Antrim Hurling

[Minder]

Why are you so bad on the road JC when you are able to match teams well in you home pitch?

Too many mammies boys  

Not entirely sure to be honest but most teams seem to suffer a bit when they travel away from home. i wouldn't have thought we were any worse than most but I'd be the wrong person to judge.

We were never good enough to match the Ards teams but i will say after travelling 1hr 45 mins to the Ards peninsula you dont feel too energetic. I would say its the same for the Ballygalget players going the opposite direction.

[NAG]

I would have thought most teams visiting you would agree it is a difficult place to come away with a win from, however there isnt that same threat on your travels. Just wondered if you had any thoughts on it.

Maybe the travelling has something to do with it alright but there is a very different temperament in the ards teams at home than on their travels.

Anybody making any strides this year or is it going to be the big three again fighting it out?

[Tony Baloney]

Why are you so bad on the road JC when you are able to match teams well in you home pitch?

Too many mammies boys  

Not entirely sure to be honest but most teams seem to suffer a bit when they travel away from home. i wouldn't have thought we were any worse than most but I'd be the wrong person to judge.

We were never good enough to match the Ards teams but i will say after travelling 1hr 45 mins to the Ards peninsula you dont feel too energetic. I would say its the same for the Ballygalget players going the opposite direction.

Some boys just didn't put in the correct preparation the day before travelling down the peninsula for a match 

[maxpower]

As for teams looking to break into the usual 3 in Antrim i don't see who can make the breakthrough

Ballycastle have yet to build on their u21 victory of a few years but would perhaps seem the most likely given their young talent,what is the story with St Johns, plenty of recent minor successes, looked like making progress last year but ended up getting chinned by Rossa.

[NAG]

I think as far as the Johnnies go it seems to be a lack of structure bringing the talent through to senior level.
Disappointing to see more talent wasted in the city when they should be more than competitive.

[youngfella]

this weeks predictions

wins for Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy and Portaferry in div 1

div2 Glenariffe and Gorts are the only certs hard to call the rest, Gaels nearly beat us last year and tir na og will give Rossa a good game up there

sarsfields Rasharkin Carey Faughs and Lamhs (they should win that league handy IMO) to win their games

bredagh st Agnes and tough one at Ballymena between them and Lamhs seconds

Loughgiel    Ballygalget    
We always get tanked up there at this stage in the season as we're doing very little physical work and the bodies will be flying and killing dead things. +10 to Loughgiel

      
Portaferry    Ballycastle
The Ports have Chris hunter back in the management team and they're going hammer and tongs at the training. I'd expect them to have too much speed for the Ballycastle lads. A crap day might keep the differential down though. +7 to the Ports.
          
Ballycran    Dunloy
The Crans are a good hurling team but lacking a bit of physique which doesn't suit their tight home pitch. Don't know much about Dunloy this year but if they haven't done a great deal of training yet which is their normal mode then might be a bit closer than normal. Not going to mention the referee in this one  +2 to Dunloy

          
Cushendall    St. Johns
The Dall still have a bit of sharpness in their hurling from the winter and i'd expect them to have too much for the Johnnies who are much different proposition away from Corrigan park. +9 to the Dall

agree with the loughgiel score, shams will want to set out a marker for the season.
I can honestly see the town getting beat by more than 7 points, they dont travel well, its sad but true. But Antrim hurling needs for the town to get there act together to improve the standard of championship...
Agree the cran used the big pitch up in ballycastle very well, However i do fancy them to beat dunloy this time.
I'd add another half dozen points to the dalls score in this game.

[slow corner back]

Disagree with youngfella about the Cdall St Johns result. Johnies are traditionally very fit at this time of year and surprise a few teams. They wil not surprise Cdall due to the winter campaign but they will not be hammered either. ( Cue egg on face with Dall winning by 20+ point)

[Fairhead]

this weeks predictions

wins for Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy and Portaferry in div 1

div2 Glenariffe and Gorts are the only certs hard to call the rest, Gaels nearly beat us last year and tir na og will give Rossa a good game up there

sarsfields Rasharkin Carey Faughs and Lamhs (they should win that league handy IMO) to win their games

bredagh st Agnes and tough one at Ballymena between them and Lamhs seconds

Loughgiel    Ballygalget    
We always get tanked up there at this stage in the season as we're doing very little physical work and the bodies will be flying and killing dead things. +10 to Loughgiel

      
Portaferry    Ballycastle
The Ports have Chris hunter back in the management team and they're going hammer and tongs at the training. I'd expect them to have too much speed for the Ballycastle lads. A crap day might keep the differential down though. +7 to the Ports.
          
Ballycran    Dunloy
The Crans are a good hurling team but lacking a bit of physique which doesn't suit their tight home pitch. Don't know much about Dunloy this year but if they haven't done a great deal of training yet which is their normal mode then might be a bit closer than normal. Not going to mention the referee in this one  +2 to Dunloy

          
Cushendall    St. Johns
The Dall still have a bit of sharpness in their hurling from the winter and i'd expect them to have too much for the Johnnies who are much different proposition away from Corrigan park. +9 to the Dall

agree with the loughgiel score, shams will want to set out a marker for the season.
I can honestly see the town getting beat by more than 7 points, they dont travel well, its sad but true. But Antrim hurling needs for the town to get there act together to improve the standard of championship...
Agree the cran used the big pitch up in ballycastle very well, However i do fancy them to beat dunloy this time.
I'd add another half dozen points to the dalls score in this game.

