Antrim Hurling

[btdtgtt]

I'm trying not to get annoyed by that scoreline by consoling myself it doesn't matter anyway. But then I realisjng no matter how much of a boring repetitive procession our county season is - our club scene is still paralysed by it. Maybe therein lies the problem. Depressing. With a capital D.

[Seamroga in exile]

Id love nothing more. Ultimately it's the players that have to be mature enough to do this. But at the point it's gone to. I think it's beyond fixing MR2. If you look back far enough in my posts, am sure I've said this already. But I think that Johnson deserves a chance at county manager. The county was in a bad place along long time ago. It was wee Jim that fixed it then and got players to respect one another and pull together for the love of there own county.  Am not for 1 second saying that he'd be anything like Jim Nelson. But I honestly believe we need a city man at the helm to do away with the country teams hatred towards one another and the childish shite that goes with it.  Ive said in a post above and I truly believe it to be true.  It's got 10 times worse since Loughgiel started winning things. It all adds up. And people can sit on this and say commitment and bla bla f**king bla.  There's not 1 hurler from Loughgiel wouldn't give every bit as much as the great one given there chance and for things to be done fair and right.  Before anyone comments. Go away and learn the facts.

probably the best Post in the world.... Ever.

[Sham Man]

From my perspective here, the clubs and the players need to buy into the county team and commit to giving of their best ffs.    Can we honestly say, hand on heart every club in the county and every player of county standard buys in and give their all, lets be feckin honest here, that has never been the case.  Do we want to compete with the big boys and win Liam McCarthys, sure we feckin do!    Do we have aspirations to win an All Ireland and National League titles, of course we do, otherwise we would not bet sitting here debating.

In the final analysis, are we prepared to give are all to the county, get behind the county hurling team, by that I mean, every club, every man, every woman and child?  Simple answer, we all dont really give a bollocks and are too quick to recriminate and make excuses as to why we perform so badly and don't progress.    Up until a few weeks ago, I thought we had progressed, but following last two weeks, I'm not so sure.  Kevin Ryan a nice guy but is he the messiah?  Regardless of who the messiah is, our clubs and top rate hurlers need to buy in and committ! Are we all prepared to do that, like fcuk we are!    Is our focus stil on winning the county championship and maybe Ulster, of course it f**king is!    Do we all want to win a Tommy Moore, as opposed to a Liam McCarthey, of course we fcukin do!    Is this only a trait aligned to Loughgiel, of course it fcukin isn't!  We are all culpable, especially we in N. Antrim where hurling is concerned. We are divided, parochial and envious, with such a selfish outlook, as a county we will win feck all of any worth.    The Staus Quo set to continue, nothin has changed.

So we want to progress and win, want to compete with the big boys, want to win an NL, Liam McCarthy???  Each hurling club within the county, give me your best 4, 5 or 6 players for a year, a full year or two and tell your club not to be making demands on them.  Are ye all prepared to do that?  No fcukin way!  So stop the fcukin whinging and gurnin ffs!   

Now for my selection/back room team, hhmmm! Well none of ye hoors are on the short list for starters, now that is a relief and a positive.     

[bannside]

Sham Man if you were the manager what would your first 15 and nine subs be?

[Gizzy15]

I'm trying not to get annoyed by that scoreline by consoling myself it doesn't matter anyway. But then I realisjng no matter how much of a boring repetitive procession our county season is - our club scene is still paralysed by it. Maybe therein lies the problem. Depressing. With a capital D.

club hurling in Antrim is soo second fiddle to county it is not funny. Hate drawing comparasions with soccer but like international matches (every 3 months clubs give up a week to allow two fixtures) County hurling is ment to be the cherry on top of the bun. A chance for the masses to put club differences aside and support a team for a common goal. But bollocks to that say the GAA too much money to be made matches all year round. If your kilkenny ( hurling) or say Dublin ( football) if you include the likes of walsh cup your county will be playing from Jan to September most years. Although a load of pish it will remain like this until some major root & branch overhaul. But the problem we have and to get back to my point is that our county board lets croke park master fixtures dictate our club scene. May not sound like a big problem but added to this squeezing in of fixtures, county managers not wanting players to play hardly any club league games the matches become a non competitive event in front of far less crowds than what used to be. People arnt stupid either ( supporters) they dont like going to watch barely meaningful club league games with half of a team missing for one reason or another.

