Antrim Hurling

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

shorty does do interviews but hes a quiet lad and doesn't do standing out of the crowd. He goes to training, plays his hurling and thats it.

Some people like the lime light and others dont care for it.

[getevennotcross]

A sad state of affairs and extremely embarrassing to say the least.  We are all culpable, even we (collective) keyboard warriors,if we are perfectly honest?  I don't want to be part of this sniping, back stabbing, finger pointing and constant recrimination.  I cant do with all them negative words!  All this crap is the very essence in what is wrong with our county, quick to accuse, blame, ridicule and lambast, a sad state of affairs indeed.


Now lets all go back into our little club cocoons and strive to win the Volunteer Cup, sure that's all we live for.  And then when your club does not win, come up with the regular litany of excuses as to why our clubs did not win it.  Will you blame the CB, KR and McManus for that also?  That is not a trick question by the way!


As KR alluded to recently, some of the players did not have the balls, I'm of the opinion a lot of you keyboard warriors/vitriol's suffer from them same appendage.

[Sleeping giant]

So the press interviews for the Antrim hurlers are given by - wait for it - drum roll - why if it ain't Neil McManus! How novel! Maybe we got relegated because we only have one player!
Now a team statement in support of Kevin Ryan - wonder who's idea this could have been?
What a shambles - players train and play and give loyalty to the jersey - making statements to the press is not part of their re-mit. Antrim all over the papers again - cheap column inches - one day maybe it will be good news.

i could be wrong but i think the manager stated after the match that he wanted to know if the players where still behind him. I get the feeling he wasn't sure.  He said if they weren't then he would walk. was there a press interview or just a statement released. who is the team captain if it is Mc Manus that's normal for him to speak on behalf of the players.

Do you want the players and management to disappear down some black hole or see where things are so they can fulfill the fixtures they are obliged to play

I don't know Mc manus and I never met Kevin Ryan but they must be very bad for the county the way there talked about on here

maybe the players and management read these pages- that would build a siege mentality and united front on any group

Well said NAH. No coincidence that most of the morons on here are the same morons who are constantly whining and repeating the same bullshit. btgtt, I'm surprised at as he is usually more subjective with balanced, reasonable points.

I've already said that making KR a scapegoat here is nonsense - and we didn't need a players statement to know they are part of the problem.
We're not good enough for the top table - I have no problem with that - but we should be better than Kerry.

My point is straight-forward.
As an Antrim hurling supporter I would occaisionally like to read an article from someone other than Neil McManus. How much ahve we heard from any other player in the last number of years? From what I've seen Paul Shiels is a serious quality hurler, purely as a supporter, I would like to know more from him and others. That's something easily fixed from within the Antrim camp.

For a hurling perspective, I don't think it's healthy that the panel can be seen by some as a one-man band. The fact is that all aroung the county we are all aware of how McManus is a dominant figure int his squad - and in Antrim hurling in general. I'm sorry but that's just not healthy. Can we compare any other county with such prominance for one-man? If it's media interviews, photo-shoots or double-jobbing between playing and Under21 selector?
I've never met him, I'm sure he's a grand fella, but he's way to much to the fore of all thing Antirm hurling for that not be the case in the set-up itself. This is not healthy for the other players or the team as a whole.

As I said, I don't make Ryan or McMAnus a scapegoat - there's serveral factors. I think most posters agree - just becuase we mention management etc doesn't mean we're lumping the blame there. This is not soccer where we hire and fire mangers on results.

But I will say this.
KR has a vested interest in keeping our county job. Money. So let's not be surprised that he or any other salaried official might do what it takes to keep their job. Personally I'm not sure it's the best use of our limited financial resources. Neil McManus would obviously like KR to stay on also - he enjoys a priviledged position in the squad. Add these two things up and the result if a media statement. I would prefer our players to be hurling rather than expressing oyalty to the manager (which should be a given) and accepting a responsibilty for losing (which is obviosu).

