Antrim Football Thread

[Gaels1789]

Think there was more than just the moneyglass Cargin game lads, time to move on from it

Take it all 3rd round games are neutral ?

[imtommygunn]

Last round has some interesting enough games. So group 1 looks the only group where relegation is still to play for with it being between Randalstown and Glenravel and the rest look foregone conclusions. You would expect Rossa to beat TNN but could be tight enough. On paper it will likely come down to score difference as you'd expect Dunloy to beat Glenravel (unless they rest all their hurlers which could happen...).

Creggan Ballymena probably the biggest game now. You would imagine Cargin would have too much for St Galls. Aghagallon Portglenone might have something in it.

[Gaels1789]

Last round has some interesting enough games. So group 1 looks the only group where relegation is still to play for with it being between Randalstown and Glenravel and the rest look foregone conclusions. You would expect Rossa to beat TNN but could be tight enough. On paper it will likely come down to score difference as you'd expect Dunloy to beat Glenravel (unless they rest all their hurlers which could happen...).

Creggan Ballymena probably the biggest game now. You would imagine Cargin would have too much for St Galls. Aghagallon Portglenone might have something in it.



2 real do or die games which is the way it should be imo, rossa and Creggan favs id have it but wouldn't rule out an upset or 2 on the cards, and cargin probs to strong for st galls if burns isn't fit

[Spike]

At least there were some talking points at the weekend, it is just a pity more wasnt about the football itself.

Cargin, Creggan, Portglenone, Dunloy putting big scores up against teams that frankly shouldn't be in the Senior championship.  Until we get rid of these mismatches and pit decent teams against decent teams our senior championship is always going to be sub-par and perceived as substandard. Every game against them is a cheap 2 points with the only question being score difference like did we hammer them more than the other competitors hammered them?

Some clubs see a league and championship restructure as Turkeys voting for Christmas as they are only there by default, but we need to do something.  The neutral supporters have in large part stopped attending games in the same numbers as the dross is pulling down the quality of the championship. 

Every championship match is supposed to mean something, not have one eye on the next fixture or a chance to get a player miles on the clock. 

The final round of games has 8 fixtures and looking down the list at least half of them are absolute mismatches. No neutral in their right mind would pay in to watch those games, and with respect a lot the club fans will give it a miss as well.  No double headers either. The county board are just arranging more championship matches to squeeze as many ticket sales as possible.

What is next? a champions league open format where Creggan play O'Donnells and St Johns play Pearses?

Rather than increase the quality and championship buzz to increase attendance, they are diluting it.

No mention of St Brides putting up a big score on St Galls ? Should they not be in the senior championship either loosing by 11 ?

I agree too many teams in the senior championship but still a believer on any given day. Plenty of teams have not been given a chance at times and caused an upset ! The beauty of the championship.

Back to a straight knockout the way to go I think !

I get the group stages means the cream rises to the top and the best sides should be in the QTRs but we shouldn't be expected to accept these foregone conclusions.  Any team can have a bad day like St Galls but they have enough credit in the bank to say that all it was.  Cargin had 13 men and still walloped moneyglass. St Galls had a handy opener while the Biddies had a tight one and looked sharper for it. Creggan, Cargin, Ports, Dunloy all still had the luxury of running the benches which lets the opposition have a glimmer of reducing the bad look of things near the end.

Mismatches and putting out weakened teams is what the likes of the O'Cahan Cup is for, what our Div 1 is now due to that mess.  Not Senior Championship

[imtommygunn]

The All Ireland championship model this year was a much better model - they seem to have it in Down now.

Would agree with the above. Group 1 could come down to a team being through and resting players who knows depending on what TNN can do against Rossa. Less teams would do and then intermediate champions would have a better chance of doing better in Ulster too.

Our senior hurling and football really aren't that interesting in the group stages as most are foregone conclusions.

[Lár na páirce 1]

Glad they've stayed up in division one we can see how tough they are next year again sure 👌

[YoungSaff]

Antrim running a good forwards coaching evening ran by Stephen O'Neill on the 7th September

Free as well ! I'm sure there will be plenty to take from it for a lot of coaches

[Cnoc Bán]

A picture posted by the ref is doing the rounds of said ref holding a card aloft with the TNN number 2 on the receiving end with the caption

"A good weekend of football was had by all (apart from no 2) with a speak no evil and laughing emoji"

I hope this is merely worded badly as if not this is in incredibly poor taste, Tomás has been an integral part of the Cargin set up and I am sure he was firmly in management plans for the rest of this championship, I am sure many would like Tomás in their side come the sticky end of the championship not only for his ability but also his experience.

