Antrim Football Thread

[Spike]

Eamon fyfe, james o'Connell and young mccormick all worth a shot too and i'd missed them.

Theres are lot of 'but but buts' in the above responses that are irrelevant the question asked.

The players are there. Its up to the county to get them out. We just cant be arsed.

[Take the Mark]

Whilst I agree with all you've said I do look forward to Bannsides response to 'county captain rinsed by a Masters player' lol

That bit might leave him in a quandry 

[Spike]

maybe its a pat on the back to our leader and the quality he is attracting to the Master's panel 

[Milltown Row2]

It's a sad state of affairs when the best player in the county is 40 this year.. and people are complaining that we should do better?

[bannside]

Lol. Some great points raised here for sure.

Regarding Mick McCann, no doubt he could impact a senior county contest right now, adding composure and nous to the mix, as well as leadership, craft etc. A one off. Would he be on my county panel right now? Yes. Is any player in Antrim right now likely to get the better of him. Most unlikely.

But leave him where he is at the moment, please.....lol.

Regarding his duel with the current county captain. Both were carrying bad quad injuries into county final, and the way I saw it both were restricted. Two good players, I'll leave it at that.

Regarding forwards, it's my view we are struggling to produce consistently good forwards and it's a long time since we had a proper marquee forward.

James OC and Eamon Fyfe (he was superb last night) are two, and we've had a lot worse in Saffron up front than Seamus McGarry. Kevin Small allegedly back to his best (that would be up there with the best in the county in my book) and I love a really pacy player in the middle third, which would bring in a SON, Paddy Ferris and for what it's worth, I'd bring Eunan out of full back, as he is up with Paddy McBride when it comes to orange flags. We need pace in middle third and scoring forwards on the end of moves, and we have a quality panel.

Ps, Peter Healy a proper loss too this year. A superb player who turned our 9 point half time deficit to Fermanagh almost single handedly!

Is there a pacier player then Eoin McKeown in Ulster? And Matt Fitz too, another huge loss to the cause.

That's only my opinion, its Andys that counts.

[NatSoSaff]

Unfortunately Andys expensive opinions have been both costly and regressive from beginning to what I assume will be the end after next weekend.

Bannside for the hotseat.

[Milltown Row2]

We've went for the 'cheap' options also over the years..

Jim Galvin wouldn't make a difference even if he was free.

If people are not willing to buy in then you are screwed

[AllStar15]

Lol. Some great points raised here for sure.

Regarding Mick McCann, no doubt he could impact a senior county contest right now, adding composure and nous to the mix, as well as leadership, craft etc. A one off. Would he be on my county panel right now? Yes. Is any player in Antrim right now likely to get the better of him. Most unlikely.

But leave him where he is at the moment, please.....lol.

Regarding his duel with the current county captain. Both were carrying bad quad injuries into county final, and the way I saw it both were restricted. Two good players, I'll leave it at that.

Regarding forwards, it's my view we are struggling to produce consistently good forwards and it's a long time since we had a proper marquee forward.

James OC and Eamon Fyfe (he was superb last night) are two, and we've had a lot worse in Saffron up front than Seamus McGarry. Kevin Small allegedly back to his best (that would be up there with the best in the county in my book) and I love a really pacy player in the middle third, which would bring in a SON, Paddy Ferris and for what it's worth, I'd bring Eunan out of full back, as he is up with Paddy McBride when it comes to orange flags. We need pace in middle third and scoring forwards on the end of moves, and we have a quality panel.

Ps, Peter Healy a proper loss too this year. A superb player who turned our 9 point half time deficit to Fermanagh almost single handedly!

Is there a pacier player then Eoin McKeown in Ulster? And Matt Fitz too, another huge loss to the cause.

That's only my opinion, its Andys that counts.

Some tasty players on your list. On Eunan Walsh, I think that point can be made about the whole full back line, none do those positions for their club and I think you need out and out full backs for those positions. TTM i think it was mentioned Kobo a while back sort of tongue in cheek, but he is still the best man marker in the county. An out and out corner back.

That's not to say our corner backs have let the county down all year, they haven't.

[YoungSaff]

I feel the county team could also do with a resurgence of youth among the team get some new young lads onto the scene who are hungry to impress and show they belong at that level. A lot of the lads who have been around a while could maybe do with new competition too

[bannside]

Agree, you need a good mix of youth and experience.

Lets get fully behind management and players for Sundays clash with London, and wherever that takes us, and after that we will have plenty of time to debate the pros and cons of who should be doing what next year.

Ps, agree 100% All Star, Kobo still a class act, 100% up there still with the best natural man marking corner backs in the county. Corner back a very specialised position. I feel Kavan and Eoghan could be seen to better advantage in the middle third, breaking lines at pace.

[Gaels1789]

Agree, you need a good mix of youth and experience.

Lets get fully behind management and players for Sundays clash with London, and wherever that takes us, and after that we will have plenty of time to debate the pros and cons of who should be doing what next year.

Ps, agree 100% All Star, Kobo still a class act, 100% up there still with the best natural man marking corner backs in the county. Corner back a very specialised position. I feel Kavan and Eoghan could be seen to better advantage in the middle third, breaking lines at pace.


What do we need to happen for Antrim to go through?

[Gael-in-exile]

There's a lot of talk about players here who are retired/too old/not selected for county and how well they perform at club level.

Would there be a case whereby the game at club level and county level is significantly different that players form would not be easily shifted over.

Take for example an experienced player who still shows as one of the best in county across club games - however that is due to being a very smart brained footballer and also the club game being slower.
But when that player moves to county games the speed of games is maybe above their ability and thus even their brain can't pull the strings quick enough to keep them from looking out of place?

[Spike]

Its their brains that keep them elite in Antrim.

[Milltown Row2]

Its their brains that keep them elite in Antrim.

Sure considering the standard of club football, brains not required 

[bannside]

For us to progress to the Prelim QF, we must be one of the 3 best 3rd placed teams as NY come in and only 3/4 3rd placed qualify.

Realistically the only other group we are competing with in terms of 3rd place is Group 1 and its solely to do with scoring difference.
In Group 1 Leitrim play Tipp both on 0 points.
Tipp -19
Antrim -24
Leitrim -29

Regardless we need to win but if we do...
Scenarios:
1. Leitrim v Tipp is a draw we progress
2. Leitrim win but not by 5 points more than Antrim's winning margin
3. Tipp win but Antrim win by 6 points more than Tipps winning margin.