Antrim Hurling

[NAG]

Is it difficult to compare both sports alright. Think its unfair on St Galls to just dismiss them, if they had of been playing cargin im sure there would have been more of an edge to the game and therefore would have made it worth watching.

Think because of the rivalry and the pace of the hurling no one could take their eyes of the game for a second. There was so much going on all over the pitch on and off the ball was so interesting. I actually saw the Loughgiel full back line and goal keeper attempting to intimidate a Dunloy full foward of Ally Elliott Greg O'Kane and Conor Cunning. No IMO is that not a total was of time and energy even to start this against players who have been there and won it numerous times between them, a point which I think was made to the Loughgiel men during their failed attempts.

Further out the field looking at the game in the cold light of day, the switch of M.Curry to midfield and M Molloy back to centre half was the winning of the game for Dunloy. They are still appearing to have trouble in that middle sector and Curry stiffed it up and cleared a serious amount of ball at a crucial time.

Loughgiel did clear alot of ball from their half back line through Johnny Campbell thought both richmonds were held very quiet throughout. Liam came into the game strongly though in the last sector which was crucial.

When Dunloy hurled at the high tempo loughgiel looked as iff they couldnt deal with it in any shape or form. I dont think loughgiels future is getting any brighter to be honest, they are putting all their eggs in the same basket and until they get some help for Watson they will win nothing. The players they are bringing through at the moment all seem to be of the same kind of standard, lovely stick work and good hurlers but not at the races when the going was getting tough, maybe be harsh but its my opinion.

[imtommygunn]

Granted st galls are at a high level milltown but in broader terms i don't think it's unfair - they have a very high standard but i don't see any other  clubs realistically at a very high level whereas loughgiel, cushendall and dunloy are all at a very high standard in the hurling.

[Last Man]

Not sure that I agree totally that the big 3 are showing us a high standard of hurling,  comparatively with the rest of Ulster no doubt they are but they have a bit to go lift an AI. There has been a lot of poor enough hurling this season from all 3 and I'm sure even Dunloy would say they are far from the finished article and certainly not at mid 90's level just yet. This certainly isn't for the want of trying by them but there comes a point where the standard of the competition drops so badly even the top teams suffer.

[Ruairi Og exile]

There wasn't many good matches this year..maybe Dunloy V Cushendall in the semi & obviously the final were good matches. The rest were poor enough cos of the 1 sided scorelines due to the structure of the championships

[theskull1]

Whenever Dunloy were getting to AI finals and winning the championship year on year, people we complaining at that time that the quality of hurling in Antrim had dropped so to a certain extent these things can be a bit subjective. I think hurling wise this should have been a pretty good year for all clubs when you look at this years fixtures compared to previous years( although I hear div 2 wasn't good this year). No starred matches, most league games played in the summer months instead of cramming in 4-5 matches in Oct/Nov to get the league finished. Dunloy attendances are up this year as well and I would put that down to the regular schedule of matches. If they keep the fixtures as regular as they did this year then I'm sure standards as well as interest levels will improve year on year.  Would love to see St Johns, Rossa, Ballycastle, St Galls Glenariff up their game. It can only be good for hurling to see more strong sides compete for top honours 

[maxpower]

I have to agree with theskull, maybe Dunloy felt the benefit of it most but this year has certainly been a vast improvement on the previous few years in terms of fixtures.  The county board deserve a bit of  credit this time as do the county managers Sambo & Woody.

When they first where introduced i had real fears about the club scene as the minors seemed to get very few club games when they were in charge, but skull can correct me if i'm wrong here but i think Sunday was our 26th game this year, hell of an improvement on previous years

In fairness the Ulster league played its part too and i hope the value of it is not diminished by crazy scheduling sometime in December, i have a feeling it could be under lights some friday night, i certainly wouldn't be opposed to that as i throughly enjoyed the intermediate final under lights

[Give-it-Timber]

have to agree with both Skull & Max, This is the main way forward, its simple, no matter what else we do, if we dont play the games we cant improve.

But i do disagree that this was mainly down to the County Board and management, from what i know it was mainly down to Dunloy themselves who fixed matches and to me this is the main reason why they won the SHC this year.

was talking to a C'dall player and he said from the start of the SHC league section at end of July they had 1 league game and that was against portaferry the week before the Dunloy game. not sure about other teams.

[Guillem2]

There is no doubt that the league situation has improved this season and the Ulster league has a place now too.
I've heard a few hot heads calling for all the Down clubs to be expelled from the Antrim leagues because of the actions of the Down delegates at the Special Congress. I must say I think that would be maddness - complete own goal. The 3 Ards clubs have played in our league for 50 years and Div 1 and Reserves would be f*cked without them. So let's knock this one on the head before it starts.

[Last Man]

Cushendall will be kicking themselves on the stance they took on the UHL but it also looked like Dunloy were going to follow suit at an early stage but thankfully for them they relented. Would say that the no. of games Dunloy has had this year will have contributed to a very healthy panel. The fringe players will have got their chance here and there instead of training all year for splinters in their arse, this will have the regulars on their toes also.

[Balboa]

In fairness Cushendall decided not to enter because they knew their season was lasting until at least the middle of February & maybe March 17th and the players would have needed a rest, its ok looking back now with hindsight & at the end of the day there was only a point difference between Cushendall & Dunloy.

[theskull1]

Yeah...Dunloy and the Dall were in very different situations, so I can see why both made the decisions they did. Theres every chance though that we would have beat them with them having played in the UHL and sure you know that having played in the UHL would have been used as the excuse, so you can't have it both ways

[Give-it-Timber]

i dont belive that the Dall have made any excuse's for getting beat,  they know the better team on the day won. they have a fair idea to some of the reasons why they didnt perform on the day and got beat.

Dunloy looked sharpe in both games and IMO this was down to their desire to win and the amount of games they played this year compared to others.

every team in the county needs games and meaningful games at that if things are going to improve.

[Ruairi Og exile]

Last Man..I know for sure that Cushendall are not kicking themselves about not playing in the Ulster league. We were hurling til February & we also had at least 8/9 on the county panel at differant times. I remember on this board about Cushendall only having 3/4 senior hurlers at training due to county seniors/minors training & injuries...so there's no way we could played in the ulster league. Cushendall were beat cos Dunloy were the hungrier team & better on the day..not cos of the Ulster league

Skull, I know it worked for Dunloy, just wondering did Dunloy have their county players for many matches in the group stages??

[maxpower]

Ruairi Og, i accept that the UHL wasn't for the Dall this year, it wasn't the be all and end all for our preparations but the games against Ballycastle and St Johns in the latter stages were important.  Not lest because we played poorly and addressed some issues.

At the beginning of the year we had far from a settled team, in the UHL especially many players were given a chance but we always had a few county men out, our managers used the league very well indeed and deserve immense credit

[milltown row]

extra games worked out well for some clubs, our club,although we only won two games (the derry teams) and drew with Ballygalget thought that it was good for our fringe players who played most games.

they got to play against quality teams that they would not have normaly played against.

think if they fixed the dates of the Ulster league so that it was played before our own antrim leagues start up then it would get proper attention. trying to play it round the antrim leagues on a  saturday night was madness.

some hurlers in our club have played 35 competitive games of hurling this year. compare that to last years 12 games then thats a dramatic improvement