Antrim Football Thread

[bannside]

Agree MR. Dermot and Jordy put in some shift..Peter Healy some loss too, was going well until he manly put his hand up.

Hopefully Andy & Co see the plenty of positives, next year is a new season and players like Ryan Murray, Niall Delargy, Paddy Mc Aleer, Jamie Gribben and plenty of others might check in and keep the selection panel busy.

Despite defeat today, very proud of our effort and to be a Saffron tonight.

[bannside]

One last thing, Conchuir Johnston was immense in the 15 mins he was on the field, played a massive role in our comeback. In top half dozen under 18s in the country? A player youde gladly pay in to watch..maybe a superstar we haven't had for decades.

[erinsboy]

Alot of pride put back into the saffron Jersey today!!

You couldn't fault the effort of any Antrim player ,just a few simple mistakes was the difference ,we where the better team only for 10min spell at the start of second half.
Alot of positives to pocket for next year.

It's funny though that we have to get to Croke Park till get a decent crowd out  !!

Nobody can question Andys methods now and hopefully next year he gets ever player in the County putting their hand up to play for him.

Maybe now the negatively some keep spouting can stop as we look forward to next year

[geezer]

Great performance today. Stood toe to toe with Meath & were the better
team for large portions of the game. Marc jordan was brilliant throughout. His running game is hard to stop. Thought decky lynch was excellent as well, massive game from him. And in fairness, all the lads played really well. Could have probably used mccann more as he was causing trouble with any ball coming into him. Loughran is a danger anytime he touches the ball. Thought the 2 cargin lads done really well too considering there age.

Thought we were a bit wiped out in midfield at times (hopefully bannside has a word with mckeever and delargy to get them on board next year)

In fairness to meath, they have some deadly shooters. Morris is a class act.

Ryan murray was a big miss, would have definitely made a difference.

But all in all a very positive performance from antrim. Played some really good football. Kick on for next year and no reason why we cant get upto div 2.

[BrendanAntrim]

Agree with all has been said about the performance yesterday, definitely a match we could, maybe should, have won. That's the county football season over for another year, next years league seems a long way off. The team is now totally transformed in terms of personnel and system. On another note the Antrim support yesterday was huge, a terrific atmosphere around the pubs (one in particular!) and indeed with the team and management mingling afterwards. What a pleasure to have a day out in Croke Park not just as an interested gaelic football follower but a supporter of a competing team. It was a day to remember.

[EOC1923]

Thrilling game, I was at our place as we had hosted Antrim ladies v Longford, the roar from the social club when Antrims late goal in Croke went in could be heard all around Toome! To be fair McEntee has managed CJ well and not over exposed him. Cant wait to see him on Wed night v Portglenone.
Something to build on for next year and something hopefully others will want to come and be part of. Was it just me or were there several scores Meath got when the shooter went completely unchallenged? Centre Half back is definitely a position we could strengthen for next season. Good year though all in all.

[Milltown Row2]

Thrilling game, I was at our place as we had hosted Antrim ladies v Longford, the roar from the social club when Antrims late goal in Croke went in could be heard all around Toome! To be fair McEntee has managed CJ well and not over exposed him. Cant wait to see him on Wed night v Portglenone.
Something to build on for next year and something hopefully others will want to come and be part of. Was it just me or were there several scores Meath got when the shooter went completely unchallenged? Centre Half back is definitely a position we could strengthen for next season. Good year though all in all.

Some of the Meath lads up front had a bitta pace about them too, we are missing a few players from the squad recently so Andy has played what he feels has worked best for him, hopefully we can plug those gaps better next year.

In a game you won't always make the right calls, should I pass, shoot, solo or track a player there was some of those in yesterdays match, and the players straight away know they haven't made the right move, but they have defo progress as the season went on and didn't lie down yesterday.

