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High Fielding

Anyone know any good drills for high catching in football? Can it be worked on or do you just have to have a knack for it?

Diasgree youngfella, McManus was our best forward on Wednesday night. A bit of poor decision making here and there but was very good, good stuck in and showed good skills.

Pinky in my mind is a full back. He may do rightly at centre half forward for Ballycastle but good players can adapt like that for club hurling.
I would have him in full back and move Mickey McC out to half back.

Sean Delargy was a great juvenile forward but you would be robbing peter to play paul to be honest. That infuriates me and has long been a part of Antrim and more specifically as I see it Loughgeil's failure. If a corner forward is playing well, has taken a couple of scores and looks confidents and the centre half forward isn't playing well its often the case up here that the corner forward gets moved out, the centre half hits the road and a new cold corner forward comes in. Now we don't have the luxury yet of having cover in every position but we should not jeopardise some playing well and someone should be brought off the bench to replace the guy not playing well.

My Team for what it is worth:
DD Quinn (would actually have Gareth Magee but there are commitment issues)
Barney
Pinky
Sean Delargy
Mickey McC
Malachy Molloy
Ciaran Herron
Karl
DMcKillop
Michael Herron
McManus
AnOther (I really can't decide this one - would have Aidan Delargy but he's not there)
Tosh
Richmond
Shields

Malachy Molloy is a better wing back but Antrim need to accomodate both him and McCambridge.
The team also goes against what I said about Karl McK being a centre half back.

Joey Scullion maybe does eat, sleep and breath hurling but I disagree about the point that he has pace. If he, as several people have said, doesn't like CLOSE attention then it might be the case he is not ready yet.

When a rumour is confirmed twice its public knowledge.

And the £29,000 went to...

[Here goes briefly:]

Just got to read all the posts. Happy days a win gives us a bit to talk about. A win is a win in my book. Effort was stepped up from Sunday, in patches there was good play. We should have won by alot more as well.

One swallow is not going to make the summer (or any summer for the next wee while) but there is room for improvement again and again if they are willing to put it in.

Here goes briefly:

McGarry - 8 - solid, good puck outs, and decent save near the end (was straight at him but still did well) Good distribution from short puck outs but arguably he was able to puck the ball out as far as his defenders were doing after receiving it

Barney - 6 - not his best game, did drop a couple of balls but he was out in front and did clear a few balls when he got them. Kettle should have been in when he was in trouble. Would have been in more trouble if his man had received more supply

Mickey McC - 7 - solid enough, no much action to be honest but did well.

Sean Delargy - 6/7 did well I thought. Maybe overcarried the ball a couple of times but did well on what was clearly their danger man. That No.13 for Dublin is one to watch, great frees, sidelines and striking and when soloing he pulled away from Delargy. Not many do that.

Molloy - 7 - solid, great in patches, a few big catches and made a couple of good clearances at the end of the 1st half.

Campbell - 6 - a wee bit anonymous alright, maybe as Karl was covering for him. Not jumping on this get campbell off the team bandwagon as he is there or thereabouts but would have him as first defender sub.

Herron - 8 1/2 - best player on the field, brilliant clearances, strong tackles. Back to the Herron of the Dinny era which we need.

Karl - 7 1/2 did well, cleared a few balls in between midfield and half back. A few wrong decisions (short free/sideline to Shields) but overall played well. Should be centre half back.

Brendan Herron - 6 - a bit anonymous but his man

Michael Herron - 7 - good second half having been behind his man a few times first half

Neil McManus - 8 - great performance. Strong on the ball, good shooting. Admittedly his decision making sometimes wasn't the best. Overcarried and when he did make the decision to pass it was too late or his handpass was weak. Good stuff though and if they are persisting using him in the forward line he could turn into a decent centre half....something Antrim have been lacking for a long time

Karl Stewart - 6 1/2 Anonymous for the main but did battle

McFall - 6 - agree with ALL said before. A bit of a pre madonna and he should have been taken off earlier. Was behind his man at ALL points largely. Great frees, though a couple missed but to act the way he did when being taken off was a joke. He needs to have a look at himself. There is a strong panel of boys training, he wasn;t doing it. Take it on the chin and move on. The rating drops to a 4 if that story about him taking a penalty off his knees is true.

Richmond - 6 1/2 - showed well enough, was quite strong on the ball and set up a couple of scores. Paddy can score from anywhere generally but last night in the first half he took two shots from the left sideline which went wide. Best performance in a wee while for me

Shields - 7 - did well. His ability did get him out of scrapes a few times. He does look like a child out there. I am not sure what the solution is. Skull I understand this talk of 'ruining him' but he is worth his place on the team, he proved that last night. Having been away for a while I never saw his progression as a juvenile but he certainly could be some player. People say he is more of a midfielder and he certainly needs to bulk up a fair bit...physical training with the county might do that?

McAuley and Tosh...not on long enough..well maybe they were but I have written enough.

FREE TAKING
Completely agree with whoever spoke of 4/5 free takers. Decisions have to be made and stuck with. Eg Molloy hits long range non scorable frees from the right and Herron from the left - or Herron both. Any scorable ones should be McFall (if he can steady his head after the amount of shaking he was doing of it on being taken off) or Tosh. Shields is an option as well.
A bit of a farce when a different man steps up to take it each time.
We should have got 3/4/5 points from long range.



On another note about Shields it'll be nearly half time in their soccer final. Takes me back and makes me feel old.
Played in that same final for the same school 8 years ago - was the only game I cried after (I have been close on a number of occasions!!) last kick of extra time beat us.

