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Rumour has it Crossmaglen pull this nonsense every year they have a home draw.  not sure what benefit getting turned down does for them.  serious test for Cargin. If they play as they against st galls they've a good chance but only played in spells in the other 2 matches. maybe its a good thing having that gear change available to them

It'll not be Dawson. He has found gainful employment elsewhere within the County (unconfirmed).

thank your lucky stars its not Dawson.

if numbers keep dropping then it certainly has to be an option to attract the non-traditionalists?

Has any club had any particular joy with that?  there are anecdotal rumours around that approaches are usually rebuffed by the primary schools but Ballymena seem to have had some success with it

decline on available players could lead to a different type of amalgamated championship, such as the one in Kerry.  Without a town to feed it or a very large parish collection area, rural clubs could struggle. But if a few talented kids are being produced every year then the problem may not be as bad.

Cargin had a couple of years of lean numbers, lads around the 18 year old age, but have recovered and are fine now at all the other underage groups. 

Bannside, that does seem like very low numbers available. Are Ahoghill numbers holding or how will it affect the Sean Stinsons?

yeah sarsfields, if you spend a few million on access, buy half of rossas & st pauls fields for space for stands.  don't think those couple of rows are going to hold 10,000 people!    Needs a ground with space up at least one of the long sides. who has the room and can cater for the traffic??

fully agree but the clue is in your comment 'If the county was smart'      At the very very least they should be getting dunsilly to an appropriate stage seeing as its been started. 

if they're not going to do anything with casement then pick the most central, easily accessible pitch in antrim and put money into concrete steps/stands that can have temporary seating facilities installed - low cost and are not permanent. no pitch is not ideal but surely a strategy can be found

I certainly am not saying that Cargin holds the patent on the emotional connection with a club. But what I am saying is that the majority of young lads in Cargin are down at the club playing from an early age and evolve that natural connection as all their friends, relatives, classmates are doing the same. The majority of people they know have some connection or involvement with the club. That simply does not happen in Belfast but is actively fostered in other places like Loughgeil, Cushendall, Ballycastle, Dunloy and Creggan.  These clubs don't win every year, but the buy in from the community is immense. I have no doubt that Cargin are also influenced by the club mentality of clubs in south derry where the likes of Ballinderry, Loup, Newbridge, Bellaghy and Lavey bring the idea of club culture to a whole new level again.

of course, but i'd say there cant be many clubs who haven't had one transferee, and certainly I don't think you can accuse that Cargin team on Sunday of being a collection of blow-ins. 

Depends what you define as long term success obviously. St Galls have been excellent for 13 years but weren't in the discussion for the 10 before. Cargin have been there or thereabouts for 30 years now and while they haven't won as many as they should, they have always been the there or thereabouts. St Galls have had the longest cycle but St Pauls (mid to late 90's) and the Johnnies (on and off in the 80's & 90's) were there previously. Cargin have been through all of them and came back for more.  As CJ alluded to, every successful team needs a competitior and I don't think anyone could doubt Cargin have pushed St Galls along.

Well MR2.............Moneyglass, Casement's, Aldergrove, and Glenavy, just football......and Erin's Own did win their first county title in Hurling....consider the question again please.

Is it because Belfast clubs produce better footballers?

Do Cargin have good coaches? and if so why have they won at least 2 (out of 6) championships with an outsider? like I have said. they have a wider parish than the rest, they are close to the Derry club teams and pre season challenge games would be of a higher tempo and better pre for start of new year, probably that's why they have won so many leagues ?

I'm bored I could go on all day.. tell me in your view why Cargin are the only club in over 60 years outside of the big smoke to win a championship at senior level?

Cargin were in the doldrums for a long time but historically they wisely built upon a great minor team in the late sixties and a superb u21 side in the eighties. To be simplistic about it, Cargin have had one code to concentrate on, they benefit from the south derry schools competitive football system (but not exclusively), they have very committed football orientated families and have cultivated a competitive ethos over many years. They don't benefit from the transfer mentality that seems to prevail in Belfast and their players tend to stay involved for a decade or so. But in my mind, the single biggest difference in Cargin vs the other SW clubs is that, despite the numbers to choose from, almost all the underage boys in Cargin will turn out for the club. The percentage compared to other clubs such a portglenone, aldergrove, aghagallon etc is much higher. That gives an emotional buy-in to the club that I don't think exists in Belfast to the same extent nor in some of the other SW clubs.

Depends what facilities are available to the club as some are a nice to have rather than a necessity. Danger is that some people have the green eyed monster and think they need to get themselves into debt to keep up. if the talent isn't there then 4 training pitches isn't going to win championship. Dual clubs obviously have to schedule training sessions around the codes (but that can be overcomes), same goes with underage and camogie teams. Perhaps its a long term strategy the club itself has to set.  Moneyglass have set up a hurling team so if that goes as expected, they will need space. Cargin may have led the way in the SW but Creggan has a great set up, particularly if they can hold onto their old pitch.  Perhaps if Moneyglass or Portglenone are building new pitches they could get extra funding for a stand to accommodate a county championship match - casement looks like its years away

surely all we want is a bit of professionalism.  Gone are the days of a county committee with one bag of jerseys and selling a few raffle tickets.  there are big sums of money and budgets to prepare (besides the footballing requirements.) To leave it in the hands of rank amateurs with no prerequisite skills is just madness.  If you always do what you've always done, then you'll always get what you've always got.  Time for a committee and chairman who actually has the CV for the job and not just another  'Yes' man who has been there a while and sticks his hand up the highest.  We are the most amateur looking county in Ireland for a reason.  Time for real change, the embarrassments of Dunsilly and Casement need to be addressed asap and perhaps funding given to one club for a concrete standing area prior to next May