Antrim Football Thread

[YoungSaff]

Awful hammering they took first round so would need to be a good turnaround. Same for st johns and doesn't really get any easier with Cargin coming. Galls Ballymena maybe pick of the games and Creggan / LD not a bad one either.

Aghagallon St Pauls should be interesting. I'd take Aghagallon for that one.


They'll not get a better swing at it anyway than they have !


Think St Paul's have a real good chance to get 2 points and kickstart their championship. Aghagallon without McCann

[YoungSaff]

Predictions for this week:
Ahoghill / Brids - Brids
Pauls / Aghagallon - Pauls
TNN / Dunloy - Dunloy
Rossa / PG1 - PG1*
Glenravel / Aldergrove - Aldergrove
Creggan / LD - Creggan
Galls / BMena - BMena*
Cargin / Johnnies - Cargin

*wouldn't be surprised to see a home win

Surprised how many taking Aldergrove , I know Glenravel poor against PG1 but think they'll have enough for the Grove especially at home

Is Aldergove Crumlin area?

Their pitch is in Crumlin Town itself.

Pitch is a generous name for it.

Seen better surfaces with cows on it.

correct 

[inabsentia]

Did they ever get their issues sorted with the local PP?

Fairly sure they kicked the can down the road for a few years. Basically once current lease runs out thats them gone

[erinsboy]

Have Aldergrove any ambitions to improve that facility or look for a new site?
If you ever needed an understudy of the problems within our county surly an area like Crumlin is a good starting point.
Massive potential in that town but from the outside looking in they seem to be massively under achieving.
Modern facilities would be a good starting point ,not trying to take away from anybody trying within the club either BTW.

[imtommygunn]

From where they were round the time I was playing to where they are now there must be a few people doing something right in there.

[Duine Inteacht Eile]

A big population increase in 30 years or so. Largely from west Belfast. A lot of the GAA people who moved out still with their original club?

As said, they aren't doing too badly at the minute. They've had worse times.

[Hectic]

Aghagallon made short work of St Paul's then - I thought it would have been more tricky given their struggles this season and the venue.  But again highlighting how little can be taken from league form.

[Sportacus]

Aghagallon made short work of St Paul's then - I thought it would have been more tricky given their struggles this season and the venue.  But again highlighting how little can be taken from league form.

They looked organised and motivated.  Not sure where Plugin goes from here.

[Hectic]

Margin of victory should guarantee Aghagallon avoid relegation playoffs.

Though probably require St Paul's to beat Ahoghill to qualify.

St Paul's needing to beat Ahoghill by a big margin to avoid relegation playoff's themselves.

So plenty still to play for in that group.

[How Long Ref]

Have Aldergrove any ambitions to improve that facility or look for a new site?
If you ever needed an understudy of the problems within our county surly an area like Crumlin is a good starting point.
Massive potential in that town but from the outside looking in they seem to be massively under achieving.
Modern facilities would be a good starting point ,not trying to take away from anybody trying within the club either BTW.

Fair assessment.There are things going on behind the scenes regarding facilities. Funding being the usual stumbling block, as it is for most clubs. Some really great Gaels dedicating time and effort which can seem thankless at times. Again, same for most clubs. There's no doubting the pitch and facilities are not helping.

Whilst there is a growing population, many are only half an hour away from Belfast and take their kids to their own clubs which is understandable. Throw in the usual other issues such as competing with soccer, drink, drugs, exams, studying in GB it can be difficult to retain and/or progress players.

All that said, there is progress being made. Decent league campaign struggling a little since back end of the campaign. Team has a few excellent players, but in contrast to other Division 1 teams just not enough. The step up to Division 1 is huge.

[Plugin]

Aghagallon made short work of St Paul's then - I thought it would have been more tricky given their struggles this season and the venue.  But again highlighting how little can be taken from league form.

They looked organised and motivated.  Not sure where Plugin goes from here.

Wouldn't be getting too carried away about one result..can't be overlooked how poor St Paul's were.
The shot callers should have made the changes to management team long before Ahoghill game instead of waiting after it when the damage had already been done

[whatwillbwillb]

Have Aldergrove any ambitions to improve that facility or look for a new site?
If you ever needed an understudy of the problems within our county surly an area like Crumlin is a good starting point.
Massive potential in that town but from the outside looking in they seem to be massively under achieving.
Modern facilities would be a good starting point ,not trying to take away from anybody trying within the club either BTW.