So where now for Magill then if that is the case?

Does anyone actually know him? Don't want to start any debate at all again involving John Joe's head being ripped off (for making a pretty objective statement about a county player in the public eye) but just want to know.

For one of the most talented footballers and hurlers in the county what is he at?
Can he just not be arsed?
Would Jody accept him back? Would he go?

Niall Patterson

Away back to the Derry site Max, or give odds on you beating us by less than ten - I'll take them.

Agree with the calls to get the players back/on board. Do it now...Jody has been right to stick to his guns but here and now you get the best panel together. With Sigerson/McKenna cup out of the way it should be full steam ahead to the championship and the thrashing we are going to receive by Derry...the odds max?

eg I have no clue for example what has been said between McGourty and Jody but (and it pains me to say this) we need him on board.
The best players should be playing for the county, because they want to. I have no doubt that when the first round of the championship is on the horizon the same boys will want to be playing.
If I could I would.

Good point Max - if they win and are coming back Sunday night I would drop in to see that one.

Big Davy Tweed in the red and black.

Agree about Connor Cunning posts - with a bit of a break he could get back to where he was, arguably as skill hurler in Antrim as there has been over the last 5/6 years but perhaps lacking that intensity needed having been on the go with club/county for the guts of 10 years.
As regards Dunloy it may be a good bit of fortune - he can throw himself into the hurling and gaelic. He has always been a classy football player as well, with a smart head on him - could be one to watch in Div 1 football.

Also agree that dropping Joey Scullion was not a wise move if we are into investing in the future - not sure how he has been showing in training etc but if he bulked up a bit and got a slight bit more speed (not sure whether they go hand in hand but anyway) he would be as dangerous a forward as we have.

Shame that Aidan Delargy has gone, thought in the Portumna match he added a bit of experience to the Cushendall team...something that maybe Antrim might be lacking if you look at the panel in depth.

Would have thought (and hoped) that no bias at all will come into the management selection and I don't think it will. Worth giving the dream team a fair crack at it I reckon.

JUST WANTED TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH CLONEY GAELS ALL THE BEST IN THEIR ALL IRELAND FINAL THIS WEEKEND. GREAT TO SEE.

So how often do you fell FEMINE then Max Power...is it any good?

Surely if Antrim build up any head of steam at all this year Paddy's wife can be told that honeymoons come and go but Antrim with a serious chance to win a Liam McCarthy match should not be missed.

I agree about Kevin Elliot being worth a shot...good to hear he is part of the panel having been overlooked/opted out for a few years.
I also agree that the full back line looks strong. Lets hope pinky stays in his best position for a while.

Any chance you 3/4/5 couldn't change the name of this thread to "South West Antrim Shite"?
Maybe start a new one about football.

Win for the saffrons today...hopefully a couple more before the year is out. Anyone at it? Anyone stand out?

I might as well...the luck I have had with sorting out my playing career has been getting me down...but thats another thread!

Anyone direct me to a complete set of the current GAA rules online?

Thanks

Thanks fellas.

I have tried more angles than enough...starting from the top Dr John (I joke)...starting from the top...Croke, Ulster Gaa, the county secretary, someone even spoke direct to Dr John and there was even 'someone who said he knew someone' on the case from the football club on the case (shhh).
In fact I have put more effort into this than getting a job back here!

I have resigned myself to not being able to play football for the old club. Hurling for the local village club prevails so it leaves me on the hunt for a new club for football, however the thought of playing football against some old teammates makes me sick. I doubt I will be playing hurling against them as there is a bit of gulf at the minute. Though the gulf is there to be breached.

Just gets to me that the GAA with numerous paid officials can't look at each situation on a case by case basis...arguments like 'what are they doing up there with all the money' are creeping into my psyche when they never have in the past. I have been an advocate of the GAA all my life, wherever I have been (and will continue to be) but a bit hard to take when they can't look after one of their own - by 'look after' I mean allow to play both codes within his own parish.

Off to cry into the dinner.

Do not have the exact text of the rule handy - had it but lost it.
Basically the gist of the rule is that you can't play hurling for a club and football for another club where one of those clubs offers the other code as well.

What is the justification for this? I have debated and debated this (as I have been scuppered by it) and although people have put suggestions forward as to the reasoning behind it I can't see them.
Anyone try and persuade me why it is a good rule to have??

My example:
I have been playing GAA away from Ireland for the last 7 years, ever since I was 19.
I want to move back to my home village club to play hurling.
They had no juvenile set up when I was a youngster so I played for the neighbours, part of the parish, in both codes.
So now on returning at senior age I'd like to play for my village club at hurling. They have no football team and I would like to play football.
Naturally enough I'd like to play for the neighbours at gaelic, who I did play with earlier in life.

I am stopped by this rule and as a result have to leave my parish and the gaelic club I grew up with to move elsewhere to play football.

I understand that there may be a floodgates scenario - if by giving an exception to the rule many more may happen but I really can't comprehend why each case can't be looked at on a case by case basis. Its not an everyday situation - my home village club are a junior club while the club with both codes are a senior hurling team. They would not be competing with each other.

Where the GAA have paid officers who deal with this every day I am mystified as to why it can't be reviewed each time when such a situation arrives.

All I want to do is kick a bit of football and play hurling.

A bit of a bitter taste left in the mouth.

Sorry to bore you all but any comments appreciated...