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We will have to agree to disagree on this. Two Dunloy sideline officials questioned and called out bullshit last night. Nothing doing. IMO, had that been a lesser team, they'd have been punished. Tolerance levels are different for various teams.  Referees can claim indifference, but it's widespread amongst them, there is bias and a pick on teams. Fair enough, that's human nature, plenty of teams and individuals dislike each other,  but don't deny it!!
And by saying it's down to the referee and his discretion, you are 100% correct. But this also feeds my point, tolerance levels are higher for other teams than some!! 

Not discussing last nights game....

Having played the game and managed I can understand at this level that frustration is normal, people will complain, people will question and people on the sideline will feel aggrieved, the 30 meter rule has been brought in to combat abuse to the referee, its totatly down to the referee to decide what crosses the line of frustration and targeted abuse..

A chat and explanation can temper that, I personally have my level of tolerance and its the same for both, these are mine, others will have theirs..

Taking away passion and bite isn't what we (we as in a supporter of our games) want, understanding abuse from frustration is (for me) the difference in moving the ball or having that little chat..

I'm bored with the chat on how the elite teams/players have bias though, I've seen that a few times and it's bollocks   

Made the journey down last night for the u21 game, better in person rather than listen to that clown Quinn.
Couple of observations: Cushendall are going to be a serious tour de force over the next decade (emigration and injuries aside, it happens everyone) movement, touch, hunger were all to the fore more prominently than dunloys much vaulted crop of hurlers. Secondly, and with the expertise we have at our disposal, I noticed on three seperate occasions the sidelines of Dunloy and cushendall both berated Darren, no punishment handed out, players were questioning decisions, only once was it moved forward. The question is why?? I've been privy to a few games where it's constantly moved forward, where it's regularly punished, but then again, it wasn't against the teams at the top table of Antrim hurling. Is there a fear of upsetting the big guns?? Is there a pick on lower ranking and lower division teams?? Genuine question.

The more and more I read about Mc Shane coming in, the more I think he is a cod. People raving about his record with Slaughtneil. Whilst an impressive haul, Ian paisley would have won the Derry championships with the players at his disposal. In my opinion, He under achieved in Ulster with that group of players. And before the begrudgers get going, take a look at the finals he lost, completely negative, mind boggling tactics.

Not sure you can say he saw sense, he was backed into a corner by the players. The tail was wagging the dog.

Not sure who all is on his management team, rumours are that it's the same right hand men from the u20 set up;
Cormac Donnelly, Brian mc fall and Kevin Martin. Not sure if Greg o Kane is involved or for that matter Johnny mc Intosh. I'd be interested to see if he takes his old right hand man Stevie mc Garry along.

Arran Graffin was also interviewed.

Of the two management teams interviewed, the best man for the job. Brings experience, let's hope he has learned from his two sojourns with the u20, underachieved in those two campaigns, difficult age group to manage with everything that's expected of the players!
Hopefully a fresh outlook on how players are used and made available to clubs; improve club leagues, improve the county team. Can't be rocket science.

I think na glinnti glasna, you protest too much!!! You attend the NA meetings, but claim not to know who the secretary is!!!
And you certainly know a lot of the ins and outs of all things north Antrim. Double jobbing going on here, nearly as incognito as milltown row and mr2!!!

As someone else said, feis is dying on its feet. Revamp, maybe, but how?? Maybe look at the dates of everything else going on, it's no secret!!

And in regards grading lists, they're definitely sent out at all county level, all there for all to see. Every team. And 15 players do have to be graded at north Antrim level for teams who want a team in junior league participation. Or maybe that's for a select few.

Great to have Na Glinnti Glasna on replying. And great that he attends the meetings. Not many do due to their farcical nature. He will therefore be able to tell us the actual reason that Glenariffe didn't want to host it. The version I heard from them isn't a pretty read on NA behalf.
Dunloy did an excellent job, as any club would, out of respect for the competition. But it wouldn't have been difficult, attendances were pathetic.

