Antrim Hurling

[wino]

Well said jamesh apart from the dual clubs - not a lot wrong with the leagues. Maybe a bit more effort into playing the likes of lgiel and dunloy at a reasonable time of year. We missed a good gate because it wasn't played.  Compared with other years it was very good

[JamesH]

In fairness Wino Cushendall had played Loughgiel twice and Dunloy once by the start of July, and would have played Dunloy in July but it was moved due to a county fixture. I would say Both loughgiel/Dunloy are and have been avoiding the fixture to save any hassle which while not right , i can understand. Our best match was down in the Ards against Ballycran on a  Tuesday night, they were flying at the time and we had 25 players that night more than any other fixture since. What I'm saying is we had to travel out of North Antrim only once midweek it was a lot of organising at time but was a big success as the match was of the highest quality( won By 3), so the league was great. Add in the Johnnies its possibly another trip which wouldn't be a problem for most as half the players from each club either study or work in Belfast

[theskull1]

General concensus is that the league this past few years have been a success

I think milltowns suggestion of second bottom playing off with second place is one worth considering. Rossa for instance may have held their season together better after the championship if they knew they had such a fixture coming in at the end of the season. Anything that can make every training session and game worth something has to seen as a positive move for the game

[johnneycool]

General concensus is that the league this past few years have been a success

I think milltowns suggestion of second bottom playing off with second place is one worth considering. Rossa for instance may have held their season together better after the championship if they knew they had such a fixture coming in at the end of the season. Anything that can make every training session and game worth something has to seen as a positive move for the game

I'd be in agreement with that as well, but I think his league positions having a bearing on championship positions may also be worth considering but us Down hoors spoil that party a bit!

[imtommygunn]

Anyone know if Cloghmills won?

[CountyGK]

Anyone know if Cloghmills won?

Lost by 2 points

[imtommygunn]

Lost by 2 points

Cheers.

Pity - two years in a row antrim clubs beat in tight junior finals.

[Sleeping giant]

well here we are, at start of year who would of said loughgiel shamrocks would be antrim and ulster champions,  beat dunloy handy, edged c,dall in a hard game which the backs on both sides were exceptional. beat two bad sides in ulster semi and final, now sitting in an all Ireland semi final, they will prob break for a month or six weeks, and give who ever wins leinster a right game,  who knows, the sleeping giants might have finally awakened

[imtommygunn]

Any reports on the Loughgiel game today?

Loughgiel to me have better forwards than Cushendall and players like Watson etc can put teams away. Cushendall may have been run close by Ballygalget / Dungiven over the last few years but if they'd put away their chances the games wouldn't have been tight at all. With that being said I expected Loughgiel to win ulster without too much hassle. Portaferry may have given them a run mind...

[johnneycool]

Any reports on the Loughgiel game today?

Loughgiel to me have better forwards than Cushendall and players like Watson etc can put teams away. Cushendall may have been run close by Ballygalget / Dungiven over the last few years but if they'd put away their chances the games wouldn't have been tight at all. With that being said I expected Loughgiel to win ulster without too much hassle. Portaferry may have given them a run mind...

Pretty random choice there! Why not Ballycastle?

Was there a bit of bad blood between Keady and the Bodies yesterday?

[NAG1]

Was not at the match yesterday but it is obvious that Keady are not up to this standard yet.

[imtommygunn]

Any reports on the Loughgiel game today?

Loughgiel to me have better forwards than Cushendall and players like Watson etc can put teams away. Cushendall may have been run close by Ballygalget / Dungiven over the last few years but if they'd put away their chances the games wouldn't have been tight at all. With that being said I expected Loughgiel to win ulster without too much hassle. Portaferry may have given them a run mind...

Pretty random choice there! Why not Ballycastle?

Was there a bit of bad blood between Keady and the Bodies yesterday?

Talking Down clubs JC. The stories I heard were that Balygalget not the best team in Down and hard to explain how they won the down championship. Portaferry rumoured to be the best. Derry teams obviously not up to it so the assumption would be that the best Down team, on paper, may give Loughgiel a game.

Anyway, not important and not having a go at Ballygalget. Well done the bodies.

[johnneycool]

Portaferry rumoured to be the best

And there lies Portaferry's biggest problem, if they half as good as they thought they were then they wouldn't be staring into their fifth year without a Down championship.

IMO we're currently not a good team but we're improving and lack strength in depth which told against Loughgeil with too many injuries leaving us weak on the pitch and nothing on the bench.

[clootfromthe21]

Was there a bit of bad blood between Keady and the Bodies yesterday?

Watson was the recipient of a lot of attention from the Keady backs from the start, mostly while the ball was at the other end of the field. To his credit, Watson didn't really react  - I would guess he was giving plenty of verbals back but did not get drawn into anything further.

As a result, it seemed that Loughgiel were not very inclined to take their foot off the pedal as they pulled away through the second half.

[clootfromthe21]

Lost by 2 points

Cheers.

Pity - two years in a row antrim clubs beat in tight junior finals.

Cloughmills had a chance to level it going into injury time, missed it and the other side went down the field for the final point. To be honest, it would have been a bit of an injustice to Inniskeen if Cmills had managed to snipe a draw or even a win - they played the better hurling over the 60 minutes.

Too many of Cloughmills' main players either didn't have (or mayble weren't let have) good games - they can be very dependent on Smiley, Laverty, Smith, Devlin and Kearns and can struggle a little when some or all of them have off games. Furthermore, all of the above are very young and, with the exception of Smiley, slightly built. Cmills struggled under both puc outs, which put their defense under a fair degree of pressure.

On a side note (and it certainly didn't affect the outcome), I thought the ref was a bit over officious and could easily have let the game go a bit more.