Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

Jesus Christ
Justin Crozier
JC - Ex Cargin manager who is on Dawsy's backroom teamJoe Cahill
Jim Connolly

My money is on that one 

[Seamroga in exile]

Jesus Christ
Justin Crozier
JC - Ex Cargin manager who is on Dawsy's backroom teamJoe Cahill
Jim Connolly

My money is on that one 

knowing the man like I do, highly unlikely. 

[imtommygunn]

Is there not a john carron on the team?

[Rasharkin Gael]

 JC from Cargin, current half back. Bit of a dig on him during them game and it lead to a confrontation after the match that ended badly for the Glenullin player.

[glensman-derry]

Rasharkin Gael
Wouldnt be the entire story there I feel. And how do you mean ended badly.
Getting the odd clip now and again isnt the end of the world. Did gok not get as good a dig at crozier?

[DearyMe]

See on the Antrim website no St.Galls players attending trial games - is this the end of the road for this club regarding dominance of Antrim club football?

[qubdub]

.

[bannside]

Good question Deary Me.

The periods of dominance by one club or another comes and goes in cycles. This current period of St Galls dominance will come to an end at some stage but they should have enough history and tradition to remain competitive. 

I think the Antrim club football scene will be a lot more interesting in the latter half of this decade. I know from talking to good clubmen that know their stuff that many clubs clubs like the talent pools they have coming through, and during this era expect to be in the hunt for senior championships.

Apart from the big two at the minute, add Rossa, St Johns, Lamh Dhearg, St Endas, Creggan and personally I fully expect Portglenone to get back up in that bracket again. Looking like interesting times ahead!

[imtommygunn]

Unfortunately (I mean this from the competitive stakes) I don't think St Galls will be beaten for a number of years yet.

It will be interesting though when they do. St Johns have a lot coming through, Creggan have had some underage dominance and Lamh Dearg obviously won ulster then Rossa/St Endas won that under 16. Disappointed not to see GNM step it up as they had a period too.

None of that guarantees anything but at least it means there should be some players to work with in those clubs.

[Milltown Row2]

Unfortunately (I mean this from the competitive stakes) I don't think St Galls will be beaten for a number of years yet.

It will be interesting though when they do. St Johns have a lot coming through, Creggan have had some underage dominance and Lamh Dearg obviously won ulster then Rossa/St Endas won that under 16. Disappointed not to see GNM step it up as they had a period too.

None of that guarantees anything but at least it means there should be some players to work with in those clubs.

Will the standard drop or will the new winners be able to make an impression on the Ulster stage. When we won our first (in a few years) we managed to get to an Ulster final to be beaten by the The Loup (a game I thought we could have won) Previously there hasn't been too much success in Ulster.

[imtommygunn]

Hopefully the standard won't drop but you boys have set a high standard.

[bannside]

St Galls run through Ulster each year was greatly helped by the fact that come October/November they are usually still fresh - not having had to break that much sweat to win Antrim.

Not taking this away from their achievements, but a lot of other county champions were getting tired or burnt out at that stage of the year - minus Cross who were also so dominant in Arnagh. Compare that to trying to get out of Down, Tyrone and particularly Derry, where up to half a dozen clubs were in the mix, and teams needed to be going flat out from May or June.

The fact that St Galls could play five a side soccer at training up until August and still breeze through Antrim was not their fault to be fair.

The upside is that in a few years, if we do get a much more open Antrim c`ship, and a more even spread of winners/finalists, this will greatly increase interest in our games across a broader spread and this can only be good for Antrim football.

[DearyMe]

I agree bannside that this Antrim club side are far from done with - its my understanding that last year they had lads playing without much game time, before Kilcoo i've been told there were some being held together with duck tape, and others who were sick!

Now i dont know if these things are true - but i would still maintain that if St.Galls have their best team on the pitch, firing on all cylinders (which is difficult as some miles on clock now), but if they get them 100% fit - they wont be touched!

Regarding my original post re-minor, i've since been told they do have a few minors but not sure where they feature at county level.
I know they have a few crackers who are now first year out of minor! So who knows - just thought it strange!

[bannside]

Mark Cummings and young Burke good prospects alright Deary Me, but would need to be getting blooded in before its too late. The nucleus of the current side were up and at it before this stage.

Problem is with St Galls is who do you leave out. They came through as a tight unit and in most cases are still holding up. Its not as if two or three are starting to slow up, or lose their form, so the question for any St Galls manager is who do you leave off the team to blood in some newcomers.

The best of their younger crop is definitely Bradso - (Brendan Bradley). Would expect him to feature strongly with county u-21`s this year and he is a guy who could be in/around county senior panels too either this or next year. A natural corner forward too, which we arnt coming down with!

St Galls would need to be getting him game time this year too.

[Milltown Row2]

Mark Cummings and young Burke good prospects alright Deary Me, but would need to be getting blooded in before its too late. The nucleus of the current side were up and at it before this stage.

Problem is with St Galls is who do you leave out. They came through as a tight unit and in most cases are still holding up. Its not as if two or three are starting to slow up, or lose their form, so the question for any St Galls manager is who do you leave off the team to blood in some newcomers.

The best of their younger crop is definitely Bradso - (Brendan Bradley). Would expect him to feature strongly with county u-21`s this year and he is a guy who could be in/around county senior panels too either this or next year. A natural corner forward too, which we arnt coming down with!

St Galls would need to be getting him game time this year too.

Those lads were getting plenty game time last year, albeit at league games but would be the main prospects for the future, as you said most of the current players had all been on the senior side at that point, this was because the team was in a massive transition period and a new manager came in (MC) and more or less cleared the decks and went with primarily youth, though in fairness these lads had won minor and under 21 championships and won every thing through to minor also. Not a bad thing to have, If Lamhs and St Johns, Creggan are keen to push then maybe a clearing of the decks may be a course of action. Obviously we still had older players on the squad when it happened but in the main they were a youthfull side