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Would have Loughgiel slight favourites for semi but genuinely think winner of LG and MLR will go on to win AI final.

NAG1, I suggest you soak your own head.  I'm not a Galls man but what they've done in the last 11 years surpasses anything done by an Antrim club before. Did they do this without any good players?

The magnificent St John's team of the 70's/80's included the incomparable Peter McGinnity and Andy McCallin as well as Micky Darragh, kevin Gough and several other top players. They won an Ulster c'ship and reached the AI final only to be beaten by an All Star Thomond team who wouldn't be allowed in the competition these days.

St Galls have won two Ulsters, reached two AI finals and won one of them. Aodhan Gallagher would grace any team in the country while Kevin and CJ are fantastic talents. On his day CJ is one of the top three forwards in Ulster - note his college performances. He may not be the most popular man with other clubs but this shouldn't detract from his talent. Andy Mc Callin and Aidan Hamill weren't exactly loved by other clubs in the 70's.

So stop being a wee bigot and get on with that soaking.   




     

Andy McCallin, Micky Darragh, Kevin Madden and CJ McGourty the only top drawer Antrim forwards in the last 40 yesrs. 

Only top class players of current era are CJ and Kevin McGourty and Aodhan Gallagher - Fact!

Apologies to:-

JP O'Kane
Kevin Gough
Pat Armstrong
J McKiernaqn
Frank fitzsimmons
Gerry Mc Cann
Justin Crozier
James Loughrey
Donal Laverty
Tony McAtamney
Michael McCann
Aidan Hammll

not necessarily in that order

Watson scored a total of 3-23 against the Munster and Leinster champions - and he doesn't play for Antrim - he is a bit of a mysterious character - surely someone in Antrim can talk him into plating in the Leinster championship. Although from what I'm told he's not an easy man to get to know. 

See article on Ulster Hurling

Watson stands his ground

Loughgiel's sharp shooter says he is a reformed man ahead of the club final
Christy O'Connor Published: 11 March 2012
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Liam Watson lines his hurleys up against the wall, each one delicately garnished with red and white coloured grips. The handles are thicker and the bas bigger than normal but Michael and Denis Scullion know Watson's exact requirements. On Wednesday, Watson followed his usual ritual the week before a big game by picking up three new sticks from Scullion's workshop opposite Loughgiel's pitch. The clean ash was all that differentiated them from Watson's mini-forest of timber, each stick as primed as the next. Perfect.

Watson gathers the new hurleys and makes his way down Lough road, entering Fr Healy Park through the little back-gate. He crosses the gravel track and jumps the three-foot wall before emptying a batch of sliotars on the pitch. The quality of ash is soon authenticated by the smooth cracking sound from the sliotars pinging off his hurley as Watson goes through his free-taking routine. His striking is almost flawless. Perfect.

Watson has been in the zone for a while. In the All-Ireland semi-final against Na Piarsaigh, he bagged 0-16. Watson's sublime striking on a wet day illustrated his talent but that performance was fermenting for 12 months before he uncorked it. "I was useless in last year's semi-final against O'Loughlin Gaels," he says. "I wanted to go back to Parnell Park to prove a point. I knew that whoever I was marking against Na Piarsaigh was going to be in for some treatment."

Big scoring returns have been a constant throughout Watson's career; he scored 0-13 out of 0-16 in the 2007 county final defeat to Dunloy. His talent was never in doubt. His attitude and mentality always was. He has carried the tabloid caricature of a maverick and his indiscipline has consistently rhymed with that reputation. Hurling often operates on the dynamics of a village and one bad word often borrows another. Yet most of Watson's indiscretions were so public that he had no defence against the gossip which accompanied them.

"I'm the type of man who does what he wants to do," he says. "Some people can take that, some people can't. I would never look back with regrets but I will admit that I have done piles of things wrong. I'm far from perfect but God gives everyone a talent and the main one I was given was hurling. Once you're given it, you have to try not to waste it. I wasted it for a couple of years but I'm trying hard to redeem that now."

He first showed that renegade streak as a 19-year old in Antrim's 2002 All-Ireland quarter-final against Tipperary when he struck Paul Ormonde on the side of the head with the butt of his hurley. A yellow card was later upgraded to a red and red cards became a recurring theme throughout his career. He was sent off against Derry in 2008 while he was also red-carded twice in the 2010 season, including the All-Ireland quarter-final against Cork when he was marched after scoring six excellent points from play.

It also blighted him at club level. Watson was the pulse of Loughgiel's scoring power but he was also their jugular vein and teams often went for the jugular. "I have been targeted but I was letting my family and my teammates down for years," he says. "I got sent off in a championship game against St John's one year. I came home afterwards and Eoin (his seven-year-old son) had this wee stick. He jagged it into the side of me and goes, 'You shouldn't have done it'. He's very close to me and I had to cop on. I've nearly been sent off more times than I've got up in the morning so you have to catch on some time."

