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2 of the last 4 last year were from ulster. Neither would have been at the level to win it anyway so I think that's not bad for a disadvantaged championship.

To win or get out of Ulster or Connacht you need to be peaking far earlier in the campaign, that's the point.

I had to listen very carefully to make any sense of what Feeney was trying to say.  He was trying to make points but always seemed to stop short and leave it hanging with a big 'you know what I mean', look on his face. Wasn't really clear at all what he was on about.

what he was right about is that reconciliation isn't directly linked to a border poll and a UI.

The unionist narrative which is the default setting of the BBC and UTV is that discussing and planning for a UI is "divisive" yet no mention of the recent "strengthening the Union" paper being "divisive" towards Nationalists....

If we snuck over the line by 1 point and progressed. Derry wouldve played B Competition. They beat Roscommon by 6 points in the final last year (in croke park) and have a good wack of that panel available this year? Why do we think we are too good for this??

Yeah. As someone else said, down to arrogance really, which is diasppointing. Go into the B competition and win it in Croke Park. Be good for the Antrim lads.

Seniors are bottom of their league with a huge - points difference so I'm not sure why that arrogance is there.

Maybe some of the panel will join the senior panel now. 

 

So when they lost out to a better Derry team on the day it's arrogance, they lost but had agreed that if they lost they will not be entering the competition below?

So stringing along lads for the reminder of the year from their clubs to win a 3 tier competition just to get a win at Croke?

As much as we'll be without some lads for the first few league games due to Down being in the tier 3 competition (and rightly so) the lads we have involved will all learn something out of it and it's also part of the honour of playing for your county and maybe some lads are being denied that irrespective of the level.

Why didn't they use the same logic as the U16/U17 scenario and play an U19 team in the 3rd tier competition in preparation for 2025?

Football has a natural bias towards Kerry and Dublin anyway given the history and because the GAA weaponised Dublin for reasons unknown.

This weaponised for reasons unknown is hlx. Dublin has a large population and it is entirely proper that the GAA spend money there on getting people involved in every new suburb. What is profoundly wrong is that they are allowing this desirable activity affect national competition by refusing to split the county team.

The biggest plus for Kerry and Dublin is that they can afford to peak later in the year as their provincial championships are a bit of a run out mostly with very little jeopardy attached to them.

The split season turns the ulster championship into a disadvantage.
I think this is why the provincials have to beshunted to the start of the season and the league and championship merged. 

The split season has nothing to do with it. The Ulster and Connacht counties have always been disadvantaged due to their competitive nature.
Leinster has become a cake walk for Dublin and Kerry never really needed to worry about Munster barring the odd time Cork got their house in order.

Football has a natural bias towards Kerry and Dublin anyway given the history and because the GAA weaponised Dublin for reasons unknown.

This weaponised for reasons unknown is hlx. Dublin has a large population and it is entirely proper that the GAA spend money there on getting people involved in every new suburb. What is profoundly wrong is that they are allowing this desirable activity affect national competition by refusing to split the county team.

The biggest plus for Kerry and Dublin is that they can afford to peak later in the year as their provincial championships are a bit of a run out mostly with very little jeopardy attached to them.

Top two teams will be in the new Div 1b league with 5 other teams who will come down from the current Div 1a and 1b. Bottom two in each and the worst placed 4th placed team.

Likely to be Dublin, Waterford, Westmeath, Offaly and Westmeath.

Laois can't be caught now as they are 3 points clear in 2nd place with one game to go. My understanding is that the top two go up. Where did the 2nd playing 3rd come from?

It's been the case since the start of the league and IIRC it's been in this league for a few years.

Semi-final on the 23/24th of March.


If we beat Meath on Saturday, you lads better beat Kildare on Friday night.

Clubs are always talking up the next big thing and that's fine to a point.

Let them bed in, lets see where they are in 2 or 3 years when they start to hit 23/24 years of age, how they physically pan out. Lads that have been super minors and even burst on the scene as young seniors can sometimes drift off and not be bothered.

Seen many 'stars' over the years and many never live up to the hype

Women, college, drink and partying always play a part

As big Ger Rogan once commented to a C&P coach who was raving about the next big thing out of NA, "Wait till he finds out what his cóck is really for!"

Thats all i have, a positive attitude! particularly towards our lovely referees.

