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Seen a few boys saying online that its an issue when the best players in the county decline the county invite but realistically who is missing from the panel?

Antrim have took some tankings over the years, its nothing new, but its the cost associated with getting davy in that is causing issues, alot of people could of came in for far less and delivered the same, what is it 1 win since he came in?

If we are talking about issues at underage, have a look at kids in primary schools, not allowed to take thir hurls in, no school teams or games, if they arent playing until secondary schools youve already lost the vast majority.

Our hurlers are saying not enough exposure to the better sides, our footballers are saying too much exposure to the better sides.

Money would of been better spent on grassroots imo.

I know ive harped on about it, but south antrim needs seriously looked at, my young lads are u12, its nearly june and theyve played one hurling game due to other teams not fielding, what is the point?

Eldest is now veering towards boxing.

The players who retired and injured are certainly a big enough loss however of the 3 named only Cunning was a regular starter in the last year.
Unfortunately it seems the commentary of Davy's time in other counties has followed to Antrim, namely questions on tactics.
I also wonder are any of the players improving? I'm not sure I could see from TV games players who have gotten better this year under the coaching.
And finally if you talk about players lacking confidence and struggling for belief when they go behind in games it will eventually seep in. That seems to be the case.

Some players seem a little trimmer, i think james mcnaughton has improved, but other than that not really and again as i said its the total lack of game plan.

Watching us there is so many times these other teams win uncontested ball, we concede very simple scores yet at times we seem to overcomplicate things, turn into trouble and generally struggle with the basics.

Its all going to come down to the offaly game and the way were playing combined with how we travel im not optimistic at all.

Do I want to look at Fitzy and blame him? Yes but that's lazy

Fact is, the squad of players available at the moment aren't division 1 or Liam McCarthy quality - too many injuries/retirements

I think I said this before either last season or start of the year. There are better and physically more mature players more capable of having an impact on the pitch on days like today than some of the players.

That also isn't a shot or direct criticism of the young lads putting their hand up as I absolutely think we need to mould the u20's and have them exposed to intercounty demands so that by the time they're 23/24 they are the next crop really driving forward and being leaders.

I just feel the squad is extremely light (numbers/weight) and lacking experience, there are at least 7/8 players performing regularly for their clubs who would do better than some of what we currently have yet fitzy and co are relying on u20s to win us a championship game

Dont think there is many u20s starting at senior
Mcmanus was a huge loss, cunning out for the season also, big misses but it is the entire lack of game plan that worries me, we dont seem to have one.

Not being a funny cnut, who would you call up?

Abysmal today, 3 points scored in 20 minutes at home!!

I dont really know what our style of play or tactics are.

There are just so many more distractions now for kids and they certainly don't get the same free rein we got as youngsters. We genuinely could have been (and were) away from morning to night and my Ma wouldn't have given it a second thought. The age old question in Belfast still remains - are there too many teams and if you had more amalgamations would/could more success spur more interest.

I do think there is too many teams, certainly in west belfast.

The thing is that Antrim is a dual county, so one week it's football,  the next week it's hurling as a lot of clubs play both.  So if you only play football, it's scheduled fixtures then every two weeks at go game levels. After that,  you try and arrange your own game on weeks you have no fixture. I think the south West does it better with the blitz format vs the south antrim (Belfast) which is just usually a stand alone game. 

What Belfast club have moved to north antrim? St Endas? Can't see too many in the city choosing to move.

Surely blitzes with 4 or 5 teams playing short games is better than one stand alone game?

If one team drops out the blitz still goes ahead, with the amount of clubs in the entire belfast area you could have 2 or 3 blitzes each week, one week football the next hurling.

The thing is that Antrim is a dual county, so one week it's football,  the next week it's hurling as a lot of clubs play both.  So if you only play football, it's scheduled fixtures then every two weeks at go game levels. After that,  you try and arrange your own game on weeks you have no fixture. I think the south West does it better with the blitz format vs the south antrim (Belfast) which is just usually a stand alone game. 

What Belfast club have moved to north antrim? St Endas? Can't see too many in the city choosing to move.

Sarsfields at u12

Maybe this question belongs here?

Who designs the league format at underage levels in south antrim?

All i can say is it isnt working, one 40 minute game every 2 weeks, alot of games not taking place due to caravans, holidays, whatever.

One belfast club have moved to north antrim at u12 i take it to play more games, test themselves at a higher level.

Playing blitzes every week will certainly serve their players better than whats happening in belfast.

Surely this needs to be looked at!

My own lads are at the age now where they need and want games, more than a single game every 2 weeks or 4 weeks depending on cancellations.

