Antrim Hurling

[Balboa]

Colonel, when was i going on about Tosh earlier in the week? I pulled you up on some horseshit you were talking about him not having the "strength" to hit penalties, tosh was poor, no doubt,when we play at that level more often than not we have more players that under perform than perform, he was in good company with 75% of the team.....You seem unable to watch an Antrim match impartially, Aaron Graffin was cleaned out in the first half, he improved in the second half but there was a fair bit of damage already done. The reason the full back line where under so much pressure was the midfield was atrocious, Karl Mc Keegan spent most of the game berating his own players,once Sean Delargy cleared a ball when he was under a fair bit of pressure and Karl was 20 yds from his man, his man duly stuck it over the bar, Karl then gave Sean a mouthful because he was made to look bad, Karl seems to be one of these players that remains immune from criticism, him and Herron never figured. Twice Karl was chasing his man and as the man started pulling away from him he just gave up and stopped running.

[Guillem2]

Fixtures

Maneely McCann Division 1 Hurling
Dunloy v  Cushendall  Dunloy 08/07/2007 15:00 Garrett Duffy   
Portaferry v  Loughgiel Shamrocks  Portaferry 08/07/2007 15:00 Hugh Torney   
Ballycran v  Glenariff  Ballycran 08/07/2007 15:00 Declan Magee   

Maneely McCann Division 1 Reserve Hurling

Dunloy v  Cushendall  Dunloy 08/07/2007 13:30 Donal Cassley   
Portaferry v  Loughgiel Shamrocks  Portaferry 08/07/2007 13:30 Cathal O Flynn   

Maneely McCann Division 2 Hurling

Gort Na Mona  v  Gaeil Chluana  Gort Na Mona 02/07/2007 20:00 Owen Elliott   
Gaeil Chluana v  Carey Faughs  Ahoghill 08/07/2007 15:00 Liam McAuley   
St. Pauls v  Gort Na Mona  St. Pauls 08/07/2007 15:00 Ray Matthews   
Rasharkin v  Glenravel  Rasharkin 08/07/2007 15:00 Eugene McHugh   
Tir na Nog v  Shane O Neills  Tir na Nog 08/07/2007 15:00 Terence Wells   
Armoy v  Cushendun  Armoy 08/07/2007 15:00 Pat McCafferty   

Maneely McCann Division 3 Hurling

Davitts v  Ballymena  Boucher Road 08/07/2007 14:00 Liam Quinn   
Bredagh v  Na fuiseoig  Cherryvale 08/07/2007 14:00 Brendan Toland   
St. Agnes v  Larne  St. Agnes 08/07/2007 15:00 Michael French   
St. Endas v  O Mitchel Og  St. Endas 08/07/2007 15:00 Sean Willoughby   
Sarsfields 2 v St. Teresas  Sarfields 08/07/2007 15:00 TBC   
Cloughmills v  Ardoyne  Cloughmills 08/07/2007 15:00 John McHenry

[johnneycool]

We had the visit of Glenariff yesterday and although other contributors had issues with their style of play I'd say I'd have to concur with those opinions. In general a lot of their lads seem to take the cheap shot, blocking on hands, slapping down, early pulling on the high ball, late frontal charges when the ball had been released etc, etc. To couple it all off we had the 'schemozzle' as well which in fairness was started by one of our lads wild pull on the corner back who'd cut lumps out of him the whole day. The corner back took exception to a bit of his own medicine and wanted to box then the handbags started flying.

I can't really understand Glenariff as they have some very good hurlers who can hurl when they take the notion and after the schemozzle they fell apart and we opened up a good lead which they never got close to after that. The big lad Randal McDonnell, i think he is, is a good hurler and took some fine points was only too keen to get involved and lost interest in the game and he was their main scoring threat up until that. They have a very good keeper who stopped two certain goals when we were on top. Is there no one talking any sense into these lads?

[McCracken]

Johnneycool,

Ive watched Glenarriffe a couple of times this year and would have to agree with you. If they stuck to the hurling then perhaps they would be in a better position than they are. They have some fine hurlers coming trough, but their problem seems to be the way they are being instructed from the side line. They are being activly incouraged to be dirty and their mentors, one in particular, are letting them down a bagfull. When they played us in Loughguile, the referee actually had to push one of their mentors off the pitch as he was on trying to start a row with one of the players!!

[North Antrim]

Was up at Casement on Saturday......have read all the posts....and although they are pretty correct, i feel Antrim have made progress and with time -2/3 years we will be competing with the likes of Clare, offaly, Wexford etc. So all is not lost.

