Antrim Football Thread

[whereshegoinref]

Why are so many seeking to console themselves with spouting about an open championship...that's only a good thing when the challengers raise their game and surpass the standard bearers.
A seriously mediocre antrim championship this year.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

Why are so many seeking to console themselves with spouting about an open championship...that's only a good thing when the challengers raise their game and surpass the standard bearers.
A seriously mediocre antrim championship this year.

Been the same for many years. Nobody raised their game and surpassed the standard set by St Galls. They just got old, retired and the standard required dropped like a stone.

[Spike]

While i would disagree with the much of the above and would warrant our top 3 or 4 club sides of the past 20 years have generally been at a decent level, its hard to suggest as past 3 or so years that our championship quality now reflects the Div 4 status of the county team.

Coincidence of the league structures?  is it the group stages format with dead rubbers?  not sure but there certainly feels like a large drop off has occurred as past few years from not just one team but from many of the contenders.

We now have a competitive championship but at a much lower level of quality.  Some will be happy at that and some won't.

[Caesar]

Congrats to St Brigid's on securing the championship. Nobody can argue that it hasn't been deserved.

Commiserations to Rossa who have lit up the competition this year. Hopefully they can remain contenders for the foreseeable.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

While i would disagree with the much of the above and would warrant our top 3 or 4 club sides of the past 20 years have generally been at a decent level, its hard to suggest as past 3 or so years that our championship quality now reflects the Div 4 status of the county team.

Coincidence of the league structures?  is it the group stages format with dead rubbers?  not sure but there certainly feels like a large drop off has occurred as past few years from not just one team but from many of the contenders.

We now have a competitive championship but at a much lower level of quality.  Some will be happy at that and some won't.

Aghagallon got to two finals in a row and probably should have won one. They're no better than those teams yesterday. Very similar to Rossa this year in that they got a bit of momentum and belief and it took them close but when the momentum faded they weren't long dropping back into the shitheap again. It's been poor this 10 years.

[Hectic]

We had the St Galls dominance and then we had the Cargin dominance.

Age finally caught up with that St Galls team and the same might be happening at Cargin. Though I don't think Cargin will drop as far out of the conversation as St Galls did as they keep producing a constant enough stream of players.

That St Galls team went on that run off the back of winning U21 titles.

Could we be looking at St Brigids being the next dominant force? Certainly they have been to the fore at underage now for a good few years and are probably favourites for U21 this year.

St Galls maybe worth a look as well as they have been featuring strongly at U21 level in more recent times and were unlucky with the group they got this year. However they were still a good bit off Cargin and St Brigids.

In the South West Creggan and Portglenone are similar in that they don't contribute much to county and as a result flatter to deceive in the league.  Both have aging squads and some good potential coming through.  But probably not enough to overhaul a squad and become a force, especially given some lads might have other pursuits that take priority.

Dunloy are too conflicted to be consistent while Aghagallon are probably still short in too many areas and again not sure they have enough coming in.

Rossa deserve a mention after this year but again are an aging team.

Be interesting to see how St Brigids go in Ulster but this observers conclusion would be that they won a poor Antrim championship but are best placed to go on and dominate like Cargin and St Galls have done before.

[Spike]

if you're setting the bar as an All Ireland win then most of the county championships in Ireland are going to be substandard.   last 3 years or so perhaps, before that our top sides have been in decent shape.

Biddies appear to be the side most likely to take advantage.  They have a good stream of underage sides and not just one good age group. with large membership and underage participants they have have the base ingredients for sustained success but without a few elite performers they will always be exposed against the first side who can produce such

[Hectic]

Cold stand in Dunsilly last night. Naomh Éanna were far superior in every department and, truth be told, I was really disappointed in Aldergrove.

St Enda's are clearly too strong for Intermediate football in Antrim, which again highlights how out of sync our championship structures are with the actual levels of certain teams. That's no criticism of St Enda's, they've simply competed at the level they've been placed. Hopefully they can use this as a springboard, give Ulster a good rattle and establish themselves as a Senior club over the next few years.

Onto the Senior final today. I'd love to see Rossa win it, and why can't they? You don't knock out both PG1 and Cargin without having serious ability. They'll certainly not be there just to make up the numbers.

That said, I think the BT9ers have more depth and quality throughout their side, and over the course of 60 minutes I fancy that to be the difference.

BT9ers by 2 or 3 for me.

Called that well.

As for the Intermediate.  Are St Endas too strong to be an intermediate team or are the rest too weak?

Performance in Ulster be telling but I think the majority of our 'Intermediate' teams should be Junior.

St Endas a decent Intermediate level team for me. But a team that could kick on for sure given the numbers they work with at juvenile.

[imtommygunn]

In terms of standard out record in Ulster, st galls aside, would not suggest we have had a significantly high standard and that's not a dig at any club.

[Hoof Hearted]

We had the St Galls dominance and then we had the Cargin dominance.

Age finally caught up with that St Galls team and the same might be happening at Cargin. Though I don't think Cargin will drop as far out of the conversation as St Galls did as they keep producing a constant enough stream of players.

That St Galls team went on that run off the back of winning U21 titles.

Could we be looking at St Brigids being the next dominant force? Certainly they have been to the fore at underage now for a good few years and are probably favourites for U21 this year.

