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Hard to say they've been of any use to Antrim given they're in the basement of Football and hurlings getting progressively worse

Hear me out on this.

Development squads in Antrim meet once a week, 1hr and a half. Dubs etc are 3 times a week.

If we continue to skirt about and blame the development squads, we will never correct the real problem.

Club coaching isnt good enough.

[Never heard as much negativity either]

Antrim hurling cant win an argument atm...county club or school.

Never heard as much negativity either, something definitely not right!

Facts there. Everyone happy to side on the lines, talking nonsense, slabbering about the "State of Hurling", while doing f**k all but crying about it's decline.

Some crying about decline, some men fight the tide.

The reserve leagues have fell away! Anyone who was involved will agree! There is so many unfulfilled fixtures it makes it hard to commit to.

I believe being entered in div 3/4 is the answer but it can't be at the same time as the senior team. Ultimately everyone wants to watch their own team so it's not fair to have a reserve team playing at same time in different location

No, this is definitely not the way

It leaves it open for 'reserve' teams  to have a few extra players from the senior panel, stand alone team..

I get watching your senior team but feck me! I'd only be interested in playing ball! Plenty time to see your seniors come championship when it matters.

It's not fair on the other team

Aye, think that the Ardoyne Hurlers complained about that this year (Rossa in Div 4).

For me, it would be a better standard if the reserve teams played in Division 3 (4/5). And before senior games. No better way for a St. Malachy's to show case themselves as a club than going to Milltown, playing a good game against a big reserve team before a senior match.

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!!

Heard all this chat before Rossa/Cushendall/Loughgiel.

The brain, of course, is saying the exact same, that Slaughtneil will be a step ahead, but its wildly unfair to say that a team that had been perennially in the last four for 10 odd years are one of the worst to win a championship in recent memory.

As Milltown Row said, no one hands you a championship.

This wasn't a thing in senior championship.

Nah, It defo was, it's been mentioned in many history articles. It would also have made sense years ago because of travel etc.

Well 100 years ago that would be difficult but if we look at the records I'm sure there's a mix of country and city games

This is why the records in Antrim should have been maintained better.

Fascinating history completely lost.

In '85, Ardoyne beat Rossa in the South Antrim Junior Football semi-final on a scoreline of 2-1 to 1-2. A mouthful.

Sure that was Crumlin Star? lol

Need the best players buying into Antrim, it is the only way the county can progress. Need the youth to want to watch & play for their county and having the best players playing gives the whole thing a boost imo.

Big time on this, need to address how we give children the chance to see more of our games, make it readily accessible. Not just the county but, clubs need to be highlighted and sold in the areas. North Belfast is always going to have the shadow of Solitude looming over it, but I believe we can progress the games and build numbers if we challenge the hegemony of soccer as opposed to relying on crumbs from their table.

Might be time that we be horrible bastards, the way they are in their approach to the GAA.

Also re the Soccer thing....i stopped playing aged 16 to play GAA but in hindsight wish I hadn't.  Soccer players get a game every single Saturday from August to May, train twice a week and a game at the weekend

In GAA we play 1 game to about 10 or so trainings. Appreciate there's a few times where we shoehorn in 3 games in a week at Senior League but most times we're standing frowning in serious huddles on a training pitch in the rain, listening to some lad spouting shite about a drink ban for a game weeks away.

Something to look at maybe re having much more underage blitzes and games to keep kids interested.

Yeah it's almost like getting to play the game is the reward for all the training. It's almost as if we don't provide enough opportunities to play the game, be that level or games themselves.

This wasn't a thing in senior championship.

Nah, It defo was, it's been mentioned in many history articles. It would also have made sense years ago because of travel etc.

We are already broken. And it's getting worse.
You are seeing it as "conceding" to soccer. You can't concede something you've already lost. There needs to be practical strategies to get the best out of it for us. Will working around soccer definitely do that? Who knows but it's certainly a conversation worth having.

It hasn't worked yet.

Senior level.

You are conflating two things wrongly there. The pitch is a totally different issue. Don't let it cloud other things.
Look, we need to find a way to get more people playing GAA sports in Belfast. If working around soccer fixtures is a way to do that then it shouldn't be scoffed at. It's not going to change by itself.

Im going to disagree with the point about the pitch, as it is probably the most important point in all of this chat. All the GAA codes are represented on that pitch, from two clubs. Essentially six teams at senior, before the myriad of under age. It wouldn't be just as simple as changing to suit Soccer boys.

Anecdotally, there is the case of the u12 Ardoyne team, who train Sundays, meaning half their team cant play as they are at soccer. If they changed to the Saturday, they would lose the other half to a difference team.

The reality is that pragmatism will only get you so far. Whatever doesn't bend will break, for sure, but if you bend too far, then you are already broken.

Quick one for youse all lads.

What year was the transition to All County Finals actually made? Know it was in the 80's, but not sure exactly when.

This, of course, is based on the old North vs. South Divisional boards for All County, winners of each divisonal area etc.

But we are getting beaten 10 nil by soccer in Belfast. Even in west Belfast. We need to be realistic about that. We are really struggling to compete with soccer. North Belfast GAA has never competed with it.
Can we make small changes to let people play both sports and give our games a bit of scope to grow in the area? Or is it more important to allow our pride to be a stumbling block?

Well, we're already conceding too much ground, especially when the one GAA pitch (Shared by the two clubs) is being used for soccer regularly. There are a multitude of avenues to explore, I would think exploring these avenues first would be more pragmatic.

Calling it pride is foolhardy, almost insulting really. That reads more like pessimism than pragmatism in honesty.

I get we are a proud association but in a city where soccer has won the war and is beating the shit out of GAA, a small bit of pragmatism wouldn't go amiss.
The alternative is that the lads all go and play the soccer matches and the GAA club loses out. Can't see how that does any good.

Aye, pragmatism is what, realistically, has left Lower North Belfast in the peril it is in. Asking the local association to move it's own championship to accommodate the preseason of another sport? I think that's a bit far, especially when other parts of the city don't find the same struggles. The Culture won't change if the mindset is that the GAA is the weaker of the two institutions.

Point in case on this, when Ardoyne had the young lad from Toome in a few years back, he demanded preference for championship. Star's Captain gave him such, missing a preseason friendly, and was promptly dropped by his soccer club, and stripped of captaincy.