Messages

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: August 23, 2019, 09:30:02 PM »

Toby 47.... your post reminiscing about that particular encounter against Derry nineteen years ago always touches a raw nerve with me. Casement Park in full flow, thousands of Antrim supporters full vocal and Saffron everywhere, and our boys forcing the much vaunted Oak Leaf onto the ropes. Derry were probably a top six team then, NFL div one winners in that era. Kevin Madden's point with his left foot, practically on the goal line....what a score. A timely reminder what pure pride passion endeavour and team spirit can deliver. Like the day our hurlers beat Offaly in 89, two days of a lifetime.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: August 14, 2019, 11:31:24 PM »

That's the Div 1 league as good as over with Cargin winners after the most competitive league in memory. Top four positions sorted for next years cship seeding too...the scene is set now for a memorable championship. Can South West consolidate its position as the new power base, or can Galls Johnnies or LD....or indeed improving Rossa put a spanner in those works? Should be an interesting couple of months.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Football All Stars 2019

« on: August 12, 2019, 09:02:24 PM »

Stephen Mc Menamin held Mattie Donnelly and David Clifford to two points between them. For this alone a nomination is deserved.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Mayo v Donegal, Elverys McHale Park, Aug 03, 6pm

« on: July 27, 2019, 01:05:35 PM »

From The Bunker......the case I make has nothing at all to do with whether or not they are good enough or whether or not they aspire to playing in Croke Park. What I'm saying is....the turnaround timescale is ridiculously short to facilitate any meaningful aspect of players mental or physical recovery.

This shouldn't be difficult to understand, and anyone who doesn't share that view I would argue has zero comprehension of how knackered the winners of next Saturday nights contest will be, especially if the game is a cliffhanger as most neutrals expect.

Croke Park my arse. If youse go up there and get a trimming by 20 points with a tired team full of injuries trust me, you'll not be long seeing the imbalance I'm talking about. It's madness frankly!!

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GAA Discussion / Re: Mayo v Donegal, Elverys McHale Park, Aug 03, 6pm

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:29:13 AM »

Whichever team emerges from this will have a ridiculously short turnaround time before they are thrown back out again, in all probability physically and mentally knackered, to take on a Dublin team in their own back yard who haven't had to break sweat this year. That's one huge imbalance and regardless of how this came to pass, stands out as the biggest singular failure of the Super 8 experiment. As a neutral I'm really looking forward to this game, but can't see the victors being remotely well placed to do justice the following week.

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GAA Discussion / Re: Super 8s

« on: July 27, 2019, 07:12:38 AM »

Halfquarter hits the nail on the head 100%. Whoever decided that a turnaround time of 6 days is sufficient for players in the modern game should hold their head in shame. They obviously have no idea what it takes to mentally or physically prepare a team. This 6 day turnaround is singularly the biggest flaw in the structure of the "super 8's" and hands Dublin yet another massive psychological advantage...on top of home advantage and all the others.

Twoweeksornothing!

Otherwise it will be like going in like lambs to the slaughter.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: June 20, 2019, 08:53:39 AM »

Good to see our allocation of tickets for Saturdays big game against Kildare has sold out. Our players and management have put in a hard shift throughout the year and deserve nothing less than some proper support for 70 minutes on Saturday.

On our very best form we have a good chance of remaining in the competition come Monday mornings draw. We are under no pressure whatsoever, outside the panel very few expect anything but a drubbing, as is reflected in the bookies odds. But we are on a mini high after the Louth performance and Kildare are exactly the opposite after shipping a hefty defeat to the Dubs.....plus we have home advantage. All in all I fully expect us to be competitive throughout and won't be surprised in the least if we cause the biggest upset for quite a while.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: June 09, 2019, 01:08:56 PM »

Our under 20s looked very good at times yesterday too, drawing with Cavan and finishing their league campaign unbeaten after three. Obvious progress in this sector, with half a dozen players or more marking themselves out for senior activity in the near future. Well done to Hugh and backroom team, this set up has been impressive and the panel has responded. Question.....how many McRory cup medalists are on this panel from either St Marys Mfelt (2017) or St Ronan's (2018).

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: June 09, 2019, 09:27:00 AM »

Agree wholeheartedly with you Brendan. The vast majority of the football people in the county have turned their back on these lads and support even from within some of their own clubs is lukewarm to say the least. Football is mostly about pride and yesterday this group stood tall when all around were castigating them. Yesterday they did it for themselves and that's what made this victory all the sweeter.