And now my real crux of the matter?
Was it for all this that we have allowed our club scene to be decimated?
Stop this madness.
Let's accept our county's position for what it is - and build a proper club scene to produce more and better players.
We have tried it this way - it clearly has not worked.
Why perisist?
The County Exective / County Board need to lead this back to clubs running fixtures etc.

And just for clarity - again - I do not scapegoat Kevin Ryan or Neil McManus!

one of the best posts on the matter I've ever read.  And again.  Some people on here have different opinions.  Be part of the solution and not the Prob bla bla bla.  As if anyone on here has a say in anything county antrim hurling wise.  Iv made it known that I was available and wanting to play for my county this past 3 yrs, others hav past on stories of me not wantin to commit and to b honest I never put the stories right bcuz I wished them the best. However, the decisions that hav been made reflect the result. Ryan and county have a lot to answer for. There's far far to many people that I respect saying the same things for it not to be true. Plain and simple. 

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

anyone read Paddy heaneys piece in the irish news today.

worth a reading if not what we already all knew already about the state of antrim gaa

[Sleeping giant]

Who wouldn't want to be the manager. £20,000 for taking lads with no real will to win, let's be honest. An ulster championship, and 1 half decent preformance against someone we view to be better than us is a successful season. When it's not good enough. Now anyone who doesn't like this post can cut it to pieces and mark me as part of the problem. Very simple, don't like it. Don't read what I post. Back to another 3 year plan where everyone is happy and we will continue to read the same shite on the back page of the Irish news about how good a panel they have and how happy they are and how it's time to beat these teams there playing. Nearly 36 months without a league win. Anyone else think that's good enough for a manager that's getting paid a fortune. Sorry to all the positive thinkers, it's not.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

i agree with you SG, its not good enough for what were expecting in return. Is it soley KR fault no, is it soley the players no. Its more a combination of all of that and other factors it seems.

i said at the time that our county board shot down O'Rourkes proposals for the antrim football job due to a lack of being able to finance it we were in big bother.

I dont blame our board for losing games on a pitch i blame them for the shape our game is in at the moment within the county. Its a total and utter shambless. we have no where to play county matches, a centre of excellence that i pass every single day on the train to work and its the closest i will probably ever get to setting foot in it like many other gaels in our county!

yet they bumble along. FFS they couldnt even seed a football draw correctly without making a c**k up of it!

and before i get the 'why dont you do something about it' posts i do enough for my own club, 6 nights this week infact involved in 3 different teams along with working in Belfast each and every day.

Ive followed Antrim up and down Ireland for games since a kid but this is as low as ive ever seen it. I dont see any quick fix sitting about to sort this.

[Sleeping giant]

Well at least we've agreed on something for once. I don't go out of my way to rip into lads. I've said before I respect the lads that's training and slogging away since Xmas. But it's shocking frustrating.  I've done my fair share for my own club and I've hurled here and there for the county over the years, but this is as bad as I've ever seen or heard of.

[theskull1]

A sense of reality would do no harm.

99% of Antrim hurlers that have represented our county were only competitive at Div2 and the odd game in Div1B if another team wasn't going well. What's new at this time over and above the internet and unrealistic expectations? Not a wile lot. Its just being presented as a  disaster and its helping no one.

To create teams capable of competing at the levels we would like, takes more than a focus on KR and the current panel (or the one or two that might want to be part of it but aren't). 

[north_antrim_hound]

Well at least we've agreed on something for once. I don't go out of my way to rip into lads. I've said before I respect the lads that's training and slogging away since Xmas. But it's shocking frustrating.  I've done my fair share for my own club and I've hurled here and there for the county over the years, but this is as bad as I've ever seen or heard of.

If you hurled for the county and club then your entitled to your views
Some I agree with others not
Did you have to disclose  payment details on a public forum
That's a can of worms for private debate

[btdtgtt]

You don't blame McManus...but you've just talked about him for 3 paragraphs. Cool

Very good

Yeah thats right. Just because I talked about him doesn't mean I hold him single-handedly to account for our relegation.

