Antrim Hurling

[milltown row]

it wont happen over night Skull but will eventually. do you think your good club structures will sustain you in top flight? or could you lose your div one status?

i've great respect for the Down teams, but surely we should be looking after our own clubs. it will benifit the Down teams in the LONG RUN and us.

Played against ya's tonight Skull, hammered ya's but it was football, so aint don't really count

[theskull1]

I didn't say good slub structures sustain clubs at the top level. I said good juvenile hurling development would. In dual clubs I don't think 50/50 is the right balance if you want to acheive on a hurling pitch especially against clubs who are hurling only. Works both ways I know 

[johnneycool]

I think Down hurling would wither and die without competitive matches in Antrim.

I know Down hurling would wither and die without competitive matches in Antrim.

[NAG1]

Serious wake up call for the hurlers yesterday in Donegal!

[theskull1]

I know Down hurling would wither and die without competitive matches in Antrim.

Sure with their hamley tongue the ards boys might as well be North Antrim men.

I say keep them in. There is no point in lowing the bar for entrance into Div1. Get there on merit. At least they treat the leagues with respect unlike some Antrim teams.

[NAG1]

The down men are always amongst the most competitve in the league and always take their games seriously unlike some of our more respected clubs.

[milltown row]

Skull pull your w.lly out of Johnny

I'm not after my own needs to be in div 1. it was a steep learning curve for us when we got into div 1. from taking hammering's at the start to actually competing then beating some of the top teams. Cushendall, Ballycran, Ballygalget, drawing with the Castle and Dunloy beating the Johnnies and Rossa. we didn't bring the level down we went on to match that level.

we tried every game skull and any of the hurlers that played with me give div 1 respect.

the same thing will happen with Down, the Crans the Ports and B,galget will still keep their levels high but the other teams will bring their standards closer. it wont happen over night but ten Antrim teams in div 1 and say 8 Down teams in their own county will develop hurling. it wont happen over night but sure nothing ever does.

its fair to say currently that we aren't happy as things stand, lets change it

[theskull1]

  .....it's just his tongue is so hamely

Milltown where you did indeed compete rightly in div1 when youse got in it was mostly you're excellent workrate rather than the standard of your stickwork (several exceptions excluded) that ground out some good performance for you in those early years. Would you agree?

Then two years ago from what I saw, both the workrate and the quality were missing. Youse didn't look to be taking hurling seriously (for obvious reasons ...fball....and of course there were exceptions there to)

When we are talking about standards ....lets talk about the quality of stickwork

Bottom line is teams that don't practice their stickwork enough regardless of how fit they might be through training with footballers, will never get to the skill level required to really threaten teams that do (bar the odd result)

[johnneycool]

Skull pull your w.lly out of Johnny

I'm not after my own needs to be in div 1. it was a steep learning curve for us when we got into div 1. from taking hammering's at the start to actually competing then beating some of the top teams. Cushendall, Ballycran, Ballygalget, drawing with the Castle and Dunloy beating the Johnnies and Rossa. we didn't bring the level down we went on to match that level.

we tried every game skull and any of the hurlers that played with me give div 1 respect.

the same thing will happen with Down, the Crans the Ports and B,galget will still keep their levels high but the other teams will bring their standards closer. it wont happen over night but ten Antrim teams in div 1 and say 8 Down teams in their own county will develop hurling. it wont happen over night but sure nothing ever does.

its fair to say currently that we aren't happy as things stand, lets change it

didn't read that post the milltown before PM'ing you, but if the Down clubs were cut adrift and in so much as there is great strides being made by some clubs in Down they're still well short of the mark as our seconds strings are playing their seniors and in fairness that's as competitive as some currently are. There's a huge gulf between senior and reserve hurling. The more forward thinking clubs like Bredagh have already entered the Antrim leagues as they know only too well that they need a supply of good fixtures which they aren't currently getting in Down. Without the lifeblood of Div1 hurling in Antrim we'd be fucked. good and proper and that's why there's a serious onus on those league fixtures with all three senior clubs in Down.

Maybe a balance can be struck where there's a 10 team div1, playing each other once, after that phase the top 5 play each other again with the bottom 5 playing amongst each other as well or even bringing in the top few out of Div2 as well and this may reduce the hammerings that brought about the current legue format as well as give the developing teams a chance to bit themselves against the better teams. It'd certainly give all clubs something to play for right from the start.
Obviously I'd like to see the Down clubs in the mix.

My tongues fine and my arse is a no go zone for willy's

[milltown row]

.....it's just his tongue is so hamely

Milltown where you did indeed compete rightly in div1 when youse got in it was mostly you're excellent workrate rather than the standard of your stickwork (several exceptions excluded) that ground out some good performance for you in those early years. Would you agree?

Then two years ago from what I saw, both the workrate and the quality were missing. Youse didn't look to be taking hurling seriously (for obvious reasons ...fball....and of course there were exceptions there to)

When we are talking about standards ....lets talk about the quality of stickwork

Bottom line is teams that don't practice their stickwork enough regardless of how fit they might be through training with footballers, will never get to the skill level required to really threaten teams that do (bar the odd result)

I hope thats me your talking about

yes we had a higher work rate than most. but that was not intentional. boys were flat out with the footballers and we had one night stick work with a game at the weekend. not enough to compete. granted we need three nights a week leading up to championship. currently we have two and numbers are low at training because of the clash with the footballers.

the year Ballycastle had the motion of 10 teams one up one down motion we had gained 11 points FFS !!!!! we have never in our history had that many points in senior hurling. drew with yourselves (which i scored a blinding point)  beat Ballycran and beat other teams to get those points. had we have know at the start of that season............

that answers two years ago

but we'll carry on regardless. we've a push on for hurling at the minute from our under 8 up to minor and good men looking after them. plenty of passion and lads that have done the training courses.

[milltown row]

just got word for league fixtures this Sat. we are at Rossa. seems that the county want us to play some games. good call

[JamesH]

Well the cries for Tosh should be forgotten about after last nights showing in the Feis cup, when moved to FF he did scramble a kicked goal but up to that he was in midfield looking for loose ball as usual. He was marking Sean Delargy who ran riot and scored 1-4 all from play yes a week to late you will be thinking, but Tosh didn't want to know him. I fairness it was a drab match with hardly a tackle in it Ruairi Og won 1-18 to 1-10 and play Loughgiel on Friday night in Dunloy in the semi. i hope its more exciting, although it has to be better than watching footie on deferred coverage.

[milltown row]

Well the cries for Tosh should be forgotten about after last nights showing in the Feis cup, when moved to FF he did scramble a kicked goal but up to that he was in midfield looking for loose ball as usual. He was marking Sean Delargy who ran riot and scored 1-4 all from play yes a week to late you will be thinking, but Tosh didn't want to know him. I fairness it was a drab match with hardly a tackle in it Ruairi Og won 1-18 to 1-10 and play Loughgiel on Friday night in Dunloy in the semi. i hope its more exciting, although it has to be better than watching footie on deferred coverage.

it's a pity he didn't shoot that against Dublin

[Minder]

James H - Im sure the Cushendall players are heartened to have such a vociferous cheerleader on this board.

[girt_giggler]

Is senior reserve championship final tomorrow night??  Dunloy v Loughgiel?