddy nugents position as goalkeeper is safe for another few years as young allsopp wasnt great either. Declan lynch kept kicking the ball away. Christy sherrin, carron, bradley and gallagher were our stand out players. i dont know if i could face sunday after these past two matches.

That keeper was only brought onto the panel 2 weeks ago, totally shafting the other keeper who'd been there all year. Then didnt cover himself in glory. That sorta crap happened and has done for years in Antrim (other than with Baker).

Questionable management decisions. McBride is not a half forward. Trying to fit certain players into his team by moving players to unnatural positions.

Baker is the biggest loss of all i think.

Loughrey, McCann, Sean Kelly, Aidso, McGourty, Terry O'Neill. Men in their prime not playing. Not good.

Dont think i can watch Meath game on Sunday but if i dont go who will?

[Simon Says]

Gold, couldnt agree more fella. Baker done a great job when the dust has settled, the support at the minute is dreadful. what do you think the team should be on sunday?

[bannside]

Some valid points but what does Baker have to do with anything? He couldnt have done anything at all about Sean Kelly, Aidso, Loughrey or Mc Gourty missing. None of those would have been in this year if Baker was still around and Terry had his time.

And why is Micks name on that list Gold. Is he not due back from his self imposed break in a few weeks? Is the fact that he is taking a break in the first place anything to do with the new manager?

On the plus side, (if there are any this week) Marty Johnston and Owen Gallagher could add a bit of beef to the seniors.

With regard to Paddy Mc Bride, I disagree. I think he is a great worker and was really surprised to see him coming off last night.

[imtommygunn]

Baker instilled belief in the team. He did well to a point but he stayed about a year or two too long. People may look back at beating Galway last year like it was a great dawn for antrim football - it was a woeful galway team and was as bad a game of football as you will ever see. We were very poor last year.

There's only so long you can play with 14 or so players beind the ball.

Competing with Kerry, getting to an ulster final and drawing with kildare were his highlights but they were all a few years ago.

People don't seem to be giving Dawson a chance just yet. Ultimately as bannside says he can do nothing about these players not bing there and it's not his fault. It could be argued that Baker has a good bit to do with some of them not being there.  I think Baker brought us on and he deserves great credit for that but he fell out with a lot of ones too and his last year or two weren't great.

We are where we are. There are better footballers than last saturday suggested but a win is required against meath. Really don't want to go back to division 4.

[bannside]

Thats a great post ITG and I agree with every word of it.

Heres what everyone MUST remember. A whole entire period was spent asking clubs to nominate a manager, or individuals to come forward. Most clubs never bothered their holes even discussing the matter. A couple of names appeared that were credible (Gearoid and FD) and of the two it was considered that FD had a fuller pedigree and real time experience. The feedback the county got back from the three Down clubs FD was with was favourable. This stacked up well with my own inquiries (just out of personal interest and not in any official capacity).

The new manager asked ALL interested players to attend trials. Some so called big names from St Galls did not do so,  had other priorities, or wanted to put hurling or the club first, or got a bad county experience at some stage and were not in any rush to do so. It is possible that due to his own personal knowledge or experience that there were a couple that he did not wish to include on the panel.

There was a good response to trials and a panel was chosen.

In Mc Kenna Cup and early league games it was clear one or two of Bakers so called "regulars" were not going well. Their A game was not present in relation to the much higher standards they had set for themselves. In the course of a few games Tony Scullion, Paddy Cunningham, Mick Mc Cann and others were substituted. Nothing unusual about this - in fact the manager is doing his job properly by being consistent with this.

With Niblock missing due to injury, on top of lots of others we would all love to have in the panel/on the team, the synergy of the team, and the dynamics have shifted in a way thats not been positive.

We need Mick, Paddy and Tony, as well as Sean, Ryan, Doc and Pollock who have also been substituted recently to get back in there with all guns blazing and stop feeling sorry for themselves. To start doing what we know they are all capable of. We`re not knocking any of them. We love to see them doing the business.

Throw in the two Johnstons in due course, hopefully, and possibly Owen Gallagher for their strength. Check out Sweeney - Dublin isnt a mile away. I would have at least three others in there too, but this is not the right place to have their qualities debated for the world to see.

Frank Dawson is too easy a target lads. Its only fair he gets a chance to get his players on the field, in the positions he wants them, and a proper chance to deliver.

For Christs sake we could all use a few missing players back - and I wouldnt be at all surprised to see a radical overhaul of the panel when the league is over.

In the meantime its all about the players on Sunday. There will be time for post mortems later but at the minute there's two important league points at stake.

Come on KOBO lad - get the boys sorted out.

[Simon Says]

Frankie or bannside whatever you prefer, the simple facts are, we are not good enough at the minute and have no system in place that i can see of. We need a style of play that suits us and the players available. i wouldnt be st galls biggest fan but i admire and respect what they've done for antrim football and im pretty sure they didnt attend trials as they were involved in ulster club. we need to be realistic about where we are and what we have, i cant see anything other than a meath win on sunday from what i seen last saturday and with injuries and player unavailable. I hope im proved wrong though.

[bannside]

Funny enough we have a decent record against Meath for some reason. We have no option but to get out and get behind the team on Sunday. If we all throw in the towel now we might as well not turn up.

In a bad place right now, but we have the footballers in the county to turn this round - but maybe take a bit longer that we would have wished for! 

[imtommygunn]

Team announced for sunday.

Niblock, scullion and cunningham back on. I think from what i see the right changes have been made though i would maybe argue one more but a better balanced team.hopefully.

[Gold]

I smell 2 points on Sunday.