First game of the year of course but did like the potential in Ballycran against Ballycastle. Granted Ballycastle were v poor on the day but when they got to within a point of the Cran 10 mins in to the 2nd half i thouht there was a game on but Ballycran scored 4 points in a row and that was that. Good pacey hurlers and big Mick Braniff too  in the forward line. And they were missing McGourty so they will cause teams problems. A year in Div 2 has certainly done them no harm.

[milltown row]

Loughgiel  2-18 0-7 Ballygalget  Loughgiel Shamrocks   
Portaferry  0-12 1-8 Ballycastle  Portaferry   
Ballycran  1-13 3-8 Dunloy  Ballycran   
Cushendall  2-18 2-9 St. Johns  Cushendall   
Antrim Div 2 Hurling
Team 1 Score Score Team 2 Venue Comment   
Gort Na Mona  4-15 0-7 Shane O Neills  Gort Na Mona   
Tir na Nog  1-12 0-9 Rossa  Tir na Nog   
St. Galls  4-14 0-13 Gaeil Chluana  St. Galls   
Antrim Div 4 A Hurling
Team 1 Score Score Team 2 Venue Comment   
Bredagh  0-8 1-9 Glenravel  Bredagh   
St. Galls  2-6 4-15 St. Agnes  St. Galls   
Antrim Reserve Hurling
Team 1 Score Score Team 2 Venue Comment   
Loughgiel  2-13 0-8 Ballygalget  Loughgiel Shamrocks   
Portaferry  2-14 1-2 Ballycastle  Portaferry   
Cushendall  4-12 0-5 St. Johns  Cushendall   
Antrim Div 3 Hurling
Team 1 Score Score Team 2 Venue Comment   
St. Teresas  0-14 0-15 Carey Faughs  St. Teresas   
Lamh Dhearg 2 1-13 4-10 St. Brigids B Lamh Dhearg   
Cushendun  4-7 2-8 Rasharkin  Cushendun

[Tony Baloney]

this weeks predictions

wins for Cushendall, Loughgiel, Dunloy and Portaferry in div 1

div2 Glenariffe and Gorts are the only certs hard to call the rest, Gaels nearly beat us last year and tir na og will give Rossa a good game up there

sarsfields Rasharkin Carey Faughs and Lamhs (they should win that league handy IMO) to win their games

bredagh st Agnes and tough one at Ballymena between them and Lamhs seconds

Loughgiel    Ballygalget    
We always get tanked up there at this stage in the season as we're doing very little physical work and the bodies will be flying and killing dead things. +10 to Loughgiel

      
Portaferry    Ballycastle
The Ports have Chris hunter back in the management team and they're going hammer and tongs at the training. I'd expect them to have too much speed for the Ballycastle lads. A crap day might keep the differential down though. +7 to the Ports.
          
Ballycran    Dunloy
The Crans are a good hurling team but lacking a bit of physique which doesn't suit their tight home pitch. Don't know much about Dunloy this year but if they haven't done a great deal of training yet which is their normal mode then might be a bit closer than normal. Not going to mention the referee in this one  +2 to Dunloy

          
Cushendall    St. Johns
The Dall still have a bit of sharpness in their hurling from the winter and i'd expect them to have too much for the Johnnies who are much different proposition away from Corrigan park. +9 to the Dall

Some decent shouts there.

[milltown row]

aye Johnny waas spot on with those predictions. the Dall usually don't turn up till the last few league games so that doesn't bode well for the others in Championship Loughgiel doing their usual and Dunloy struggling, match report please Skull

[theskull1]

Aye struggled alright milltown, but finished strong. Ballycran were very up for the game and played at a very intense pace, which made for an entertaining game competitive game regardless of the low scoreline. With Simon Wilson pulling the strings for them in the first half especially and our poor use of the ball and wides they went in 5 points up at half time. Second half wasn't much better for us from a scoring perpective. Some argy bargy as tempers rose at a stage but was handbags. WIth 10 to go we were 4 down but manged to score 2-3 in that period (the only time we looked like ourselves the whole game). Good performances from all the backs IMO who worked hard throughout. Ballycran won the midfield battle mainly due to Wilsons solid contribution. Up front we hit shocking wides but in "most" places the effort was there and enough class to get something from the game.

[youngfella]

just eating my words.

Grand shouts by JC. THe dunloy game sounds like a clinker!

[maxpower]

Ballycran unlucky to lose, Dunloy lucky to win.

The crans will pick up plenty of points this year if they can replicate that intensity week in week out, the biggest problem for them was all their stars (thought Wilson, CHB & No5 were particularly excellent) where in defence.  Dunloy started very lethargic, particularly in the forward line that had been functioning so well.  Good response in the last 10 mins

[maxpower]

I believe the sham-rocks had a big win yesterday and did so without JC, the 2 scullions and watson.  seems our next opponents are in flying form and a few of thse good minors must be making an impression