Louth were 1/4 in the book, and finished joint top of division three, narrowly missing promotion to division two on score difference. They were at home. They were six points up after twelve minutes.
That's the mountain our men faced down, in a glorious spell turned six down to nine up in a thirty minute spell of total dominance.

We talk of the players missing, the greats from Cargin or St Galls (and they were) but I've seen them too,  on good days and bad, and don't recall them producing anything quite as memorable as yesterday.

It's only one win, that's all, nothing else. But some highly valuable pride has been restored and for that alone it would be good if the football people in the county get behind them next day out wherever that may be.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: April 05, 2019, 08:25:10 PM »

Mark was well respected within the squad and had developed into an excellent player, indeed one of Antrims main men. His decision to leave the panel was largely due to his increasing work commitments in Dublin where it wasn't easy to pull out of work three or four times a week at 5pm to get ahead of the traffic in time for training. He owes Antrim nothing and I'm sure the door is always open for his return should he decide to go back to the well one more time next year.

On the other foot, isn't it a good job not everyone adopted the same attitude towards having nothing else to play for!!!! Fair play to the rest who did decide to shoulder on.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: March 27, 2019, 07:27:05 PM »

I see it as wide open between seven or eight teams all beating each other. Maybe I'll be wrong but I don't see any super forces out there the way St Galls and Cargin undeniably were a few years ago. I predict things will continue to level out even further this year....but time will tell. Atm probably about 8 clubs will fancy their chances of finishing in the top 4. That's healthy and should make for plenty of competitive action in the months ahead.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: March 26, 2019, 06:51:28 PM »

The football league is almost upon us once again and this year I foresee the most open division one league in memory. The race to the top six will be interesting with most teams quietly fancying their chances of achieving that. No one looks unbeatable at this stage and it wouldn't surprise me if four or five points separated the top half dozen positions.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: March 24, 2019, 04:03:36 PM »

It's obvious there are players in Antrim who take great pride in being handed a county jersey and after another two well earned points today in Kilmallock we finish the division in third place after losing three games by a point. The long road home will be a bit quicker after another good second half display, and now Lenny can focus on getting his best players in the right frame of mind for the summer. There are definitely several players who can add to his options, and no doubt he will have scouts at the Antrim league games starting next week.

Reiterating what I've said on several occasions, if we can add just add the likes this years unavailable players such as Conor Murray, two Healys, Paddy Mc Aleer etc to the squad then I think we can realistically aspire to get out of the basement division and be competive in division three at the very least. The loss of these four hurt us particularly hard this year imo, all have great engines and would really suit our current style.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: March 16, 2019, 09:29:17 PM »

Thrilled to see the passion displayed by the Men in Saffron earlier today. We were a different league from Wicklow and there were some absolutely standout performances, notably Patrick Gallagher who kept us in the game with three terrific blocks or tackles when we were behind in the first quarter. Matt Fitz was exceptional scoring 2 -03, Eoin Nagle looks full of promise (what a pass for Fitzys goal) and Paddy Mc Cormick gets better and better. We were full value for our ten point victory.

Our second half today was as good as I've seen for quite a while, especially with pressure on to deliver a performance....and Antrim did that. Credit where it's due to all involved.

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Antrim / Re: Antrim Football Thread

« on: March 16, 2019, 07:22:46 AM »

Indeed ITG we need to get something from last two games to avoid the dreaded worst team in Ireland label. No one has any appetite for that. From that perspective at least one of the last two is a "must win".

The inter county landscape has changed rapidly in recent years, and the sheeer commitment level demanded is simply too much for many. Four or five sessions per week is scaring players away, the negative impact that has on social lives, relationships, job prospects, and impact on club participation, makes many wonder is the sacrifice necessary.....especially when you wouldn't get a hundred supporters to bother to turn up and support you.

I totally understand that. Unfortunately there is no quick fix unless you restrict the squad training nights to two....one in SW and one in the city. That might make a difference to many who won't commit at present.

We've lost three players in recent weeks due to walk aways and three or four injuries which hasn't helped Lennys case. In my opinion he really needs to bring in four or five players to freshen things up, and create a competitive environment at training. Otherwise we really are in a race to the bottom at this stage.