A full flight league 3 divs (currently) playing week in week out is 450 lads hurling flat out add to that KR and selectors going to two three or four games in  a weekend insted of that extra day county training. And players with genuine belief that they could get picked and it wasnt a closed shop.

i just think our club scene has been ruined by the CB and croke park and the diff is in likes of Kk and other counties you just hurl away with club and none of this cotten wool treatment of calling all club games off for 6 months cause Antrim are playing a Translink select in a friendly. A strong club scene will lead to a stronger county set up thats the way it works though not the clubs priority ( countys and CB's take and never give why should club give a fcuk). We need to concentrate on fixing a dying and uncared for club programme and the county will benifit

[Sham Man]

I'm trying not to get annoyed by that scoreline by consoling myself it doesn't matter anyway. But then I realisjng no matter how much of a boring repetitive procession our county season is - our club scene is still paralysed by it. Maybe therein lies the problem. Depressing. With a capital D.

club hurling in Antrim is soo second fiddle to county it is not funny. Hate drawing comparasions with soccer but like international matches (every 3 months clubs give up a week to allow two fixtures) County hurling is ment to be the cherry on top of the bun. A chance for the masses to put club differences aside and support a team for a common goal. But bollocks to that say the GAA too much money to be made matches all year round. If your kilkenny ( hurling) or say Dublin ( football) if you include the likes of walsh cup your county will be playing from Jan to September most years. Although a load of pish it will remain like this until some major root & branch overhaul. But the problem we have and to get back to my point is that our county board lets croke park master fixtures dictate our club scene. May not sound like a big problem but added to this squeezing in of fixtures, county managers not wanting players to play hardly any club league games the matches become a non competitive event in front of far less crowds than what used to be. People arnt stupid either ( supporters) they dont like going to watch barely meaningful club league games with half of a team missing for one reason or another.

A full flight league 3 divs (currently) playing week in week out is 450 lads hurling flat out add to that KR and selectors going to two three or four games in  a weekend insted of that extra day county training. And players with genuine belief that they could get picked and it wasnt a closed shop.

i just think our club scene has been ruined by the CB and croke park and the diff is in likes of Kk and other counties you just hurl away with club and none of this cotten wool treatment of calling all club games off for 6 months cause Antrim are playing a Translink select in a friendly. A strong club scene will lead to a stronger county set up thats the way it works though not the clubs priority ( countys and CB's take and never give why should club give a fcuk). We need to concentrate on fixing a dying and uncared for club programme and the county will benifit

We dont have a strong club scene ffs.  maybe only 3 or 4 clubs in the county have the potential to win County Championship. See what I mean, you like many others are too quick to point fingers at CB ffs. The problem lies with the clubs not giving up their best to the inter county commitment. The clubs cant see beyond the needs of their own clubs and to hell with the county. Thats the cold hard truth Ffs.   We cant continue blaming the CB if we are all really honest.    The clubs at the end of the day all have a role to play no matter which way you look at it, are they prepared to commit in search of the greater prize and good of county hurling??? - No fcukin way.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

i was chatting to a lgiel man at the weekend about hurling and the topic of the the county team came up. The fist thing he came out with was 'oh you you mean the neill mc manus show? sure he picks the team and decides who gets on the panel' i could only laugh at this. he doesnt post on here by the way but i have to laugh at this carry on.

i have mates from Ballycastle etc and not once in my life have i heard anyone utter that other than a lgiel person. seriously tho, its actually laughable to hear the statements he was coming out with. Yous need to get over this people! lol

Sundays result was inevitable imo. I kind of seen it coming after last weeks game. The players look knocked of any spirit they had after the wexford match which is a pity. We all know we wont win this league, we wont be pushing the elite teams for a result but its about being competitive. Last week showed me that were nothing more than top second level team (outside of the tops teams like KK, Tipp etc). Were far too strong for the carlows, down at the moment but not good enough to compete with the big teams.

Theres no quick fix to sort it out. A competitive club scene wont change a thing. In 89 Loughgiel were champions, Rossa lost the AI club final the Feb that year, Ligiel had 5 players on the team, Ballycastle 4, Cdall 3, Rossa 2 and Dunloy 1. Nothing has changed in the status quo much with the same teams winning and competing in the Antrim SHC. I would say that the decline of the Belfast teams is something i feel needs to be looked at. Yes Rossa won the AI at Intermediate level but the challenge is to make the jump back up and stay competitive.

Things have been on the decline for some time now and it was highlighted to me with St Pauls not fielding a senior camogie team in the league. Last year they didnt even field in the championship. Its not isolated to Belfast with now Ballymena struggling to field in hurling now at alot of the grades.

there is no obvious way of fixing Antrim, i just think we need to keep coaching our youth better and better each year, working with the devlopment squads and aim to improve all the time.

[Sleeping giant]

Did I not say away and learn the facts.  A certain player was asked to his face back onto the panel last year by KR after meeting him at a cross and passion collage semi final "Id love to have you back for reminder of league and the ulster championship"  the player said he would go back and only ever wanted to hurl for his county, but with being training for all ireland with Loughgiel as past few years he couldn't commit fully to both. Now they were out. He was ready to go.  The player and KR agreed to see each other at the next training.  The player went on his way. Landed home that night to be told KR was on the phone. And to call him.  Sure enough. He called him.  "After speaking with my captain and vice captain (who was a Loughgiel man) We've decided it's best if you don't join having not been there from the start.   Now will you tell me.  How it went from KR being more than happy to have him back and was looking forward to training.  To it being a bad idea?  Id say his own club mate Prob didn't want him there.  Right?

