Antrim Football Thread

[SlemishSoldier31]

Some of the stuff I have read on here this morning calling out the young fellas involved in last nights game is disgraceful. Of course it's easy to point the finger at the lads on the pitch last night but the damage was already done a long time ago through our horrible promotion of youth across the whole county.

Until that is changed this will unfortunately be the same outcome every year until every so often we have a team which can put up a fight in games.

If we look at Derry for example were in a very similar situation not so long ago and they took a measured approach putting heavy emphasis on the youth and they are now reaping the rewards.

[Take the Mark]

If I can remember right Niall Jackman had two teams that competed against Derry and Donegal His team last year also got a hammering. What has happened why have we got worse

Jackmans teams had players that you'd recognise a lot of from senior teams throughout the county - and he did well with them too.
Last nights side, I wouldn't know the vast majority of them nor see them play much. Maybe thats all thats out there or maybe as mentioned by a previous poster it was a badly assembled squad. Tiernan McCormick must be injured, he would be a big asset for that side.

[Take the Mark]

Some hammering last night for the u20s

where do the lads even go from here I was at the game myself and it was clear the difference in quality throughout , even from the lads coming out the physicality and the shape the lads were in compared to some of our lads was like night and day.

Going a man down was never going to help however a good bit of the damage was already done , I agree with the posts on here there is no benefit to young lads going out either giving a team a hammering or getting one there needs to be an A and B section and we need to realise antrim are not operating at the same level as Tyrone , Derry Donegal etc as was evident last night.

The changes will not occur overnight however I feel for the lads training away and to have their character questioned on this board is a disgrace IMO. These are the same lads training 3-4 nights a week to represent the county and they were clearly out of their depth to no fault of their own as the damage starts a lot earlier down the line.

Hopefully we can still see a good crowd out to support them on Saturday against Fermanagh and a better game against a team which is realistically more around their level.

Someone made a point to me last night I was thinking about , my friend from Ahaghallon and me were at the game he told me the u20s and minors have to share a set of jerseys yet we can justify throwing the guts of 200k between a football hurling and senior manager. The people in the upper ends need their heads looked at !!

£200k for hurling and football manager... is this accurate?

I hade heard through a friend of mine who is on the county board Fitz was on 100k plus expenses and mcentee on 70k plus expenses , so i don't think this would be far off the 200k figure when everything factored in

Surely not, surely to christ this is not true

[YoungSaff]

If I can remember right Niall Jackman had two teams that competed against Derry and Donegal His team last year also got a hammering. What has happened why have we got worse

Jackmans teams had players that you'd recognise a lot of from senior teams throughout the county - and he did well with them too.
Last nights side, I wouldn't know the vast majority of them nor see them play much. Maybe thats all thats out there or maybe as mentioned by a previous poster it was a badly assembled squad. Tiernan McCormick must be injured, he would be a big asset for that side.

Agreed McCormick would be huge for that side Take The Mark , his pace and directness benefit them hugely I have not seen him featuring for Moneyglass even last year who I am sure miss him greatly. I recognised a few of the lads from some of the club senior games last year but a few I had never heard of myself. You wonder is it an issue of not wanting to play , clubs not wanting them to or management missing them out ? Whatever the case the squad looks in a bad way but I suppose you play the cards your dealt!

[YoungSaff]

Some hammering last night for the u20s

where do the lads even go from here I was at the game myself and it was clear the difference in quality throughout , even from the lads coming out the physicality and the shape the lads were in compared to some of our lads was like night and day.

Going a man down was never going to help however a good bit of the damage was already done , I agree with the posts on here there is no benefit to young lads going out either giving a team a hammering or getting one there needs to be an A and B section and we need to realise antrim are not operating at the same level as Tyrone , Derry Donegal etc as was evident last night.

The changes will not occur overnight however I feel for the lads training away and to have their character questioned on this board is a disgrace IMO. These are the same lads training 3-4 nights a week to represent the county and they were clearly out of their depth to no fault of their own as the damage starts a lot earlier down the line.

Hopefully we can still see a good crowd out to support them on Saturday against Fermanagh and a better game against a team which is realistically more around their level.

Someone made a point to me last night I was thinking about , my friend from Ahaghallon and me were at the game he told me the u20s and minors have to share a set of jerseys yet we can justify throwing the guts of 200k between a football hurling and senior manager. The people in the upper ends need their heads looked at !!

£200k for hurling and football manager... is this accurate?

I hade heard through a friend of mine who is on the county board Fitz was on 100k plus expenses and mcentee on 70k plus expenses , so i don't think this would be far off the 200k figure when everything factored in

Surely not, surely to christ this is not true

I thought the same myself , it could be pure sh1te , he'd do anything to wind me up as he knows my feelings on the situation. I would hope it is not true if so we would need to speak to a financial advisor LOL

[SaffronOak]

Some of the stuff I have read on here this morning calling out the young fellas involved in last nights game is disgraceful. Of course it's easy to point the finger at the lads on the pitch last night but the damage was already done a long time ago through our horrible promotion of youth across the whole county.

Until that is changed this will unfortunately be the same outcome every year until every so often we have a team which can put up a fight in games.

If we look at Derry for example were in a very similar situation not so long ago and they took a measured approach putting heavy emphasis on the youth and they are now reaping the rewards.

