Antrim Hurling

[the colonel]

It'll be in Casement surely! Is the Football final scheduled the same day?

[Milltown Row2]

has been in the past (same day finals) but i reckon it may be different. We don't play the Johnnies till the 11th i think and thats the quarter final!!! your talking first week in November i think!!

that really is a long time, good if Cushendall have some injury concerns or getting boys fit. as i said before harder for Loughgiel. if the final was next week i'd say they would win it. I must check the odds on this one

[Heaneys Wish]

Watched both semis, thank god I didn't have to pay in. Cushendal v ballycastle was poor and the conditions and light was also. Both teams struggled to get any flow and the Ref looked a bit like "Sludden", i.e. a carrying 2 stone extra and not able to keep up with play! Seemed quite arrogant and shouted a lot at the players and blew a lot for menial challenges without taking conditions into account. Cushendal need to up the tempo and spread the play, struggled to find any momentum and wiil need to do their homework if they are to progress from Antrim.

Last nights game had a bit of bite to it, Dunloy looked tired and Loughguil definitely had a game plan, that boy Watson is some operator, freedom of the forward line and drew two/three men with him in doing so, scored a magnificent point Midway through the second half. On the referee, he blew what I can only assume was for delaying the puck out one time, bit strange to say the least, caught the incident near the end perfectly and gave just deserts, and seemed consistent on the overcarrying for both sides and stayed out of it which is good to see for a change. Physical encounter to say the least, great atmosphere and Loughguil will be hard to beat.

As far as Ulster is concerned, I feel the Down winners may actually surprise everyone.

[Milltown Row2]

Both teams are 5/6 for the final.

[johnneycool]

As far as Ulster is concerned, I feel the Down winners may actually surprise everyone.

Surprise wouldn't be the word I had in mind. Shock might be a better fit.

The three senior teams in Down are mediocre at best with Ballycran being the pick of them.

[the colonel]

Who started in goals yesterday for the loughgiel

[pdiddy]

DD was in goal for Loughgiel.  Fantastic save 10 minutes into 2nd half when Dunloy looked to be gaining the upper hand.  Some good catches in the 1st half also.  Best in the County as far as I'm concerned.

[thehurler]

Well the dunloy posters must be taking the bank holiday off and getting a dose of reality , i knew it would be easy and the scoreline actually flatters Dunloy , now they can concentrate on Celtic their great soccer team.
They didn't finish with 15 surprise surprise ! It is just great to see the chickens come home to roost .
I am very keen to hear from Dunloy posters .Maybe they were missing a lot of players and we'll hear the rubb ish about great learning experience for our younger ones etc.. but if we had  A B C we'd have won  yawn yawn..........

[aontroim]

has been in the past (same day finals) but i reckon it may be different. We don't play the Johnnies till the 11th i think and thats the quarter final!!! your talking first week in November i think!!

that really is a long time, good if Cushendall have some injury concerns or getting boys fit. as i said before harder for Loughgiel. if the final was next week i'd say they would win it. I must check the odds on this one

Thats a Semi-Final MR - try to keep up with your bogballers progress    Finals will probably be first weekend in Octoberl as a double header.

[johnneycool]

Well the dunloy posters must be taking the bank holiday off and getting a dose of reality , i knew it would be easy and the scoreline actually flatters Dunloy , now they can concentrate on Celtic their great soccer team.
They didn't finish with 15 surprise surprise ! It is just great to see the chickens come home to roost .
I am very keen to hear from Dunloy posters .Maybe they were missing a lot of players and we'll hear the rubb ish about great learning experience for our younger ones etc.. but if we had  A B C we'd have won  yawn yawn..........

Can anyone with a bit of wit muster up something like a match report?

[NAG1]

JC pretty poor match.

Breeze blowing stong in Ballycastle as per usual. First half was nip tuck with Dunloy looking threatening enough playing into the breeze. Coming up to half time Loughgiel put a bit of a spurt on reeled off 3 points unanswered. Ally Elliott got injured and had to go off disrupted them a bit by the look of it. Loughgiel had a strong second quarter of the half all over.

Second half never really got going, Dunloy will rue the missed frees not sure but think it could have up around 6-7 inside the 70 yard line. Loughgiel worked hard packed the defence and that and a combination of sloppy poor play from dunloy meant there was no road back for them.

Overall quality very poor and little bite in the match, sending off came late in the game and had no real effect on the outcome except maybe to open dunloy up for the last few scores. Loughgiel didnt play particularly well but then they didnt need to as Dunloy didnt show up.

[maxpower]

Gutted....

very, very disappointing performance from Dunloy on Sunday and fair play to Loughgiel the best team won, while i couldn't ever hope they win a championship if they do go onto to win it they will have earned it.

Our record against Loughgiel is poor in the last few years with only really a feis cup final win (that was scarcely deserved) since the county final of 2007 and it something we will need to look at, unfortunately we've a long winter ahead to do just that.

The game itself was lost in the 10 minutes either side of half time, we had been fairly competitive in the 'first half of the first half' and were level at three points a piece having missed a few chances and looked the more likely to get a goal.  Indeed from a long way away it appeared Paddy Richmond was being held in the box having made a fantastic catch, perhaps a 50/50 call, last year we got them on Sunday we didn't.

The half swung on a brilliant point by Winker, on his own 45 when he struck it.  This raised the tempo and the Shamrocks reeled of a further 4/5 unanswered points before the half while our woes in front of the posts continued.

The first 10 Min's of the second half we were well on top, James McKeague who had an excellent game driving Dunloy on, however Loughigel opening the scoring from a free to go 7 up, we brought the game back to 4 points with 20 Min's to go and a strong wind at our back, however crucially we missed 4 Free's, a couple of goal chances/half chances and wasted a few decent possessions.  This gave Loughgiel the belief they needed to go on a finish the game out comfortable and deserving winners.

For Dunloy James McKeague was very good and Kevin Molloy excellent in marking Winker, forcing way out the field to get any possession but bar that we left our true form in the training field

Loughgiel put in a serious team performance, very sticky at the back, good in midfield and kept chipping away with scores upfront.

[theskull1]

I'd agree with that NAG. We didn't show up. It's not the first bad day out we've had in Ballycastle in recent years    (Not a nice place to watch a match)

Poor game. Physical enough but lacked any real depth of quality. LG were the more composed team throughout though. They also looked far more displined in the exchanges than I've seen them so I think they've learned a bit this year from jim I mean babs  . Everything we done looked forced. We had all the chances to bring ourselves back into the game but lacked the composure up front to make the difference. Some good performances from LG, Barney and Eddie McC especially. It's a 50/50 final. I reckon the dall will take great heart having graffin and shane back for the final as it gives them far better options up front. Surprisingly they will most likely go in as underdogs and that will suit them fine.

[thehurler]

Well put Dunloy posters - I like your grace in defeat.
I will now leave Dunloy alone but one point is Maxpower in soccer ( the game lots in Dunloy follow Celtic etc.) it is called the box in hurling it is the square , small point but I don't like hurling people refer to it as the box, it is the square.
Now my sights are on Cushendall and I could write a book on the antics there.
2010 the year of the shamrocks continues with amazing things to come ...............

[johnneycool]

The night they were down with us Digger was fullback and Jonny Campbell was centre three quarters, niether was really tested that night, did Babs stick with that or was campbell back in at centre back?


If the final isn't until the first week in October why the rush to play off the semi-finals?

Surely it'd have been better to tip away and get the league finished off and then get the semi-finals played mid september.