Antrim Hurling

[NAG1]

Fairhead, I agree completely but then as soon as he comes on the tv or in the papers he lets himself down by coming off with ridiculous statements.

Very few managers would and maybe he is doing it behind closed doors but maybe would be refreshing to come out and call a spade a spade after a second half performance like that. That goes for all managers not just Dinny.

[DearyMe]

Any reports on last nights games?

Easy for the town?

Lamhs gettin into stride now?

Might head to Rossa tonight!

[Milltown Row2]

Any reports on last nights games?

Easy for the town?

Lamhs gettin into stride now?

Might head to Rossa tonight!

We were pushed all the way by a determinded Shane O'Neill's last night. First time in ages that it hadn't rained, but the result keeps us top and we should avoid the drop into division 3.

Ballcastle knocking up big scores so I'd say they are big favourites to head back to division 1.

Rossa seem to have got their act together and should push on up the table and maybe even push for promotion, having already beat Ballycastle by 9

[theskull1]

They'll be kicking themselves for that bad start

[north_antrim_hound]

Just not liking the excuse culture which DC is cultivating - can we have a check on how many different excuses that we have heard for the weekend so far...

answers on a post card please

I don't think i would go so far to say Dinny was cultivating an excuse culture after the Wexford match. I thought on tv he just looked in a state of shock and confusion after watching the 2nd half so i wouldnt pay much attention to what he said then. Wexford maybe stepped it up a notch in the 2nd half with the benefit of Div 1 experience this year and maybe this thing of not putting in an effort in to the League is not good for Antrim but who can be sure.

Having seen Antrim this and last year i think Dinny is trying to get the players to play a more intelligent way by looking for men in the forwards and playing ball in to space. However as a few others have said here this way of playing needs to be brought in to underage develpoment squads so that by the time the players get to the senior county squad they are used to playing this way. This will take time and good underage coaching.

As for this thing about picking more players from Div 1 clubs, nonsense. Any county manager will pick the 15 players that make the best team in his opinion, not necessarily the best 15 club players. As like any other Antrim manager Dinny is trying to pick his best squad from limited resources and overall in his two spells in charge to date i think hes done a good job.

agree with all the above accept one thing regarding wexford going up a gear. they only started to excel when they went 7 or 8 points up and sensed antrim heads starting to drop. prior to this they didn't look comfortable at all. once we missed two early frees the antrim players seem to regress. they where standing off their men second to ball compared to first half. I genuinely felt at half time that this was a real opportunity to take a big scalp for the first time in years.(last year against Dublin excluded).

agree that Dinny and the rest of the management has done a good job with the players available. until the second half on sunday there seem to be some mental steel about them that wasn't there before. I suppose considering there age they are very much a work in progress. as for the better players not on the panel and what clubs they play for debate, bit of a pointless argument as the said possibles probably have been approached and declined.

[imtommygunn]

While Dinny may go a bit mad sometimes when interviewed he has done wonders with us. Compare the Dublin game 2 years ago to the Dublin game last year - he just seems to be able to get us to compete better with the southern opposition. Without Cahill we would have been destroyed by Carlow last year.

Realistically the players we have at the minute aren't the best we have had but they are still doing well. I was very disappointed with the Wexford result and more that there seemed to be a capitulation so obviously that was a disappointment but all in all we're definitely in a much better position with Cahill at the helm.

[BlackandAmber]

Any reports on last nights games?

Easy for the town?

Lamhs gettin into stride now?

Might head to Rossa tonight!

We were pushed all the way by a determinded Shane O'Neill's last night. First time in ages that it hadn't rained, but the result keeps us top and we should avoid the drop into division 3.

Ballcastle knocking up big scores so I'd say they are big favourites to head back to division 1.

Rossa seem to have got their act together and should push on up the table and maybe even push for promotion, having already beat Ballycastle by 9

Are you bigging up the Town before next week MR? 

The Town's scored 111 pts from 5 games (average just under 23).  St Galls have 95 from 5 (average 19).  That's not a big difference.

And from what I hear Clooney Gaels might think they were a bit unlucky to get beat by so much.  The Town played the first half with a very strong wind and built up a big lead.  The wind disappeared in the second half.

Should be a good game.

[Milltown Row2]

We have nearly a new team, a lot of players have retired and some minors have come in. Positional changes also on the team which will take sometime to adopt. Would have prefered the castle at home on a wed night, but we will try our best to gather up a team to head down next week

[BlackandAmber]

We have nearly a new team, a lot of players have retired and some minors have come in. Positional changes also on the team which will take sometime to adopt. Would have prefered the castle at home on a wed night, but we will try our best to gather up a team to head down next week

The Town's in sort of the same position with a lot of young players. They haven't fielded their strongest 15 any time this season in fact they haven't even fielded the same 15 twice this season with players missing for one reason or another so they're just trying to stay in touch til they get a settled team and hopefully still be in with a chance of going up.

[the colonel]

Westmeath in the Qualifiers on 18th June, Carlow for the winners. Good draw.

[Milltown Row2]

I hope it is, Westmeath put up a great match against Galway and will play us with their tails up.

We should win both games, will this get us into the Quarter finals?

[Glensman]

I hope it is, Westmeath put up a great match against Galway and will play us with their tails up.

We should win both games, will this get us into the Quarter finals?

I don't think that will get us to the 1/4s.

We win both those games (which I do not think at this stage is a "could" rather a "should" - we would not score that much v Galway) we are through to play a losing semi finalist from the Munster/Leinster Championship.

We've got to:
1.  Win preliminary (Westmeath)
2.  Win Phase I (Carlow)
3.  Win Phase III (v winner from two semi finals of the Munster/Leinster Championships)
THEN we're in the 1/4 final.
At least that's my reading of it.

http://www.gaa.ie/fixtures-and-results/national-fixtures/gaa-hurling-all-ireland-senior-championship/

[DearyMe]

What happened in Glenarm yesterday?

Felt sure Rossa would take points off Shane O Neills. Perhaps better than i thought!

Hear Galls had another good win, few fellas playin nobody knows???

Any light on this MR2?

[Milltown Row2]

Doing enough to not get relegated thats all dearyme.

Lot of new kids involved on the team and training two nights a week. Nothing special and  the acid test will be on Wed night up in Ballycastle!!

To be fair to Shane O'Neills they could have beat us last week only for us getting a goal late on to ensure victory. decent wee team

[NAG1]

So what will the story be with the league games, now that we have got a favourable draw in the Qualifiers. I would imagine it could be the end of the month before any league games are played? Anyone hear?