Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Maghera win both hurling and football and they're not a hurling county.

S'niel would have something to say about that for 5/6 years

Derry do extremely well at school under age, no commitment after leaving school for hurling at county

Maghera were winning long before Sneil were winning. I'd say it's more to do with the ethos of the school and attitude towards sport.

Again like i said after they leave school they concentrate on football, there is generally one good team in Derry, Lavey, Dungiven, now S'niel. The rest wouldn't be over concerned as football at clubs will always be king.

[Saffrongael]

Maghera win both hurling and football and they're not a hurling county.

S'niel would have something to say about that for 5/6 years

Derry do extremely well at school under age, no commitment after leaving school for hurling at county

Maghera were winning long before Sneil were winning. I'd say it's more to do with the ethos of the school and attitude towards sport.

Ethos & catchment (as with any school)

[whatwillbwillb]

Apart from all the issues that have mentioned in relation to Schools/Teachers the other big elephant in the room is COIN! You can go and get anything from 7k- 40k for a season committing to a club these days, why would you stay after school when you can command these sums either as a manager or member of a back room team! Our association has created a rod for our own back.

[bannside]

There's no doubt that is a valid point WWB but the four mentors involved in the McRory cup final are all deeply involved in club teams too.

JMK is not only manager at Casements seniors but is highly involved in our clubs juvenile development programme, and will be out three slots a week with our under 11s. And not charging a penny despite fact he could be earning good coin elsewhere. Peter Canavan has massive committments elsewhere too, and Ronan Devlin and Kevin Brady also have full on club responsibilities.They somehow find a way to fit it all in.

The difference is when they took the position in the school they accepted their role was to develop gaelic football aspirations there, and they have been true to their word. That's the difference.

[Milltown Row2]

Bannside in all fairness when applying for a job nowadays it's not based on your after school activities and what you can bring to it. If it was then the school would be setting itself up for a fall.

If I was applying for a job and didn't get it because the other person was a GAA man I'd be fuming and wanting to see why I didn't get it based on the teaching side of things.

[Caesar]

I went to school at St Louis not so long ago.

We would have had a very strong team who could definitely have competed at McRory level. Instead we played in the McLarnon Cup with a couple of half assed trainings sessions from a substitute teacher. There was no interest from the school at all which inevitably filtered through to the players.

The talent was there. I can count 6 players from that team who have played senior football for the county.

[Milltown Row2]

So I'll go back to my original point, good schools appoint someone in the role of sports director, that's if they are serious, if not the sport at school is recreational, as it was originally for

[Spike]

The two don't have to be mutually exclusive.  You can still have a top educational setting alongside a top extra curricular setting. I would personally suggest it is more beneficial for a well rounded person as long as the set up is correct and one element is not to the detriment of the other. 

[country bumpkin]

When I did have a seat on County Committee in the distant past heard 'discussion' aplenty on how/why our county was left well in arrears of successful neighbours in our province.
The lack of success in our secondary schools was cited as prime cause and had a representative/teacher from within telling delegates that after schools activity for essential training was outside curriculum and unpaid so not contemplated...

I was silly enough on one occasion to hold Derry schools up as an example Antrim blueprint.
When the meeting closed was told by one county officer, no longer with us, in his words, "Fcuk off to Derry with your club and stay in it.

Have related the dismay at how our youngsters were treated when they made "county " under aged squads....lack of county gear provided and in cases food not provided.
Hands up those busy on this site then and still loud within strongly disagreed and suggested this 'elite lads' should bring a packed lunch.

Much has changed in our county in the care of you young Saffrons nowadays, but we have a ling ways to travel in our schools which continue to trail well in arrears of our neighbours and a Mac Crory cup is but a forlorn ambition.

[Spike]

When I did have a seat on County Committee in the distant past heard 'discussion' aplenty on how/why our county was left well in arrears of successful neighbours in our province.
The lack of success in our secondary schools was cited as prime cause and had a representative/teacher from within telling delegates that after schools activity for essential training was outside curriculum and unpaid so not contemplated...

I was silly enough on one occasion to hold Derry schools up as an example Antrim blueprint.
When the meeting closed was told by one county officer, no longer with us, in his words, "Fcuk off to Derry with your club and stay in it.

Have related the dismay at how our youngsters were treated when they made "county " under aged squads....lack of county gear provided and in cases food not provided.
Hands up those busy on this site then and still loud within strongly disagreed and suggested this 'elite lads' should bring a packed lunch.

Much has changed in our county in the care of you young Saffrons nowadays, but we have a ling ways to travel in our schools which continue to trail well in arrears of our neighbours and a Mac Crory cup is but a forlorn ambition.

there are none so blind as those who will not see

you can now add Holy Trinity into the mix for the mid ulster hotbed of football.  lots of clubs from 3 counties served by these schools.  Despite limited numbers to pick from in relation to other clubs, the best two teams in our county have the vast majority of their players coming out the south derry school system. Even when not winning, these clubs have been overperforming.  Surely not a coincidence.

[bannside]

No one talking McRory here by the way, let's talk about being competitive in Mc Larnon and the Grade B age groups first.
I'm tired going round in circles discussing schools tbh. The newly appointed DOF should be coming with a plan to tackle this underperforming sector. We laid a solution at the door last week courtesy of Saffsof82 suggestion.

Maybe something positive might arise from that.

[JimStynes]

Bannside in all fairness when applying for a job nowadays it's not based on your after school activities and what you can bring to it. If it was then the school would be setting itself up for a fall.

If I was applying for a job and didn't get it because the other person was a GAA man I'd be fuming and wanting to see why I didn't get it based on the teaching side of things.

The Tyrone lads seem to find it easy finding permanent jobs in schools!!

[Dunsilly King]

Bannside in all fairness when applying for a job nowadays it's not based on your after school activities and what you can bring to it. If it was then the school would be setting itself up for a fall.

If I was applying for a job and didn't get it because the other person was a GAA man I'd be fuming and wanting to see why I didn't get it based on the teaching side of things.

You see this is where your mindset is part of the problem. I know that these guys are capable teachers, but desirable criteria is you will put a coaching shift into develop our school teams to reflect the culture of our communities. Check out the schools in Tyrone and who takes their teams, predominately ex players and alot ex county. Kerry is very similar.  These are strategies, two birds with one stone.

[Milltown Row2]

And that's great if you can get a teacher that'll ensure better grades and a decent school team.

personally for me Id prefer my kids to get a good education first. Id prefer the best person in the job, and not because he/she played county, too much of that crap went on in the past and the best teacher was overlooked because you're man played GAA.

Clubs have kids long before they go to school, it's there that the interest and development starts.

These schools have only one sport that matters. Same in the big rugby schools, other sports are overlooked. Antrim failings are not down to poor school involvement in A grade or B grade competitions.

If you feel that's why Antrim is a yo-yo div 4/3 team that's fine, I don't see it that way.

[Dunsilly King]

I think you'll find these schools produce academic results first and foremost. Lazy analysis and ill informed