Antrim Hurling

[Ruairi Og exile]

I was shocked when I read that myself. As far as I know Shane is injured, but as poor as Tosh was last week I wouldnt have dropped him, you would have fancied him to get a few scores against Laois. S&W dont seem to be fans of Tosh..where as they must be big fans of Duffin?? Where will Duffin play??? Again we are going to struggle for scores, 4 teenagers in the forward line. We are going to get it tough today I reckon & dont think there will be much of a crowd up today

[Balboa]

Tosh was poor last week alright,(he wasnt alone) but i would have given him another chance,when he is on his game he is as good as we have. I have seen Duffin a few times and how he is on an intercounty panel, never mind starting, is beyond me. Stewart has had numerous chances and isnt up to the standard needed.

[Balboa]

Strange game, would be interesting to see how it panned out if both teams played the whole match with 15 players, (Laois had man red carded at start of 2nd half). It was two pretty poor teams,it had the distinct feel of a Christy Ring match as opposed to All Ireland qualifiers with im sure less than a thousand in attendance. Some of the options Antrim were taking even with the numerical advantage were bizarre, i would have thought they would have learnt their lesson about hitting aimless balls into the forwards from last week. Laois started well, Pinky was going to be in for a long afternoon if he hadnt been hauled off after 10 minutes ! Mc Manus was poor in 1st half but came into it well in the second half. Duffin was poor and i dont think he will be anything else anytime he plays. Stewart wasnt up to much either until Antrim started to pull away near the end when he put a few over. As the supporter next to me said "that isnt Liam Mc Carthy hurling out there". I still think the backs are there for the taking against better opposition, Laois were in a few times for goals.

[slow corner back]

According to the Irish News Tosh has pulled the pin as well as McFall. A shame really as these guys are not that old, are they even 30? Its all very well giving youth a chance but there has to be a balance. I doubt if anyone really thinks that Duffin is a better option than Tosh, no harm to Duffin he is still young and may improve but is not up to inter county pace yet. That means that this year for a variety of reasons we have lost Watson, P Richmond McFall and Tosh and after the way they have left the panel it is hard to see them returning. That is a serious amount of firepower for Antrim to loose. If Sambo and Woody are going to stay for three to four years the teenagers are going to have to grow up fast, personally I think it is asking too much of them.

[Balboa]

Tosh is 28 Mc Fall would be 29 i think. They have both been on the go a long time with Antrim, i would say Tosh was rightly pissed off about getting the hoof for the match on Saturday, he wasnt good against Clare but he wasnt alone & if S & W think Duffin can offer more top the team than Tosh that is their lookout but he was poor on Saturday and isnt up to that level of hurling.

[Glensman]

Tosh would have started v Galway - that is pretty obvious. I hope he hasn't thrown in the towel because of not starting v Laois. Agreed Colm Duffin isn't going to set the world on fire.

Also agree about some of the dire ball that was being played into the forwards, especially in the second half. Brendan Herron especially guilty...did not once take a look up and see where and to whom he would pass the ball. But the others were guilty as well.

With a spare man Antrim persisted with the tactic of putting Paul Shields in front of the full back line. Was a pretty backward thinking tactic that one -  it is generally but especially so when playing with an extra man. For the last 5/10 minutes he did clear some ball but by that stage Laois were tiring and anyone could have done the same.

James Young is a great hurler.

[North Antrim]

Thought Antrim played decent in patches....still feel we have moved forward this year....i honestly reckon in 3/4 years we will compete with wexford, offaly, clare etc.....

Dont think we will beat galway - prob 8 points to galway. Next sesaon will be a big one for management they will need to make more progress...that is - a good NHL and 2 wins in Qualifiers......

[aontroim]

Antrim Minors got drawn against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland 1/4-Final - still no word fo date and time yet.  Kilkenny will be dangerous after being beaten by the Dubs - hard to know if KK were the best to draw from Cork, Galway and KK.

[Glensman]

I agree North Antrim that we have moved forward a bit - I hope its not the optimist in me. If this season, whenever its finished, is analysed properly I hope the management realise where they have gone wrong and set about to improve it. Intensity has, I feel, been upped a little now lets up it further and get the skills to go with it.

With a bit of luck and alot of hard work we might run Galway even closer than that. It will be a good barometer for where we're at ... I hope there is not feeling of just wanting to avoid a heavy defeat.

3/4 years of sustained effort is hard work up here. Rarely do we get the win, that bit of excitement that keeps us (or rather the players) going for the next year. A breakthrough win either this year v Galway or next is what is needed so that we have something to build on.

Here's hoping for the match at the weekend though.

