Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

All 3 Antrim representatives gone in the first round of the senior, intermediate and junior Ulster championships, all timid exits also. 

Is Antrim club football the weakest in Ulster do we think?  Christ, even Fermanagh teams are winning some games in Ulster, Derrygonnelly in senior and Ballnaleck in Junior. 

Cargin couldn't make a dent in Ulster this past 2 years and went out with whimpers.  Think Aghagallon done ok last year, maybe won a game and battled well in the semi in intermediate?
Glenravel scored 2 measly points last year in their first round Junior Ulster clash I think vs the Rock of Tyrone who got to the AI final from memory? 

Is the standard at an all time low?  Long live the kings St Galls?  Do Antrim need a strong St Galls?  Looks like it.

There's a lot to be said for tradition in Ulster, course you'll have teams like S'Neil who buck the trend but in the main clubs like Naomhgall and The Johnnies (believe it or not) have that in their club... for whatever reason these type clubs in their county do well once in the competition..

Cavan Gaels have years of experience in this competition and as much as I'd have liked to see the Antrim winners do well I could only see one winner yesterday... For Lamhs I feel they did what they needed to win their first final on the field since 71!

[east down gael]

Depends how you measure standard of football really.lamh derg would have been beat by kilcoo,kilcar,slaughtneil,scotstown or omagh by similar if not worse scorelines.but the top four or five teams in antrim are at a similar standard.kilcoo,slaughtneil,cavan gaels and scotstown are at a fairly higher standard than most if not all in their own counties.so kilcoo being possibly the second best team in Ulster does not mean the standard in down football is extremely high,they have won 6 in a row after all.
  That said,i wouldn't say the standard in Antrim is as good as it should be.at intermediate and junior it is very low.maybe that's because of the structures for championship?

[JimStynes]

I think the overall standard in Antrim has definitely dropped over the last couple of years but at least it's competitive. Also, the Ulster Championship has been won by only a few counties over the past 10/15 years.

[imtommygunn]

Maybe junior east down gael but not intermediate.

Cavan gaels have loads of boys with loads of experience. Takes a few years to get that in ulster. Thing is hard to see a team dominating now so not sure how a team from antrim gets it.

Our senior clubs (well st galls!) have performed above our county's standing. We are probably ninth in ulster at the minute so having the weakest club teams not that big a shock. It would take a team to dominate antrimto have any chance in ulster i think.

[bannside]

Agree fully ITG. St Galls the only Antrim club to make any headway in Ulster and they did it regularly. Superb footballers the like of we probably wont see again in one (Antrim) club again in our lifetime.

The hammering Lamhs got is a scary reminder of the standard out there. Had Finucan not been in such good form there could have been 20 points in it!  So our senior clubs have a lot of work to do.

[Milltown Row2]

Agree fully ITG. St Galls the only Antrim club to make any headway in Ulster and they did it regularly. Superb footballers the like of we probably wont see again in one (Antrim) club again in our lifetime.

The hammering Lamhs got is a scary reminder of the standard out there. Had Finucan not been in such good form there could have been 20 points in it!  So our senior clubs have a lot of work to do.

But Lamhs actually take it seriously? Our prep for Antrim Championship was playing the likes of Carrickmore, Omagh Dub teams and Derry teams.... hoping to win Antrim but preparing for Ulster, it wasn't arrogance just good planning, the sevens also gave confidence

[Christmas Lights]

Agree fully ITG. St Galls the only Antrim club to make any headway in Ulster and they did it regularly. Superb footballers the like of we probably wont see again in one (Antrim) club again in our lifetime.

The hammering Lamhs got is a scary reminder of the standard out there. Had Finucan not been in such good form there could have been 20 points in it!  So our senior clubs have a lot of work to do.

But Lamhs actually take it seriously? Our prep for Antrim Championship was playing the likes of Carrickmore, Omagh Dub teams and Derry teams.... hoping to win Antrim but preparing for Ulster, it wasn't arrogance just good planning, the sevens also gave confidence

In fairness to LD, winning Antrim was the main thing for them as its been so long and they have fallen short a few times, anything after that was a bonus.  When St. Galls where dominating Antrim, it was just a matter of making sure they won the championship so they could get into Ulster which is where they really wanted to be.

When you have a different club winning the senior championship each year within a county, those teams when they go to Ulster tend not to do well.  Amazingly, only one club from Tyrone has won an Ulster Club championship but in Tyrone, they tend to have a different senior championship winner ever year, no one clube seems to dominate.

Scotstown, Kilcoo, Slaughtneil have all dominated their respective counties this past number of years and therefore have done well in Ulster since.  Even Derrygonnelly after winning the 3 in a row in Fermanagh have managed to win an Ulster Club game by beating Armagh Harps at the weekend.  A bit like LD, Armagh Harps would have been thrilled to win the Armagh championship it had been that long so anything after that in the Ulster Championship is again a bonus.

Kilcar have the potential to maybe buck that trend this year as they have the talent at their disposal but they also have the talent to maybe go on a dominate Donegal for the next number of years also.

[JimStynes]

Anything happen with the St. John's thing?

[country bumpkin]

Jeez why is it a surprise to some how poor we are when three teams have shared the major trophies (including the unwanted div one league title) in the past twenty years?

[gallsman]

No chat here following the Peadar Heffron interview?

[Belfast GAA man]

The St Johns thing - I heard they gave 2 lads 30 hours community/club service - anything but bar them! spineless

[Milltown Row2]

The St Johns thing - I heard they gave 2 lads 30 hours community/club service - anything but bar them! spineless

I heard that both clubs came to an agreement ?

[NAG1]

The St Johns thing - I heard they gave 2 lads 30 hours community/club service - anything but bar them! spineless

I heard that both clubs came to an agreement ?

I have heard contrary to both those statements and that it is still on going.

[country bumpkin]

Hear that this year's county convention will require the assistance of tellers........gonna be a lotta counting

[Milltown Row2]

Come on tell all? We are wining the trophies and the SW on top of the rumours!!