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I totally understand the logic here and it's one that in a perfect world I would love to see. But,  things in Antrim feel complicated at times.

Someone from within has a pride in taking the team that just cannot be matched by a coach from another county. But, have we not seen this film before? Coaches from Antrim have never really had much success for various and complex reasons.

I speculate that the thinking over the years has been to get an outsider from a strong hurling county who has no baggage or club allegiances and will bring knowledge and fresh ideas.

It depends what the vision is short, medium and long term? I have always felt southern coaches are like a sticking plaster and very much a top down approach. It would be nice to see an Antrim man do well at it, however history shows it's very tricky.

It's a tough gig being Antrim manager. Apart from Dinny, has anyone really made a huge impact on the national stage in championship? Sambo Woody? Jingo? PJ? Gerry Wallis? Kevin Ryan? Pedan? It's really not an easy job.

You could say Davy keeping us Division 1, with what he has, is pretty decent.

Gleeson made good progress but also got relegated to the McDonagh back in 2021, which we won again in 22. We also took some awful beatings under Gleeson, again it comes with the tough task of managing Antrim.
 
Granted, Fitz tactics failed and at times make for difficult watching. But, he's tried something different. Personally I think give it another year. See how Division 1 goes, see if we can have a real good crack at the McDonagh. If it fails then regroup.

Not really much to say about yesterday. Next week is our season!

The 15,000 Armagh supporters might have helped them in their decision.

Yes absolutely they have such a great and passionate support, one which I can only envy.

With this logic maybe all games where it's an elite team playing a so called lesser county, home advantage should be sacrificed purely based on supporter size.

Mayo would never play Leitrim in Carrick on Shannon,
Cork/Kerry should never play Clare in Cusack Park Ennis,
The Dubs should never have to travel to Longford or Wicklow. All these counties could easily fill these stadiums twice over.

If the ground is unsuitable for Ulster GAA games then how is it deemed suitable for Leinster Championship games and all Ireland series games? Confusing.

It's not a take.

It's a grounding in reality.

The competition committee have rules in place for venues that outrank the rules for home and away draws.

These rules are in place to ensure the competition can fulfil its remit as the premier GAA tournament in Ulster.

It's the draw of these tournaments that provides the financial flex to provide mileage, meals and medical care for players.

Antrim's players and management have gone to war carrying buckets and spades. It's a f**king nonsense.

What is the written criteria?  Is there a minimum capacity required or other logistical considerations?

If signed up to a competition then I assume signed up to that written criteria.

Be interesting to see it.

And should remove any argument.

Or we could just make sh!t up and debate that.

Yes, absolutely! If there is specific criteria in black and white then that would make sense.

Why did it take them so long to flag this up? Surely with this criteria a neutral venue for Antrims "home" game would have been set even before the draw was made?

I think I'm right in saying Corrigan Park as had capacity crowds in recent years with the visits of Cork and Kilkenny.
The requirements were not mentioned much then and a great day out was had by the children of Antrim watching their heroes on their own turf.

What a ridiculous decision! Another twist in the Casement debacle and an unnecessary one. I would imagine Antrim will stand firm and I don't think many GAA fans inside and outside the county would disagree with thier stance. Shame on Ulster GAA.

Definitely something to build on. A lot of heart and fight shown to claw a deficit back away from home. Probably could have won it. Remember Carlow beat Waterford at home!

Fair play to all involved. Makes the Laois game very interesting.

I don't think Gaelfast is perfect, they'd probably admit that themselves, but by god it's better than anything we've had before.

From what I understand, they have limited resources in terms staffing. The onus needs the be on the GAA centrally. With Belfast being Irelands second city and with the legacy of the conflict, they should be investing generously but they aren't.

What Croke Park has invested in Gaelfast isn't even scratching the surface of what would be needed. I would imagine anyone employed by Gaelfast is doing their very best for games promotion.

Hopefully the lads can produce a strong performance on Sunday. We have so much quality but it's just about it clicking in a new system. Hopefully James McNaughton, Kealan Molloy, the Elliots and a solid defensive performance will make us competitive in Carlow. There's absolutely no doubt that this squad has it in them. Carlow will be clear favourites so hopefully that takes some pressure off Antrim and they express themselves as the good hurlers we know they are.

Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Offaly and Wexford.

Who are we targeting for a win there to keep us in Leinster?

Fair point. At our best, which is rare, I'd say we should target Dublin, Offaly and Wexford.

Carlow and Laois would always smell blood against Antrim. As do we against them. I honestly think if we can get something out of both of those games then the league has been good to us.

We've had poor(ISH) leagues over the past few years, full of heavy defeats, including defeat to Westmeath last year, so let's keep it real.

Transition is hard and I hope Davy sticks at it. He's a highly knowledgeable manager who's had tons of success. Stay up and survive Leinster and DF will have something to build on for next year.

I think we will see a better response vs Carlow this Sunday. The new system is taking time for players to get accustomed to, and they will get there. If we beat Carlow and Laois and are sitting on 6 points then this league could look a whole lot different.

It's hard to believe Carlow beat this Waterford team because on today's performance they are a serious outfit- slick, physical, and smart. That said, I don't think it would be possible for Antrim to play as badly again.

Dublin, Offaly and Waterford are 3 top class sides. For me, the most disappointing observation is that in all three games the amount of times we carry the ball out of defence and into oncoming highly aggressive opposition traffic only to lose possession cheaply is criminal.

I'm not sure why this panic amongst our following appears to be setting in. Even under Gleeson last year we lost to Westmeath and got licked by every other team in league hurling  apart from Dublin who stole from us at Corrigan. We would have been relegated last year had the league not been restructured.
 
Our championship last year was good, beat Wexford and Carlow (just about) but got heavily beaten in all the other games. My point is let's not fool ourselves, the team is where it is, I don't think that's the managements fault.

There's nothing to say Davy won't get us a few decent results this year. Time and patience needed.