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The Ballycastle situation is sad to see from a North Antrim Hurling perspective. We all need each other as was previously

Mentioned to keep everybody pushing. The County teams Ballycastle and the Club needs a strong senior team as their shop window.
From an outsider their juvenile set up has a lot to answer for, some of the behaviour towards their own mentors and other club players has been a disgrace and not dealt with properly by the Committee.i have witnessed this myself on dozens of occasions. Another problem again aluded to above has been their attutide from winning with CPC seemes to gone to their heads, again i know this from a few Dall players on those teams that had their head up there arses when they won/contested B finals, (yes B final) We are maybe lucky to have a lot of strong characters in our team that wouldnt accept the crap thankfully.
Where do they go from here? Maybe a club hurling meeting invite everybody in with an interest  in McQuillans Gac ask a respected head to lead the conversation , perhaps someone of the calibre of Big Ronan.
Only my thoughts as I said but I hope to god they stop this for, the hammerings make bad headlines.

Big Ronan was that well respected that the players got rid of him after getting to county final! Humpy was another respected figure who was ousted by players. Who would be more respected in Ballycastle hurling circles than Ronan and Humpy? Not many, and look at how they were treated.

[with all the good underage players]

makes no sense when you consider they were in the county final a few years back and looked like a team who could be pushing for county honours.

I know they have lost a few players and theres been chat of a fall out in the club but it shouldnt mean that they have went to the dogs like that. with all the good underage players they have had this past few years the reserves along shouldnt of been struggling to get players together. its a pity because we need a club like Ballycastle to be up there pushing Cdall and Lgiel for the top spot along with ourselves.

I'd say you could count these on one hand and that's where the problem lays.

Vast majority of them get overhyped too early in their careers before they even attend the first senior training session. They have sense of entitlement and when the wheels fall off blame the manager and either flee the country or go and play soccer...........

Ballycastle would be missing several of there seniors from the last couple years.

Couple lads in Australia, A couple in america etc.

and with regards their Reserves, any of the reserves that would have been reserves have been called upon to hurl senior.

Unfortunately a number of factors have come into play - bottom line is we are a shambles at present. A lot of different bodies can be blamed and in true style a lot of it is happening at present. But unfortunately we have a few men who lead our club who have shown no leadership and have allowed this to happen. We did not go looking a senior manager at any stage. In the end up we appointed a lad who is doing his best but did not get the minor job yet was appointed senior manager. Relationships are at an all time low.

hard to see any way back.

A few years ago we were on the brink of becoming a top team

As an outsider looking in Leyland you seem to have a very high turnover of managers in general within the club. Not sure where that stems from but even some of your own club people who have given everything on the field get a hard time and are harshly treated (i.e Humpy).

Again these are just the opinions of an outsider with no views on the internal politics which affects all big clubs.

I hope that you recover from this current dip but its maybe something deeper rooted within the club that is the real issue??

I was looking at results from Division 1.

B'Castle played Lgiel twice in a matter of days and got two fairly serious beatings. What's going on there? Big rivalry and I wouldn't have thought there was so much between the two sides. Town facing relegation by looks of it.

A few loyalities got in the way of correct team line-up decisions.

Neal McAuley as a wing half forward. Wong decision. Never struck a ball. Heart got in way of the head with this one.
Aaron Graffin should never have started this game. Yes put him on the bench as a really good defensive sub.

Management have certainly lost a lot of respect after all the talk about commitment.

Defensively we were shocking. No point pin pointing any individuals. As a back 6 we weren't at the races.

Does anyone remember the outcome for the hurling leagues this year regarding promotion/relegation. Is it one up, one down?

It was two up two down between Div1 and Div1b last year, I don't think that'll change as the Ports look favourites for the top spot, Johnnies looking like second...   

You read my mind JC!!

Would like to have this all set in stone now to prevent any board room tussles later on. Its really important as division 2 is so tight. Its critical for teams to know whether 1 will be relegated or 2.

Does anyone remember the outcome for the hurling leagues this year regarding promotion/relegation. Is it one up, one down?