His indiscipline on the field though, was too often a reflection of it off the field. One year he missed a club championship game when he disappeared on a lost weekend at the motorcycle world championships in Toomebridge. He didn't play with Antrim in 2007 and 2009, while he was dropped from the squad the night before they played Galway in the 2008 qualifiers for playing a low-key soccer tournament in Limavady two nights previously. Joint-managers, Terrence 'Sambo' McNaughton and Dominic 'Woody' McKinley, were building a new team and Watson's reputation conflicted with their standards and ideals. It wasn't just them. Watson breached a drinking ban imposed by Dinny Cahill before the 2010 Leinster championship against Offaly by going to a close friend's stag in Liverpool. He was also involved in a fight in training with a fellow player. He was dropped from the panel before being restored and not all of Cahill's management team were happy to see him come on against Offaly.

Yet he became an All-Star nominee and there has always been a conflict between his immense talent and the perception of him as a liability. "If I went in to a bar today and drank two pints, the word in Cushendall would be that I was drunk off my head," he says. "I like getting out, having a drink and enjoying myself. If people think I'm an alcoholic or drinking as much as I'm supposed to be, I'd hardly have scored 0-16 against Na Piarsaigh. Everyone is entitled to their opinions but I'll have my opinion after March 17."

In such a passionate hurling heartland, opinions have often been easier to form with Watson's soccer commitments. He spent three seasons in the IFA Premiership with Donegal Celtic, where he was popular with the supporters, before signing for Ballymena United last August. "The supporters were crazy, I was as crazy as them, we enjoyed our football and we had a drink afterwards," he says. "That's what life is all about: enjoyment. This guy said to me one day, 'Are you a hurling or soccer man? I said, 'If a bill comes in my front door, will you pay it if I only play hurling? The soccer was giving me a few pounds to pay bills but I've always been mad into all sports."

Watson wasn't immune from controversy either on the soccer field; he was sent off after 15 seconds against Coleraine in 2010, while he was suspended by Ballymena last November for an alleged breach of discipline. It doesn't provide him with a defence but Watson has been troubled at times.

"I'm my biggest critic and I'm always beating myself up," he says. "There are always people trying to knock you and there would be times when I wouldn't want to come out of the house, win or lose. If I came out, I could end up hitting somebody. Everyone has good and bad days. I'm usually upbeat and cheery but there were times when I might have been in bad form and I just didn't want to go to the field. Maybe I was suffering a bit from depression. I wouldn't say yes or no but there were times when I was very down."

Jim Nelson and Joe McGurk are two outsiders in Loughgiel's backroom team and their input has helped Watson reform. "Joe is a teacher but I call him my counsellor," says Watson. "Sometimes he might be able to tell that I'm not in great form. If I'm not happy with something, I feel I can speak to someone. Joe keeps me right."

They have all benefited from management's guidance. Loughgiel lost six county finals in a row from 2003 before cracking it in 2010. Nelson had built his reputation on bringing organisation and structure and his methods created the conditions to move forward. He got them working harder, removing the individualism which had often blighted their play.

The calmness they showed in extra-time was also mirrored by Watson's composure. Na Piarsaigh tried to twist his tail but he didn't take the bait. He sees the bigger picture now reflected in his son's excitement. Last week, Eoin got a new Loughgiel fleece with his father's picture and name on the back.

"I want to make my family and Loughgiel people proud," says Watson. "I feel at the top of my game at the minute. Everything is going well for me on and off the field. All I can promise is that I'll give 100% work rate. I can't say that I will reproduce what I showed against Na Piarsaigh but I love the big challenge, the hype, the atmosphere. The big stage is definitely for me."

The stage is set. And Watson finally looks primed for it.

Having followed this year's championship closely I think that Loughgiel are slight favourites. Coolderry may have made a big step in belief by beating Birr but Loughgiel are a more experienced outfit. Antrim club hurling is a lot stronger than the county performances would suggest -  this is down to the bitter rivalry between the leading clubs, and the city vs country antagonism, which makes it difficult for them to play together for the county. 

The whole of Offaly will be shouting for Coolderry but not all of Antrim will be behind Loughgiel. Many people in Cushendall and especially Dunloy would prefer to see them lose.  BTW I am told that Antrim club hurling is very much on the up with traditional giants Ballycastle and Rossa on the way back, along with St Johns and St Galls, all ready to challenge Loughgiel, Dunloy and Cushendall.

I also find it interesting that neither club was considered worth a mention at the start of this thread which is strange given that the Antrim champs are a shoe-in for the semi-finals .