No one said you did
He is in the back of the irish news today
'' the teams critics has nothing else to offer''
You mentioned shorty and other players sharing press duties well that's up to journalist to call them
I can't invisage a dervert all calls to mc manus network
Maybe the press should phone you instead

Well if you accept I didn't blame him - then I don't know the point of your original post or 2 Hands point.
Also - I mentioned that the dominance of McManus is press etc should be addressed by the Antrim "camp". I didn't say by him alone. There is a PRO and / or management might see this one man PR idea isn't healthy.

And can we quit posting about people being negative or this "what are you doing" idea.
This is an internet chat room - nothing more or less.
None of us know what other do in their own clubs or county.
Things in Antrim are at an all time low perhaps - nobody can argue that - pointing it out is just obvious. Its not negative or defelcting blame. Its real.

[Sleeping giant]

Well at least we've agreed on something for once. I don't go out of my way to rip into lads. I've said before I respect the lads that's training and slogging away since Xmas. But it's shocking frustrating.  I've done my fair share for my own club and I've hurled here and there for the county over the years, but this is as bad as I've ever seen or heard of.

If you hurled for the county and club then your entitled to your views
Some I agree with others not
Did you have to disclose  payment details on a public forum
That's a can of worms for private debate

its common knowledge for everyone, hardly a massive sercet, I think as a county we'd be entitled to expect and demand more for that money,   Sorry again to anyone I annoy. Just my feelings. And on the back page of the paper.  Maybe best to stay out of it, if you talk the talk, your setting yourself up for the critics when you don't walk the walk. 

[north aontroim gael]

Its a sad state of affairs when a crowd of grown men spend a few pages whinging about the media exposure the captain of our county hurling team gets.

I for one couldn't care less Neil or anyone else in the camp has a daily segment on RTE News. 

Show's how small time we are when these are the things we are talking about when toiling in the lower tiers of football and hurling.

[theskull1]

Well at least we've agreed on something for once. I don't go out of my way to rip into lads. I've said before I respect the lads that's training and slogging away since Xmas. But it's shocking frustrating.  I've done my fair share for my own club and I've hurled here and there for the county over the years, but this is as bad as I've ever seen or heard of.

If you hurled for the county and club then your entitled to your views
Some I agree with others not
Did you have to disclose  payment details on a public forum
That's a can of worms for private debate

its common knowledge for everyone, hardly a massive sercet, I think as a county we'd be entitled to expect and demand more for that money,   Sorry again to anyone I annoy. Just my feelings. And on the back page of the paper.  Maybe best to stay out of it, if you talk the talk, your setting yourself up for the critics when you don't walk the walk.

Not to me anyway

I think you should take your own advice. Just looks as if you're enjoying it and wont help when wounds need healing

[btdtgtt]

Its a sad state of affairs when a crowd of grown men spend a few pages whinging about the media exposure the captain of our county hurling team gets.

I for one couldn't care less Neil or anyone else in the camp has a daily segment on RTE News. 

Show's how small time we are when these are the things we are talking about when toiling in the lower tiers of football and hurling.

And again someone misses the point.
I would wish McManus well if he got that RTE slot - my point is that I want to hear from others also, I don't thing the one-man-band thing is constructive.
I honestly don't know why I'm having to clarify simple points.
What show's how small time we are is the state of both codes and Casment Park and Dunsilly.

[Last Man]

Its a sad state of affairs when a crowd of grown men spend a few pages whinging about the media exposure the captain of our county hurling team gets.

I for one couldn't care less Neil or anyone else in the camp has a daily segment on RTE News. 

Show's how small time we are when these are the things we are talking about when toiling in the lower tiers of football and hurling.

Totally agree, talking about it is one thing but putting fairly personal stuff into print is another. Since being around this board a few years I now tend only to get annoyed at things I can and am prepared to do something about. Thats my tuppence worth anyway.