Antrim Football Thread

[stiffler]

Well done Aghagallon, first ever minor championship for the club. League and championship double, great achievement.

[bannside]

Superb achievement for Aghagallon. Another small parish punching way above its weight. Congratulations.

[EOC1923]

Superb achievement for Aghagallon. Another small parish punching way above its
I am splitting hairs BS but I work with a guy from a neighbouring parish, its a big area with a large population. They are also doing serious work up there to get better.
Fully deserved title for Aghagallon defintely a coming force in Antrim football. Expect them to be in Antrims top 2-3 teams soon. Its inevitable.

[JimStynes]

Superb achievement for Aghagallon. Another small parish punching way above its
I am splitting hairs BS but I work with a guy from a neighbouring parish, its a big area with a large population. They are also doing serious work up there to get better.
Fully deserved title for Aghagallon defintely a coming force in Antrim football. Expect them to be in Antrims top 2-3 teams soon. Its inevitable.

Brilliant achievement by the lads today. Rewards all the great work being done over the years. In the terms of the population, we have about 250 primary school children and some go to Lurgan schools as well, so we are definitely getting bigger. The main advantage we have is our lads progress a lot when they start McCrory football with St. Ronan's. Between us and Clann Eireann we probably have had the most representatives on those school teams over the past 30 years. The challenge is now getting these lads through to senior.

[bannside]

The numbers are higher than I thought, but it's all about the hard work that's going on. Aghagallon building a conveyor belt of talent there, where Gaelic football is central to the community. Definitely looking for a seat at Antrim's top table


It's been a long road back to that level for St Paul's, that should also be given credit. It won't happen without serious work at club juvenile level.That's where success is built, nowhere else. There are no short cuts to success!

[Sportacus]

Two good teams. End to end.   Makes you wonder why the county minors were so  poor.

[Sportacus]

Fair enough. St Paul's are starting to put it together at underage and Aghagallon have had a pipeline going for last 6 or 7 years.  Both will only be good for Antrim.  Sad to see big clubs like St John's playing with amalgamations at minor.  If all clubs were going strong it would count for something.  And as someone said earlier, need more players in the county playing MacRory.  I'd still love to see a combined Belfast Colleges team. 

[EOC1923]

Two good teams. End to end.   Makes you wonder why the county minors were so  poor.

Dont like going in too hard on a volunteer, but they had a completely incompetent manager taking the Antrim minors. Out of his depth. Noticeable improvement incoming with Paul McErlane and Barry Burns taking over in 2022.

[bannside]

Club under 8/10/12. If that's being well done the rest will follow...and don't rely on anything at school or county. If by some miracle that happens, that's a bonus.

[ck]

Club under 8/10/12. If that's being well done the rest will follow...and don't rely on anything at school or county. If by some miracle that happens, that's a bonus.

Well said Bannside. The McRory cup theory is a red herring. Plenty of successful counties don't play in high level schools competitions. The work done in a players first 6-10 years of playing in his/her club is where it's at along with the quality of the coaching and the coaches and of course the family support. These are what make quality players, not the McRory Cup!

[Sportacus]

Lads you're very dismissive.  MacRory Cup football further improves players, there's very little doubt about that.  Very few players in Antrim get the opportunity.  That can't be a good thing.

[JimStynes]

Club under 8/10/12. If that's being well done the rest will follow...and don't rely on anything at school or county. If by some miracle that happens, that's a bonus.

It's all important and at that age you can get children interested and into the club. Good primary school football and regular games etc is vital. If children aren't playing games and not enjoying they tell soon quit and go find something else to do. However, in my opinion it's the schools football around the age of 15-18 that really elevates some players to the next level. They're playing with the best footballers around the local area and playing against some of the best players in Ulster on a regular basis. Some of those McCrory teams will have a better setup than most county minor teams and they're very difficult to get your place on the panel. Of course the club also needs to be doing their bit as well and providing good coaching on top of all this.

[Calm Down]

Forget MacRory cups etc lads if we can't get the basics right from U10 on

if the quality in the final yesterday was reflective of the best in Antrim then the future is far from bright

[Kickham csc]

Forget MacRory cups etc lads if we can't get the basics right from U10 on

if the quality in the final yesterday was reflective of the best in Antrim then the future is far from bright

If MAcRory Cup participation became a major target for Antrim, you don't focus on the MAcRory team at 16-18 age groups, it starts in first year in the school. It's a major effort to get a successful MacRory program up and running.

I went to Maghera,  from the very first PE class the teachers set out the ambition and standards that the school expected from the players in regards to football. We had a Maghera style and they started embedding that into the pupils.

The focus was not on winning at every year group, we went to win every match through the younger competitions but it wasn't the be all end all, but the approach and discipline and commitment was the primary focus.

MacRory was serious, at the expectations at this point was a minimum to get to the final, but we were driven to win.

Maghera also worked well with the local clubs, hosted primary school tournaments, teachers scouted local underage games making sure they hadn't missed a kid who is at the school.

It takes a serious effort to be successful

[bannside]

I have absolutely zero confidence in our county to put anything in place that resembles a meaningful approach to games development at county level. I mean zero. There are far too many barriers, finance, lack of know how, apathy, and hurling delegates amongst a CC who genuinely have no interest in football success whatsoever.

I spent a dozen years or more on this journey between underage squads (under 15 - 21) county development committees and going to Ulster council backed coaching initiatives (coach the coaches) and watched every other county make some kind of a genuine attempt, but not us.

Go into your club and make it happen at underage level. The younger the better. I can see what's happening in my own club, it gives outstanding confidence in the future. I truly can see a dozen county stars of the future coming through a progressive pipeline of development. It truly does the heart good to see it in action. But it's no good three or four clubs doing it. We need 20 clubs really upping their game with regard to juveniles.

As I say, anything else is a bonus, but do not be hanging around waiting on it.

The great St Galls team of the naughties started with a few men like Liam Stewart and Sean Mc Gourty and a couple of dozen under tens. From there to Croke Park. That's the model folks. In Antrim everything else is pie in the sky.

That St Galls team, and Cargin who always pushed them close, would put a dozen points on what Im seeing atm. We need to start all over again.