Antrim Hurling

[Fairhead]

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

Something has struck me after reading all the posts about the team for Sunday and the tactics and difference of opinion between posters on all of this; is it not a bad indictment of the current management that on the eve of the 1st championship match in their 3rd year in charge that nobody has a clue about how the team willl line out? Now before i have the county board down on me like a ton of bricks   i have a lot of respect for S&W for all the time and effort they have put in to Antrim hurling but surely to God at this stage of their tenure Antrim hurling people should be able to name the county full back, centre half, centre forward and full forward? Even if their were no injuries this week can you name the people who make up the spine of the team? I honestly can't. Is Neil McGarry the full back or is it Hippy? Is the centre half Hippy, or should it be Karl McKeegan or McManus or Graffin? Is McManus the best centre forward and how long more will he play there? Is Stewart or Paddy Richmond the full forward?

Even though Dinny's reign imploded for most of it you knew the spine of the team something which cant be said for the current management. Taking that all in to account i can only see a Dublin victory but hopefully we get a strong Antrim performance oh and watch out for Liam Rushe in the Dublin forwards. Hes got the makings of a top class player and no better manager to bring up to that level.

[Minder]

I believe the Antrim team will be individually shown a recorded message from a family member before the match on Sunday................

[theskull1]

Is that true about Seamus Elliott James? Who has ousted him and on what grounds? Jesus at County level this county would sicken your hole . Men actually doing something being pushed out where people like K McG lie low for years and still stay on the pay roll. jobs for the boys.

[Minder]

Is that true about Seamus Elliott James? Who has ousted him and on what grounds? Jesus at County level this county would sicken your hole . Men actually doing something being pushed out where people like K McG lie low for years and still stay on the pay roll. jobs for the boys.

It is all very cosy in Casement when they are sorting each other out for jobs.

[milltown row]

Is that true about Seamus Elliott James? Who has ousted him and on what grounds? Jesus at County level this county would sicken your hole . Men actually doing something being pushed out where people like K McG lie low for years and still stay on the pay roll. jobs for the boys.

Skull to be fair, and I've been involved with many initiatives with naomhgall hurling over the years and Keiran Megraw is at the heart of them. sends regular emails regarding hurling sessions and i was only at one last week at Casement. good guy. I've also been to hurling sessions with Seamus,  and he's a great guy. took us for training a few years ago and was brilliant. loads of respect for him.

lets lay off the blame game here

[the colonel]

milltown you have highlighted the probelm, seamus would come to belfast no problem but never saw megraw near NA. For god sakes i have seen Tony McCollam in cushendall more times than Kieran Megraw in the last 4 yrs and Tony's not exactly the biggest hurling man about. Fair enough belfast was/is in a mess, but a County Hurling officer should work for the county, not just one Divisional area.

not blaming people, just laying out facts

[Minder]

Why did Megraw never go to North Antrim? Im sure there would have been plenty of mileage claims in it.

[milltown row]

he was in ballymena a few times when the indoor stuff was on. seamus looked after north antrim and wasn't in belfast that often

[Minder]

Why did Megraw never go to North Antrim? Im sure there would have been plenty of mileage claims in it.

He watched Deliverance once.

Loughguile is not representative of the whole region.

[theskull1]

Is that true about Seamus Elliott James? Who has ousted him and on what grounds? Jesus at County level this county would sicken your hole . Men actually doing something being pushed out where people like K McG lie low for years and still stay on the pay roll. jobs for the boys.

Skull to be fair, and I've been involved with many initiatives with naomhgall hurling over the years and Keiran Megraw is at the heart of them. sends regular emails regarding hurling sessions and i was only at one last week at Casement. good guy. I've also been to hurling sessions with Seamus,  and he's a great guy. took us for training a few years ago and was brilliant. loads of respect for him.

lets lay off the blame game here

Milltown if he is employed in an all county position then I'm perfectly entitled to question what he has been doing if he has done "next to nothing" (I know of nothing personally that he has done regarding developing the game in NA) in North/SW Antrim. I met Kieran nearly 5 years ago in Cushendall at a session Paudie Butler took and he appeared to be a decent guy. Haven't seen or heard of him in NA since and I've had plenty of opportunity to have caught or heard about him in all the years since. Go on tell me where I have got it wrong! Actually tell both of us

[milltown row]

i'm not in North Antrim so cant tell you what he's done or not done. is seamus employed by the county or Ulster? does his duties include Belfast? and when was the last time you seen him there?

[theskull1]

I always thought that Seamus had a NA remit only but that K McG had an all county position. I could be wrong and am prepared to apologise if I am. Does anyone know?

[the colonel]

I always thought that Seamus had a NA remit only but that K McG had an all county position. I could be wrong and am prepared to apologise if I am. Does anyone know?

i had the same understanding. Again a lovely fella, but is the work being done,

those indoor blitzes in Ballymena, who organised them? im sure it was NA

[milltown row]

exactly. lets not jump in here. these paid roles were always going to annoy or make people question their credentials. I'd say there are others in paid roles who are Shite, but like all proper jobs thats usually the case. but these guys keep their jobs regardless

[theskull1]

I always thought that Seamus had a NA remit only but that K McG had an all county position. I could be wrong and am prepared to apologise if I am. Does anyone know?

i had the same understanding. Again a lovely fella, but is the work being done,

those indoor blitzes in Ballymena, who organised them? im sure it was NA

All arranged by Seamus Elliott/Niall Kearney/Owen Elliott and have been a huge success for years. To the point that SA sides and many many other sides from further afield compete in them. Tell us what initiatives have came out of SA in all those years milltown that have strategically improved hurling in SA if paid people have been charged to develop the game there? Honest question. I don't know. If anything has been done it appears to be only a reaction to NA successes but as I've said I don't know