I don't mind if my team loses providing they have maximized their potential and just beat by the better team on the day, I hate when they go out without a fight, and that didn't happen yesterday

[Pub Bore]

I was very critical after the Armagh game but I have to take my hat off to Andy McEntee and the players, that was a performance to be proud of.  Clearly the management are trying to build something with a certain style of play and type of player.  A couple of wee mistakes and taking the wrong option now and again was the difference.  First time I've seen Adam Loughran play "live", he looks a very tidy footballer indeed, but they all played well. No reason Antrim can't get to Div 2 or be seriously competitive in the Tailteann next year.

[imtommygunn]

We struggled a bit with their FF line. Only one criticism would be I don't know if our FB line had enough cover or maybe struggled but it was a serious shift put in by all. When we were down by 7 or 8 or whatever it was there was serious character shown to get back into it.

Like others have said I am not convinced we should have won it but we definitely could have won it.

The hope would now be that people see McEntee is trying to build something and we get buy in. These players will have improved significantly this year and then hopefully a few others come in too. We had a lot of injuries and the replacements acquitted themselves well.

I think McEntee is trying to play a lot more of a physical game which is quite foreign to us and another year of conditioning will improve us massively with that too.

[NorthAntrim]

Full back line exposed yes. But we were 7 or 8 down. Id rather watch us push up and go for it than get beat by 10 and try and limit them. Small margins, decision making in the final third the difference. I thought the half back line of Jordan Lynch and McAleese were super. Our strongest line, steady, carried the ball well and tried to make things happen.

[imtommygunn]

Jordan is a fantastic player.  (The others are good too but his direct running is brilliant).

[SaffronSports]

Thrilling game, I was at our place as we had hosted Antrim ladies v Longford, the roar from the social club when Antrims late goal in Croke went in could be heard all around Toome! To be fair McEntee has managed CJ well and not over exposed him. Cant wait to see him on Wed night v Portglenone.
Something to build on for next year and something hopefully others will want to come and be part of. Was it just me or were there several scores Meath got when the shooter went completely unchallenged? Centre Half back is definitely a position we could strengthen for next season. Good year though all in all.

I was at the Ladies game too. It was funny as that game was just kind of closing out with it being over as a contest long before when the roar went up. Cargin isn't the best for signal on the phone and the last update I'd got had Meath well ahead so we were all trying to refresh our phones to get updates. I was tempted to nip in and watch the closing stages but had promised my daughter she could try to get a few pics with the Antrim girls.

[Sportacus]

Agree about Conhuir Johnston.  Conhuir and Adam Loughran in the half forward line next year is a great prospect.  He split the defence yesterday when he hit a ball with the outside of the boot into the full forward line. The team will be built around him in the next few years, he's that good.
As someone else said there were 5 or 6 times when they got free shots from 35 yards out, something not completely right about our defensive system.
Such a good outlook because we know that those players a year older and with more S&C will be even better, plus a good few other players dotted around the county could make a challenge.
Another player worth a mention from yesterday was Cathal Hynds.  He fought like a lion all day even though he was up against it. Full of heart.
Our underage teams have been complete duff for years, but somehow we've turned a corner yesterday.

[Pub Bore]

Thrilling game, I was at our place as we had hosted Antrim ladies v Longford, the roar from the social club when Antrims late goal in Croke went in could be heard all around Toome! To be fair McEntee has managed CJ well and not over exposed him. Cant wait to see him on Wed night v Portglenone.
Something to build on for next year and something hopefully others will want to come and be part of. Was it just me or were there several scores Meath got when the shooter went completely unchallenged? Centre Half back is definitely a position we could strengthen for next season. Good year though all in all.

I was at the Ladies game too. It was funny as that game was just kind of closing out with it being over as a contest long before when the roar went up. Cargin isn't the best for signal on the phone and the last update I'd got had Meath well ahead so we were all trying to refresh our phones to get updates. I was tempted to nip in and watch the closing stages but had promised my daughter she could try to get a few pics with the Antrim girls.

Fair play to the Ladies.  They're flying at the moment.

[NorthAntrim]

Boyle also showed well yesterday. Some of our tackling and turnovers yesterday were outstanding