Messages

Is refreshing actually to hear that a door is closed, I have become increasingly fed up with these managers with their open ended panels, begging at player's doors to come out and play. That is not the way to gain commitment. All the sound bites are right now lets just hope he can mould them into a team that we can get behind and be proud of. For starters if he gets them training and fully committed I for one will be proud and there to support them, regardless of results.

I think we all agree in principle with what KR is trying to do but i think in reality things will be very different. If the door is firmly closed then i think we will see Antrim carrying a panal of about 18 players by June.  There is only 30 players on this panal at present and if the past is anything to go by then there will be 4-5 drop off by Feb-March time and with a few injuries here and there, exam commitments etc you are down to training sessions of 10-12 people again. I know that sounds pessimistic but it will prove fact. I think starting with a larger panal would have been better, let the panal cut its self naturally first and then you have your core 30 to drive on with for the rest of the season. Just my take on it..

Or maybe he will break the mould develop a really close knit squad for a change and people wont walk away, injuries barring serious ones can be fixed, but if he sets the tone and get the boys to fully then it will be a place people want to get into rather than out of.

Lets hope you are right. Im not blasting his approach just a little sceptical of how it might work in reality..
Really hope it goes well this year. Not expecting any huge strides but if we put the foundations in place to turn the corner and start going in the righ direction again that would be a start.

Is refreshing actually to hear that a door is closed, I have become increasingly fed up with these managers with their open ended panels, begging at player's doors to come out and play. That is not the way to gain commitment. All the sound bites are right now lets just hope he can mould them into a team that we can get behind and be proud of. For starters if he gets them training and fully committed I for one will be proud and there to support them, regardless of results.

I think we all agree in principle with what KR is trying to do but i think in reality things will be very different. If the door is firmly closed then i think we will see Antrim carrying a panal of about 18 players by June.  There is only 30 players on this panal at present and if the past is anything to go by then there will be 4-5 drop off by Feb-March time and with a few injuries here and there, exam commitments etc you are down to training sessions of 10-12 people again. I know that sounds pessimistic but it will prove fact. I think starting with a larger panal would have been better, let the panal cut its self naturally first and then you have your core 30 to drive on with for the rest of the season. Just my take on it..

New look Antrim panel is as follows:

Ballycastle : KB McShane, N McAuley, R McGarry, M Donnelly, M Dallat

Cloughmills: C Laverty, M Devlin

Dunloy: P Doherty, K McKeague, C McKinley

Gort na Mona : D McLean

Creggan: C McCann

Loughgiel: T McCloskey, E McCloskey, S Casey

Glenariff: S McToal, M Gettens

Rossa: S Beattie, C McGuinness

Cushendall: S McNaughton, C Carson, N McManus, A Graffin,

Sarsfields: K McKernan, C Rea

Glenarm: D Hammill

St Galls: K Stewart

St Johns: C Morgan, B McFall, C McFall, S McCrory

Well i suppose Kevin Ryan has to go with what he has but it will be difficult to pick a strong first 15 out of these lads never mind a strong bench. But that said if these 30 odd names are turning up for training evey night and doing all that is asked of them then good luck to them and maybe a little pride could be restored in the set up therefore encouraging more interest..

Loughgiel 4/11  Dunloy 9/4 with P.P - think the price for Dunloy is huge.

Fun Facts...

The last time the sides faced each other Dunloy defeated Loughgiel by 2 points and Loughgiel were only minus M Scullion. 

Loughgiel only scored 1-9 (their lowest scoring total this season) and appeared to be rattled by Dunloy.

It is also worth noting G Duffy was on the whistle that day. 

Dunloy are the only side to have defeated Loughgiel this season (bar Ballycran's victory after E.T in the Ulster League Final against an under-strengthed Loughgiel side).

Dunloy will go in to the game with a "nothing to lose" mentality, they were not expected to reach the final (outside of Dunloy) never mind winning it.

All the pressure will be on Loughgiel for obvious reasons (PS. I don't think they have ever won three consecutive antrim senior titles).

Loughgiel won 3 in a row in 66, 67 and 68. Lost it in 69 and won again in 70 and 71.
I think the P.P price is a little off the mark too. To me its a 50/50 game and as you quite rightly say Dunloy have nothing to lose.  Should be an interesting one. 
I take what you are saying about the league game but as far as im aware C'dall beat Dunloy by 10-12 points in both league games this year so i wouldnt take too much stock of that..