Senior clubs grade 15 players. So that means a club that gets promoted from division 2 into senior league, suddenly goes from 8/12 graded players (club dependent) into grading 15 players as if by magic they've spawned players because of promotion. Talk about developing hurling!!

We also had more than one player from the secretary's club who played in all three feis hurling competitions. The NA chairman's club or former club, not sure if he's still a member there, pulled out of the senior competition.
There's more I'm sure, but we will let the oracle that is na glinnti  glasna reply first.

Just look at today. Our national sport has an all Ireland semi final. What do they do, fire the feis finals on at the same time. Madness. And absolute arrogance. An absolute joke. And before the usuals come on and say 'sure offer your help' the offers are there, proposals have been made, but the bigwigs in charge know best and show complete ignorance towards others. Our way or the highway scenario. A trip to Dublin this morning from Belfast was much more appealing than a trip to Dunloy to watch reserve teams slug it out for Senior feis finals. Serious rethink needed within the whole county.

There's grading lists surely, but depending on the club in question and available resources depends on how many you grade. And due to several balls up by the NA divisional board over the years, declining interest in this once great competition and declining numbers, there seems to be a leniency that allows ye to play across the competitions. The old way of if you played senior feis, you couldn't play down and so on, seems to have gone and with it, the integrity of the competition.
Not that will bother the current occupiers of the 'top' roles in the divisional board. They do what they want, run it like a boys club, meetings badly attended and on when they want them. And you only have to look at the debacle today where the players from Naomh Padraig and Creggan were forced to choose either playing for their club in a final or playing for their county. Madness.

And don't get us started as to why the glens feis is taken out of the actual glens never mind glenariffe. A farce. 

Abysmal. Absolutely abysmal. The players don't want to be there, blatantly obvious. Davy has sucked the life clean out of them. Time he was sent down the road into the middle of a fuel protest and gets stuck there forevermore. Honestly have never seen worse. The biggest set of square pegs in round holes you will ever see!

At no point did I say he was poor, tactically limited I believe was my quote. And I stand by it. Slaughtneil would have won Derry with Stevie wonder in charge; they should have won more ulsters: one Ulster final his 'tactic' was to get his best player to wrestle with Neil mc manus for an hour. You can pick the bones of that as well if ye want.

And yes,I left the players alone. Purposely. As I was talking about the poor set up and poor selection. That's not on the players. Same tactics as last year that didn't work. That's on the manager. Feel free to contact any one of the 30 panellists, they were his only words after the game before he hopped in his car and stormed up the road.

And start at u12?? Have we not got development squads?? Gaelfast?? Think you're helping my argument. If ye run about in an Antrim fibrus top you'd get a gig with the county. And it can be backed up with recent minor managers. St Paul's man had seven St Paul's players on panel, only three of them still hurl and are absolutely nowhere near an u20 or senior squad. We also had a Randalstown man in charge two seasons ago, 4 Randalstown players on the squad, not one of them start regularly for their club. I speak with fact!!

So two things, he was poor at slaughtneil and for Antrim?

He won a few Ulster championships, and Antrim unfortunately are not as good as we think they should be, based on our recent results at senior and many years at juvenile level we are where we are. You can't pull a rabbit out of a hat when they are 20 years of age.

That work needs done at under 12 right through


So you were at the match and give your opinion on the him, not how the players who stepped out onto the pitch played

You said the players were bullied and then complained he threatened players, and saying it's fact doesn't mean it's fact, you know that?

