Antrim Hurling

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

from not seeing it and the way he was laid out I thought he was out cold. the fact one of the portaferry players tried to lift him up made me think he was making a meal of it. but I didn't see what happened as I was following the ball up the pitch like most people.

I thought e hasson reffed the game well. he was sensible throughout the game and didn't react to any of the nonsense going on off the ball when it occurred.

[johnneycool]

You'd need to ask the medic I was standing a good 100 feet away and if he wasn't fit to play on then certainly it'd raises questions, is anyone going to say he played his usual game in the second half?

You were 100 feet away but you know he was knocked unconscious thereby inferring that the Cushendall medics put one of their players life at risk by allowing him to play on?  Or are you just making that bit up?

If you read what I wrote you'd see I said if he wasn't fit to play on then it would raise questions. at no point did I infer he couldn't play on but I feel it clearly affected his play.

Right, he wasn't knocked out, or concussed, was fit to play on but the knock he took affected his play?

Am I understanding you correctly?

[theskull1]

You'd need to ask the medic I was standing a good 100 feet away and if he wasn't fit to play on then certainly it'd raises questions, is anyone going to say he played his usual game in the second half?

You were 100 feet away but you know he was knocked unconscious thereby inferring that the Cushendall medics put one of their players life at risk by allowing him to play on?  Or are you just making that bit up?

If you read what I wrote you'd see I said if he wasn't fit to play on then it would raise questions. at no point did I infer he couldn't play on but I feel it clearly affected his play.

How about you read what you've 'wrote'?

You said in your initial post he was knocked out and as yet you haven't retracted it. Straight question .... Was Neil McManus knocked out?

[hurlingstick]

He is a drama Queen regardless. I've watched him throw himself down whilst squealing numerous times. It is very 'socceresque' and has no place in hurling. Players who try to con frees from a referee deserve all they get.

Terrible year for club hurling in Antrim. Such a lack of intensity in many championship games. League 1A post split was abysmal. To end on a positive note 1b post split was very productive and division 2 produced plenty of good games.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

all the top teams being on one side of the draw didn't help. its one of those things that happened as luck would have it but it meant everyone writing the championship off before it even started.

Cushendall deserved to win it. they only conceded 1 goal in Antrim and 1 goal in ulster. they were the best of what was a bad bunch. portaferry winning ulster was good to see for a club that hasn't had any success at that level despite having some brilliant players

[Jesusjones]

Firstly congratulations to Portaferry who are worthy Ulster Champions and best of luck to them in the All Ireland series. I must however take issue with some of the recent comments and the performance of the referee. Dunloy Realist said that he though Hassan handled the game well and didn't react to any of the off the ball stuff. That would be exactly my complaint, he didn't react at all. I though Neil was given some very rough treatment which the referee failed to deal with properly. Paul Branniff was lucky to stay on the field as was the wing back who blindsided Neil with the late shoulder to the chest/ face. However the worst thing for me was the Portaferry player who took it upon himself to try and hall an injured player to his feet. How had he any idea the extent of the injury? Had the injury been a serious neck/back or head injury he could have done immensely serious further damage. If placing your hand on an opponents face guard is an automatic red card then surely interfering with an injured player should be as well? To be honest I was amazed Portaferry resorted to those tactics in the closing 10 minutes of the first half because they were well on top and they let us back in. When they concentrated on hurling in the second half they were excellent and fully deserved their victory. I would also like to state, before anyone pulls me up on it, the referee didn't cost us the game but I do take exception to how he performed and his refusal to deal with incidents. As far as we are concerned, well its never too early to win a Championship but we are a seriously young team who exceeded many people's expectations. Its been great for these young lads to win a county championship and play Ulster club and it'll stand to them. Its a massive ask to win the Antrim title and any of ourselves, Loughgiel, Dunloy or Ballycastle could win it in 2015 but we'll be in better shape starting 2015 than we were starting 2014.

[MoChara]

You'd need to ask the medic I was standing a good 100 feet away and if he wasn't fit to play on then certainly it'd raises questions, is anyone going to say he played his usual game in the second half?

You were 100 feet away but you know he was knocked unconscious thereby inferring that the Cushendall medics put one of their players life at risk by allowing him to play on?  Or are you just making that bit up?

If you read what I wrote you'd see I said if he wasn't fit to play on then it would raise questions. at no point did I infer he couldn't play on but I feel it clearly affected his play.

Right, he wasn't knocked out, or concussed, was fit to play on but the knock he took affected his play?

Am I understanding you correctly?

How would I know if he was concussed? I said what I'd seen he appeared out to me as he never reacted to the other fella lifting him, obviously the decision to allow him to play on was made by the people in the best position to do so the Cushendall management, sideline staff and player himself not by me or you in the crowd.

