Messages

My pennies worth;

Carging by 8
St.Johns after extra time
LD after extra time
Aghaghallon by 4

If dunloy win that Intermediate then TNN and Ballymena should hang their heads. Although Dunloy has a pool of talent as good as any of them, they dont even train throughout the course of the year. Last year they had 2 full football trainings before championship. I know St.Pauls, TNN and AS's are all dual clubs, but i think its fair to say Dunloy only care about hurling championships. TNN and AS's are paying managers to get them over the line so theyd be gutted not to do it this year with Moneyglass out of the equation

a co.down man asked me this and found it hard to answer not having seen much of either ecxcepy in finals.

"who is better, creggan or lamh dearg"

Toss of a coin in my opinion.... up for debate!

MR2 Can you or any of the other refs/ former refs enlighten us as to what guidance or advice the refs are given on stoppages and how that reflects on injury time... i can see where you are coming from but it doesnt seem to be across the board. Other Refs blow it up nearly on the end second of time given no matter what happens during play.

and tell me has there been a change in the rules as to what a black card is? watching games this year there doesnt seem to be as many given for checking runners or 3rd man type stuff...

Didnt see any of the senior games last friday, though attended an exciting IFC game between Glenavy and St.Pauls. Pauls just edging it a goal.

Just to comment on some of the statements here regarding refs. iv been critical myself at times of some of the refs and as soon as you mention anything you are told to put your name forward before making comments so we would all need to watch what we say. though i think we can all agree whether we've watched all ireland matches, provincial or even premier league games, we have all been critical or passed comments on refs! they are all human and dont deserve abuse of any description, but they are always going to be a talking point. so criticise away but keep it respectful.

For example, i stood in belfast watching a very important game 2 years ago, and a certain referee somehow mahanged to play 8minutes over injury time.... when the crowd were shouting to the lines man and asking what was going on he said "he'll blow it any second now"...... 5minutes later match was still going on.

To me as a neutral i loved that as it was adding to the excitement of the whole thing but could you imagine if the team who were trying to see the game out for that duration ended up losing that game... poor ref wouldnt of made it to the pavilion!!

Group 1
Cargin vs Moneyglass - Cargin by 18
St Johns vs Rossa - draw

Group 2
Portglenone vs St Brigids -  St.Brigids by 4

Group 3
Lamh Dhearg vs Aghagllon - Lamh Dhearg by 8
Aldergrove vs St Endas - St Endas by 12

Group 4
Creggan vs St Galls - St Galls by 2

I can never understand why a few of the clubs who think they are on the cusp of winning a championship in the next few seasons would be wanting a round robin. If its for players to play in more competitive games as a learning curve then fair enough.. but the likes of Aghagallon, Caements, Johnnies should be wanting straight knock out. it means if they take a scalp there momentum could stand by them rather than having to potentially play the likes of Cargin or LD again in latter stages of championship

With all the talk of area's that antrim need to focus on to improve i think school football, development squads, underage managers etc.. all contribute to development and need seriously looked at, but the truth is with the exception of a small number of clubs, is that around antrim the footballing culture just isnt there! il be lambasted for saying that but the proofs in the pudding. How many antrim clubs are solely fooball? How many colleges/ schools whether it be mcrory, mclarnon, vocational schools do well against other schools in ulster on a consistant basis? Bar St.Galls who was the last club to win an ulster match?

How many players from intermediate down, are on that antrim footballing panel- the reason im asking is, other counties have some proloific footballers that has come from clubs playing at that level, but from my perspective i see the likes of these clubs in antrim fulfilling footballing fixtures with very little aspirations of actually producing the next Kevin Niblock, Mick McCann, Paddy Cunningham. That comes from the culture around the place, its alright going to training and playing matches and saying your a footballer, but culture comes from the home and communities which breeds aspirations for youth. In Tyrone youv an endless amount of communities that live and breathe football, Derry is the same. We need more of the likes in Antrim.

BS talks about Antrim football being competitive and on any given day, any team can win it, but in all honesty how many clubs have actually won a championship in the last 30 years? 6? 1 of which was southwest so im not sure that backs up the argument that the south west clubs are reaping the rewards of derry schools competing in mcroary football

its a fair enough point and is reflective of some of the points you all have raised with the county boards lack of investment and backing of underage set ups. If the culture was there, as it is in derry, tyrone, armagh etc.. their would be outcry the way our underage are coached/ treated and the sad truth is, thats where success starts no matter how you measure it. Paying Mcginley, Baker, Gormley etc... is fine for gaining promotion and maybe winning one qualifying match but is only papering over cracks if we cant back that up with a conveyor belt of youth that supplements a senior squad, year in year out.

