Antrim Hurling

[milltown row]

me

[milltown row]

OK I'm joking here but it will decide once and for all that the best players are from Belfast, with the special chips that have been imported from Poland us "Frankie's" have the diet plan in place.

this is something that has been going on in Munster counties for years in football and hurling. what harm could it do? as long as my club players are available for their clubs involvement in Championship then i see it as something tried. good call on the county board for thinking outside the box.

Down stole the march on Antrim by entering the south Down team into the leagues. South West should also consider this or south Antrim as a means for players to play on National stage and raise the standards, extra training and games in the early months would mean clubs having players in better condition

[theskull1]

this is something that has been going on in Munster counties for years in football and hurling. what harm could it do? as long as my club players are available for their clubs involvement in Championship then i see it as something tried. good call on the county board for thinking outside the box.

Down stole the march on Antrim by entering the south Down team into the leagues. South West should also consider this or south Antrim as a means for players to play on National stage and raise the standards, extra training and games in the early months would mean clubs having players in better condition

Without thinking too much about it I could see the benefit for instance of south antrim and north antrim intermediate selects (maybe even south west as well) joining in the senior championship. It would be a great boost for committed players playing for intermediatte clubs and would I feel improve the 2nd tier no end, but what you are suggesting is robbing peter to pay paul

The low life's that exist on this forum would never have anything positive to offer sure not?? 

[Two Hands FFS]

Will the clubs in the intermediate & junior championships be happy that their players will be going off training for another team when the likelyhood is that they will be preparing for their own championships around these times??

Good luck to all players who feel they can progress in the senior championships, but I can see problems for some of the clubs

[sail_in]

Good luck to all players who feel they can progress in the senior championships, but I can see problems for some of the clubs

Yep - as I've previously mentioned, anybody that we would be sending to that from our club would already be representing at least 2 teams in the club.

It's very possible that you'd have the situation where players were lining up alongside other players one weekend to play for a regional team in the senior championship, and also preparing to play against those same players the following weekend in the junior/intermediate championship.

[Minder]

That was my first thought when i heard about it, if a team is in the latter stages of the Intermediate championship they wont want to send anyone to these regional teams. I would say there will be a certain amount of apathy towards it.

[maxpower]

Have a few clubs pulled out of the Senior Hurling Championship.

Is the draw not normally about this time, looking in i'd say only Loughgiel, Cushendall, Johnnies, Ballycastle and Dunloy would be certs to compete at Senior, ii don't really blame Div2 sides for choosing to compete at intermediate, particularly with the incentive to go onto an All Ireland series

[sail_in]

I think the current noise is that St Gall's and Glenariff will both drop to Intermediate this year.  And if those 2 are dropping I'd say there's a fair chance that Gort Na Mona won't go up!

That would leave Dunloy, Cushendall, Loughgiel, Ballycastle, St John's, and Rossa in the senior championship with realistically, only the first 3 of those with any real chance of winning it. 

As maxpower said, with Rossa competing in Divsion 2 this year also, you wouldn't really blame them for dropping down.  It's probably only their proud recent history that's stopping them from doing that.

[johnneycool]

I think the current noise is that St Gall's and Glenariff will both drop to Intermediate this year.  And if those 2 are dropping I'd say there's a fair chance that Gort Na Mona won't go up!

That would leave Dunloy, Cushendall, Loughgiel, Ballycastle, St John's, and Rossa in the senior championship with realistically, only the first 3 of those with any real chance of winning it. 

As maxpower said, with Rossa competing in Divsion 2 this year also, you wouldn't really blame them for dropping down.  It's probably only their proud recent history that's stopping them from doing that.

What teams in Belfast or south Antrim to give it its correct title would almalgamate to create a team for the senior championship?

could be strong enough if the right personnel got involved!!

[playwiththewind1st]

What teams in Belfast or south Antrim to give it its correct title would almalgamate to create a team for the senior championship?

could be strong enough if the right personnel got involved!!
[/quote]

They'd probably still cut the pish outta each other, even if they were playing for the same team.

[maxpower]

you'd imagine a team of St Pauls, Gorts, St Galls and a few of the junior clubs would have the makings of a decent outfit, imagine if the Rossa threw their hat in as well

In North Antrim a team of Armoy, Carey, Cushendun, St Brigids & possibly Glenarriffe would surely be competitive.