Regarding club games - Roosa didnt field against us.....they must be in seroius bother at min if the cant even field a team...and imagine only 3 years ago thet were beating the mighty Shamrocks in the County final

Glenariife are turning into a wind up this year....for past 2/3 years they had been playing great hurling, now they change management and all they want to do is fight!! thats ballycastle, cushendall, loughguile and noe ballygalget they have got involved with!!

McCracken - how are you shams shaping up this year??

[milltown row]

My thoughts on the game, for what it's worth.

when it came to the crunch we were found wanting. With ten minutes to go three points down we started to throw high ball in, looking for a goal, we should have been playing good low ball into the forwards which would have yielded more scores. The high ball in is a fifty-fifty ball. I thought we were light lack the intensity and Clare were always doing enough just to be in front. They had another gear and there ability to score from long range was a big difference between the sides.

A lot of the players played in patches, there was not too many players who dominated their positions or men. The players who have been good all year went missing on Saturday, which we cannot afford, for us to be beating Clare we need all our strong players playing well and available.

The Shane thing, my opinion was he should have came off earlier he was falling all over the place second to the ball and although he scored 2 points I was a bit miffed at his inclusion ahead of others who have been playing.

So Laois next, will it get any better? Hard to call we should win but it will be close. Will the management name the same team or will there be any changes?

club games: we played Portaferry, we were missing some main players but still thought we'd do well but portaferry played very well, big team and took some nice scores 4 points in it with 5 minutes to go but they ran out easy winners, although the main talking point was Eugene (ballycastle ref) getting took out by Millgan, totally emptied eugene went off looking very sore

[McCracken]

@ North Antrim,

Too soon to say. We are seeing glimpses of form from time to time, and had a big win over Ballycran yesterday at home. However we still have the ability to make things hard for ourselves. Lamh Dearg drew with us the other week in Loughguile. Not sure what to make of it though as it was a complete piss of an evening. Lots of new faces around at the minute, which is no bad thing, but loosing Winker has been a big blow. Swevey Sneeky and Joey Scullion out injured at the moment too.

Underage we are going well, U16 minor and U21. U21s will get their fill of it against Dunloy though. Not sure about the younger ones.

[Ruairi Og exile]

Milltown...What happenned Eugene??


I think most of us are in agreement at the state of the county team at present. They are moving in the right direction,some of the younger lads should become stronger & more experienced, playing at this level will help but a move to Leinster would be nice

Is there any players in the county that could improve us. I could maybe see the likes of Tosh, McFall, Paddy Richmond, big Mal & Pinky retiring from the county at the end of the season maybe next year, thats going to leave a big gap to fill. Who could be brought in to replace these boys??

[North Antrim]

Aye Winker will be aserious blow to you hopes....we are going well ourselves this year in comparison to other years. Our u-21's had a great result last week and look good for our first ever title. It all augers well for the future. We are realistic this year to no that we wont win a senior but Humpy & Micky mcshane are creating a good set-up and things are improving. Noel Brick, think he was involved with you lads a few years ago as joined our group to take the fitness. By the way McCracken how is Joe cassidy being recieved around loughguile?

[North Antrim]

Hippy Donnelly will come into senior set-up next year. Hes a super talent. He had an operation 3 weeks ago in munich and is back training again. Hoefully he will get a good run of games. he wud come straight in to full back...imo hes better than pinky! Check out my pic - its hippy catching a ball against the former all-ireland club champions at our official opening a few months ago. Sum player!!

[Tony Baloney]

Johnneycool

Glenariffe were poor in the second half for a number of reasons. Firstly they had the breeze in the first half and only went in at the short whistle about 2 points up. Secondly I think Ballygalget were better in the second half when Magic went off as they pumped every ball into him in the first half and he did nothing with it. His departure meant they had to make more use of that boy Rat and Johnny McGrattan who was a handful.

Everyone knows who the main culprits are for indiscipline on the Glenariffe side but that's just they way they are.

[Give-it-Timber]

Hippy Donnelly will come into senior set-up next year. Hes a super talent. He had an operation 3 weeks ago in munich and is back training again. Hoefully he will get a good run of games. he wud come straight in to full back...imo hes better than pinky! Check out my pic - its hippy catching a ball against the former all-ireland club champions at our official opening a few months ago. Sum player!!

You are obviously related to him...because you're from Ballycastle, but are you his sister/brother or Hippy himself?

or maybe just a mad stalker                    

[North Antrim]

No just a fan of his...we havnt had much to shout about recently around the town!!

[theskull1]

Any Johnnies mean on this board? Just wondering why your facilities (around the pitch) are in such a poor state? The place looked a real mess on Sunday. How are people mean't to have pride in their club if it looks like that? 

[North Antrim]

Skull- i believe ypu got it tight with the Johnnies at the weekend? how are things shaping up for you lads...you seem to be keeping a low profile this year. But i bet you fancy your chances at the title??