Derry were never in this situation, thats just simply not trued.  The raw infrastructure was always there in Derry with the strong schools.  It took some fine tuning before they started to reap the rewards i.e. full time coaches employed at schools and a direct working partnership between county management and schools coaching.  Antrim schools arent even close to the level of Derry but I would agree, it should be mirrored. 

[YoungSaff]

Some of the stuff I have read on here this morning calling out the young fellas involved in last nights game is disgraceful. Of course it's easy to point the finger at the lads on the pitch last night but the damage was already done a long time ago through our horrible promotion of youth across the whole county.

Until that is changed this will unfortunately be the same outcome every year until every so often we have a team which can put up a fight in games.

If we look at Derry for example were in a very similar situation not so long ago and they took a measured approach putting heavy emphasis on the youth and they are now reaping the rewards.

The first reasonable thing you've came out with SS!! Agreed the finger is not to be pointed at the lads the damage is done in our youth set ups etc as you said. Again a good point not so long ago Derry were in this situation and look at them now inning minor All Irelands and U20s not so long ago. You wonder when the penny will drop with the higher ups !!!

[YoungSaff]

Some of the stuff I have read on here this morning calling out the young fellas involved in last nights game is disgraceful. Of course it's easy to point the finger at the lads on the pitch last night but the damage was already done a long time ago through our horrible promotion of youth across the whole county.

Until that is changed this will unfortunately be the same outcome every year until every so often we have a team which can put up a fight in games.

If we look at Derry for example were in a very similar situation not so long ago and they took a measured approach putting heavy emphasis on the youth and they are now reaping the rewards.

Derry were never in this situation, thats just simply not trued.  The raw infrastructure was always there in Derry with the strong schools.  It took some fine tuning before they started to reap the rewards i.e. full time coaches employed at schools and a direct working partnership between county management and schools coaching.  Antrim schools arent even close to the level of Derry but I would agree, it should be mirrored.

In my time of playing around 20-25 years ago the gap was certainly a lot lesser between Antrim and Derry than it currently is , we would always have put up at least a fight against them and they had not the dominance they now have but agreed their infrastructure would be on a lot higher level , if I wanted my child to excel in football they would definitely be attending school in derry if it suited geographically

[YoungSaff]

If I can remember right Niall Jackman had two teams that competed against Derry and Donegal His team last year also got a hammering. What has happened why have we got worse

Jackmans teams had players that you'd recognise a lot of from senior teams throughout the county - and he did well with them too.
Last nights side, I wouldn't know the vast majority of them nor see them play much. Maybe thats all thats out there or maybe as mentioned by a previous poster it was a badly assembled squad. Tiernan McCormick must be injured, he would be a big asset for that side.

Also , Welcome to the board Tiernan McCormick !

[Gaels1789]

What's the story with tickets to the Antrim game ,impossible to get ??

[Hectic]

Full time coaches in our main secondary schools would be a good start. By main I mean central catchment areas for a lot of our clubs and big school populations.  Thinking St Mal's, St Mary's, St Louis Ballymena and possibly others.

What are the obstacles there?

Finance I assume is one?

And if finance the major stumbling block then would we be better forgoing development squads and aiming to put full time coaches in most schools?

Same coaches and same players getting coached, plus a lot more.  And they will be playing competitively in competitions from year 8 right through.

While schools hurling in Ulster is Tier 2, football has Tier 1 meaning our schools can aim to play at the very top end.  Plus Ulster schools dominate at All Ireland level in Tier 1 meaning if you can get in there you are competing against the very best. Maybe that is the point SS was trying to make.

Appreciate there may be an element where the schools don't put sporting achievement high among their priorities.  If that's the case can they be convinced?

[Hectic]

As for last night, I was not there and it's hard to pick anything out of a result like that.

But I wouldn't be hard on the players.  I know there are some very good footballers in there. 

Maybe just a bit short in quantity.  Take half a dozen top players out of any team and see how that goes if the depth is not there.

[Take the Mark]

As for last night, I was not there and it's hard to pick anything out of a result like that.

But I wouldn't be hard on the players.  I know there are some very good footballers in there. 

Maybe just a bit short in quantity.  Take half a dozen top players out of any team and see how that goes if the depth is not there.

Well, according to saffron gael thats exactly what Donegal did at half time and they won by more and kept Antrim scoreless. Albeit against 14.

[Hectic]

As for last night, I was not there and it's hard to pick anything out of a result like that.

But I wouldn't be hard on the players.  I know there are some very good footballers in there. 

Maybe just a bit short in quantity.  Take half a dozen top players out of any team and see how that goes if the depth is not there.

Well, according to saffron gael thats exactly what Donegal did at half time and they won by more and kept Antrim scoreless. Albeit against 14.

'If the depth is not there'.

I assume Donegal have a strong squad and will be one of the contenders.

And my point was meant more about levels of negativity and not writing off a whole year group when there could still be a good number of accomplished footballers in there.  But just not enough to compete with squads stacked with that level of player.

[Take the Mark]

Well then we go back around in circles and ask why the depth isn't there. Look at your own clubs grass roots, are those who are coaching the future the kind of people you would pick? or are they a case of nobody else will do it? Of course there is an excuse for low numbers at clubs, every club will struggle at times, I know my own have age groups where numbers are low. However, there is no excuse for poor coaching. So that blame lies at the clubs door, and, as shite a management performance as it may (or may not) have been then it won't matter if its Colin Toal, Colin Farrell or Dessie Farrell managing the team the next year, or the years after that.