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I know county players can throw results off abit but even at that

Loughguile minus james & ballycastle minues boydy id usually fancy loughguile strongly

Similarly dunloy even without county players still field a strong 15 that id expect to beat st endas

Usually youd expect the so called weaker sides to fight to squeeze into the top half to guarantee safety but with ballygalget struggling as much this year is it a forgone conclusion or is that writing them off too early?

Interesting set of results at the weekend

Ballycran beating St Johns?
St Endas beating Dunloy?
Ballycastle beating loughguile?

Not to many would've called them results

St Endas, Rossa & Ballycastle likely to scramble for that last spot in the top half. Who we thinking will make it?

Of the list i dont think any of them tick all the boxes - remembering they also didnt get the money pumped into the ground that corrigan has.

Parking to me hosting top div 1 sides is a bigger food for thought as opposed 5 years ago.

Ballycastle to me is the closest to meeting most criteria aside from a covered terrace.

Reason i mention st endas is they have a school nearby to facilitate parking (albeit never been used for a big club fixture)
Secondly they have a natural tiered terrace - why this has never been adapted with rails and proper footing? Would make good viewing.

Portglenone is a great setup but could it host a game against your kilkenny or always come championship? Thinking of crowds?

My point is i believe other grounds could've been adapted to the standard of a good home base to a higher standard than corrigan with less spent on it

Very easy for people to criticise and for what its worth i dont think corrigan is a poor choice as such. We've had some good days out there particularly in hurling.

Which other grounds could at the drop of a hat pick up a county game? Considering pitch, accessibility, parking etc

Ballycastle, Dunloy, St endas,

Id also mention cushendall, creggan, ahogill but since the clubs last hosted i feel our crowds have really picked up and not sure if they could cope now days with big games

Is the talk of Niall McKenna transferring to Ballycastle just that ? Talk ?

I heard that myself but I doubt it.

It's a brave trek from Ballycastle to Sarsfields for training/matches

Same rumour every pre season. As far as ive been made aware Niall has made it clear while he's competitive nothing changes, sarsfields man playing for sarsfields. As time moves on and standards drop he might re-evaluate

Pretty sure Michael Bradley is recovering from a shoulder injury from last year but very much expected to play this year - anyone know different?

How far is Ciaran Clarke from returning?

Is Conor Johnston still on the panel this year?

Nigel Elliott? Has he walked too? If so disappointing having only rejoined last year.

I hope we haven't lost too much experience and replaced totally with younger guys. Div 1 needs a fair bit of steel that i feel comes with age

I think your getting mixed up in who the PRO is..

I don't believe Sean runs the Antrim Social media pages anymore and hasn't done for a number of years (happy to be proven wrong)

I know Sean done an excellent job and if anything was a credit to have run our social media (Yes I'm a fan i know) however the posts which are attracting negative coverage I believe is the new PRO

Regards lawlor & O'L

Its not cushendalls decision who lawlor picks up.

If they want Lawlor marking McManus then he will, in the KK county final lawlor played much of his game around the middle as he picked up cody. Despite fennelly being edge of the square.

O'L have 3 of the best defenders in the game and will decide how they want to matchup.

Regards McManus he was absolute quality as always however glad to see others noticing how easy he gets it off referees. Any contact and refs are quick to give him a free for his theatrics, antrim refs are even more susceptible to him than yesterday.

Regards u20 players being unavailable i totally agree.

I believe players develop more playing div 1 than u20 county..

Ive watched u20 boys finish strongly with their club
Looks promising for the following season to push on...
Then they're not seen by their club cause of u20 county, dont properly integrate with the club until post split and almost have to go through the kickstart process again

#1 that would be Leinster councils perogative if they chose to do so

#2 slightly different in that its an overall GAA structure. If antrim objected to that then the GAA would have to restructure to offer a pathway to the liam McCarthy

Either way and i know this will be unpopular but if Antrim replaced the Down teams with 3 top teams from Div 2 it would create a split in Div 1 however you would have the top teams competing to win. A group of 4/5 teams battling against relegation all the while avoiding the yoyo effect many teams have encountered.

Youd also have more antrim players exposed to Div 1 hurling and a platform to perform and perhaps make the county squad

That's nice!

Ruín 3

Naomh Éanna CLG proposes that all Phase one games (i.e. first round) of league competitions shall be played within County Antrim.
In line with normal procedure, any application to change the fixtures shall be subject to CCC approval and agreement of both clubs.


What's this about?

Controversial ....

From an NE point of view and to be devils advocate...

Div 1 has been almost impossible for any promoted team to crack, the more antrim teams able to compete in div 1 and a competitive pathway to div 1 is only going to develop antrim hurling.

If anything can be done to further develop antrim clubs at the top tier then it should at least be considered.

Understand this may not sit well and may be seen as unfair to the Ards teams but if it strengthens antrim hurling that should be the primary aim

Are the county back? Any new faces or anyone opting out?

Heard theres been 5/6 regulars opt out however this stage of the year can always be just whispers

Friday games are the way forward

Player WhatsApp groups up and down the county will be going mental making plans for post game pints.

No training saturday, 2 weeks out from the next championship game.

"Were can we go without the gaffer finding out"

"If anyone gets us caught don't bother coming back"

All valid points and very much understand them all

In the case of St Enda's who despite a poor football campaign with alot of their well known players not on teamsheets. I'd assume they want to be playing Div 1 and pushing in both codes.

Looking at former players how many of them played Div 1 in either code? Genuine question of anyone would have more knowledge but to me seems the obvious solution is to get managers who have experienced the top level?

Similarly if a club is regularly div 3/4 and wanting to progress up the divisions - obtain the services of a manager exposed to playing at a higher level?

Still see very little between cushendall & loughgiel and very much how it plays on the day.

Think Rossa will get 2nd in their group and if Naomh Eanna do beat ballycastle for 3rd that will be an interesting quarter final.

Similarly St Johns V either cushendall or loughgiel isnt a forgone conclusion

Championship shaping up nicely with alot of competitive contests.