Antrim Football Thread

[SaffronHeart]

Well lads what did you make of that? Grim enough a draw was just about fair eventhough the ref did us no favours. I was dismayed at the lack of quality we had on the bench with the exception of the boys who came on, they were the only number of subs the management could make. Could possibly have seen sweeney earlier and mc bride made a difference. Very impressed with Eoin Gallagher. Promotion a long shot

[Dreen]

Saffron heart, how do you judge the quality of the players on the bench who didn't get on?

[Catch and Kick]

Back to the drawing board... there isn't any point in talking about absentees; I think there has been too much focus on MIA's instead of the players playing. In the Irish News preview, half the interview with Frank was about players who aren't playing!
Build belief in those who are lining out. And there is plenty of quality in the team but not today.
Antrim were outplayed in the middle of the park yet kicked every kick out long. Carlow varied theirs and won 90% of them.
I expected a good return from that forward line but they couldn't get space.
Owen Gallagher was our stand out player by a mile.
Some of the tackling was silly and, contrary to talk, the cards were deserved. Stupid stuff like stopping runners.

Think of it as a point gained and a shot across the bow - Antrim are in no position to take anyone for granted. Promotion is going to be there for 4/5 teams as they will take points off each other.

[SaffronHeart]

Dreen I am referring to the fact that the rest (who didnt get on) are untested and to my view could not have impacted positively on the game. Really need to sort the Kickouts we got cleaned out in breaking ball today. Thought Mc Veigh was not at the races today and Hasson wasnt any better. Why not move C.Murray to midfield next week as didnt do too much from half forward. Mick Mc Cann will be a great boost needed back ASAP and feel Delargy is worth a start or a place on the panel next week both proven performers. Just suggestions obviously the management know better than I do, just disappointing not being able to win primary possession especially at home. Carlow won nearly every kickout

[brendanbelfast]

Gallagher was really good today, was through for a second goal effort when he was tripped, leading to the Carlow black card. Laverty was good, Pollock good especially first half. Chris Kerr back in goals is a plus, he made a couple of v important saves - though the kickouts should surely be mixed up?

Our first black card was a wrong decision, given after Ryan Murray exacted a bit of revenge following a bad foul on him. But it was neither a trip nor a pull down - it was a yellow card offence if anything.

CJ was quieter than in McKenna Cup, lay in deep the whole time and didn't get much service. A big man in FF may be better option, Hasson? Mick McCann?

All in all - probably a fair result. Some Antrim teams of the recent past would have folded under that late Carlow onslaught - hell, last years team did fold under a late Carlow onslaught.

Small steps, and thats what its going to take.

[SaffronHeart]

How did the Full Forward line do today?

Thought Pollock took some good scores and showed well although would question him taking long distance frees, thought CJ was very quiet  and more expected next week and Ryan Murray showed well until his black card although could have played CJ in for a goal and shot wide

[Dreen]

Fair enough Heart but to to be dismayed at Antrims lack of depth to me is strange. I judge Antrim players personally on how I've seen them perform in person in club football or has to how dangerous they are against my own team.  Draw not the result everyone wanted today but have to draw from the positives I wasn't at the game myself but heard Gallagher was very good, away day next will be crucial for the promotion hopes.

[SaffronHeart]

Well lads what's the verdict for the weekend. I think we have a team capable of taking the points we can hurt teams when we run at them as Gallagher did on sunday. Must win game in the promotion stakes

[Peileadoir]

Very little comment on the Saffrons most recent defeat in Div 4. Is this a sign of the apathy that exists now in the county. I for one am totally dejected and do not see any light on the horizon. As far as I can see there are just not the players within the county and Micky Harte, Joe Kernan or Jim Gavin would not be able to turn the fortunes around.
Why do we not have enough good players? It boils down to one main reason. Antrim was the only county in Ulster who did not have a single school playing in this years MacRory Cup. Think about it THE ONLY COUNTY. Therefore if our young players are not accustomed to playing 'A'-colleges level between the ages of 12-18 then they are not used to playing at the intense level that all other players form other counties are. This a as an absolute scandal and while  many of the schools such as St. Mary's, Malachy's, Rathmore, St. Louis' must take a lot of the blame most of the blame has to lie with the county board. This would not be tolerated by the county boards in Tyrone, Derry, Down, etc The current office bearers in the County Executive have totally ignored our schools and they may argue that it is not up to them to develop GAA in these schools but IT IS. They should be working with the principals in these schools in order to put coaches into these schools and if they say they don't have the money to do this they should have the strategic vision to bring in sponsorship from business people which will enable them to do this. This is what the lead people on an organisation are meant to do ie  LEAD.
Our County Board are a joke. What progress have they made in relation to improving Gaelic football standards in our school? It's not as if they were starting from a high baseline.
Anyone else have an opinion?

[GNM]

Why should those schools take the blame? Surely the schools that do not play at that level (maclarnon mostly) are more of a problem

[CSC]

I wouldn't be as harsh as to blame the Antrim schools for the fact that we are and have been in such a bad way with the exception of our Ulster run (when we beat a terrible Donegal and a terrible Cavan).

Its more of a holistic problem from coaching, lack of tradition, lack of success, poor administration, lack of clubs being competitive st the very top etc. The school scene is part of that jigsaw without a doubt but hardly the biggest culprits.

