Antrim Hurling

[theskull1]

People who talk about something needing to be done should think about that statement before they say it

Are there any Sarsfields men on here who can tell us all what it felt like when they got into Div 1 a few years back and were totally out of their depth? Tankings help nobody.


Personally think the setup of the leagues are correct. Good compeditive matches in Div1 and a number of challengers at the top of Div 2.
Thought that some high profile fixtures should have been played at more appropriate times of the year
We played the dall last week in a totally meaningless league game
Still have to play LG
Now would playing those games earlier in the season not raise the profile of the leagues?

[NAG1]

Skull I have my opinions on it but was wanting to see what the wider views were on the issue.

Totally agree the bigger games need to be promoted and kept for a decent time of the year which are beneficial to the clubs playing and are attractive to people to come and watch.

[aontroim]

Didnt see much wrong with the leagues this season - those 'big games' you are referring to were originally supposed to have been played much earlier in the season - so what you are saying about playing them earlier must have been considered but due to whatever reason the clubs postponed them.

[theskull1]

Didnt see much wrong with the leagues this season - those 'big games' you are referring to were originally supposed to have been played much earlier in the season - so what you are saying about playing them earlier must have been considered but due to whatever reason the clubs postponed them.

Stag do's I'd say 

[Milltown Row2]

the leagues were fine, its the championships that need fixing. thats why we need to have the leagues incorporated into the championship.

With two up two down for relegation and promotion.

Sarsfields did take some hammering's but so did St Galls when we had a run at div one. But we learned over two years and managed to stay up and become competitive with established teams.

This was until the 'Towns' ideas of having 8 team leagues got us kicked out on score difference!!! I'm not bitter just looking forward to Ballycastle coming to Milltown row next year

[Two Hands FFS]

I thought division 1 was good this year. The majority of matches were played before the end of the championship which was very good. There wouldn't be a discussion over this if Glenariffe had got relegated. The best league we had in years & people want them changed. The only time fixtures really stopped was when the county played Carlow, Dublin & Cork in consecutive weeks I think(and the feis final was played after the Carlow match)

I see Jerry Wallis has quit Antrim which is a huge blow.

[clootfromthe21]

I see Jerry Wallis has quit Antrim which is a huge blow.

Ach shite. Where did you hear/read that, Two Hands??

[Two Hands FFS]

I see Jerry Wallis has quit Antrim which is a huge blow.

Ach shite. Where did you hear/read that, Two Hands??

Read it on hoganstand. Must have been in one of today's newspapers. Big blow to Dinny but you can't blame Wallis as it is a massive commitment.

[pdiddy]

People who talk about something needing to be done should think about that statement before they say it

Are there any Sarsfields men on here who can tell us all what it felt like when they got into Div 1 a few years back and were totally out of their depth? Tankings help nobody.


Personally think the setup of the leagues are correct. Good compeditive matches in Div1 and a number of challengers at the top of Div 2.
Thought that some high profile fixtures should have been played at more appropriate times of the year
We played the dall last week in a totally meaningless league game
Still have to play LG
Now would playing those games earlier in the season not raise the profile of the leagues?

Couldn't agree with you more Skull and as I've said on this forum previously the 3 games Dunloy didn't get to play prior to the Championship were Loughgiel, Cushendall and Ballycran.  These type of fixtures need to be given top billing for the leage to gain any credibility.

[NAG1]

So the league was great this year despite the 3 top teams not playing twice and the best team last year from the co Down not playing them either?

Something to me does not add up there?

Great league for those that survived or who had a few meaningless wins, I am talking about a total competitive league that runs like clockwork and everyone knows when it is happening etc

[Two Hands FFS]

They have been good, better than previous but changing them now would be a disaster. Sure a wee tweak could help but it's not easy to organise especially if you have dual clubs involved.

[johnneycool]

So the league was great this year despite the 3 top teams not playing twice and the best team last year from the co Down not playing them either?

Something to me does not add up there?

Great league for those that survived or who had a few meaningless wins, I am talking about a total competitive league that runs like clockwork and everyone knows when it is happening etc

Nobody said it was great but it certainly was better run off this year than previous years where you'd have fixtures right into November and sometimes beyond where more often than not one team or both have been knocked out of the championship and not training and the games are less than useless.
I don't know of the specifics of the Dunloy games bottleneck but I think they were the only ones with three or more games outstanding after the championship was run.

Trapsing up to Glenariffe or Ballycastle midweek certainly isn't ideal and I'm sure they'd say the same about coming down to us but there's no way you'll find 14 free sundays in a given year to run it off like clockwork.

[Milltown Row2]

The leagues need to be competitive, played with intensity and a purpose come the championship, be it going directly to the 1/4 finals or semi final if your a top 4 finish in the league and if you lose in round one you're relegated (this being that teams playing in round one will be at the lower end of the league)

Club players are at fault sometimes also and the county can't take the blame all the time . Players don't seem to be interested in playing meaningless league games and so the standard drops. Its time we tried something new. As long as Ballycastle play div 2 next year that is

[theskull1]

So the league was great this year despite the 3 top teams not playing twice and the best team last year from the co Down not playing them either?

Something to me does not add up there?

I made two very seperate statements NAG which do not contridict other. Me thinks you've got the blinkers on at the minute. 

[Fairhead]

This debate over league structures is not a new one. It raises its head regularly becasue in Antrim we simply do not have enough senior clubs. Over the last 30 or so years there has been more or less 6 consistently senior clubs, B'castle, C'dall, Dunloy, L'giel, Rossa and St Johns. At various stages other clubs have stepped up for periods. At the minute you have G'riffe, before them there was C'dun, St Galls and Lamh Dearg. You have also had Gort na Mona, Sarsfields and St Pauls at different times. Until you get 3 or 4 of these clubs "turned" in to senior clubs over a sustained period we are always going to have challenges with our league structures and championship.

One thing for sure the Antrim leagues need the Down teams and i got annoyed this year when i heard or read people say we cant have a Div 1 with no Belfast teams in it (and you can add Ballycastle in to that bracket next year) but yet there are 3 Down teams. The Antrim teams, North and South, need to get their own house in order first and foremost and forget about getting rid of the Ards teams.

As for Div 1 this year i thought it was very competitive and fair play to the County and the clubs for having it done and dusted by mid September. However the downside of that is means a lot more mid week games which probably has an effect on gates which are vital to clubs but there are just not enough free "summer" Sunday's in the year to get games played. Remember the reason we all used to go to club games on Sundays (well those of us old enough to remember them) was that up until 1989 there was no Ulster Championship. Then from the mid 90's you had the advent of the Back door and then a qualifer system and now a Christy Ring Cup in the mix too. Unless there is a drastic cut back in inter county competitions we won't see many Sunday afternoon club games in the future.