Antrim Hurling

[manballandall]

Not this year I fear. I hope I am proved wrong but feel we could struggle this year a bit with quite a young team which will lack a bit of experience. The young ones are good, very good in fact, but may take them a year or 2 to find their feet. As of yet we haven't had half a full team together with injuries, colleges etc and at this stage of the year I think could be costly in the first few games of the year. Time will tell

[saffron89]

Watson talented no doubt. In cork game he could have easily be sent off in first five minutes.  Watson would carry more goal threat from frees. Mc manus more of all rounder probably. Two different players though.  Either way mc manus has contributed more to county. As he is committed. Would like to see them both on the team. 

[btdtgtt]

Not this year I fear. I hope I am proved wrong but feel we could struggle this year a bit with quite a young team which will lack a bit of experience. The young ones are good, very good in fact, but may take them a year or 2 to find their feet. As of yet we haven't had half a full team together with injuries, colleges etc and at this stage of the year I think could be costly in the first few games of the year. Time will tell

I really would like to see galls give hurling a real go - but understand the difficulties given the success in football.
The dual clubs are condemned in this respect.
Still my pick to go up however. Sarsfields limited numbers will result in a bad spell during the summer. Any news from the gorts?

[Seamroga in exile]

I fancy kk today by 5 or 6 points.

[manballandall]

Gorts from what I hear have had a serious exodus of players, a few to rossa and a few to o donnells.

[Last Man]

mc manus is a glorified free taker. Explain what he has ever done for antrim

What has the cork game got to do with watson being asked onto the antrim panel

Ask anyone from the south who would they want on their team watson or mc manus


simple answer watson

as a fan of neither if theres one player in this debate who wants to cop himself on and who has only ever teased us with his potential then its LW.  He has treated the game with contempt for too long!

[imtommygunn]

mc manus is a glorified free taker. Explain what he has ever done for antrim

What has the cork game got to do with watson being asked onto the antrim panel

Ask anyone from the south who would they want on their team watson or mc manus


simple answer watson

as a fan of neither if theres one player in this debate who wants to cop himself on and who has only ever teased us with his potential then its LW.  He has treated the game with contempt for too long!

If you think all mcmanus has ever done for antrim is hit a few frees then i think it's very unlikely you know very much about hurling! Wise up.

This thread is getting embarassing.

[Sleeping giant]

Scrapy enough in croker today. Thought St Thomas would have won by more. Is it just me or did the pitch look poor?   Poor reds also. 

[Gizzy15]

not like me to agree with you but poor pitch poor match and defo the first red for a weak slap on the elbow was again poor. Match was bad because of conditions, as on their day they seem to be two very good teams, because of this it lacked anything memorable. of all the Semis and finals this year the watson 21 yard free in the drawn game was the only spark. think the smaller clubs getting through made it hard (esp Final) to really get a Big Match day feel about it.... Only mw??

[Milltown Row2]

not like me to agree with you but poor pitch poor match and defo the first red for a weak slap on the elbow was again poor. Match was bad because of conditions, as on their day they seem to be two very good teams, because of this it lacked anything memorable. of all the Semis and finals this year the watson 21 yard free in the drawn game was the only spark. think the smaller clubs getting through made it hard (esp Final) to really get a Big Match day feel about it.... Only mw??

With the two Dub games played on a heavy pitch the night before it was always going to be a shit pitch.

They aren't small clubs now I suppose and I don't think that will be the last we'll see of St'Thomas's. Both semi finals were great games, K-K were outstanding against Thurles who weren't allowed to showcase their obvious skills

[btdtgtt]

not like me to agree with you but poor pitch poor match and defo the first red for a weak slap on the elbow was again poor. Match was bad because of conditions, as on their day they seem to be two very good teams, because of this it lacked anything memorable. of all the Semis and finals this year the watson 21 yard free in the drawn game was the only spark. think the smaller clubs getting through made it hard (esp Final) to really get a Big Match day feel about it.... Only mw??

With the two Dub games played on a heavy pitch the night before it was always going to be a shit pitch.

They aren't small clubs now I suppose and I don't think that will be the last we'll see of St'Thomas's. Both semi finals were great games, K-K were outstanding against Thurles who weren't allowed to showcase their obvious skills

I would agree with that.
Maybe it is changing times - we've recently seen the Athenry/Birr & several Clare sides drop down the order in favour of Portumna and Ballyhale for example. Perhaps now another shift is happening.
Club teams are never going to stay at the top as long as county sides - its a different animal.
After all - our club sides generally fare much better in All-Ireland semis than the county team!
Whats the club finals did show for me however was the enduring appeal of club hurling (and football).
So without sounding like a broken record - I think the GAA need to give it more prominence in the calender.