Fair assessment.There are things going on behind the scenes regarding facilities. Funding being the usual stumbling block, as it is for most clubs. Some really great Gaels dedicating time and effort which can seem thankless at times. Again, same for most clubs. There's no doubting the pitch and facilities are not helping.

Whilst there is a growing population, many are only half an hour away from Belfast and take their kids to their own clubs which is understandable. Throw in the usual other issues such as competing with soccer, drink, drugs, exams, studying in GB it can be difficult to retain and/or progress players.

All that said, there is progress being made. Decent league campaign struggling a little since back end of the campaign. Team has a few excellent players, but in contrast to other Division 1 teams just not enough. The step up to Division 1 is huge.

Knowing some local gaels in the area, they say that the club maybe finalising an agreement with the church and its housing developer, however that may be a double edged sword in relation to what type of housing is planned as they have indicated that recent small developments have brought issues to the area, and how the wider community embrace those plans.

[Dunsilly King]

Cargin will do well to win the championship this year. Crozier retired, Jamie Gribben out for a good while, Pat broken arm. Need good players to replace them

[JimStynes]

Have Aldergrove any ambitions to improve that facility or look for a new site?
If you ever needed an understudy of the problems within our county surly an area like Crumlin is a good starting point.
Massive potential in that town but from the outside looking in they seem to be massively under achieving.
Modern facilities would be a good starting point ,not trying to take away from anybody trying within the club either BTW.

Fair assessment.There are things going on behind the scenes regarding facilities. Funding being the usual stumbling block, as it is for most clubs. Some really great Gaels dedicating time and effort which can seem thankless at times. Again, same for most clubs. There's no doubting the pitch and facilities are not helping.

Whilst there is a growing population, many are only half an hour away from Belfast and take their kids to their own clubs which is understandable. Throw in the usual other issues such as competing with soccer, drink, drugs, exams, studying in GB it can be difficult to retain and/or progress players.

All that said, there is progress being made. Decent league campaign struggling a little since back end of the campaign. Team has a few excellent players, but in contrast to other Division 1 teams just not enough. The step up to Division 1 is huge.

Knowing some local gaels in the area, they say that the club maybe finalising an agreement with the church and its housing developer, however that may be a double edged sword in relation to what type of housing is planned as they have indicated that recent small developments have brought issues to the area, and how the wider community embrace those plans.

Getting more buy in from their huge primary school! Apparently the principal is a big soccer man etc. A few local men have told me there is little to no football in their primary school.

[erinsboy]

Have Aldergrove any ambitions to improve that facility or look for a new site?
If you ever needed an understudy of the problems within our county surly an area like Crumlin is a good starting point.
Massive potential in that town but from the outside looking in they seem to be massively under achieving.
Modern facilities would be a good starting point ,not trying to take away from anybody trying within the club either BTW.

Fair assessment.There are things going on behind the scenes regarding facilities. Funding being the usual stumbling block, as it is for most clubs. Some really great Gaels dedicating time and effort which can seem thankless at times. Again, same for most clubs. There's no doubting the pitch and facilities are not helping.

Whilst there is a growing population, many are only half an hour away from Belfast and take their kids to their own clubs which is understandable. Throw in the usual other issues such as competing with soccer, drink, drugs, exams, studying in GB it can be difficult to retain and/or progress players.

All that said, there is progress being made. Decent league campaign struggling a little since back end of the campaign. Team has a few excellent players, but in contrast to other Division 1 teams just not enough. The step up to Division 1 is huge.

Knowing some local gaels in the area, they say that the club maybe finalising an agreement with the church and its housing developer, however that may be a double edged sword in relation to what type of housing is planned as they have indicated that recent small developments have brought issues to the area, and how the wider community embrace those plans.

Getting more buy in from their huge primary school! Apparently the principal is a big soccer man etc. A few local men have told me there is little to no football in their primary school.

If there's no buy in from the primary school that's the first problem that needs fixed.