Antrim Football Thread

[EOC1923]

Nothing in Antrim at the minute would live with St Pauls in the late 90s? They won 3 championships between 1994 and 1997. Jesus you talk some balls BS. Then again how would you know about Division 1 football in Antrim back then.

[paddyjohn]

Jesus, this is getting tedious.. We are better than you, nope, we are better than you !!

I certainly hope after all these years that Antrim will improve, but I'm not seeing any light at the end of the tunnel. St Teresa's pulled out of div 4 hurling, that's no senior hurling in their club this year, I've said it many times, we have too many clubs, and too many dual clubs, the sooner they fix that the better..

Its handy being a single code club, all efforts are put into one basket, you have mad examples of the likes of S'neil and others that buck that trend, it won't last long as that set of players will drop off and the cycle continues. The reality in Belfast is the numbers that people throw up is completely wrong, you don't have 600k looking to play GAA and any fool that throws those numbers up is daft.

When you live in a small town/village and the only sport in town is football or hurling then you have a captivated pool of players, you live in a city where the schools encourage multiple sports then you look at those numbers and they start tumbling.

Reduce the clubs at senior level, have more focused one code clubs and players will, unfortunately need to decide which sport they want to excel at and which sport will be recreational.

Teams and the players will only improve that will feed better into the senior county set up, we ain't Dublin or even Cork or Limerick.

Was watching some of the games yesterday and the thing that struck me was obviously the numbers at the games, Mayo game looked like Croke park in terms of the people at it, but the passion showed by the kids when the cameras were focusing in on them during play or after scores. Corrigan not so much. I don't know how you get that passion back into the kids or even get it going, but that's what Antrim need at its basic level

Even the SW & NA refs are the best 🤣🤣🤣

I hear St Agnes have also pulled the senior hurling team this season.

[Milltown Row2]

Nothing in Antrim at the minute would live with St Pauls in the late 90s? They won 3 championships between 1994 and 1997. Jesus you talk some balls BS. Then again how would you know about Division 1 football in Antrim back then.

Yeah St Paul's were very good but never pushed on, that 'day' in Casement meant they lost momentum and we snuck in and St Paul's have never recovered, that great run of teams came to an end and they have struggled ever since.

Brilliant work being put in by underage coaches now for few years, but its that jump from juvenile to senior which is making life hard, not just for St Paul's but the rest.

A holistic approach is required I think, I don't think Gaelfast will touch the surface of what's needed, I've been away from the coalface at the club so its difficult to fully assess that side of things other than seeing the results or talking to club mates who are looking after teams

[EOC1923]

Yeah they lost momentum 'that day' MR2. Beat by 4 points. Losing the final to the same team the year before, and the quarter final to the same team the year before that also caused them to lose momentum lol.

[Spike]

Some hysterical nonsense posted on here as past few days.  Reality bites and some have got carried away after a good start to the league campaign.    Management and players both can look at themselves to see what went wrong but the conclusion will be that we were beaten by a better and physically superior team operating at a higher level than us.   We have no superstars to bring into the fold so we have what we have and need to work with them.  Decision making and execution of basic skills is still lacking and one wonders how long it takes (or even how possible it is) to coach this out of senior intercounty players who continue to operate like this.  As i said we have no one else other than what we have.

Personal thoughts on management were the initial game strategy didn't work, or it took too long to work out Cavan's game plan.    But we worked our way back into it. Whatever the half time team talk was it did not work and the 2nd half changes disrupted whatever rhythm the players had played themselves into.   On the players front, they showed heart to get back into the game but the utter capitulation following the red card was hugely worrying. Nothing management could do about that.  Believe there were 4 points in it at the time of the red card.  The excuse for failure was handed to the players then and there and they readily took it.  Perhaps it is the wake up call both management and players need but they will all be hurting today. 

Progress has been made, no doubt about that both in terms of physicality and playing nous but we have still years to go and Antrim supporters still continue to want the quick fix option.   The greater question is can this team develop and learn together, or will this collection of players simply never get there regardless of management?

