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aside from that madness going on last night U21 game was a really entertaining affair. Moneyglass set up very defensively even with the wind at their backs and did so very well.

a degree of fortune with a few of their goals but all in a draw was a fair result. the Number 12 for Moneyglass, Ronan Graham is he? was very good, excellent on the ball and very strong going forward. Coniall prenter at full forward was also very good.

that being said we were 9 down at one point and managed to score 1-06 to get a draw.
[DR does the draw potentially make things very messy.. Assume top 2 go into A competition, bottom 2 into B. If you were deducted the 2 points for the Aghagallon game that  would leave yourselves and Mglass on 3 each . How would that play out ...could get messy On a side note are all memberships not held on a central database with all dates of birth entered when a juvenille is first registered. Would the transfer form not be picking up the details  the membership database  that were registered in the first instance.....Was the guy in question registered correcly in the first instance by his original club ?/quote]

[Mark Sweeney playing for St Judes in the Dublin county final tonight]

Mark Sweeney playing for St Judes in the Dublin county final tonight

No mean feat getting to that level

One of Sweeney's friends from home put him in touch with Chris Guckian, the current captain of the senior team. For the Antrim man, getting the right fit for his football and his personality was key.

"Chris phoned me, and we had a couple of chats on the phone, he was just telling me when training was and offering me a lift up, I phoned Kieran McGovern, another one of the players, and his attitude was, 'come up and we will see what you are about'. I was taken a bit aback and then I had the bit between my teeth to prove my worth.

"That's the thing about St Jude's, they will never go chasing players but if you are in the area and you are fit and able to play football and willing to commit to the standards the lads want then you will be welcome.

"I was struck by how close the team were. I'd never seen that before in a group, it was something that was infectious, I couldn't get over how these lads had created such an honest environment where they were challenging each other verbally and physically in every single training session, the sole purpose was to get the best out of each other and the team. That was completely new to me even with Antrim and Queen's University, I just thought this was class and something I could really get my teeth into.

"You are at inter-county level when you are competing at senior in Dublin, especially at this stage of the competition, the pace, the thought process is up there. When you are coming from intermediate, it was a massive step up the first couple of years. It was more a step up in mindset, even compared to some of the county set-ups - it surpasses some of them."

Age levels & structure? Black card rule? Casement reopening? The GAA is a total mystery nowadays.
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Sportacus I think the current year group have always been A. Even though they won feile B they were in the A league. In SW if you get beat in first round of feile you then move into the B competition. The current year group has improved year on year. This year group also includes Ballymena who won all Ireland feile A completion.  Aghagallon have got closer to them as time has progressed. Cargin however beat Ballymena in SW U16 league final for this year group. Cargin were then beaten by St Brigids in U16s county final. It is a strong competive year group with the 4 teams mentioned  above probably the 4 contenders for Minor championship. Not sure how many of the Aghagallon McCrory winners are still minor. Hats of to them though. As a club they have been moving forward year on year in all age groups

Shout out for Kevin Brady his backup team and squad.

2nd Macrory Final in a row. Big contributions from the Antrim guys on the team and in the squad.

Took out the Red Hot favourites with a masterclass in teamwork and application   

Very impressive work over the last few years

About 10 of the St Pat's subs in a circle doing keepy-uppy at halftime. Embarrassing, but emblematic of the complete lack of discipline in their approach to the game. Can only imagine how Big Adrian would have reacted to that type of nonsense.

Was a bit embarrasing alright  and some of the keepy-uppy guys were brought on. I know both schools carry big squads but i would have though you would want at least yout 5-6 go to subs in at half time to reinforce the game plan when playing into the wind in the second half and behind on the scoreboard.   

Some outfit. Lenny maintaining Antrims mckenna cup record. Fitness levels of a pub league outfit

Maybe the "pub teams" that are supplying the players for the *pub league outfit" need to look in the mirror first

Our top "pub team" this year were beaten by more than double scores  22 to 10 in Ulster Club first round   

just saying & just using your language

Read my post again CB. Adams and Fitzy will be disappointed with 27th. That's all I said. And they will be make no mistake about that. It's a very poor return and 27th does not represent progress. A look at the 2011 rankings and Antrim were 17th.

If Lenny can't get us out of the twenties he will be personally disappointed. Otherwise whats the point in stepping up if you don't think you can effect change for the better. For the record I think he will have a proper rattle at doing so.

Anyone, and I repeat anyone could / should improve the Antrim rankings, so for Lenny the only way is, hopefully, up.