[theskull1]

I'm not condoning him doing it JJ as I didn't see the incident but is it possible, knowing the contact that he made that he believed Neil was over egging it in an attempt to get a player sent off? That's not outside the realms of possibility. The people behind me who were neutrals from Swatragh thought it was a foul and yellow card as the ports player ran into him off the ball but it wasn't what they would have called a heavy hit. That would line up with the ports player reaction to him going down and staying down. Regardless, I'm not sure what you expected any of the officials to do if they didn't see it? Can't remember the dule incident (oh I didnt a good angle watching that one but was that the time he had possession and I presume swiped back onto the player tackling him and getting yellow? ... a red card?? really??) but I remember Karl getting a bad slap which got a warranted yellow card, so how can you say he refused to deal with these incidents, because he dealt with what he seen? I don't know if I seen enough to call any underhanded tackles 'a tactic'.

[btdtgtt]

He is a drama Queen regardless. I've watched him throw himself down whilst squealing numerous times. It is very 'socceresque' and has no place in hurling. Players who try to con frees from a referee deserve all they get.

Terrible year for club hurling in Antrim. Such a lack of intensity in many championship games. League 1A post split was abysmal. To end on a positive note 1b post split was very productive and division 2 produced plenty of good games.

Good points - Agree all round. Definitely an aspect of his game McManus needs to deal with.
Although I do feel division 2 produced good games more because they were competitive than quality which was lacking.
Division 1 didn't ever seen to get much fight amongst any games I went to - but most of all I feel the lop-sided freakish championship draw ruined the season.
Seeding anyone?

[Seamroga in exile]

He is a drama Queen regardless. I've watched him throw himself down whilst squealing numerous times. It is very 'socceresque' and has no place in hurling. Players who try to con frees from a referee deserve all they get.

Terrible year for club hurling in Antrim. Such a lack of intensity in many championship games. League 1A post split was abysmal. To end on a positive note 1b post split was very productive and division 2 produced plenty of good games.

Good points - Agree all round. Definitely an aspect of his game McManus needs to deal with.
Although I do feel division 2 produced good games more because they were competitive than quality which was lacking.
Division 1 didn't ever seen to get much fight amongst any games I went to - but most of all I feel the lop-sided freakish championship draw ruined the season.
Seeding anyone?

sure that would be fixed. 

[theskull1]

He got the end of a hurl rammed in the side of his faceguard knocking him out

How would I know if he was concussed? I said what I'd seen he appeared out to me as he never reacted to the other fella lifting him, obviously the decision to allow him to play on was made by the people in the best position to do so the Cushendall management, sideline staff and player himself not by me or you in the crowd.

If you didn't know he was knocked out, then why say he WAS knocked out based on a loose/dangerous assumption?

[Jesusjones]

Skull, regardless of what he believed was "not outside the realms of possibility," nobody should judge for themselves the result of what was a full frontal charge or any other injury on a sports pitch. I've seen several innocuous looking challenges result in serious injuries.  I did see the hit and it was a fair impact coming from the blindside. I accept that the referee may not have seen the initial hit but he certainly would have seen the Ports player try and lift an injured opponent off the ground which happened a good 15-20 seconds after the initial incident and when everyone's attention had been drawn to that area of the pitch. I will again ask the question, should interfering with an injured opponent warrant an instant dismissal? Just imagine the damage that could be done in the event of this happening to a badly injured player? Re- Branniff you yourself said he "swiped back onto the player tackling him..." So if you have the ball in your hand and you swipe back at a player tackling you it would be impossible to claim you were playing the ball. Therefore it is at best dangerous play but more likely an attempt to strike an opponent. Again these incidents are not the reason we lost but they are legitimate points for discussion.

[MoChara]

He got the end of a hurl rammed in the side of his faceguard knocking him out

How would I know if he was concussed? I said what I'd seen he appeared out to me as he never reacted to the other fella lifting him, obviously the decision to allow him to play on was made by the people in the best position to do so the Cushendall management, sideline staff and player himself not by me or you in the crowd.

If you didn't know he was knocked out, then why say he WAS knocked out based on a loose/dangerous assumption?

A concussion is different to being knocked out.

from where I was it looked like he was knocked out, if you believe he wasnt that's fair enough, I'm sure it'll come to light. Never the less my issue was with the action causing it rather than the result of it.

[Sleeping giant]

Firstly. Hard luck to a young cdall team, winning antrim was a big achievement in my opinion. No doubt they'll be around for a while. But won't dominate just yet, ourselves dunloy and maybe Ballycastle will be looking at trying to take the crown next year. Sure it will be whoever wants it most in my opinion, now congrats to the ards men. Some achievement for them. Unreal in fact. I think they played the only way they could to win.hard hitting high intensity. Roughing up at all chances. And it worked.they got under cdall skin from the start and a few of cdall younger players were found wanting.  But again,absolutely no harm intended when I say that. Cdall are a very young team. Super for them to have a championship under them with such a young squad.  I wonder will what cdall have done this year give the town a boot up the arse? They've as much young talent but have filled the togs as past two years.   Anyway,time will tell. Good luck to portaferry in there training and build up to there all ireland semi. And bring on 2015. Few faces back in the shamrock camp!!!!

[Jesusjones]

Sham Man what a load of s**t. It says a lot about you that you accuse someone who was hit a dirty late tackle of cheating and yet have nothing to say about the fella who made the late, dirty tackle.