It feels like the fallout from the Louth match has soured the milk with many and the disappointment of failure to get promoted to Div 2 has culminated to this point.   Whether McGinley wants or gets another term is up for debate. Again saturday was a reality check, but can we learn collectively and go again?

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah they lost momentum 'that day' MR2. Beat by 4 points. Losing the final to the same team the year before, and the quarter final to the same team the year before that also caused them to lose momentum lol.

They weren't out of being championship contenders, they just lost momentum of winning championships.. winning 3 in as many years is pretty decent we played them in 2002 hammered them and they just fell away after that. My point is to your post was that the teams in Belfast have all struggled to maintain decent senior teams.

Lamhs the Johnnies and ourselves are the only teams left in senior championship in the last 30 years that have won the senior championship. Rossa last win was 91, all these teams play both codes its very hard to do, If Rossa concentrated on one code they could deliver a championship same could be said for the Johnnies

It's madness if you look at what's required for a senior team to get to that level. If you look at your own training nights and Ports training nights plus games and recovery its a lot, factor in another manager looking the same approach for hurling during the same week...

[Spike]

Yeah they lost momentum 'that day' MR2. Beat by 4 points. Losing the final to the same team the year before, and the quarter final to the same team the year before that also caused them to lose momentum lol.

I would safely say MR2 thanks the lord every morning for that 'day' in Casement Park.   

[Milltown Row2]

Yeah they lost momentum 'that day' MR2. Beat by 4 points. Losing the final to the same team the year before, and the quarter final to the same team the year before that also caused them to lose momentum lol.

I would safely say MR2 thanks the lord every morning for that 'day' in Casement Park.

Bit of a trend in those years, even the hurlers wanted to be kicked out

[Spike]

Maybe its time to give this dual club nonsense a rest.  Just because you don't win the competition doesn't mean you are not a good team or are not competitive. Slaughtneil blew the argument out of the water and yet the excuse is still being peddled by those struggling to win outright in both codes.     Even a small bit of research on the subject shows children playing multiple sports end up with the greatest chance of being the best.   Tiger woods is the exception, Michael Jordan is the the norm.

[Milltown Row2]

Maybe its time to give this dual club nonsense a rest.  Just because you don't win the competition doesn't mean you are not a good team or are not competitive. Slaughtneil blew the argument out of the water and yet the excuse is still being peddled by those struggling to win outright in both codes.     Even a small bit of research on the subject shows children playing multiple sports end up with the greatest chance of being the best.   Tiger woods is the exception, Michael Jordan is the the norm.

I said in previous posts that S'neil and a couple of others are the exception to the rule.. there are over 2,200 gaa clubs in Ireland and you are looking at around 2 or 3 teams that buck the trend, there is a shelf life to it also, as those teams fade out once that batch of players retire.

If you don't think being a dual club is an issue that's fine..

[Spike]

I don't but fully respect that you do.

[Antrim at heart1]

Enda got it completely wrong on Saturday
How did we play 14 behind the ball and still get destroyed in the full back line
We played Eastwood at full forward on his own for long periods in the first half with poor service into him and then made a scapegoat of him bringing him off
In my opinion we need R Murray closer to the goals, hes our only forward that can compete at that level
We are so far off the pace 

[Rodger Mona]

Been reading through the forum as last while and cant help but think to myslef how delusional alot of the commentators are on here.

When are we going to wake up to the reality that Antrim Footballers from underage age to Senior level have things arse about face.
We fire money at senior management teams and structures (eye watering amounts) and treat the kids like a bunch of orphans who barely get a tracksuit never mind anything significant that aids their development. Even if Antrim had of beat Cavan, is there any longevity in carrying on the way we are? Minors got a result v Monaghan and were very impressive, and u20s battled hard v Derry, but honestly, neither will/would have won f**k all. Flash in the pan results are no way of gauging success for Antrim.