Leagues are wrapped up now and was great to see the games back again after a long lockdown. Anyone found out anything out of the ordinary after watching the games? St.Brigids and Rossa gave the leagues a fair go so will be interesting to see if that can continue!

Championship will be interesting as again no one can really use the league to base form on!

MR2 please dont take it as i was comparing refs to priests of the 70's.  Absolutely not, i was just remarking on the forums sensitivity, to any statements made regarding refs. thats all. It all adds to the banter after all

One point to make on the whole situation though from my own perspective. Obviously its a thankless job and thats reflected by the now demand we have for refs in the county. But we have now players and managers at club level who now train 4-6 nights a week between gym and s&c sessions and a total shift to a more professional environment. 10 years ago nobody would have seen the huge transformation in our games and the effort it takes to participate at any grade of senior level. There are Irish league teams/players not doing near what gaa clubs/players are doing training wise. So i think its fair when people are asking and raising concerns about the fitness of refs especially at senior level as the reffing needs to be in line with the damands of the modern game. I know from watching games around the county and seeing what goes on, thats not the case in some occasions. Overall we have more good refs than not so good. There are refs who wouldnt get a senior game in other counties due to fitness levels, age and theirimplementation of the rules. Now on the same breathe i would never name these people or try to belittle them individually as i take my hat off for stepping up when no one else does but its defintely an elephant in the room scenario that people arent keen on talking about.

Before i get the "put your name forward before saying that about men out trying their best" comments, let me just say i know myself i would make a horrible ref

Very defensive of refs on this forum. I mentioned a couple of years back something i wasnt happy about a ref doing and got completely lambasted on here for it. whilst they should be owed the most credit for their participation in our games they shouldnt be exempt from any scrutiny. Players, managers and comittees get all forms of criticism on here and opinions are shared across the board, but this notion that you cant say anything to or about a ref has to stop. reminds me of the priests in the 70s where you darent of said a word about them....

yeah aghagallon have a good few underage teams and seem to be benefiting from their lads playing a good level of schools football. be interesting to see how them, st.endas and rossa do in the next few years as they seem to heave very young panels. though saying that if the same teams dont step up and make a county final atleast in the next ten years or atleast have a couple of years where they take a few scalps of the top 4, you could see alot of the promising youth maybe not come to fruition. no coincidence that, that creggan team hadnt been in a county final in 50 odd years then after their closely contested first one, they are back 2 years later in another one. alot to be said when you are in contention!

BS has portglenone much coming through the ranks? i see the county minor captain was a clubman of your own but to be honest i havnt heard much on portglenone underage. another team thats in the mix at senior level but could probably do with youth coming into that panel on a yearly basis. LD likewise

Yes sorry your right Niall McKenna is an exceptional footballer. And apologies DR i thought you were talking about the county hurlers. Didnt realise you were talking about dunloy. I saw them v Moneyglass last year and although they do have some tasty footballers its hard to say if any of them are capable of getting to that senior county level, as to be honest, they dont seem to take football that seriously or care enough about it. they can hold their own at intermediate level and thats just on sheer talent. I remember dunloy would of been up there with rossa and johnnies as the best dual clubs in antrim but football has had to take a back seat by looks of it

Who would be the strongest footballers in the county that are on the county hurling squad? the only two that i can think of that would make the football squad would be connor johnston and connor mccann. i think the rest probably dont kick ball or havnt really stood out in a footballl match that would merit a call up..

23 between 3 clubs?? il take your word for it bannside but my god where is the players at from the other clubs around the county. is our intermediate or junior footballers nowhere near the standard of county level. im not up to date with the county panel but even in years gone by i can only think of one or two lads whos clubs wernt in div1 that held down their place in a county jersey. Kevin Brady and Big Sean McVeigh in more recent years. If there are more id like to hear about them. Goes back to a debate we had on here regarding Harbinson bringing lads onto the panel who were from clubs outside the big 3/4 and that turned out not a good thing  for him. i think bannside, yourself and milltown along with a few others were advocates for that approach but would need to scroll back and see. Though with the new management doing the complete opposite it will be interesting to see how it pans out for them thats for sure.