As for me stepping in, no, but you seem more well versed than I do, as I said, get in there. It's not job for the boys, or a closed shop, plenty managers over the years wouldn't fit that stereotype at juvenile level or under 20's

Make that make sense for us?? Having an opinion and commenting on what was witnessed at the weekend means stepping into a job?? Give your head a wobble. The problems start at the top. Jobs for the boys, jobs for mates, wouldn't fit in in those circles. Maybe you could step in, youre well versed

quote author=Milltown Row2 link=msg=2396032 date=1774219326]

Antrim are at an all time low. Seniors are rudderless with Davy at the helm. What McManus is saying about a harmonious setup is absolutely far from the truth: he has his Antrim cap on and isn't going to be seen publicly to ridicule the set up and unsteady the ship further.
Was at the u20 game in Meath. Antrim bullied, missing a few key players didn't help. The set up was wrong, personnel moved all over the place, no cohesion. Mc Shane went with 'big men' last year it didn't work, went the same again this year, has regressed further; some of the lads are not at the level and that's on the manager, who, quite obviously, has many favourites. Tactically limited at Slaughtneil, and looks like more of the same with u20s. And here's a kicker for ye, has threatened players that if they don't lay in the Leinster b competition, he will make sure they never hurl for Antrim again at any level. And that's an absolute fact. Madness.

Hopefully you could step in and bring us back to a better level

link=msg=2396032 date=1774219326]

Antrim are at an all time low. Seniors are rudderless with Davy at the helm. What McManus is saying about a harmonious setup is absolutely far from the truth: he has his Antrim cap on and isn't going to be seen publicly to ridicule the set up and unsteady the ship further.
Was at the u20 game in Meath. Antrim bullied, missing a few key players didn't help. The set up was wrong, personnel moved all over the place, no cohesion. Mc Shane went with 'big men' last year it didn't work, went the same again this year, has regressed further; some of the lads are not at the level and that's on the manager, who, quite obviously, has many favourites. Tactically limited at Slaughtneil, and looks like more of the same with u20s. And here's a kicker for ye, has threatened players that if they don't lay in the Leinster b competition, he will make sure they never hurl for Antrim again at any level. And that's an absolute fact. Madness.

Hopefully you could step in and bring us back to a better level
[/quote]

Antrim are at an all time low. Seniors are rudderless with Davy at the helm. What McManus is saying about a harmonious setup is absolutely far from the truth: he has his Antrim cap on and isn't going to be seen publicly to ridicule the set up and unsteady the ship further.
Was at the u20 game in Meath. Antrim bullied, missing a few key players didn't help. The set up was wrong, personnel moved all over the place, no cohesion. Mc Shane went with 'big men' last year it didn't work, went the same again this year, has regressed further; some of the lads are not at the level and that's on the manager, who, quite obviously, has many favourites. Tactically limited at Slaughtneil, and looks like more of the same with u20s. And here's a kicker for ye, has threatened players that if they don't lay in the Leinster b competition, he will make sure they never hurl for Antrim again at any level. And that's an absolute fact. Madness.

A tad tough on the Johnnies, unfortunate last year but got over the Dall this year and beat the team that beat Dunloy..

No one hands you Championships. No easy draws.

Your forecasting of games if I remember right hasn't been great to date

Agreed!! However, I doubt many, if any predicted this years finalists let alone winners. And yes, you don't get handed championships, the handy reference is probably a stretch, however, the others will never be as bad again in one calendar year. And to answer elsewhere, I would suspect that many johnnies fans would agree that they've had better teams over the last 10 years that didn't win it!! But to say they've been regularly in the last four of the Antrim championship as some sort of pedestal going into the Ulster final is laughable. Being in last four means sweet f.a.!!

I know Morgan Nelson of Creggan was drafted in, Conor mc cann has not returned, Sean Duffin (Creggan) also drafted, not sure of the third.

Slaughtneil will not be troubled by St John's, even if not on full power, still be too many for the johnnies. Slaughtneil will be focused on a bigger prize. For my moneys worth, the johnnies are one of the worst teams to win the championship in recent memory, but they did what they had to do; will never be another handy one like it!!

In regards the county, the warning signs surrounding Davy were well documented.  The 4 that have stepped away is only the tip of the iceberg. Men refusing to go,17 at training a few weeks ago,  no disrespect, but to have 3 in from Creggan, and 2 in from Randalstown is mind boggling, u20 manager not letting players be part of his squad if they are with the senior set up, players absconding to other counties, the shit show surrounding Dave Tis ever sobering!!