Speaking of poor taste, I see our superstar ref tried to make himself centre of attention on social media, poking fun at a Whitehill player whom he sent of.................

Difficult to critique Cargin properly in this affair. Any football played came through them, though moneyglass clearly set their stall out to stop them at all costs. It turned tasty at times, and the typical poor officiating helped neither team. Thomas Mccann appeared to be badly injured. Big loss to Cargin going forward if so. Things shaping up for a massive 1/4 final v Creggan.

Not nice to hear of an injury but don't think will be too much of a loss. From chatting to a few within Cargin, might release a few others as has struggled for a few years and probably only holding place due to name.

What is this about the sending off?

Didn't see any post or heard anything else about it.

Ah right, don't follow him although I am sure he is loving the attention he is getting.

Definitely one for the limelight.

PS It was a black card.

The way he had the red in his book made everyone think it was red at the time, but he was back on 10 minutes later.

[Sportacus]

Quite a bit of bad blood in here. Dirty digs, poor discipline and bad refereeing has been a vicious circle in Antrim football for many's a day - can't comment on other counties and not really interested anyway. Every club/coach has a responsibility to clean up their act and play the game hard and fair.  How any player thinks there's honour in headbutts/elbows/rabbit punches/goading the opposition etc is beyond me. Don't know what the answer is when there's a lack of leadership all round, and it's always easier to blame the other crowd unfortunately.

[paddyjohn]

Quite a bit of bad blood in here. Dirty digs, poor discipline and bad refereeing has been a vicious circle in Antrim football for many's a day - can't comment on other counties and not really interested anyway. Every club/coach has a responsibility to clean up their act and play the game hard and fair.  How any player thinks there's honour in headbutts/elbows/rabbit punches/goading the opposition etc is beyond me. Don't know what the answer is when there's a lack of leadership all round, and it's always easier to blame the other crowd unfortunately.

Most games are videoed these days. It wouldn't be hard to get a copy to the county board if there is any red cards and take it from there. A lengthy suspension or fine for the club.

Hit them where it hurts.

[YoungSaff]

I see PG1 minors won the Laverty Cup last night , seems they won handy enough

[Would ye whist]

I think the problem is here is that there is a real reluctance on clubs to take any blame for any wrong doing by their players and they will not call them out, until clubs start to police themselves a fine etc will make no difference.

With that said the County Board also has to stand up and accept when it's officials get calls wrong and to remove refs etc from games they are not up to- putting substandard refs into games which they cannot handle is setting them up to fail- and before anyone says it I know we have a shortage of refs but we need to appoint on ability not on who likes who

Quite a bit of bad blood in here. Dirty digs, poor discipline and bad refereeing has been a vicious circle in Antrim football for many's a day - can't comment on other counties and not really interested anyway. Every club/coach has a responsibility to clean up their act and play the game hard and fair.  How any player thinks there's honour in headbutts/elbows/rabbit punches/goading the opposition etc is beyond me. Don't know what the answer is when there's a lack of leadership all round, and it's always easier to blame the other crowd unfortunately.

Most games are videoed these days. It wouldn't be hard to get a copy to the county board if there is any red cards and take it from there. A lengthy suspension or fine for the club.

Hit them where it hurts.

[EOC1923]

I see PG1 minors won the Laverty Cup last night , seems they won handy enough

They have a very strong minor team, in fact an even stronger team that won the title last year. Bar the first round (where our lads pulled a performance together and took them to xtra time) they won it at canter. Being honest when I say they have a team this season to do well up at the St Pauls tournament.

[YoungSaff]

I see PG1 minors won the Laverty Cup last night , seems they won handy enough

They have a very strong minor team, in fact an even stronger team that won the title last year. Bar the first round (where our lads pulled a performance together and took them to xtra time) they won it at canter. Being honest when I say they have a team this season to do well up at the St Pauls tournament.

I heard rumour myself that is their target and they fancy themselves !

Would be good to see an Antrim team competing well this year , hard to know what's coming from around the other counties , Lavey and Bellaghy minors seemed to have some game during the week 3-23 to 2-23 AET , they met Dungiven in the final I believe

[imtommygunn]

I can't remember if Dromintee won it or not last year but I would expect them to be fairly handy too. Hard tournament to do well in.