St Mary's are a hurling school. Rathmore hasn't any tradition. St Malachy's of late havent had much GAA interest not at the top level anyway and the rest of the schools wouldn't have either the numbers of the GAA interest.

Maghera was formed in '64 and within 10 years had built up a tradition of excellence for Gaelic games. Many in Derry point to St Pat's as one of the main reasons why Derry football improved, as the school helped develop players from the North (Dungivin, Banagher, Ballerin, Glenullin) and teams from the south (Glen, Swatragh, S'neil, Lavey, Bellaghy, Castledawson, Newbridge, Ballinscreen, Greenlough)

This was lead directly by the school, but the power of schools football is immense

[CSC]

I understand that but it is much easier for schools to tap into rural communitiew with already strong GAA clubs than it would be for Urban schools with largely weaker GAA resources to pull from.

The big thing is to work hard at creating a tradition within the school and then driving on erformance.

I joined St Pat's in the 80's, at that time the top colleges would have been St Pat's, Colmans, Abbey and  St Mary's CBS Belfast. But St Mary's slipped down until they went into B football. St Mary's are a sleeping giant waiting to wake up, somebody just needs to nudge the gaint

[Gold]

The likes of Rathmore and St Malachy's would struggle to get 15 boys in each school year who even play for a club team. That's a major problem when you consider the likes of St Colmans probably have close to 100 boys in each year who play for a club.

St Marys have the numbers to compete year on year. The players need to be coached to A Standard from 1st year.

Tradition is a major issue. Take the likes of St Michaels Eniskillen. Boys go there in 1st yr with a dream of one day making the McCrory team.
Boys who play for that McCrory team get all the best looking girls, they are like American college players. If a boy played for a McCrory team here no girl would know what it is or give a flying fcuk.

Its the same with our County team. You get no kudos for playing for them. Play for Tyrone and its totally different.

Theres a serious apathy and lack of support for our County teams. We never cheer when our team runs out on the field, we are just silent and criticise more than support. We are total bandwagon fair weather supporters as was shown in Ulster Final etc. But we need a good team to get the crowds out. Hence we need schools competing at A Level.

Take Tyrone, they have boys competing for Omagh CBS, Pats Dungannon etc plus good Vocational Schools teams. They only have 2 arms and 2 legs too. But we need to instill a drive in kids from early on (11/12) that this is the level they should aspire to get to. As there's v little tradition they don't (whereas say in a house in Maghera you may be brought up on stories of your da, uncle and cousins having 3 McCrory medals and therefore be busting to get to that level).

[Gizzy15]

The likes of Rathmore and St Malachy's would struggle to get 15 boys in each school year who even play for a club team. That's a major problem when you consider the likes of St Colmans probably have close to 100 boys in each year who play for a club.

St Marys have the numbers to compete year on year. The players need to be coached to A Standard from 1st year.

Tradition is a major issue. Take the likes of St Michaels Eniskillen. Boys go there in 1st yr with a dream of one day making the McCrory team.
Boys who play for that McCrory team get all the best looking girls, they are like American college players. If a boy played for a McCrory team here no girl would know what it is or give a flying fcuk.

Its the same with our County team. You get no kudos for playing for them. Play for Tyrone and its totally different.

Theres a serious apathy and lack of support for our County teams. We never cheer when our team runs out on the field, we are just silent and criticise more than support. We are total bandwagon fair weather supporters as was shown in Ulster Final etc. But we need a good team to get the crowds out. Hence we need schools competing at A Level.

Take Tyrone, they have boys competing for Omagh CBS, Pats Dungannon etc plus good Vocational Schools teams. They only have 2 arms and 2 legs too. But we need to instill a drive in kids from early on (11/12) that this is the level they should aspire to get to. As there's v little tradition they don't (whereas say in a house in Maghera you may be brought up on stories of your da, uncle and cousins having 3 McCrory medals and therefore be busting to get to that level).

I agree with this post about 90%. I feel the problem stems from an earlier age though. the primary school sector at the minute has a very poor attiude towards sports (inc Extra curricular) esp Gaelic and Hurling. with exception of the odd school with a Cumann na mBunscol rep driving things forward. the appetite and love for the game has to be embedded at this stage in order for the child to grow into that player at mcCrory level. Most of the Children don't play Gaelic because they are at St Colmans etc they go there with the intention of playing as with St Pat's St Kierans Kilkenny and all the other great Schools. Many schools now have no one with any interest in Gaelic games and therefor the work is not done. even sending a county coach in half hour a week for say 10 weeks and then the teacher not capatilising on it will have little or no impact.

The only way I can see it getting better is both the county and clubs working together on a real capacity to link clubs with schools on a full time basis and working with the schools on a long term plan for development. how this works im not entirely sure but it could at least be looked at. the Antrim development officer tried to get this model going about 6 years ago but most clubs didn't even pay lip service with the bigger clubs cherry picking from some schools and leaving schools they were assigned to wallow if there was no obvious talent.

If more and more kids come out of primary schools with a love for the game and a better skill set it will be easier for the post primary schools to provide teams and play at a higher level. the county could also help by having county fun days in schools using county players to go in and tell the kids what they do and provide magazines and posters so the children can better relate to them (Saffron Og springs to mind). you would be surprised how something which seems so insignificant to us can change the thinking of a child.

just my opinion.

[imtommygunn]

There are definitely country clubs who send people into the primary schools once a week. They get people to do this who work shifts etc. I know at least a couple.

Whether this happens so much in the city I'm not sure.