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did anyone watch the minor game on sat?

I sat through the most of it and to be honest we looked very poor. I think it was actually U17 was it rather than minor?

Even still we looked way off the pace against an average Kildare side.

Serious question - when was the last time that Antrim beat a minor team from outside Ulster? We got to the final in 1940 so presumably we beat someone to get there. But other than that?

Even our "good" team of two years in the mid 2000s - McManus, Graffin, Hippy Donnelly, Shanebo, McAuley, Shiels etc - didnt win one, although they were terribly unlucky against Limerick and a bit unlucky against Galway

City clubs can be intermingled. Creggan randalstown. Glenariffe cushendall very close.

Ballycastle and Carey

I disagree. If it takes 10 years, it takes 10 years.

For too long, we have chased the quick fix of an elite manager for the senior team. That just isn't the answer.

When was the last time an Antrim minor team won a game of note? 1979 when we reached a Leinster final?

Was at the Antrim Kildare minor game earlier this year and Kildare simply blew us away in both physique and touch. That team is now playing a Leinster semi final for the first time in their history and is the result of years of work at underage - not an elite manager being appointed over the Kildare senior team.

Naas have played Division 1 in the Feile for the last number of years - when (if ever) have an Antrim team played Division 1? For the last couple of years, we haven't even entered a team in the Forrestal but have played in the B competition.

It's simply not realistic to think that someone can "fix" our senior team - we have to start producing at underage or we are at nothing.

That's a real sad thought 5-10 years.  I'll not see it unfortunately😩. Would love to think we could bring someone in whether it be inside or outside of Antrim that could give us a bit of hope. The county board should get their act together now and see if there is anyone interested in making a difference to Antrim hurling - give plenty of time to try and find someone not just appointing the same people Over again.

Ok I'll bite, what could have made the difference with what we had? Wh were better and even with the best manager and all players available we'd have still lost, obviously you know different, so expand on you post please

My interpretation of what old timer is suggesting,  is should the Antrim county board put their resources into recruiting a high profile Davy Fitz, Anthony Daly type manager. Similar to the wexford county boards approach when they hired Davy Fitz and Banty for their Hurlers and footballers.

It could be argued that the wexford Hurlers were on a slippery slope similar to Offaly at present and Davy has steadied the ship and made them competitive without really challenging at the business end of the championship.

The footballers were coming from div 4 and Banty was probably as high profile a manager they were capable of recruiting but he made no impact at all.

Antrims geographical location makes it even harder to recruit the elite coaches. Laois were able to get Eddie Brennan this year and it has worked out well, but after his stint with Kilkenny u21s, I personally thought it was a gamble, but I've been proved wrong.

Imo getting a high profile candidate is a short term fix, and if there are stronger structures in place at underage level this should eventually feed through to the seniors, similar to what happened in Clare and Limerick in recent years.

I watched the game on gaanow and the facilities in Dunloy look top class.

The manager doesn't have to be high profile at all just someone that would inject new life/ideas into the team and try to bring about more than one or two wins.   High profile would be a bonus!! And yes let's face it who wants to travel the length of Ireland to go training twice/three times a week unless it's for a large sum of money.   I know our capabilities and I know certainly we aren't world beaters but trying to reinvent the wheel with the same tools (no pun intended) just isn't working.  Yesterday was like Groundhog Day.    A win here or there just isn't enough for a proud County like Antrim. Being a half decent hurler most certainly does not make you a good manager/coach unfortunately that's been proven.  I wish I knew what the answer was but I do know that sidewards or backward moves aren't it.

We have young hurlers very competent in all these areas yet can barely win a game outside Ulster come 17/18. There's a bit more to it than explayer/ready made coaches.

As a county, both at inter-county and club level, we seem to have a very poor track record when it comes to extra time. The only notable exceptions I can think off is Loughgiel's performances in the club semis against Na Piarsaigh and St Thomas'. Off the top of my head, I cant think of any others (though I stand to be corrected).

IMHO that is as much to do with mental as physical fitness - if not more.

Was at the match, they actually got 7 from play(we scored more from play) the rest were 65s and beautiful sideline cut from Kavanagh. Ref blew his whistle constantly and the game had no flow. Their free taker never missed. We put in a poor effort and didn't deserve to win truth be told. Still they got some soft frees.

Was at game too and agree with all of the above. If we are going to play a sweeper, we have to be able to take scores from distance and we missed a number of long range shots in the second half of the first half. Needed a good start to the second half and didn't get one. Ref gave a lot of soft frees but we don't seem to be able to adapt to "play" the referee.

If anything the amalgamation of the 3 schools (St Comgalls, Garron Tower, St Aloysuis) should have helped as pupils would have been actually aware that hurling exists and may have expressed an interest in taking up the game. In fact one of the first successful St Killians teams had 7 of 8 Larne lads on the panel.

