Ulster Hurling Championship 2008

[Guillem2]

Antrim team named. Any word from the Down camp? They are keeping a v low profile.


1 Riain  Mac  Fhearaiigh Ryan  Mc Garry Mac Uilins
2 Arron Mac Grífin Arron Graffin Ruairi Og
3 Seamus Mac Thaig James Mc Keague Cuchullian
4 Sean Ó  Duílearga Sean Delargy Ruairi Og
5 Ciaran Mac Giolla Chearáin Ciaran Herron Caoimhin Ó Loingsigh
6 Carl  Mac  Aogáin Karl Mc Keegan Ruairi Og
7 Sean  Mac Cathmhaoil Johnny Campbell Na Seamroga
8 Carl Stiobhard Karl Stewart Naomh Gall
9 Eamon Mac Bloscaidh Eddie Mc Closkey Na  Seamroga
10 Micheal Mac Giolla Chearain Michael Herron Lamh Dhearg
11 Cormac  o  Donnaille Cormac  Donnelly Mac Uilins
12 Donal Mac Neachtain Donal Mc Naughton Ruairi Og
13 Padraiog  de Riseamann Paddy Richmond Cuchullains
14 Liam Mac Uait Liam  Watson Na  Seamroga
15 Pol   O  Siail Paul Shiels Cuchullains

[Minder]

I hear ex Antrim player Johhny Mc Intosh is helping train Down at present, and is getting £200 a session.......which is nice.

[Tony Baloney]

I'm shocked that John is accepting any money for this...

[Minder]

I'm shocked that John is accepting any money for this...

Aye he asked the Down board to just contribute to one of his nominated charities but they wouldnt hear of it.......

[johnneycool]

I hear ex Antrim player Johhny Mc Intosh is helping train Down at present, and is getting £200 a session.......which is nice.

Him and Justin McCarthy, where are Down getting the spondulocs from??

[Lecale2]

Anybody else going to this today? I haven't heard the Down team but I did hear we had some injury problems earlier in the week. Hopefully we'll see a better display than last year. That would be progress at least.

[Bacon]

Here is the Down team (probable) according to the Sunday Tribune!! Them boys may be a bit wrecked after the extra time last night but fair play to them for turning out for their county hurlers again today. That's the sort of spirit Down need to over come Antrim, even if most of them don't know which end of the hurley to hold.

Unbelievable. When they say don't believe everything you read in the papers this is why!

Ulster SHC final
Antrim v Down

Casement Park, 3.45

Referee G Devlin (Armagh)

An easily overlooked event after the easily overlooked semi-finals – the second of them scarcely looked at at all, indeed, due to its 8pm throw-in.

Down made heavy weather of seeing off London, who hit the same number of points but three goals fewer. Antrim, their defence wobbly, made heavy weather of seeing off Derry. Ten years ago an air of expectation surrounded provincial showdowns between today's pair. Not any longer.

Shorn of the presence of Neil McManus, Antrim need Cormac Donnelly, a full-back by trade, to show some aptitude for centre-forward and Liam Watson to keep his temper. Paul Branniff and Gareth Johnston constitute Down's biggest threat. It could be tighter than Antrim fans would like to believe.

Verdict Antrim

Antrim R McGarry; A Graffin, J McKeague, S Delargy; C Herron, K McKeegan, J Campbell; K Stewart, E McCloskey; M Herron, C Donnelly, D McNaughton; P Richmond, L Watson, P Shiels.

Down (probable) B McVeigh; C Murney, AN Other, L Howard; A Carr, L Doyle, D Rafferty; AN Other, J Lynch; J Fegan, R Murtagh, D Hughes; J Clarke, R Sexton, B Coulter.

Enda McEvoy

[Square Ball]

I hear ex Antrim player Johhny Mc Intosh is helping train Down at present, and is getting £200 a session.......which is nice.

Him and Justin McCarthy, where are Down getting the spondulocs from??

Saving money by buying dodgy diesel

[Lecale2]

5 point win for Antrim. Better than lat year from a Down point of view. Let's see how we go in the Christy Ring?

[johnneycool]

5 point win for Antrim. Better than lat year from a Down point of view. Let's see how we go in the Christy Ring?

A poor game which didn't seem to get going even given that the scoreline was reasonably close throughout.

From a Down viewpoint, no real outstanding performances from anyone but young Woods did well enough as did conor O'Prey when brought on to follow Paul Shields when he dropped deep early in the second half scoring three points from play. At least Jingo had a plan in place for a very obvious Antrim tactic unlike in recent years.

Murph coughed up his usual goal to Paddy Richmond by playing way out in front of him, if it works for you you're a great fella but if you get caught out then its good night irene. Wee Liams positional sense let him down way too often yesterday again. His cousin Gabriel was his lax self, playing tippy tappy hurling and would of been cleaned out if Mick Herron had his shooting boots on. Big Courtney did well when Antrim were pucking long with the wind in the first half and dominated Winker in the air but struggled more in the second half when the balls were played either side of him into the corners. He wasn't help by Ruairi McGrattan who was a busted flush 10 minutes into the second half, he wasn't fit enough for midfield yesterday, but he was direct enough when on the ball and when his race was run should of been called ashore. McGourty did reasonably well but in the same breath Ciaran Herron was probably the pick of the Antrim defence and got two points from play (I think!), so his man marking was suspect yet again. Dule was lively and only really threatened when moved into fullforward but he tries to do it all himself and was easily closed down at times. Eoin Clarke offered nothing again yesterday and his size will always mitigate against him especially on a team who're struggling to put in quality ball to their forwards. Jnigo should reassess his forwards and get another ball winner in there as they can't afford to be carrying too many light hurlers in the Christy Ring.

Antrim did just enough yesterday but they'll need to address a few issues of their own before Galway and Waterford come to town. Midfield was average enough, young Donnelly done nothing yesteray, Micko needs to work on his accuracy and the fullback line need to get a better understanding under dropping balls. Much work still ahead for Terence and Dominic.

In general the game lacked intensity and a fellow spectator blamed the Ref for not letting it flow and for blowing any form of physical contact, he might have a point as I'm no big fan of Gerry Devlin but if the referee was to let it go a bit Down would be sorely lacking in the physicality stakes with this bunch of players and Antrim would probably have won by more.
For the greater good I'd like to see more let go but as one ref pointed out to me before that the onus is as much on the players to accept greater physical contact without retaliating to prevent the game getting out of control. In Munster championship games more is let go and its just accepted by players and all as part of the game and the game is a better spectacle for it. It's a bit chicken and egg scenario but what do the rest of you think?

[Lecale2]

For the greater good I'd like to see more let go but as one ref pointed out to me before that the onus is as much on the players to accept greater physical contact without retaliating to prevent the game getting out of control. In Munster championship games more is let go and its just accepted by players and all as part of the game and the game is a better spectacle for it. It's a bit chicken and egg scenario but what do the rest of you think?

I'd agree 100% with that.

[groundlie]

So with this all taken into account do we think that letting the so called weaker counties into the ulster championship has helped?

[slow corner back]

We wont know the answer to this until we see how the weaker counties fare in the nicky rackard and christy ring. If they perform better than they have ie a win in the christy ring for either derry or down and a win in the rackard for donegal or monaghan then it has been a success if the uulster counties still continue to perform poorly the question marks will remain