Point or two either way i think.

That's fair enough I suppose, but they'd be playing a gather up. I'm sure they'd want to win the league by beating our first choice team. No?

It's a case of getting the game played and putting everything to bed. Remember we postponed the home game against Loughgiel twice at their request which seems to be forgotten.

as we have done for yourselves throughout the years. so what's your point?

You asked why we wouldn't want to play you, I answered. What's your problem regarding my answer? I just stated facts. You're a fierce man for whataboutery going back over years. We have accommodated yourselves this year twice, surely three times in one year is more than enough. And we were slated in the Antrim post Championship supplement for apparently not wanting to play yourselves even though we helping yourselves.

Im guessing nobody wants to state the obvious here as to why Loughgiel would want to change the game from this weekend.  Everyone knows that L'giel and C'dall have 'enjoyed' heated battles against each other in the past few years. From a l'giel point of view they are not going to want to loose any players to injury just 1 week from biggest game of the year and lets face it based on previous games with c'dall, and most notably last years league decider, c'dall would be out to lame as many as they can. So it makes perfect sense to move the game to after the county final when less at stake. Now that might seem strange to some of you but if the shoe where on the other foot id imagine c'dall would not be playing l'giel a week before c'ship final.
So you's can all beat about the bush as to the reasons for putting it off but im guessing it boils down to this. Anyone disagree?

PS To c'dalls credit they did accomodate L'giel in putting off fixtures this year already

[Great team, def but one which will soon lose a lot of great players to age]

IMO  they are the same as they were last year. They play a simple system really well and have one of the best forwards in Ireland who can score from anywhere.

Can they be beat? Yes. If cushendall get by us they have plenty of great hurlers who can beat them. Shane And Neil are pure quality and could win a game themselves.

If we get to play them there's no way on this earth we would fear them, no matter how good they were.

Great team, def but one which will soon lose a lot of great players to age.

A statement Loughgiel were saying about Dunloy for about half a dozen year before it ever happend (Dick, Ally, Patch etc). They carried on well into their high thirties and still contributed.. But point taken, Loughgiel will have a hell of alot of experienced players to replace in next 3-4 years.

With training sessions boasting 10-12 players before this whole situation arose perhaps it was just pure necessity to bring extra players at this stage?? I mean JN was asked to step in to salvage the remaining two weeks of the season. He saw the best way to do this was strengthen the panal. Men were asked from various clubs as far as im aware, seems that the only ones that responded were the LG players and they have left themselves up for ridicule for doing this..? Can i ask anyone what there alternative would have been, carrying a panal of approx 20 players, including injured players and also players that every one of you have considered not up to county standard.

Now I totally agree, its not ideal bringing players into a panal 2 weeks before a c'ship game, but as i said it seems it was necessary given the lack of numbers or dedication shown previously.

OK here goes
1) DD
2) A Graffin
3) N McGarry
4) K McGourty
5) N McAuley
6) M Scullion
7) J Campbell
Shorty/Barney
9) B McFall/J Scullion
10) P McGill
11) N McManus
12) E McCloskey
13) S McNaughton
14) K Stewart
15) L Watson

Midfield is anybodys really, hard one to call, interesting to see Brendan Herrons name in there too, another option maybe.
Let the bashing begin...

I would have thought Kevin Molloy, James McKeague and Paddy Doc would have been worth a look..?

OK thats better, now the fun starts..pick your team from that..

Who is the source of this about new players from Loughgiel? Any more from any other clubs? Lets bare in mind we got beaten by westmeath, surely a few additions to the squad even if they are not all starters will be a positive move. I mean to say that Neilly McGarry is the only one you think would be worth putting forward out of an all ireland winning team is insane! I mean those other fellas have hurled at the highest level with their club and suceeded, how could you justify saying that any of those Loughgiel lads dont deserve a shot as much as some of the hurlers who are currently on the panel and have never experienced anything near that level. New manager, new panel, clean slate!

On the Ballycastle v Loughgiel game..Ballycastle will be happy with two close games in recent weeks, Loughgiel will be happy as they got another 2 points without much training done in recent weeks, everyone happy! I do believe that Ballycastle will be there abouts in c'ship. A narrow loss to Dunloy would be a distaster given the expectation they are now putting on themselves but a vistory could spring Ballycastles hurling forward a few years! A winning mentality gained from beating one of the big hitters in antrim over the past 2 decades would give a lot of hope for the future.