Antrim Football Thread

[theskull1]

Not even a golf clap when Antrim came onto the pitch, says it all.

+1 ... the GAA in Antrim is no more than a fashionable accessory for many

[glens abu]

Really depressing stuff yesterday,2nd half in particular was brutal for Antrim who seemed to run out of ideas and lost their way once they crossed the halfway line.Thought Niblock was a massive loss.

[Gold]

Was not a great day at the office - the price in did not reflect the standard that should of been provided.  Monaghan kicked a lot of wides and were very wasteful
but playing against a very negative antrim strategy.  Frank is rebuilding?  What people seem to ignore is that he crumbled the team and is trying to rebuild his own mess.

Joe brolly made a good point suggesting the manager was trying to save his own embaressment by damage limitation rather than going for it especially with a man down.
What a fantastic opportunity it was to put monaghan to the sword and leave a very good chance of another ulster final appearance.

Reading the Irish news he states that no team would want to meet us in the back door - dillusion at its best.  Any team will look to pull us be it home or away.

Thoughts?

Worst performance EVER. Worse than Roscommon in NFL3 this year.

To play with 1 or 2 forwards against 6 defenders was criminal. When they went a man down they simply had 5 defenders on 2. WTF?
Defence (all 45 of them) actually did ok but to play with no attacking strategy was a disgrace. Sickening. Monaghan are poor enough too with many aging boys around the middle. Mark Sweeney is well fit to kick scores and open up a defence but cant do it from his own 20metre line. Why not just have Anto Healy sweeping and leave Sweeney up?

Spoof Merchant Dawson was just happy to keep the score down to take the bad look off him. Well it didnt fuckin work. Never has a team been so slated on the Sunday Game. Should be highly embarrassing for us all but Very few will give  a f**k however as no one has any pride in themselves up here and are happy to have the 'hands off' critical approach that Sean Kelly (who played well) said he had himself when watching the team in the National League.

The Golf Clap is our problem. Ive said it before on here i think im the only one who ever even starts the golf clap as we're all so    reluctant to support up here incase someone gives us abuse for doin so, much easier to run ourselves down. We came out at start of 2nd half and i was sittin down and didnt even notice as there was no noise whatsoever from our ones --would the same people make noise if Manchester of England or Glasgow Celtic of Scotland ran out onto a pitch, i bet they would, and they teams/paid circus acts full of asian/european/american players no one could ever (if their honest) really give a f**k about whether they win or lose. Delusional supporting such teams as opposed to supporting your own people.

Dawson is an absolute spoofer. Talking of "building on the platform we have" "we are a young team" is absolute and utter f**king bollix.

Platform: we have none. We had one a few years ago. His 'platform' was relegation to Div 4.

Young Team:

1. Chris Kerr Naomh Gall: Not young

2 Kevin O'Boyle Clann na hEireann: Defo not young
3 Ricky Johnston Ciceam Creagan: young enough
4 Andy McClean Naomh Gall: Defo not young

5 Sean Kelly Naomh Gall: Defo not young. 31 yo
6 Justin Crozier Clann na hEireann: Defo not young
7 Patrick McBride Naomh Eoin: young

8 Sean McVeigh Naomh Uile: Defo not young
9 Marty Johnston Ciceam Creagan: young enough

10 Anthony Healy Naomh Gall: Defo not young
11 Paddy Cunningham Lamh Dhearg: Defo not young
12 Mark Sweeney Naomh Brid: Defo Not young

13 Michael Pollock Naomh Gall: Defo not young
14 Kevin Niblock Naomh Gall: Defo not young
15 Brendan Herron Lamh Dhearg: Defo not young

Need to get rid of him and get in someone with more positivity. Sunday, a glorious day made for attacking football, made my stomach churn. How we can just accept defeat (when we've 2 arms and 2 legs like the next man) is f**king beyond me.

[Buswhacker]

 Five or six of our best players not even playing due to various reasons,mainly bad man management by Frank Dawson.We are not the best footballing county in Ireland but we're not as bad as Sunday's result would suggest. Can we not appoint a manager who can command the respect of every club and player in the county. When did we last put out our very best team ?

[NAG1]

Five or six of our best players not even playing due to various reasons,mainly bad man management by Frank Dawson.We are not the best footballing county in Ireland but we're not as bad as Sunday's result would suggest. Can we not appoint a manager who can command the respect of every club and player in the county. When did we last put out our very best team ?

This will be one of the few times I agree with you Bushwhacker 

There is no way in a county like ours with such a small pool that we can afford to do without 1 player never mind 4-5-6, now I would never be in for pandering to some of these egos that have crept up, but there has to be a way of getting the maximum out of the talent we have within the county.

Not that I am a massive fan but we saw the improvements made by the hurlers under DC simply because for the majority of the time he got the best players out playing and got the best out of them. Time for an outsider who would be able to galvanise the county and get everyone pulling in the same direction.