[NAG1]

not like me to agree with you but poor pitch poor match and defo the first red for a weak slap on the elbow was again poor. Match was bad because of conditions, as on their day they seem to be two very good teams, because of this it lacked anything memorable. of all the Semis and finals this year the watson 21 yard free in the drawn game was the only spark. think the smaller clubs getting through made it hard (esp Final) to really get a Big Match day feel about it.... Only mw??

With the two Dub games played on a heavy pitch the night before it was always going to be a shit pitch.

They aren't small clubs now I suppose and I don't think that will be the last we'll see of St'Thomas's. Both semi finals were great games, K-K were outstanding against Thurles who weren't allowed to showcase their obvious skills

I would agree with that.
Maybe it is changing times - we've recently seen the Athenry/Birr & several Clare sides drop down the order in favour of Portumna and Ballyhale for example. Perhaps now another shift is happening.
Club teams are never going to stay at the top as long as county sides - its a different animal.
After all - our club sides generally fare much better in All-Ireland semis than the county team!
Whats the club finals did show for me however was the enduring appeal of club hurling (and football).
So without sounding like a broken record - I think the GAA need to give it more prominence in the calender.

You wont see the dominance of the big clubs any longer because the demand on their players is so intense, if some of these teams have a young joe canning, he is going to be playing ball for college, county and club and that eventually will take its toll on the club, stopping them from dominating in maybe the way they could have previously.

Also emigration is having massive impact on clubs in the south and is probably one of the major factors as to why there has been maybe a slight drop in the standard of teams progressing in the past 3-4 years. (Not intended in any way as a dig to any one)

[Milltown Row2]

not like me to agree with you but poor pitch poor match and defo the first red for a weak slap on the elbow was again poor. Match was bad because of conditions, as on their day they seem to be two very good teams, because of this it lacked anything memorable. of all the Semis and finals this year the watson 21 yard free in the drawn game was the only spark. think the smaller clubs getting through made it hard (esp Final) to really get a Big Match day feel about it.... Only mw??

With the two Dub games played on a heavy pitch the night before it was always going to be a shit pitch.

They aren't small clubs now I suppose and I don't think that will be the last we'll see of St'Thomas's. Both semi finals were great games, K-K were outstanding against Thurles who weren't allowed to showcase their obvious skills

I would agree with that.
Maybe it is changing times - we've recently seen the Athenry/Birr & several Clare sides drop down the order in favour of Portumna and Ballyhale for example. Perhaps now another shift is happening.
Club teams are never going to stay at the top as long as county sides - its a different animal.
After all - our club sides generally fare much better in All-Ireland semis than the county team!
Whats the club finals did show for me however was the enduring appeal of club hurling (and football).
So without sounding like a broken record - I think the GAA need to give it more prominence in the calender.

You wont see the dominance of the big clubs any longer because the demand on their players is so intense, if some of these teams have a young joe canning, he is going to be playing ball for college, county and club and that eventually will take its toll on the club, stopping them from dominating in maybe the way they could have previously.

Also emigration is having massive impact on clubs in the south and is probably one of the major factors as to why there has been maybe a slight drop in the standard of teams progressing in the past 3-4 years. (Not intended in any way as a dig to any one)

Emigration probably a factor but it's swings and roundabouts, these big clubs will still win their county championships every so often. After Loughgiel lose they will rebuild and have another crack at it. In the meantime Cushendall, Ballycastle may dominate along with Dunloy for a period.

We won't keep winning the football and Cross will eventually lose out in Armagh but will come back again for sure. Kilmacud and Ballyboden will win in Dublin and Ballyhale, James Stephens will be winning county titles soon enough in Kilkenny.

Plenty more examples I don't think the standard has dropped though. The speed of hurling and the fitness levels have improved, the football final was as good as it gets so it's improved also. I we watch a club final of ten plus years ago I'd say it's the same standard or better now.

[Na Glinntí Glasa]

spot on MR2. every club has its cycles. we had ours for a period as did cushendall. lgiel are the form team but that wont last as players move on its not as easy to replace them.

it will be someone else, maybe ballycastle? who knows

[johnneycool]

spot on MR2. every club has its cycles. we had ours for a period as did cushendall. lgiel are the form team but that wont last as players move on its not as easy to replace them.

it will be someone else, maybe ballycastle? who knows

Prior to Dunloys senior domination was a juvenile domination as well for a good few years, Loughgeil had it for a few years as well. St Johns have one set of players who have dominated to an extent at U-14 to minor, but one group is never enough to make an impact at senior level. It needs to be sustained and it's hard to sustain the work required at juvenile level as the true rewards won't be seen for several years.