One of the founders mentioned to me years ago that it wouldn't be the other side that would finish the club, it would be our own. Turned out he was right.

A combination of lack of promotion within primary schools who really didn't want to know (therefore lack of numbers), very few volunteers who would go into the schools (though there were a few diehard lads who devoted many hours), one or two stigmas attached to certain people in that club and the head as low as a Larne Catholic mentality which still exists, all contributed to their demise. One of two other reasons as well but that's the gist of it really.

That's a total shame.

I always thought there was something seriously admirable about Laharna Og plowing away in fairly hostile territory through the (really) bad years.

If anything, it just shows how precarious a small club's position can be. All it takes is a bubble of players/mentors/officials to retire or move on for whatever reason and things can just collapse very quickly.

Took 40 odd years for them to get their pitch.Club never made it to 50.

Ach, that's just grim 

Article in the Irish News today in which Geoff Laverty lambasts the Ulster '5 year rule'. Cloughmills are the innocent victims but I agree with the foundations of the rule - to stop clubs taking the easy option of dropping down.

Couldn't disagree with the principle but I think 3 years is probably fairer to avoid the yo-yo effect but also stop clubs taking advantage. I think Lisbellaw have got similarly caught by the rule which means that they are obliged to play in the Ulster Senior Championship every year (there being - I understand - no Fermanagh championship)

There seems to be more interest in promoting that ridiculous 11 a side tournament in America than there is in promoting any kind of hurling north of the border.

The Black North is as foreign to some of them as America is..

Jesus lads, would you ever listen to yourselves?? Are you not happy to at least be playing in Division 1B?

The reality is that, if Antrim are ever going to do anything, we are ultimately going to have to do it ourselves. Alone. That's the simple truth of it.

Any "help" from elsewhere should be seen as the bonus that it is but, fundamentally, it has to come from within. Looking to / blaming outsiders, the GAA hierarchy, the South, partitionism, whatever you're having yourself, for the current and future state of Antrim hurling might make us feel better but ultimately gets us absolutely nowhere.

Hurling in Antrim has several unique disadvantages - distance from other hurling counties (apologies to Down and Derry), an occasionally hostile environment.

It also has several advantages. In particular, it has the biggest potential pick of any county outside of Dublin. If we ever got ourselves sorted, we could be a really serious hurling county.

Right now, I'd just like to win a minor match outside of Ulster.

How much progress is achievable at senior intercounty level when there hasn't been even one minor squad in the last 10 years that were capable of competing at a high level?

An excellent point and one which everyone should bear in mind. People who say we have the players to compete at the top level are deluded. Club all Ireland success does not equal inter county success.

I can't think of too many hurlers in Antrim who would make the Tipp/Galway/Cork/Waterford squads. Simply not good enough. Its not nice to hear but there's no harm in saying it. We need to focus on making the underage structures better and grow the talent there. Liam sheedy, Brian Cody and Davy Fitz together wouldn't make a blind bit of difference to our current pool of players.

And this

How much progress is achievable at senior intercounty level when there hasn't been even one minor squad in the last 10 years that were capable of competing at a high level?

This

A few loyalities got in the way of correct team line-up decisions.

Neal McAuley as a wing half forward. Wong decision. Never struck a ball. Heart got in way of the head with this one.
Aaron Graffin should never have started this game. Yes put him on the bench as a really good defensive sub.

Management have certainly lost a lot of respect after all the talk about commitment.

Defensively we were shocking. No point pin pointing any individuals. As a back 6 we weren't at the races.

And this.

Poor form to draft in late replacements into the team.
Poor form to then watch it unravel and back fire.
Tactically very naive.

Beat by the better team on the day but we didnt do enough to try and correct the obvious changes that were required.

This

Players removed from their clubs to play it in or train for development squads.

It's left several Club guys I spoke to last night having to cancel sessions - or merge U14/16/minor teams to get enough lads for sessions - which caused knock on issues itself.

What stuck me was that exactly the same predicament was being repeated by a range of clubs.

Was at the game myself.  As far as I know the maximum any club had represented was 4 and that "impacted" 2 clubs.  Most clubs had 1 or 2 players on the panel which looked like had c 30 players in total with 15 clubs represented.  So the facts don't seem to back up your anecdotal/hearsay comments.  "Several clubs needing to merge u14/u16/minor" for training when they have 1 or 2 players (max of 4 - again only impacted 2 clubs) getting exposure to a level of hurling which is a step up from the normal club game/session.  If these clubs are having difficulties with numbers for sessions its a tad disingenuous to pin the blame on the u17 development squad, thats what the facts tell me!
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Good game?

Promotion decider on Saturday in Newry, 3pm. Good venue for us I would say.

Last time I saw an Antrim team play a Carlow team there, it didn't end so well for us!