[Rasharkin Gael]

Can't remember a worse championship performance by an Antrim team, even going back to the wide fest against the same opposition in '89. Baffling how 8mins into the second half the tactics werent changed and some of the substitutions were baffling. MJ at midfield was still in Creggan as he definately didnt turn up at Casement, our lack of support runners from half back was amazing, considering we had 6 half backs! The thing that summed it all up was Ck coming up to hit that free, what a load of balls! FD ( and i have been a supporter of giving him a chance) must have watched how Cavan played against Armagh and just copied their play book, the only problem was that MOR is not JG and he he simply left his half back line in place which completely negated our ball into space for the two men left up front. On the day tactics go wrong, fair enough, but what is unacceptable at this level is that when its not working that its not changed!
I feel extremely sorry for those Antrim players who have trained and given up their time and sacraficed so much to go out and play in a system which was best naive and at worst a complete shambles.
Qualifiers dont hold much hope for me and any team in Ireland ( or England) will be looking at us as a prime draw. 

[paddyjohn]

All quite damning accounts of the game and I can't disagree with any of them. Never have I been so disgusted walking away from a game in Casement Park. The complete lack of direction from the sideline was crazy and I can't fathom how he expects to lift the lads for the qualifiers in such a negative backlash. I think McGourty has hit the nail on the head in the paper today.

[Milltown Row2]

All quite damning accounts of the game and I can't disagree with any of them. Never have I been so disgusted walking away from a game in Casement Park. The complete lack of direction from the sideline was crazy and I can't fathom how he expects to lift the lads for the qualifiers in such a negative backlash. I think McGourty has hit the nail on the head in the paper today.

What he say today FFS??

[paddyjohn]

Antrim is a rudderless ship was the headline.

Basically said Dawson must go, that Dawson told him twice on the phone that he was finished after McGourt offered his services. Ask the lads in Bellaghy, Burren and elsewhere why the got rid of him. Why Dawson has never managed this current group of St Galls players. How the new guard aren't up to the mark.

[Milltown Row2]

Antrim is a rudderless ship was the headline.

Basically said Dawson must go, that Dawson told him twice on the phone that he was finished after McGourt offered his services. Ask the lads in Bellaghy, Burren and elsewhere why the got rid of him. Why Dawson has never managed this current group of St Galls players. How the new guard aren't up to the mark.

But we know a lot of that anyways, the team isn't anywhere good enough even with the best 15 available. The players don't really get on with each other and would rather win club championships than win something with the county. Compared with most counties the fan base is really bad, while a great amount of work is being done by Club Antrim in generating funds it needs bums on seats and vocal support for the team.

As for the manager, if it wasn't Dawson then it would some other manager getting it in the neck. We need to be competing at all levels before we can expect the senior team to achieve anything. Again we all know that. I could go on but we are division 4 team and should not be expecting to beat teams above our level, why the big hassle of the game on Sunday is beyond me. Did you expect anything else? To be one point down at half time was a major improvement on our league form, to beat the handicap was another bonus. To play so defensively was wrong and to keep playing it when they had 14 men was crazy!! The last two points are the only thing I would have been annoyed with about Sundays game

[Milltown Row2]

Right so you expected a win?

[glens abu]

All quite damning accounts of the game and I can't disagree with any of them. Never have I been so disgusted walking away from a game in Casement Park. The complete lack of direction from the sideline was crazy and I can't fathom how he expects to lift the lads for the qualifiers in such a negative backlash. I think McGourty has hit the nail on the head in the paper today.

Awful performance but don't think we should take any lessons from a clown like McGourty and his ego,seen him swaning about the club before the game iPad in hand,looking for pats on the back.If talented players like him and his ilk had put more effort into the county I think his opinions might count for something.

[Milltown Row2]

Right so you expected a win?

No but as it transpired, the win was there for the taking had we a semblance of a plan on how to create scoring chances.
Frank Dawson gave us absolutely no chance of winning that match by the way he set us up.
The guy is a fcukin joker.

Why was the win there for the taking? Was it because Antrim played defensively and kept the score low? Or because Monaghan were shit. Monaghan actually played better with 14 men than they did with 15. You said yourself that you didn't expect a win, I think Dawson thought the same, same as antrim club hurling manager of a team from Belfast playing the likes of Dunloy or Loughgiel you don't expect to win but put up a decent fight and not get a hidding.

At no point am I saying Dawson was right to have 13 men behind the ball with no real options to score. I just think we are deluding ourselves into thinking had we had 15 on 15 would we even have got close to that score at half time.

[Jeepers Creepers]

Monaghan were there for taking, this was clear at half time. Antrim however continued to sit back, wasn't sure whether they were playing a 6 man midfield or an 8 man half back line!? Had they have pushed men forward more then I think panic could have set in with M'han.

[Milltown Row2]

Why don't we send the team packing also, they were dreadful by all accounts, would have been a while since we knocked up a 1-12 in championship football. And we have been the laughing stock of football for years