Antrim Football Thread

Started by theskull1, November 09, 2006, 11:48:40 PM

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Milltown Row2

Quote from: asaffgael on June 15, 2021, 08:50:10 AM
Would you go defensive against Armagh as they have a lot of good forwards?

If we haven't played defensively this year, then it will be hard to shift tactics to playing defensively? Go out and play to our strengths and see where it lies.. We have to see what we have going forward and work on our defense for div3 next year
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

bannside

Armagh put 1 -17 on the board against Roscommon, so what will they be expecting to put past us. Theres no one expecting us to win this game....but after a glowing honeymoon period for Enda and the goodwill that emanates from that...the last thing we need is a pontificating Pat Spillane having his annual rant about how pathetic Antrim are. We need to be competitive to retain any respect we may have earned over the last month.

EOC1923

Honeymoon period an interesting take on it. Reading previous posts I thought getting out of Div 4 was Antrims main goal. Antrim have won all 4 games and went up a division, now you say the performance v Armagh will dictate whether they retain peoples respect. You do realise Armagh are division 1 team, with K McG in his 5th year developing them. Paddy Power has Armagh at 1/16 to win this game. Hoping for a good performance and I think we'll get it as Armagh will suit Antrim, but it wont take away from the promotion no matter what happens.

imtommygunn

Yeah our main goal has been achieved. Watching division four and even the division two promotion games the pace difference is night and day. Physicality levels and basic fitness are massively different. Big task but bonus territory. No one cares about pat spillane...

BrendanAntrim

Promotion was absolutely key and if we lost to Armagh, that's a line drawn under a successful season. It's just a real shame that it's such a curtailed county season. Enda and the management team will only have had 5 games. In any normal season we have McKenna Cup x 3 (at least), league x 7 games, USFC x 1 (at least) and qualifier(s) - so at least 12 games to build a team, develop a plan, try players etc. They have had none of that space this year and is we do go out of Championship on 4th July, that's it for the squad and management until Jan 2022.

As for Armagh - Enda will have his plan I'm sure, I would love to see us taking the game to them, press them and see if we can score more than them, but then I'm a simple man  :)

asaffgael

Promotion was the main goal. Maybe I am getting ahead of myself here but looking at Div 3 and we have a real chance to go again. No team to be scared of in there. Have beat a good few of them in recent years and no big hitters. Laois and Fermanagh have dropped off alot.

JimStynes

I'm surprised Bannside is being so critical as usually he is the most positive and hopeful person in Antrim. The season has been a success. A lot of players back, blooded some good young players, got rid of some dead weight or players who need to try get back onto the panel and then got promoted from division 4. Preventing a hammering or at least a bit of performance is all Antrim can hope for this year. It's division 1 v a newly promoted div 4 team.

bannside

I came home from all four games thinking the win is the main thing....obviously... but the overall performance was very disjointed. We had lady luck and no shortage of hunger which are great traits....but we are playing in ten minute spells if you know what I mean. The players and management know this too, so this won't be news to them.

It's meant to be a mixture of balance and constructive opinion..I have a lot of hope that this management team can bring us on, and high praise will follow accordingly. At the minute I call it as I see it. We are winning but not playing well. There's another level we can go to. And you could say thats still in our favour because some day it will unfold.

Milltown Row2

Quote from: bannside on June 15, 2021, 01:54:09 PM
I came home from all four games thinking the win is the main thing....obviously... but the overall performance was very disjointed. We had lady luck and no shortage of hunger which are great traits....but we are playing in ten minute spells if you know what I mean. The players and management know this too, so this won't be news to them.

It's meant to be a mixture of balance and constructive opinion..I have a lot of hope that this management team can bring us on, and high praise will follow accordingly. At the minute I call it as I see it. We are winning but not playing well. There's another level we can go to. And you could say thats still in our favour because some day it will unfold.

Id rather be wining playing shite than losing and playing well!! Some older lads might not be there next year, who knows, they have certainly added much needed experience to the squad and came up with vital plays and scores when needed.

Is there selection issues?

You feeling the balance isn't there or can be improved?
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

imtommygunn

I wondered about McCabe corner back on Sunday as he's usually more of a forward but he was very good I thought.

We really should have put Louth and Waterford away more efficiently would have been my thoughts. I missed the other two games but winning more important.

bannside

Funny enough MR, all coaches and athletes will tell you that the performance is better than the result. If/when you are performing well, the results will follow.

Here's an example. You're a golfer who can play to scratch but wins a competition playing shite, just marginally less shite than the others.. will you go home happy because you won another golf umbrella at the prize giving.

Or a hundred metre sprinter who can do 11 seconds but wins a bad race in 14 seconds. Do you think that athlete will go home happy. Not a chance.

Sport is about being the best individually you can be. Or collectively in a team sport. That's not happening, and we are getting away with poor performances because we are winning. Other days we might not have a Paddy Cunningham special to rely on to get us out of jail.

That's my point. When we start performing to our potential I will be the very first to acknowledge and applaud. Don't worry about that!

bannside

ITG, to be fair Eoghan Mc Cabe did well I thought. Not sure if he has ever played corner back in his life, Sean Kelly would know more about that. Thankfully his man did not stay in the corner and he got a chance to come out the pitch where he is a bit more familiar. He can be pleased with his debut performance.

Milltown Row2

But we are in a results business and playing really well and losing won't get us up to a higher grade.

It's only at that higher grade can Antrim improve, just like the hurlers have done, moved up a level, in fact a level and a half and this has been done, a few years of playing well but not beating Laois, Westmeath and even losing to Meath was hard to watch.

To use St Enda's as an example, they've had many false dawns over the years, great kids coming through loads of promise, in both codes, only for those kids to end up playing a level well below their skill set.

Now that their senior teams are playing at senior level those youngsters will automatically improve all aspects of their game to try and compete with the established clubs.

So let's get out of Div4 tick, get out of Div 3 and then we can go into Ulster championships with some confidence, backed up by experience and better conditioning

None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

bannside

Not disputing that at all MR. By far the biggest priority, in fact really the only priority was promotion. That has been achieved without setting the world on fire. No doubt div 3 pace will be a bit quicker and we shouldn't be afraid of those teams whom we have met regularly over the last year or two.

Theres lot of positives. Your point dosent need to be right to make mine wrong. I'm confident enough the performances will follow. All we need is a reasonably competitive showing against Armagh and it's been a good year.

JimStynes

From speaking to a few players from my own club and a few from other clubs, they all have said that the set up is like night and day compared to last year. The professionalism, training, communication etc have all improved massively. They need to stay for a good few years to make a real difference though. Time will tell.