St Galls maybe worth a look as well as they have been featuring strongly at U21 level in more recent times and were unlucky with the group they got this year. However they were still a good bit off Cargin and St Brigids.

In the South West Creggan and Portglenone are similar in that they don't contribute much to county and as a result flatter to deceive in the league.  Both have aging squads and some good potential coming through.  But probably not enough to overhaul a squad and become a force, especially given some lads might have other pursuits that take priority.

Dunloy are too conflicted to be consistent while Aghagallon are probably still short in too many areas and again not sure they have enough coming in.

Rossa deserve a mention after this year but again are an aging team.

Be interesting to see how St Brigids go in Ulster but this observers conclusion would be that they won a poor Antrim championship but are best placed to go on and dominate like Cargin and St Galls have done before.

U21s are week before ulster club so im not sure how strong a team they will put out

[inabsentia]

Cold stand in Dunsilly last night. Naomh Éanna were far superior in every department and, truth be told, I was really disappointed in Aldergrove.

St Enda's are clearly too strong for Intermediate football in Antrim, which again highlights how out of sync our championship structures are with the actual levels of certain teams. That's no criticism of St Enda's, they've simply competed at the level they've been placed. Hopefully they can use this as a springboard, give Ulster a good rattle and establish themselves as a Senior club over the next few years.

Onto the Senior final today. I'd love to see Rossa win it, and why can't they? You don't knock out both PG1 and Cargin without having serious ability. They'll certainly not be there just to make up the numbers.

That said, I think the BT9ers have more depth and quality throughout their side, and over the course of 60 minutes I fancy that to be the difference.

BT9ers by 2 or 3 for me.

Called that well.

As for the Intermediate.  Are St Endas too strong to be an intermediate team or are the rest too weak?

Performance in Ulster be telling but I think the majority of our 'Intermediate' teams should be Junior.

St Endas a decent Intermediate level team for me. But a team that could kick on for sure given the numbers they work with at juvenile.

Didnt endas finish in the bottom half of the div 2 split last year? Few of their better players came back to play for them, including younger Healy who was playing for London this year.

Having said that, they clearly put shoulder to the wheel this year in terms of fitness and speed. Undefeated across all games this season

[imtommygunn]

It's very different from last time they won when they were in division one(the smaller one). They were rightfully down there and got their shit together.

[Hectic]

We had the St Galls dominance and then we had the Cargin dominance.

Age finally caught up with that St Galls team and the same might be happening at Cargin. Though I don't think Cargin will drop as far out of the conversation as St Galls did as they keep producing a constant enough stream of players.

That St Galls team went on that run off the back of winning U21 titles.

Could we be looking at St Brigids being the next dominant force? Certainly they have been to the fore at underage now for a good few years and are probably favourites for U21 this year.

St Galls maybe worth a look as well as they have been featuring strongly at U21 level in more recent times and were unlucky with the group they got this year. However they were still a good bit off Cargin and St Brigids.

In the South West Creggan and Portglenone are similar in that they don't contribute much to county and as a result flatter to deceive in the league.  Both have aging squads and some good potential coming through.  But probably not enough to overhaul a squad and become a force, especially given some lads might have other pursuits that take priority.

Dunloy are too conflicted to be consistent while Aghagallon are probably still short in too many areas and again not sure they have enough coming in.

Rossa deserve a mention after this year but again are an aging team.

Be interesting to see how St Brigids go in Ulster but this observers conclusion would be that they won a poor Antrim championship but are best placed to go on and dominate like Cargin and St Galls have done before.

U21s are week before ulster club so im not sure how strong a team they will put out

Of course, and U21 is run off sharp, but they should still have plenty outwith what is featuring for their seniors.

Panel depth won't be the same issue for them as for some but might hurt if they hit a strong opponent.

[Saffsof82]

st bs are at home to gorts in theu21, gorts would be strong enough at this age

[Gold]

st bs are at home to gorts in theu21, gorts would be strong enough at this age

This could be my Harry Redknapp Frank Lampard/Scottie Cannon moment but I'm gonna predict Brigid's will be the first Antrim team from the great Galls side to Win a game in Ulster

I think this year v last years All Ireland finalists Errigal Ciaran will be too big an ask but I'd say it's coming

Many posting saying the standard was poor yesterday but where you've a team with composure, pace, 6 starting forwards scoring from play and an 18 year old kicking 7 points (no 2 pointers) and maybe 19 of the 21 points from play, that's some going and not something we've been used to here from that Galls team

Galls had no out and out superstars but scores coming from everywhere, patiently waiting for a line breaker to tap over from in front of the posts, first time I've seen that since is this Brigid's team this year. Not as physically imposing as the Galls team was at the back etc and not suggesting there's an Ulster or AI in them but there's a potential ability to win games at that higher level

Could be wrong but we shall see, I had thought the same re Creggan who were class and shoulda beat Clan Eirean but for a dubious wonder score by Tiernan Kelly.  They appeared made for Ulster Club games with big McCann and Small and pace up front in Quinn etc but haven't got back to that stage since

Rossa, on the contrary yesterday to composed scores in front of the goals, hung in there by outrageous 2 pointers and genuinely a number of controversial decisions