Will be shown on the BBC iPlayer.
Antrim failed to get out of Div 4 this year.
Down by 6 or 7.
games wasn't switched because of tv so assuming its on the iplayer
down by 7
nobody but the diehards and United fans will see it though, the £24 ticket price will be put to good use buying 5/6 pints watching the champions league
Therell be nobody at this on saturday night.
Down,Burns & Murray are waiting to be put out of their misery and only for a lack of real quality among the Antrim side they will stumble to an unconvincing win.
Only delaying the inevitable when they eventually bow out and the management team are roaded with either Adams staying on or Wee James swoopin in to take over next season.
Down by 7 or 8
Could possibly be a crowd of below 7000 the lowest in a very long time
£24 into the stand
James has not had a successful stint with the under 17s
I cant make it as I've kids party to go to late afternoon, so I'll be watching it if its on the IPlayer, anything will be better than watching the CL final! :o
I go to most games but out lack of ingenuity in the forward line is already making me think twice. I wanna see dummy solos and guile to break the line plus Comer/Harrison style full forward ball einning
Unfortunately we have neitherand i fear we'll be lucky to score 0-8 (all frees) plus let in watery, non tackling goals
Want to go but the depression when 1-5 to 1 down after 21 mins may be too much to take
They say its the hope that kills ya...I've none
Would love to be proved wrong
Lads what are Antrim like? Only information I got was from the papers during the league campaign.
What's the under 20s like ?
Illl go with a a Down double
Seniors by 8
20s by 6
Did Down manage to retain most of the panel from last year? From memory think there'd been a huge turnover of players in the previous few years.
Antrim aren't great so the question is how poor have down got. I think we, antrim, have a better chance of winning this one tHan we have had of winning an ulster game in a while.
Antrim by 2 or down by a cricket score in my view...
A few have left the Down squad
G McGovern C Mcgovern J Johnstone both big players
M Poland A Carr J Murphy B O Hagen all good impact players
Down are no great shakes so if ever Antrim has a chance it would be now.
If Antrim can't put it up to this Down team now they never will
Down to win both games on Saturday evening, I'd expect Antrim to make a game of it in the senior match but Down by 3/4, it won't be easy on the eye and estimated attendance of approx 6 /7k will lead to an atmosphere as flat as Armagh training this week!!
Marty Clarke talking a lot of sense in the papers today
He says Down supporters are all saying what a brilliant year we had last year but we only won 2 games in the championship. Goes onto say that's how far Down have fallen when that is considered a brilliant year
I haven't met a single Down supporter that would say we had a brilliant year last year. Plenty will say we had a great night in the athletic grounds and we got to Ulster Final / Croke Park for the first time since 2012 but nobody is saying brilliant.
Clarke looks to get his subtle digs on Burns in, at every opportunity.
Many many Down supporters have been saying what a brilliant year it was
Avoided relegation with a last minute point and beat Monaghan let's wake up and smell the coffee folks
We have seen already how shockingly poor that Armagh team are
Out of interest what will be seen as a good year this year?
Will burns get a 4th year?
And you have a problem with Clarke giving his opinion?
Down manager Eamonn Burns has handed a championship debut to Castlewellan's Colm Flanagan for Saturday's Ulster SFC game against Antrim in Newry.
Corner-back Flanagan made his entrance to intercounty football during the Dr McKenna Cup.
With injured Darragh O'Hanlon missing, Darren O'Hagan, Niall McParland and Caolan Mooney are in the half-backs.
An experienced attack includes Kevin McKernan, Conor Maginn, Donal O'Hare, Connaire Harrison and Ryan Johnston.
All Antrim's starting 15 have championship experience with Peter Healy and Ruairi McCann having made the debuts against Donegal last summer.
CJ McGourty is a notable absentee from the squad managed by his uncle Lenny Harbinson after he opted out following the Football League.
Right half-back Kevin O'Boyle captains the team with an experienced line-up also including Ricky Johnston, James Laverty, Niall McKeever, Mark Sweeney, Mark Fitzpatrick and the Murray brothers Conor and Ryan.
After staying in touch with Donegal in the first half of last year's Ulster SFC quarter-final, the Saffrons collapsed to a 3-19 to 1-9 defeat at Ballybofey before exiting at the first stage of the qualifiers against Sligo.
Down reached the Ulster final last year after surprising both Armagh and Monaghan but were heavily beaten by Tyrone in the provincial final.
The Mourne County then exited from the championship when Monaghan avenged their Ulster semi-final defeat by earning a 1-24 to 1-16 win in the last qualifying round.
Both Down and Antrim had uninspiring league campaigns in the Spring with Down relegated to Division Three after defeats by Cork, Clare, Cavan and Meath and the Saffrons failing to get out of Division Four.
Down: M Reid; C Flanagan, B McArdle, A Doherty; D O'Hagan, N McParland, C Mooney; P Turley, N Donnelly; K McKernan, C Maginn, S Millar; D O'Hare, C Harrison, R Johnston.
Antrim: C Kerr; P Healy, P Gallagher, N Delargy; K O'Boyle (capt), R Johnston, J Laverty; P McAleer, N McKeever; M Sweeney, C Murray, R McCann; R Murray, M Fitzpatrick, P McBride. Subs: A Hasson, S Beatty, P Branagan, C Burke, C Duffin, O Eastwood, K Healy, C Lemon, D Lynch, M McCarry, E Walsh.