How are all shocked and surprised that a management team, whether Lenny, Dawson, McGinley, havnt been able to be successful at Championship level when we arent consistently blooding established underaged players into the squad that have achieved or competed at underage level, or have even been developed into senior footballers? Last decent Minor team we had i think Delargy managed them to an Ulster Final in 06 and we havnt won a minor ulster since 1982. So wheres the expectation that we should be beating a Cavan team who won an Ulster Senior 2 years ago and gave Dublin a tighter contest than we did with them Saturday?

If anyone on here is any positions of power within the County Board,  concentrate your efforts on the youth. Thats were success will eventually come from

Say it again...DELUSIONAL

[Flanker]

Some hysterical nonsense posted on here as past few days.  Reality bites and some have got carried away after a good start to the league campaign.    Management and players both can look at themselves to see what went wrong but the conclusion will be that we were beaten by a better and physically superior team operating at a higher level than us.   We have no superstars to bring into the fold so we have what we have and need to work with them.  Decision making and execution of basic skills is still lacking and one wonders how long it takes (or even how possible it is) to coach this out of senior intercounty players who continue to operate like this.  As i said we have no one else other than what we have.

Personal thoughts on management were the initial game strategy didn't work, or it took too long to work out Cavan's game plan.    But we worked our way back into it. Whatever the half time team talk was it did not work and the 2nd half changes disrupted whatever rhythm the players had played themselves into.   On the players front, they showed heart to get back into the game but the utter capitulation following the red card was hugely worrying. Nothing management could do about that.  Believe there were 4 points in it at the time of the red card.  The excuse for failure was handed to the players then and there and they readily took it.  Perhaps it is the wake up call both management and players need but they will all be hurting today. 

Progress has been made, no doubt about that both in terms of physicality and playing nous but we have still years to go and Antrim supporters still continue to want the quick fix option.   The greater question is can this team develop and learn together, or will this collection of players simply never get there regardless of management?

It feels like the fallout from the Louth match has soured the milk with many and the disappointment of failure to get promoted to Div 2 has culminated to this point.   Whether McGinley wants or gets another term is up for debate. Again saturday was a reality check, but can we learn collectively and go again?

Spike some reasonable thoughts. I would have serious doubts though about how the team can develop and learn from the current setup without the introduction of an experienced advisor or a proven coach being added to the setup.

Teams are a reflection of management where you try to maximise the output from the resources you have.  Now the expectation of most reasonable people was that it was a 60/40 or thereabouts game in Cavan's favour. Most were expecting a strong performance with a well organised setup where we would give it a good go.

What were the tactics in the first half
Concede the kick out with wind advantage (puzzling) .. What was suppose to happen next... Congest the middle third and stem the running game... drop the sweepers in and stop the kick pass into the ff line.... or was it something more sophisticated.
It looked like total confusion with no one knowing what there role was... Marking, sweeping, pressing.... They ran through us... found forwards in half an acre of space... managed to have their own sweeper(s) ... didn't need the keeper to provide support for the running game

Having had 2 years, numerous sessions, played @ least 10 games this year to have a setup like that. No visible defensive setup, no structure, no leadership, no communication, running straight through us, kicking straight through us, Cavan forward receiving ball in @ least 1/2 an acre of space.

This is not a fitness issue, this was from the first minute. Never mind S&C, skills, technical abilty etc This is simply having a disciplined setup, structure and communication which wasn't there. If the opposition can work through it, wear you down, unlock it well and good but at least lay down the challenge. At least make the opponent have to work.

On the offensive side a few Hail Marys into 1v2, 2v3 situations.

We did get a 5-10 minute spell where we looked to throw of the shackles and started to engage and compete.

My thoughts are that while some aspects have improved that was a muddled mess and coaching car crash.

While it may have been a 4 point game before the red card it felt like, looked like and was a 13 point hammering.

Cavan are a decent team, arguably a top 10-12ish team, We are probably about 20ish so I appreciate there is a gap.

[country bumpkin]

Jeez, I am at a loss to understand why we need the services of outside management.

Lotta experts within.....