[slow corner back]

Its all very well talking about young players and 3/4 years effort from sambo and woody. In three years Tosh will be 31 still young enough for county hurling as will be watson and Paddy Richmond. We cannot afford to loose that scoring power. The sign of good management is getting the best out of what is available. Its all very well building a side for the U-21 championship but this is meant to be a senior team. With the exception of Watson, who it appears from the outside did not behave himself, the other senior players appear to have been badly treated. After getting subbed after 10 mins I would wonder if Pinky will appear for next season?

[Balboa]

Slow corner back, have to agree with you. Pinky went straight home after being subbed, they made him a bit of a scapegoat. He was skinned for 1 goal but the halfbacks and corner backs were letting the men run in unchallenged. I would say when everyone is on their game Tosh is our best forward, but he knew at the start of the year Sambo didnt rate him and he knew himself if he wasnt going great he was going to be the first one getting called ashore. It must be great for a players confidence knowing if he misses a couple of balls he is getting the hook, unfortunately that trend is not uniform throughout the team. I think we have to respect the players decision to walk away, they dont owe S & W anything, its easy for people outside looking in to cast doubt on their character or commitment. I know Mc Fall isnt to everyones liking, someones jibe (Colonel i think) about the colour of his boots was particularly petty, but it seems as if he has been particularly pissed about. If the management didnt rate him why didnt they drop him at the start of the year when they cut the panel. There are more questions than answers about the Antrim management at this point......

[podge]

I really don;t get this S&W bashing.  in the short time he was on on sat, pinky was skinned and the management did the right thing in changing it, a change that brought us back in the match.  he just didn;t have the pace (personally, i think that pinky needs to be up front at this stage).  credit the guys for a brave decision.  if they hadn;t made the change we would have experts coming on to this sight telling us they should have done it.  they had to be ruthless.  as for tosh, he was completely absent against clare so why did he think he had a god given right to start the next day??- should past glories guarantee the guys a place irrespective of form??  ditto for mc fall.  he did enough in 10 mins against clare to show why the management see him as a squad player only.  ditto for DD Quinn- ryan has shown in the games to date why S&W were prepared to give him a chance.  his shot stopping has been good, he distribution against laois was top notch and he seems to have another 5/10 yards on his puck outs.  DD dropped so he walks out- who do these guys think they are?

With the exception of Watson, who it appears from the outside did not behave himself, the other senior players appear to have been badly treated.

What is the evidence that the senior players were 'badly treated', cause I havn't seen any??  is it just that they got dropped when they weren't playing well?


yes, i agree, duffin didn;t work out but i would guess that point was not lost on the management, although with so many walkouts, options are limited.

we have definitely made progress this year.  yes, I would like to see a bit more experience in the team but none of the older guys have a god given right to a starting slot.  if their from isn;t up to it, then someone else must be given a chance.

against galway, based on last two weeks, my team would be

ryan, m kettle, m mc cambridge, s delargy, a graffin, karl mc keegan, c herron, p magill, j campbell (in absence of anyone else),mc crory (if not on hols still), pinky (if available), mc manus, shane, m herron, p shiels

[Glensman]

Agree with Podge. Certain people do not have a devine right to play.
S&W are no messiahs but its worth everyone giving them a proper shot. Not the chance that wwas given to Jingo but a proper go.
If Tosh walks off for good, if McFall doesn't come back next year so be it...this year regardless of what happens on saturday we have positives...The emergence of McGarry, Graffin, Delargy, Magill, M Herron (playing rightly), McManus and Shields. The return to form of C Herron, Mc Cambridge and leadership shown by those two and McKeegan.

If those can be combined with the return of Richmond, Molloy, Watson and Tosh...there is hope.

[Balboa]

No one ever said they have a right to play and i cant imagine either player thinking like that. S & W said before the Laois game there was no way Brendan Herron would have as bad a game again, because they said that there was no way they would take him off, thus proving themselves wrong......he hardly hit a ball on Saturday. Its that kind of thinking and lack of consistencey across the board that gets people to asking questions, its not "S & W bashing", some people are of the opinion that because its S & W people are not allowed an opinion.

[slow corner back]

Does anyone think that playing shiels as an extra defender is really working? I think we need an extra defender but I am not sure Shiels is the man for the job, I think he would be more dangerous in the forwards. Personally for Galway I would name Pinky in the forwards but bring him back to mark Eugene Cloonan, Cloonan is not going to hurt anyone with pace unlike the Laois guy last saturday. That would free Mickey Kettle to play sweeper or possibly make Mickey mark the centre forward and have Johnnny Campbell as sweeper. It is obvious that man to man marking is not Campbells strong suite so why not try him as the spare defender?