Guys is this on iplayer? Dunno whether to go or not as I haven't purchased a ticket and don't fancy paying £30 for a ticket
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 06:00:49 PM
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
How do u watch it on iplayer ?
Sadly the question was if down had dropped far enough back for antrim to be as good as them... the answer would appear to be no!
Quote from: Leftmidfield on May 26, 2018, 07:34:45 PM
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 06:00:49 PM
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
How do u watch it on iplayer ?
Sorry only seeing this - go to menu, scroll across to n Ireland and it's there
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 06:00:49 PM
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
Good call... Jasus Antrim are near as bad as what Armagh were last Sat night
Antrim are making Down look like Dublin.
Which makes me both happy sad.
Quote from: illdecide on May 26, 2018, 08:13:12 PM
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 06:00:49 PM
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
Good call... Jasus Antrim are near as bad as what Armagh were last Sat night
How dare you!... We were much worse! ;D
Well done Down.
Antrim were turgid, but apart being intercepted sloppily a few times, Down looked assured and played well as a unit. Could have won by 15 if we had have been added, but would have done us no favours.
Job well done.
A handy enough win this evening for Down, thought Antrim would have given us a better game but Down were just too strong for them, a high scoring affair in the u20's match in which Down were good going forward and dodgy at the back, 2 wins so no complaints (tonight)!
Comfortable win. Not a match the ulster council are going to use to convince supporters back through the turnstiles though. Ticket prices are a disgrace for the product on offer. Still good to get 2 wins, tougher test next day. Onwards and upwards. An dun abu.
What was the official attendance?
Looked nowhere near 5500 from what was seen on TV, stand was maybe 25% full if that and there wasn't an awful lot on the terrace from the times it was shown.
Quote from: Hedgehunter on May 27, 2018, 12:01:58 AM
Looked nowhere near 5500 from what was seen on TV, stand was maybe 25% full if that and there wasn't an awful lot on the terrace from the times it was shown.
think the ulster concil was a bit generous on the attendance figures this evening. Id say 4000 was closer to the mark. Most people I talked to were put off by the admission prices not the champions league final. Brian mcevoy defended the price increase on tv apparently, shows how out of touch he is with the ordinary gaa supporter.
We need a "price accordingly" structure for GAA county games.
Theoretically Tyrone v Monaghan in R1 is the same thing as Down v Antrim in R1. In reality though it's like forcing Liverpool v Spurs prices upon Stoke v Brighton.
Stoke will never charge the same for their fixture, as they're analysing and adapting to the laws of supply and demand. Plus while I personally have this week promoted "there's no such thing as bad publicity", the reality is that live pictures of an empty stadium vindicates the choice of those that stayed away; whereas coverage of a stadium full of people always produces the thought of "I should have been there".
£10 a ticket tonight and free entrance for under 16s probably wouldn't have generated more income for the Ulster Council. But it would have generated more goodwill and fundamentally would have promoted our game as the family game that it should be.
In short, common sense should prevail.
Tbh I was going to go to the game as a total neutral (Armagh man) but them prices for first round of ulster are ridiculous. Charging kids in is a mistake too, Jasus let them in for free and see the guys they look up too and they will create a we bit of atmosphere... BTW the Champions league final had no bearing on me going or not
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 08:02:13 PM
Quote from: Leftmidfield on May 26, 2018, 07:34:45 PM
Quote from: Jules on May 26, 2018, 06:00:49 PM
Yep save your money it's on iplayer
How do u watch it on iplayer ?
Sorry only seeing this - go to menu, scroll across to n Ireland and it's there
I can only see Donegal/ Cavan and Tyrone / Monaghan. No sign of Down/Antrim 🙄
Doesn't go up on the player for rewatching until Tuesday
Cheers DK
Watching the game back on iplayer I think McKernans black card was harsh. He wrapped his arms around the antrim defender who just sandbagged himself to the ground and mckernan goes down with him. Stupid stuff from someone who was playing very well but he does have a track record of picking up these silly cards
The game is available from a link on the BBC website. The quality of the game is as poor as it was yesterday. Marty Clarke and Oisin called the madness of clashing with the CL Final.
Jesus that was dire stuff yesterday
If that is the best that this county can produce we are fukd
Kilcoo would hammer both teams
How would they not?
Would you swap anyone on the Down team for Laverty or Johnstone
Quote from: hardstation on May 27, 2018, 02:15:24 PM
They are an average club team. They wouldn't have a prayer of beating either of those county teams.
Dont think you can call a club team average thats after winning 6 county championships in a row ???
Quote from: hardstation on May 27, 2018, 05:36:58 PM
Quote from: thebar on May 27, 2018, 05:33:23 PM
Quote from: hardstation on May 27, 2018, 02:15:24 PM
They are an average club team. They wouldn't have a prayer of beating either of those county teams.
Dont think you can call a club team average thats after winning 6 county championships in a row ???
They haven't won a provincial title. In Down, they are very good. In Ireland, they are average.
Average club teams don't win as much as they have in the past number of years.
Quote from: hardstation on May 27, 2018, 05:59:31 PM
The point is. A great club team would be doing well to beat a county team. Kilcoo aren't a great club team and wouldn't get near Antrim or Down.
Hmmm.... I if recall correctly the last time Down played Kilcoo in a "friendly"...