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BS if you cant beat them teams then please dont mention the good work thats going on around portglenone again on this board.

Something would be badly wrong if ports dont get to the final. Though at the same time this team, historically have choked at semi stage.

My own club have asked members for nominations for Antrim football manager. A few thoughts for starters.

Steven Poacher - Coached Carlow and Rosscommon. Currently on the club scene in Down.
Paddy Tally - Currently in Kerry, previously with Down with James McCartan and previously with Tyrone.
Anthony McGrath - Coached Donegal winning Ulster Cship and managed QUB. Currently managing an Antrim club.
Damien McErlain - Former Derry Manager and QUB, brought Derry minors to All-Ireland final. Currently acting as an adviser for a county team.
Kevin Madden - Former Creggan Manager and Tyrone coach under Mickey Harte. Has health matters to deal with but would add to a backroom team.
Adrian Cush - Derry c'ship winner with Magherafelt and Maghery before that. Currently a free agent.
Peter Canavan - Tyrone Manager in waiting? Former Fermanagh. Said not to be interested in Tyrone job as long as his sons are there.
Niall Jackman - UUJ coach and Antrim U20 Manager and did a good job.
Matt McGleenan - Former club manager in Monaghan and Cavan Manager. Currently managing a Tyrone club.
John McKeever - Successful schools manager and currently managing an Antrim Club.
Mark Doran - Coached Down under Paddy Tally. Currently managing in Monaghan.
Benny Coulter - Managing a Down club - Gaining a reputation as a top coach.
Peter Donnelly - Tyrone and Ulster Rugby coach and currently managing a Dublin club.
Hugh McGettigan - Former Antrim coach and U20 Manager. Currently managing an Antrim club.
Greg Blayney - Down legend and former Down senior coach. Currently coaches at underage.

Antrim needs to think outside the box on this one. Any others?

Whoever decides to throw their name in the hat, unless they have a structured plan, where they are going to oversee the development of underage (probably starting with minors) then forget about it. We will be pissing into the wind again. Plus the fact our underage development squads are atrocious so there is no conveyor belt going to add to the senior set up for the next couple of years, so be best to build the foundation before anything else

BS has an axe to grind for whatever reason. EMG done more than most recent managers with a very limited panel come the finish up and still is lambasted.

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

Not sure about that country bumpkin i thought i seen Jamie McCann slotting 1 or 2 over from half back...

True my good friend i seen the 2nd half of the dunloy game and as the stingy f****r i am i didnt have to purchase a ticket. what else would you be at on a Sunday?

BS if ND didnt mean what he was sent off for... why would he not appeal it? Does Casements think they have enough in the tank without their county man to beat aghagallon and hopefully get ND back for final?

Interested to see how it all pans out in a short timeframe.

Cargin by 2
Casements v Aghagallon extra time... Caements by 2 with field fight afterwards

Roger how can anyone on here say with straight face that Casements dont have an issue with their discipline. Need i remind you of the St.Johns games a few years back where you had to play them in neutral venues the following year. Was your commitee not warned that you could be facing fines for any more misconduct to the sum of 5k or something?

Yes Niall did elbow the guy from Cloney in the face. although the guy sucked Niall into making the contact Niall just couldnt help himself.

Mark my words, Casements v Aghagallon will be like a scene from a western bar fight.

Was at the Casements game and without hesitation i can say it looked like ND had a moment of madness! Felt sorry for him as he has been a great servant for club and county and desrves a run in a championship but if he gets let off what message does that give out to the rest of the players in the county? NMcK already has his overturned for elbowing an ahoghill player in the face! And if we are going by track records i would say Caements is up there with the worst disciplined clubs in the county. So them an Aghagallon should be a spicy affair which requires a strong ref

was at the ballymena game also. IMO Ballymena wont beat TNN, itl be a close game and Ballymena have the players but for some reason i dont think they have the cuteness or game plan to beat a well set up TNN.

Yeah i dont think even at outside manager could improve some of the teams around antrim when the work isnt being done prior to them coming in. St.Galls still spending money on outside coaches as last couple of years and still seems to be a decline. Better investing that in underage coaching/facilities perhaps

The numbers in the city isnt neccessarily an advantage. Its the community that binds a club together and thats where i think the differences are laying in antrim at the moment.

