Antrim Hurling

[Hoof Hearted]

is there a date/time/venue for the other semi yet, would love to watch it, saw the 2 c'ship games between them last year and they were excellent

[maxpower]

Yeh Dunloy v Loughgiel is 14th Sept.  No venue st yet but i would expect it to be Ballycastle.  Have to say Ballycastle's pitch wasn't in the greatest of shapes the last time we played on it, certainly compared to the abslutely perfect condition it had been in.  And i can't understand those '3g' goalmouths.  Difficult for a keeper

On Sundays match i think like everyone i'd expect Cushendall to come through comfortably in the end, Rossa though are very much a championship team and always gave anyone a real game in recent years, indeed am right in saying the last time these teams meet in Championship last year Rossa actually turned them over.

Rossa will need goals to win, they don't have the scoring power to out point the Dall but they are also up against the best defensive unit in the county, just happy the demise of Rossa has been greatly exaggerated and they brought a good u21 to Dunloy in the championship this year so they may well be building again, and will be delighted to have regained status as Belfast's no1 hurling team

Prediction

Cushendall 2:14 Rossa 1:11

[NAG]

I agree that the 3g goal mouths are horrendus. I dont know how any keeper could be confident on them.

I just have been wondering how far the johnnies must have gone back since their early season good form. I really dont think that Rossa are up to the mark, I do agree that they are going to need goals to win and I can see the cushendall defence coughing up anything to them. This is probably the best defence in Div 1.

The only saving grace for rossa is that cushendall are not free scoring and probably wont cut loose on them.

[glens73]

Yeh Dunloy v Loughgiel is 14th Sept.  No venue st yet but i would expect it to be Ballycastle.  Have to say Ballycastle's pitch wasn't in the greatest of shapes the last time we played on it, certainly compared to the abslutely perfect condition it had been in.  And i can't understand those '3g' goalmouths.  Difficult for a keeper

On Sundays match i think like everyone i'd expect Cushendall to come through comfortably in the end, Rossa though are very much a championship team and always gave anyone a real game in recent years, indeed am right in saying the last time these teams meet in Championship last year Rossa actually turned them over.

Rossa will need goals to win, they don't have the scoring power to out point the Dall but they are also up against the best defensive unit in the county, just happy the demise of Rossa has been greatly exaggerated and they brought a good u21 to Dunloy in the championship this year so they may well be building again, and will be delighted to have regained status as Belfast's no1 hurling team

Prediction

Cushendall 2:14 Rossa 1:11

Is this right that the Dunloy v Loughgiel match is on 14th Sept. I am home that weekend and I am keen to see that match. Is it not a bit odd that the first semi-final is 4 weeks before the second one?

[youngfella]

I agree that the 3g goal mouths are horrendus. I dont know how any keeper could be confident on them.

What are they, never heard anything like it before?

[imtommygunn]

Rossa    0-9   3-17   Cushendall

Big enough hiding there.

Doesn't speak volumes for the johnnies...

[theskull1]

Actually thought Rossa had a few new kids on the block who acquitted themselves well, but their forward line was way off the pace completely. An easy win in the end for the dall, but Rossa have something to work with as far as a could see.

Wonder what happened to all the Belfast Gaels tonight? Terrible turn out. Maybe youse heard about the £8 admission they were looking.

[Minder]

It shows you how poor the standard is in Antrim when St Johns,the perennial dark horse and had a few notable league wins early on get beaten by a Div 2 team. It also shows the importance of the league,Cushendall have been pretty poor this year but will probably win the championship this year.

[youngfella]

If St.John's win a championship, in the next 10 years, I'll eat this laptop. Groundlie - feel free to quote me on that. I'm still awaiting your return 'til I throw a few quotes your way.

Careful HS i near pissed myself laughin ya bastard.  St johns have always had strong young teams, but never showed there full potenial at senior pity. But unless there radical change of view at the club I think your right HS.

[groundlie]

I can never understand how the Johnnies are always talked about come championship. Well, I can - they spout some amount of shite about themselves. If they get a result in the league against one of the big guns, they talk about it for a month. I know a lot of them and the amount of times I've heard "This is our year" is unbelieveable. Even after Rossa beat them, it was "we didn't do ourselves justice" "I can't believe them b**tards stopped us getting to a county final". They thought they had Cushendall beat because they beat them in the league.
If St.John's win a championship, in the next 10 years, I'll eat this laptop. Groundlie - feel free to quote me on that. I'm still awaiting your return 'til I throw a few quotes your way.

Looks like im eating my words!!

I think its fair to say that St Johns are the liverpool of antrim championship hurling, 'this is our year'

[youngfella]

First team meeting of the year?

[NAG]

The match was a bit of a damp squib. In saying that when hamil was brought down through on a goal, a goal at that stage would have left 3 points in the game with ten gone in the second half.

Rossa had some good performers throughout the game, kettle looked the part the centre half and the right half (dont know names) looked solid throughout.

Didnt think rossa were ever going to threaten cushendall but i thought c'dall were sluggish enough. Magill is the main man around the middle and a bit more attention on him would have left the supply of ball going into the forwards limited enough.

any one else have any opinions on them?

[theskull1]

Was one of those games that the dall knew they were always going to win, hence the element of sluggishness IMO

I only hope that Rossa can take a little heart way from yesterdays game. Although the scoreline didn't reflect it, I thought all of their backs looked to have potential. Kettle had a great game. They need alot of work in the forward line, but stranger things have happened

[Minder]

In fairness colonel i think that particular tradition is a load of oul balls, nobody from a losing team wants to hear the old "keep the head up,youse gave us a great game",especially after a tanking,you just want to get away as quickly as possible ! In saying that manners cost nothing and there was no need for that from Rossa.

[groundlie]

I'll spare ya, for a while.

Where (in your opinion) did it all go wrong, groundlie?

Its hard to know where it all went wrong to be honest. But the atmosphere throughout the club over the past 5-6 years stinks. There are to many personality clashes and the wrong people are running the club in my opinion.

On the hurling front this year, we started well in the league and the lads where training 3 nights a week from January. A bit much, but that was the managers decision. And when it came to the crunch, we where beaten by a poor but young Rossa team, and that tells the tail of where we are at.
There will always be a hope that a few of these feile lads can come through but thats going to be tough, senior hurlings tough.

But thats it all over for another season..

Any views from the outside??