Are the club hurling fixtures really going to go ahead this Sunday? I thought they would have been cancelled due to CR final. Strange decision by CB.

Christy ring on the Sat I thought?

Yes I know its on Saturday but I'm thinking of the club players/supporters who have to travel to Dublin and back on Saturday before heading off again on Sunday to play league games.

Bcastle away to Ballygalget
Rossa away to Lgiel
St Galls away to Glenariffe
St Johns away to Carey.

That extra travelling is bound to put people/club players off from going to Dublin on Saturday. I know the die hards will go anyway but that's not the audience we need to entice out of the house.

And what happens if we win the CR. Surely a night of celebration is in order? Not for our club players who have to play on Sunday. Just my point of view but everything should be done to get a big crowd out for the CR in Dublin on Saturday.

Are the club hurling fixtures really going to go ahead this Sunday? I thought they would have been cancelled due to CR final. Strange decision by CB.

Very interesting to be playing Neal at 10. Probably deployed as a sweeper is the only reason I see for this. I can't understand why they continue to try him out as a forward. If there's no natural position for him in defence he needs to sit on the bench IMO.

They appear to have been exiled 

He vanished along with PJ
Self imposed exile  since last years county saga
No one was gonna say a word to him - honest 😃

There's still the club stuff to argue over sure

Minder is quiet to, kinda miss them tbh

PJ can be seen up around Glenravel 3/4 nights a week.

Smart move, if he missed the team bus he could walk home from there

Does PJ have any ties to the Glenravel club or is this move motivated by the financial side of things? If there's money involved its a shame that clubs in Div 3 are having to open their pockets in this way.

Glenariffe are paying big bucks to their new management team I've heard. Its the way the club game is going but that doesn't make it right IMO.

Who is taking Glenariff

Humpy and some other man from Ballycastle. That's the story I heard at the wknd there anyway.

They appear to have been exiled 

He vanished along with PJ
Self imposed exile  since last years county saga
No one was gonna say a word to him - honest 😃

There's still the club stuff to argue over sure

Minder is quiet to, kinda miss them tbh

PJ can be seen up around Glenravel 3/4 nights a week.

Smart move, if he missed the team bus he could walk home from there

Does PJ have any ties to the Glenravel club or is this move motivated by the financial side of things? If there's money involved its a shame that clubs in Div 3 are having to open their pockets in this way.

Glenariffe are paying big bucks to their new management team I've heard. Its the way the club game is going but that doesn't make it right IMO.

I personally think the U21 hurling cship should be scrapped unless it gets a meaningful place in the fixtures calendar with more than the one game championship knockout scenario (for most clubs). I heard about one team who didn't train once before getting dumped out in first round. You have to ask yourself what is the point in having a single competition for that age group were you typically only get one game?

Similar format to countess of antrim this year would be a big improvement. Two groups. Play each other once. Top two for semis. Gives the lads at that age at least 4/5 games. If that can't be accommodated. Get rid of it.

Antrim Vs Down fixed for Cushendall at 2pm on Saturday.

McManus getting married on Saturday? Will he play............

Have you been the the Johnnies ground since the stand has been gone? They have to their credit, have great changing room facilites an indoor training center underneath the clubhouse and a decent pitch,

Like every other club the Johnnies have been doing fundraisers for years, their major handicap is having so many teams, ladies teams hurling and football to support that's a lot harder to support than lets say, Cushendall or Cargin who have one code to cater for... the money raised is going three ways instead of one

If they get a stand (thats a big if) then so be it, I (being a Naomh Gall man) wouldnt begrudge them it as all the clubs, our's included need to update our facilites, its wont make us a better team or encourage more kids to play, but will certainly bring the GAA into the 21 centuary

Yeah I have been up to see the 'new' facilities.

I would say they are not on their own in running so many teams, but to me that would actually increase the number of people/ families that they would have in the club? No?

I am not arguing that it is not needed, but totally smacks of opportunism to me. This if you look back is a historical element linking back to the whole redevelopment of Casement.

It is only human nature for someone to help out his own when one has been given such powers...........