It was no coincidence that during the troubles St.Johns, St.Pauls, Rossa, St.Galls, LD etc.. were all tight knit clubs/teams with the outside factors they faced on a daily basis playing a part in geling them lads together. Them teams had all lads with family connections to the club, their social clubs were a hub for the community and you usually played for the club whos area you were from. The modern version of this in what we are seeing today is the city teams have players scattered all around the city who have no comings and goings with each other outside of GAA.

Country teams have usually 4 or 5 family connections in each team from underage up to senior, as well as primary schools where each school in a town/village is prodominantly filled with the local clubs players. All this adds to the culture of a club which is slowly slipping away from City teams. However we have seen from St.Galls and Brigids more recently, that all that can be papered over by getting palyers in from other clubs and making a good senior team!

Bannside id save that battle cry for your lads v aghagallon. let the city men worry about themselves.

And surely Casements wouldnt have the brass neck to try and get a 2nd red in two games overturned?

True. i wouldnt fancy reffing that to be fair. two clubs notorious for bad discipline / dark arts

I love the way BS plays down his clubs chances in the big games. definetely and element of tongue in cheek. PG1 will 100% fancy their chances no matter about form to date, even though they have been poor. i think this game could be similar to the LD Aghagallon game where the ref will need eyes on the back of his head

Watched Glen myself for the first time in about 10 years and agree they are a hell of a team. Though saying that if they were to get Slaughneil i just dont think it would be as open a game of football. Swatragh seemed very passive and very unlike a madden team who ususally are eye wateringly defensive. There wasnt a bad tackle in the game, and i thought with the size of men on that swatragh team they would try and impose themselves a bit more physically. But Glen looked in great condition


Also watched the Leitrim final and to be honest whilst it was a great spectical and open game, its hard to compare to anything within our own county as we really dont know the level they are at. Cargin v Creggan last year was as good a spectical as you'll see, and 3 or four years prior people were asking for their money back down in Ahoghill watching the same two teams. Id  be more interested to see how that team progresses in Connaught where you'll see how good the standard of Leitrim football really is v others.

Think it goes to show where Antrim football is at, when LD and Cargin has competed in Ulster in recent years....

Lot of genuine gaels on here and men who want the best for antrim. im not having a go at anyone on the curent CB as it iv more faith in this board than i have in previous years. Im just stating the reality of the situation. I know MR2 likes the old "put your name forward if you think you could do better", (hes on his high horse because he does a bit of reffing) but I cut my clubs grass every 2nd week and help out with our committees fund raising and take underage trainings, thats my input to antrim football. I know im not the man for any of the jobs i am talking about, but thankfully for free speech im allowed to air my thoughts on here and will keep doing so. But everything that BS has stated on this topic i genuinely agree with and hes the most optimistic gael in antrim.

But lets all call a spade a spade, if business' in the county had any faith in our football set up we would have had state of the art facilities, investment in development, lots of sponsorship and we would still be playing in our county ground. We had a few holes in the bucket financially over the years and unfortunately the knock on effect has been that our juvenile and senior footballers havnt got the backing from the CB they needed to flourish...because the CB couldnt get financial backing from anywhere in the county aside from Creagh and a few others....

Tell me how our hurlers are far better equipped and set up... is the finances split or have they a completely different committee / budget?

Kitting players out in gear, booking them big buses, making things appear to be as professional as possible is all well and good but unless the same group have had the same approach applied to the footballing side of things. from juvenile right through to senior then no matter how big your bus, or how nice your tracksuit is.... ul be pissing into the wind.

Have heard this talk of Antrim feeling inferior because other neighbouring counties get treated better.... Yes they do get treated better and get more investment but off the back of putting in the hard work under age and developing their players. Antrim is inferior because their whole set up, coaching, county board is inferior compared to the rest of ulster. All they can bring to the table is solutions to short term problems. investing money in senior set ups whilst the underage get some young boys da taking county teams for 1 year or 2 until wee jimmy goes to the next age group. How many years has it went on....