Antrim Hurling

[maxpower]

Going slightly against the grain here but i think Paddy will hurl the majority of the game out in the middle of the field.  Think a bit much is being made of his fitness levels, in a recent game against Cushendall he put in a good shift at midfield and impressed me as a centre half back.

Think S&W will be very conscience of the lack of pace in the centre of the defence and will want to get extra bodies their to make there strength count.  Shorty would have been the ideal candidate to go into the defence and use his skill and pace to cover the defence.  Paddy will play in that hole in front of Neilly McGarry when he does get possession he will ask questions of the dublin defence with long raking passes into the forwards.

Personally i wouldn't hurl paddy here, we are missing some of our best forwards and we need all our scoring power up the park but having watched many of the games under S&W and this is what i expect to happen as thankfully they don't tend to name many dummy teams.

tactically i expect

                           Ryan McGarry
Aaron Graffin   Neil McGarry    Ciaran McGourty
                      Paddy Richmond
  Johnny Campbell  Hippy        Neil McAuley
          Micko Herron       Karl McKeegan
PJ O'Connell    Karl Stewart      Sean Delargy
           CJ McGourty        Neil McManus

their will be plenty of changes and Paddy and mcManus may change at some point

[slow corner back]

Looking at the 15 named there are 9 defenders and five forwards and no natural midfielder. Injuriues obviously robbed us of shorty and Brendan Herron but McCluskey should have got a look in, he has plenty of legs at least. With only five forwards picked it would be a nonsense to play one sweeping in the half back line?? We need scores to beat dublin and putting one of your few scoring threats in the defence is not the way to go.

[Two Hands FFS]

Max not doubting Paddys ability as he is a very good hurler but there would be a world of differance between that Cushendall league match and the intensity of this Dublin match. In fairness to you that looks similar to the formation they will use.Given our lack of scoring forwards we'll have to take the vast majority of our chances.Dublin have very good forwards in Rushe & O'Callaghan.Expect graffin to pick up O'Callaghan. I wouldnt play McCluskey at all,not good at that level for midfield

[theskull1]

I hope two hands and myself are proved wrong max.

I genuinely don't think we have the quality to trouble Dublin enough over the full 70 but I hope the effort and endeavour lasts throughout. Shame we hadn't a full panel to pick from.

[slow corner back]

Max not doubting Paddys ability as he is a very good hurler but there would be a world of differance between that Cushendall league match and the intensity of this Dublin match. In fairness to you that looks similar to the formation they will use.Given our lack of scoring forwards we'll have to take the vast majority of our chances.Dublin have very good forwards in Rushe & O'Callaghan.Expect graffin to pick up O'Callaghan. I wouldnt play McCluskey at all,not good at that level for midfield

Wheres the running power on our team for the big croke park pitch? There is a serious lack of pace in the 15 antrim players named, I hope the weather is damp and cold and windy to slow the game down a bit, we have a few strong hurlers who would suit those conditions.

[Two Hands FFS]

I agree over the lack of pace especially in our half back line,but Eddie McCluskey hasn't much pace at all & was over-ran v Offaly. S&W can only work with what is a limited squad. Brendan Herron & Shorty would have offered alot of mobility & are a big loss.

[NAG1]

I agree with most of what has been said lads. We have a sever lack of pace and the only way to crack that is to crowd the game out and make it mesy but i still think Dublin could take us in that kind of game.

Paddy is a miss in the forward line but will depend if they expect him to mark his man while covering the half back line or whether they give dublin an extra defender while pulling SD out to mark paddys man. If it is the former we are in bother and if it is the latter we are still in bother not just so much!

[TheDoc]

The following  coaching personnel are now in post:

Games Development Manager –Ciara Ferry
Hurling Development Officer – Kieran Megraw
Hurling  Development Coordinator – Dominic Mc Kinley

They can be contacted at the county Coaching Office in Casement Park

Does this mean "Woody" will not be involved with the county hurling management as he is now a paid coach?

[the colonel]

no i think the rules were only for provincial or national staff, not county staff. Who is Ciara ferry?

[TheDoc]

I think hes paid by the Ulster Council, which would rule him out.

All ive heard is that shes a Dub.

[NAG1]

Still have yet to see our HDO anywhere in NA at a hurling game and thats after three years of already being in the post?

Ladies Gaelic is her background just what we need to drive the Two main sports in our county forward.

[JamesH]

Are there any county managers not on the payroll? under the invisable table of course.

[NAG1]

James different issue altogether.

[theskull1]

I do wonder what these paid roles deliver. E.G. I've haven't seen Ciaran McGraw in NA at any coaching course in years ...nor any other county representative. Am I missing something or are these SA positions?

[JamesH]

No the HDO was an all county post , its just he didn't know his way after Hannastown. He did visit the NA coaching courses sometimes but the question is should he not have been leading the coaching and development in hurling in NA? He was in for nearly four years and didn't have one project in NA in that time. But to his credit he in the last year since our esteemed county Sec. came into power wasn't exactly pushed to hard. Whats worse is, rumour has it Seamus Elliott is being ousted not at least he try ed to do something. I don't think woody would have the personality for the schools job, but then we already know in previous posts filled applicants don't actually need one