That's a big statement did our last 4 managers not all leave us in Div 4 which would give at best a ranking of 25 when they finished or were shown the door ..... Realise some got improvement during there time but did any of the last 4 leave us in a better position than when they started..... Not that simple

Is there such a thing as sw b juvenile leagues? there's a shield... Do some leagues split?

Portglenone would generally have as big a pick as a lot of other clubs in the sw would they not? Ahoghill wouldn't mind you. Ahoghill are very much backboned by a few families. I think it is similar for other small country clubs mind... Revolves round a few families so the fortunes of the senior team depends on where those families are agewise.

Flanker you're right that Fergal Rafferty didn't join Lavey as a juvenile; he played for Ahoghill seniors - too briefly - before transferring; as did his younger brother Gearoid who later transferred to Glenullin.

None of the Raffertys were playing when Ahoghill beat Portglenone in the 1992 JFC final.

CCA did Ahoghill get beat in a final mid 80's  PG1 won SW JFC in 85   I think he played in one around that time   Could have been against someone else though

Is there such a thing as sw b juvenile leagues? there's a shield... Do some leagues split?

Portglenone would generally have as big a pick as a lot of other clubs in the sw would they not? Ahoghill wouldn't mind you. Ahoghill are very much backboned by a few families. I think it is similar for other small country clubs mind... Revolves round a few families so the fortunes of the senior team depends on where those families are agewise.

They run an u13 competition to grade for u14 leagues splits into A ( 8 teams) B (7 teams)

Would think PG1 would probably feature on average between 6 and 10th place in the pecking order which would probably mean roughly 50% of your teams in B league. 

Would say there is a reasonable correlation between teams consistently in A league and those playing Senior Championship / Div 1.

The standard in B league juvenile is pretty low with the bottom 2-3 teams usually struggling to field as the season progresses.

Hard place to develop senior talent from imo

The problem for Ahoghill is controlling who their kids play for and how they are going to build a loyalty for the club.

With the breakup of SS, Ahoghill kids can now play for; M'glass, Tir na Nog, Ballymena, Portglenone, Greenlough, Lavey, Cargin, Creggan.  If this happens, what affiliation will they have with Ahoghill after underage, there will be a greater threat of them remaining with the club they played underage with.

Great example, wasn't Rafferty who played with Lavey, (in an All Ireland club final) an Ahoghill lad who played underage with Lavey and stayed with them up into senior football?
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Kickham he didn't play juvenile for Lavey. He played for SS (early days). He actually played a bit of Senior for Ahoghill. If memory serves me right he played in a junior final for them against PG1   (could be wrong on this). He joined Lavey as a Senior

Makes the split seem all the stranger as when SS got their act together and dominated SW juvenile football both teams moved up the ranks from Junior. Both Div 1 and playing Senior football. The rise back boned by players from successful SS underage teams.

Not sure if PG1 have the numbers to get into SW A leagues on a regular basis

Not easy to develop Div 1 players / Senior Championship players from SW B juvenile leagues

   

Following on from the Larne story i rem helping the lads in Ballymoney out when they first got started. me and few other lads from Dunloy went in and trained with them back and forwards and i ended up playing the first year for them in the league. I didnt stay after that because to me they were all treating it as a joke and none of them really took it seriously. They had a lot of lads who played soccer and they all seemed to play when it suited them.

It was a struggle for them to play games and had no pitch at all. they played their games in Our Lady of Lourdes school in the town. A good bunch of lads but to be honest it was never going to work for them. Much the same as Larne in that they were playing in an extremely loyalist town that was completely opposed to this even being in 'their' town. Oran Kearney played with us in there for the first season when he was at Linfield along with a few other lads who kicked soccer.

They prob needed a lot of help to keep them going but as far as i know it wasnt forth coming. It was kind of inevitable that they would fold.

I remember playing up in Ballymoney with our thirds in that school! they made me look good at 35 and at football too!, but as you said DR, they played with no seriousness at all and they barely had 15, mainly soccer lads, but at the time i was chuffed that Ballymoney made the effort, and while it fell apart it was worth giving it a go... was an aul boy that looked after them DR nice fell, think he even togged out for them

rtstewart

DR if you look down the road and see what was achieved in Coleraine who for many years struggled. Know they have Portstewart which would be a bit more understanding and there were a few guys from a strong GAA background who were around the triangle area plus the university helped as well.  There would have been  a few goes at having a club in Aghadowey a number of years back as well. Maybe an initiative in around the Ballymoney / Aghadowey area ....know they are different counties. Long hard road though .....If you look at Coleraine and Antrim Town who have shown good improvement over recent years it can be done