Nice to have you onboard totes.
 

Tonight's match Luton was 3-0 ahead 50 minutes played and ended up losing 4-3 against Bournemouth.

Yay.

just recently signed up to this forum, been reading it for a while and never really wanted comment until now. I'm an Antrim hurling fan formely from Belfast but living in the sticks and get most home games in Corrigan... hopefully i'll be able to contribute on this forum.

I hope you have brought a positive attitude 

It won't take long for that to be bate out of him 

What is going on with Kate Middleton?

ALLEGEDLY
She's in an induced coma after Wills bate the head off her because she was having an affair with her sister Pippa's old boyfriend who happened to top himself a few weeks back in a barn with a shotgun.

ALLEGEDLY.

Agree with Laois Rising . No need for a neutral venue for league final . Irrelevant anyway in my opinion at this level.  Gladly play it in Dr Cullen Park and turn them over there .

Could all be a bit presumptuous here lads.

The craic I heard was McCusker is away, but the Belfast men are staying.

Who knows until the leagues get up and running I suppose.

Liatroim may be the team to watch this year. The Fontenoy men I was speaking to felt last year was some opportunity that got away.

They'll have their eyes on the prize come the championship I'd say.

Of course, that's not to say they'll go hammer and tongs at the league, and things are never as simple as that come the championship.

I expect Bredagh and Carryduff to be stronger than they were last year, and Ballycran will never want a scare like that ever again. Add in trying to balance senior football now alongside senior hurling and who knows what way they'll get on.

Still though. Be an interesting team to watch imo.

Ballycran lads I know are expecting them to drop off a bit this year at senior (not Div1) due to a few retirements and lads off to Australia plus they've very little coming through from underage.
Donal Hughes back is a big plus for Bredagh, he's their main scoring threat and a real pain in the hole for our lads who struggle to get a grips with him and they do have some very good underage hurlers in the pipeline if they commit to hurling. Being relegated to Div 3 in Antrim may give them a chance to bring some of those lads through at an easier pace whereas we might end up throwing some of our lads in at the deep end in Antrim Div1 and that IMO isn't a good thing short term or indeed long term as it's a huge step up.
Liatroim certainly won't be taken lightly by anyone, I think they're still a bit weak defensively and need a dog or two of corner backs to hold out the better forwards around. That was their Achilles heel against us and we left a few sitters of goals behind us that night in Kilclief.

Ports will still be strong favourites come championship but complacency has historically been a problem for them.

Ive heard good reports about the preperation etc. But to withdraw is a bit disappointing. They had a panel of 33 players, Let the lads go and join the senior panel who were asked and stay with them. Could number 16 to 33 not get gametime v the Roscommons etc? Are we hurling snobs? As JC jokingly said, its our level. Derry played in it last year and climbed the steps of croke park

With the resources player wise Antrim really shouldn't be getting caught out like this at U20 level, but I do agree with  what you are doing at U17 level by playing your U17's in Leinster and the U16's in Ulster, makes total sense.

[Would there have been anything to gain plying in an All Ireland B against the likes of Roscommon, Donegal etc]

I thought the u20s had a serious looking panel with plenty of firepower up top. Couldnt make the game but a forward line with joe mclaughlin, aodhan mcgarry, niall mcgarrell and cormac mckeown should be a serious outfit

Seniors are where probably expected with the few opting out, retirements etc

U20s would be more of a concern for sure.

I'd done a couple of trial games leading up to the start of the championship and its not for the lack of effort put in from what I could see, probably just beaten by the better team on the day?

Yeah as far as I am aware the preparations were good, which to me makes it even more worrying that we aren't beating Derry (No disrespect intended)

Is that the campaign over or do they still get into Leinster for the AI?

Derry are now in the Leinster B championship, Antrim could well be in an AI "B" competition or even lower down, my contact hasn't got back to me yet.

They aren't in any of them, they have decided not to enter and their season is over

Well then there would need to be a few more questions asked now if that is the case.

Would there have been anything to gain plying in an All Ireland B against the likes of Roscommon, Donegal etc ? Management not players wanted to take part.

They have been training since November,some of them involved with CPC & GT in the Mageean & the GT players still on the go until this weekend. They have probably had enough

If that's your level, then that's your level.