[Minder]

you'd imagine a team of St Pauls, Gorts, St Galls and a few of the junior clubs would have the makings of a decent outfit, imagine if the Rossa threw their hat in as well

In North Antrim a team of Armoy, Carey, Cushendun, St Brigids & possibly Glenarriffe would surely be competitive.

The thing i was thinking was if you are getting it tight and a "stranger" that you have trained with for maybe two weeks from another club was giving you a mouthful how would you react? Its more acceptable from fellas you play with week in week out and have known for years.

[Glensman]

Minder, fair enough but its a suggestion that I think is for the good of the county (whether it came from Skull or the powers that be...).

You often seek to find an issue with ideas suggested (and quite a few of your arguments come from a pretty parochial standpoint - I am not sure if you have been wronged in the past).

If someone is buying into this idea and going for it then they will have to accept that there will be different clubs, different personalities etc on board. The management of such a team will be important.
It seems to have worked at an underage level for St Brendans and some good hurlers appear to be coming out of that.

You not agree we need to do something? to at least spice up the Antrim senior championship? The cream of the crop will no doubt rise anyway but will give some decent hurlers the opportunity to play in the thick of senior championship. Do they deserve that for their efforts in training harder than club mates, being more dedicated but yet to be held back by their teammates (quite a mercenary view).


NOW COMPLETELY CONTRADICTING MYSELF
That said if I was involved with a club and was a decent player not good enough to make a divisional team and one of my better players got injured in a senior championship match and was out of the junior/intermediate championship I'd be raging.



Sure we're full of contradictions in this county.



Just read your post as well Colonel. Same parochial standpoint. It is there and will be forever (though I sometimes think my head is in the clouds and we should try to avoid it) but do you not see how the divisional teams have worked in Kerry's favour.

[imtommygunn]

There are definitely many merits , imo, of these regional teams.

A few logistics need ironed alright but if it works elsewhere why can't it work here?

Timing of games would be a big one - how is that managed in Kerry I wonder. Do they play the "lower" championships off prior to the senior ones?

The "parochial" aspect is no different than it would be in, for example, a county game.

The likes of St Brendans has players from lesser hurling clubs playing from a young age against the top teams. This can do no harm. This is stopped at senior though so if these regional teams were developed it would help that.

[Minder]

Minder, fair enough but its a suggestion that I think is for the good of the county (whether it came from Skull or the powers that be...).

You often seek to find an issue with ideas suggested (and quite a few of your arguments come from a pretty parochial standpoint - I am not sure if you have been wronged in the past).

If someone is buying into this idea and going for it then they will have to accept that there will be different clubs, different personalities etc on board. The management of such a team will be important.
It seems to have worked at an underage level for St Brendans and some good hurlers appear to be coming out of that.

You not agree we need to do something? to at least spice up the Antrim senior championship? The cream of the crop will no doubt rise anyway but will give some decent hurlers the opportunity to play in the thick of senior championship. Do they deserve that for their efforts in training harder than club mates, being more dedicated but yet to be held back by their teammates (quite a mercenary view).


NOW COMPLETELY CONTRADICTING MYSELF
That said if I was involved with a club and was a decent player not good enough to make a divisional team and one of my better players got injured in a senior championship match and was out of the junior/intermediate championship I'd be raging.



Sure we're full of contradictions in this county.



Just read your post as well Colonel. Same parochial standpoint. It is there and will be forever (though I sometimes think my head is in the clouds and we should try to avoid it) but do you not see how the divisional teams have worked in Kerry's favour.

If i agree with a suggestion i will say so but i wont just because it is seen as "visionary". I pointed out two possible drawbacks. You say it is a "parochial" viewpoint, well rightly or wrongly the GAA is parochial in its very nature. The only way to improve the standards is from improved coaching standards which can take years to bear fruit. I know if Glenariffe had, for example, an Intermediate Semi and 4-5 players were involved in the regional team our manager would be spitting bullets. At the end of the day a manager of a club will be judged on his results and i would say will be totally indifferent to the idea of regional teams taking some players away at a crucial time of the season.

     Glenariffe will probably be playing Intermediate Championship this year, we have took some heavy beatings in the last few years in the Senior Championship, im not sure what 4 or 5 of our players can bring back to the club that all the players have not experienced in league/championship the last few years. Its a pretty insular viewpoint but that would be the view in a few clubs i would think. Rossa, St Galls, Glenariffe and the Gorts will be going full belt to win the Intermediate and get promoted this year and will see anything else as a distraction.