We wonder why we arent making inroads at senior level, the money should have been invested there, getting games, blitzes, competitions on a weekly basis, instead its been spent on a management team or elsewhere.

Being county secretary of any county throws up its problems, you'll never please everyone, with it being a paid job it also (for some reason) gives people a need to criticise them.

Hopefully Frankie enjoys his retirement and good luck to whoever follows him.

Wouldn't be a job I'd put my hand up for

What is going on in Antrim?

I hear Gaelfast is all but defunct, the better coaches have given up and left and now Frankie throws the towel in...

Who designs the league format at underage levels?

All i can say is it isnt working, one 40 minute game every 2 weeks, alot of games not taking place due to caravans, holidays, whatever.

One belfast club have moved to north antrim at u12 i take it to play more games, test themselves at a higher level.

Playing blitzes every week will certainly serve their players better than whats happening in belfast.

Sarsfields were playing u10 go games in down last year also.

Met the Sarsfields lads at a Down blitz in Warrenpoint of all places. They're regular attenders in Down.

Down have gotten this bit right when it comes to development IMO, first Saturday of the month is an All County blitz and they've gotten that big than only a handful of clubs can cope with the numbers at them, the third Saturday is split into regional blitz's across the county and the fifth Saturday if there is one you can organise away yourself.

You're guaranteed a minimum of 5, 10 minute games, 7 aside for P3P4, 9 aside for P5P6 so every kid gets plenty of opportunity to get game time and very little standing about for parents and kids alike.

Why cant this be organised for south antrim?

One game every 2 weeks against a single club isnt the exposure needed, a blitz as mentioned certainly offers more.

Sarsfields were playing u10 go games in down last year also.

Going back to what we need to improve on with regards to juvenile setup.

Weekend my lad had an u10 game, got to the pitch that that was lined out for the previous game which was 10 aside. Looking at our numbers and opposing numbers this game was only 5 aside, pitch size wasnt then altered, they played 2 7 minute halves and that was that, first game in 4 weeks as the previous fixture didnt go ahead as opposing team couldnt field.
A total shambles!!!!

Was this just a match set up by 2 clubs or officially organised Go Games. In my experience, the NA Blitz Go Games stuff works really well. 100+ kids, split into a couple of different levels so kids are hopefully getting loads of time on the pitch against kids of similar standard. You could be playing 5/6 games and I think they're just 10 mins straight through. This sounds like 2 clubs have organised a match and then been too lazy to adjust a pitch to the size of the players they had.

I think north antrim differs from south. Under 10 games will be once every 2 weeks, rotating on a weekly basis with football.

Usually go to a venue and play one team, ive seen emails this year stipulating that u10 games cannot be more than 7aside.

Straight away, there's a clear issue. North Antrim much stronger in hurling and I believe the calendar would be like this for example.

Week 1 - Dunloy U8
Week 2 - Dunloy U10
Week 3 - Cushendall U8
Week 4 - Cushendall U10
Week 5 - Glenarm U8
Week 6 - Glenarm U10.

That runs right through the summer with most clubs hosting a blitz two weeks in a row to accommodate the two age groups. Every one of those blitzes will have 100+ kids with some teams having maybe 2 or 3 teams out in it.

Appreciate in Belfast you've got more football than North Antrim so has to be worked a bit differently but turning up to play one team for 15 mins even once a fortnight isn't good enough. At least have the lads getting 5/6 games against different teams so you might have 40/50/60 mins depending on your clubs numbers.

Another issue, our club would never facilitate these numbers as we only have one grass pitch, 3g muga is too small for more than 2 small games.

Only ones allowed on our pitch for training or games is seniors.

Going back to what we need to improve on with regards to juvenile setup.

Weekend my lad had an u10 game, got to the pitch that that was lined out for the previous game which was 10 aside. Looking at our numbers and opposing numbers this game was only 5 aside, pitch size wasnt then altered, they played 2 7 minute halves and that was that, first game in 4 weeks as the previous fixture didnt go ahead as opposing team couldnt field.
A total shambles!!!!

Was that a challenge game or Go Games?

Go games

I think the key is in the title there. Go Games - plural.

Should be more than one game and in most cases I've seen there are multiple games?

Does go games not stimulate that everyone gets a "go"?

Anyway my point being that in a month all he and his team mates have played is 2 seven minute halves of hurling, not nearly enough, if we want to look at what is hindering uptake or preventing improvement surely it lies here.

If I knew that it'd be only 15 mins of hurling, I wouldn't be travelling anywhere.

What do you do in this situation then though?
All my young lad wants to do is hurl, if i said we arent going he would be extremely upset.