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Did I not say away and learn the facts.  A certain player was asked to his face back onto the panel last year by KR after meeting him at a cross and passion collage semi final "Id love to have you back for reminder of league and the ulster championship"  the player said he would go back and only ever wanted to hurl for his county, but with being training for all ireland with Loughgiel as past few years he couldn't commit fully to both. Now they were out. He was ready to go.  The player and KR agreed to see each other at the next training.  The player went on his way. Landed home that night to be told KR was on the phone. And to call him.  Sure enough. He called him.  "After speaking with my captain and vice captain (who was a Loughgiel man) We've decided it's best if you don't join having not been there from the start.   Now will you tell me.  How it went from KR being more than happy to have him back and was looking forward to training.  To it being a bad idea?  Id say his own club mate Prob didn't want him there.  Right?

SG i heard the exact same story at the weekend from my mates dad (whom i was referring to in my previous post) when Eddies name not being in the panel anymore came up.

im not saying your a liar (or my mates dad for that matter) but are you honestly telling me that as a collective group of players the antrim senior team would accept one man calling all the shots. A group of adults who have no affinity to each others clubs, that not one of them has an opinion on it.

Look it may very well be true but do you know how crazy it sounds to someone?

Im going to have to ask someone on the panel to settle this story! 

[Sleeping giant]

Why would anyone other than Eddie, KR the vice captain and captain no?   Facts are facts. 

[hurlingstick]

Did I not say away and learn the facts.  A certain player was asked to his face back onto the panel last year by KR after meeting him at a cross and passion collage semi final "Id love to have you back for reminder of league and the ulster championship"  the player said he would go back and only ever wanted to hurl for his county, but with being training for all ireland with Loughgiel as past few years he couldn't commit fully to both. Now they were out. He was ready to go.  The player and KR agreed to see each other at the next training.  The player went on his way. Landed home that night to be told KR was on the phone. And to call him.  Sure enough. He called him.  "After speaking with my captain and vice captain (who was a Loughgiel man) We've decided it's best if you don't join having not been there from the start.   Now will you tell me.  How it went from KR being more than happy to have him back and was looking forward to training.  To it being a bad idea?  Id say his own club mate Prob didn't want him there.  Right?

Was that it?  Was that the big fact you were asking us to learn?  SG that's embarrassing. Any player who is good enough and wants to be there enough will be there.

[Sham Man]

Did I not say away and learn the facts.  A certain player was asked to his face back onto the panel last year by KR after meeting him at a cross and passion collage semi final "Id love to have you back for reminder of league and the ulster championship"  the player said he would go back and only ever wanted to hurl for his county, but with being training for all ireland with Loughgiel as past few years he couldn't commit fully to both. Now they were out. He was ready to go.  The player and KR agreed to see each other at the next training.  The player went on his way. Landed home that night to be told KR was on the phone. And to call him.  Sure enough. He called him.  "After speaking with my captain and vice captain (who was a Loughgiel man) We've decided it's best if you don't join having not been there from the start.   Now will you tell me.  How it went from KR being more than happy to have him back and was looking forward to training.  To it being a bad idea?  Id say his own club mate Prob didn't want him there.  Right?

Purely a case of Antrim with a lot of internal baggage as ever,of which the Team Manager-KR, was not prepared to assert his authority and deal with.    No one individual/s is bigger than the team.  KR and nobody else should have called the shots, if players walked, so be it.  Those who walk, I would certainly question their commitment and integrity!    All the talk about Loughgiel lads, well its a known fact it was not a welcoming house for them on their return from AI victory, in my book, that's pure envy, nothing more and nothing less.    Regardless, its a sad state of affairs for all Antrim hurling people. 

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

Why would anyone other than Eddie, KR the vice captain and captain no?   Facts are facts.

eh so 4 people associated with the panel and the whole of Loughgiel village all know about it then!

You also say the vice captain is a lgiel man. How in gods name could they stand over that happening and not walk off the panel?

[Sleeping giant]

Did I not say away and learn the facts.  A certain player was asked to his face back onto the panel last year by KR after meeting him at a cross and passion collage semi final "Id love to have you back for reminder of league and the ulster championship"  the player said he would go back and only ever wanted to hurl for his county, but with being training for all ireland with Loughgiel as past few years he couldn't commit fully to both. Now they were out. He was ready to go.  The player and KR agreed to see each other at the next training.  The player went on his way. Landed home that night to be told KR was on the phone. And to call him.  Sure enough. He called him.  "After speaking with my captain and vice captain (who was a Loughgiel man) We've decided it's best if you don't join having not been there from the start.   Now will you tell me.  How it went from KR being more than happy to have him back and was looking forward to training.  To it being a bad idea?  Id say his own club mate Prob didn't want him there.  Right?

Was that it?  Was that the big fact you were asking us to learn?  SG that's embarrassing. Any player who is good enough and wants to be there enough will be there.

so what was he to do. Turn up at training after being told not to?  Away and wise your fecking head.  I've a few more if you'd like them. 

[Sleeping giant]

Why would anyone other than Eddie, KR the vice captain and captain no?   Facts are facts.

eh so 4 people associated with the panel and the whole of Loughgiel village all know about it then!

You also say the vice captain is a lgiel man. How in gods name could they stand over that happening and not walk off the panel?

tell you what it was.  We sat at the last AGM and came up with this. We're caught.    FFS