Antrim Football Thread

[EOC1923]

Acknowledging the difference in playing standards (club and county), where do you start after that today?

Tactically: slow and ponderous allowing them to get back, set up and then force a turnover on the half.

Athletically: Obviously big gulf, but we looked slow and heavy legged. Even some of the more direct/speedier players looked a bit ragged.

Kickouts: At county level all we can work us an overload? That's a shambles. Other way we couldn't even get near theirs.

Derry were poor by their own abilities today, I don't think they gave away a scorable free all game and they easily could have had 3 extra goals in the first half alone. We had some individual bright sparks but it was hard to do that over and over again.

Can never fault lads togging out for their county, but there's failures at some level there because compared to last years run out against Armagh this is a backwards step

I was at the game, quite a dead atmosphere in the ground and very little Antrim support. Derry pressed Antrims kickout very hard particularly in the 1st half. Only for missing  serious chances and great goalkeeping it could have been a nasty scoreline. McCabe and Burns and possibly McAleer performed well.
Armagh beat Antrim by 11 points last year and Derry beat Antrim by 13 today, In reality it's just the same, albeit there was maybe a bit more blood and thunder about it last yr which came from the Corrigan or nowhere thing, but from memory Armagh rested a lot of players.
Its a similar result in the history books. Tailteann is our level not this.

[Gold]

It was Armaghs B team last year. No shame in it

Acknowledging the difference in playing standards (club and county), where do you start after that today?

Tactically: slow and ponderous allowing them to get back, set up and then force a turnover on the half.

Athletically: Obviously big gulf, but we looked slow and heavy legged. Even some of the more direct/speedier players looked a bit ragged.

Kickouts: At county level all we can work us an overload? That's a shambles. Other way we couldn't even get near theirs.

Derry were poor by their own abilities today, I don't think they gave away a scorable free all game and they easily could have had 3 extra goals in the first half alone. We had some individual bright sparks but it was hard to do that over and over again.

Can never fault lads togging out for their county, but there's failures at some level there because compared to last years run out against Armagh this is a backwards step

I was at the game, quite a dead atmosphere in the ground and very little Antrim support. Derry pressed Antrims kickout very hard particularly in the 1st half. Only for missing  serious chances and great goalkeeping it could have been a nasty scoreline. McCabe and Burns and possibly McAleer performed well.
Armagh beat Antrim by 11 points last year and Derry beat Antrim by 13 today, In reality it's just the same, albeit there was maybe a bit more blood and thunder about it last yr which came from the Corrigan or nowhere thing, but from memory Armagh rested a lot of players.
Its a similar result in the history books. Tailteann is our level not this.

It was Armaghs B team last year

No shame in it....we are Div 4

Leitrim don't expect to beat Mayo,so why should we expect to beat Derry?

Last victory v them in the 50s?

[Milltown Row2]

Jesus! Barnet play Man Utd! At their ground.

Antrim played well for the standard we are at, one's questioning our fitness? That's the difference between the top teams and the bottom teams, our physicality is also not the same..

Failures at some level? Go on? I'd like to hear them.. it's a lopsided competition that's the first one, expecting miracles, considering the gulf between these teams is is a fantasy, but hey ho people will look to be annoyed.

[Ghost+Tommy]

Tailteann cup is our level but it'll be interesting to see what players hang about for it,4 or 5 club games before that I assume

[BigGreenField]

All a bit ponderous, limited willingness to take players on and too many reliant on a supporting runner.

One noticeable aspect was a couple of players consistently slowed play down rather than maintaining pace or even trying to speed it up, against a better side that was only going to end in one place:

Backwards compared to a year ago.

[AllStar15]

What do we expect?
We haven't won a minor or u20 game in years

Lots of tactical analysis going on here but not too many hands up when the job was open. Looking forward to the remaining fixtures of the year in hope

So we can't talk about it unless we were willing to take the job? Give over you

[AllStar15]

Derry away is only of the hardest fixtures in the provincials, but try some early ball in. We have forwards who actually can cause damage but give them a chance. Burns was excellent and busy, McQuillan maybe should have been on earlier as Domo didnt seem to be at the races(possibly because of the slow ponderous attacks). Paddy McAleer was causing issues inside when he had the few opportunities to. Just mix it up, not much was expected so at least have a go.

[bannside]

Really no major surprises, not sure if even the most ardent supporters thought we could keep Derry to single figures.

I thought we were set up not to get tanked. Our forwards Adam, Burns, Shivers and especially Dommo spent most of their games out around middle third, not where they were going to damage Derry on the scoreboard.

Anyway its over, as anticipated, and we move to the Tailteean which is our grade. We want to be thinking of having a proper rattle at it. Thats probably how the season will be judged anyway.

[Would ye whist]

It is easy and an excuse to say we got what we expected, what did Westmeath expect yesterday when they were preparing to play the hot favourites for Leinster, go down expecting nothing and then to see Doran standing giving interviews after the game with a smile on his face tells you all you need to know of the preparation and mindset going into the game

[Milltown Row2]

Considering the year in Div 4 Antrim have had and the opposition we are playing in Derry I thought we were decent in patches, Derry have won a National title recently and have been competing against the bigger teams for many years, their conditioning and physicality is years ahead of ours, skill set wise we have players that would compete with many of their players but the big players for them dominate the game, tagging on scores and building leads shows the difference, our mistakes were punished.

It looked ponderous as when Antrim had the ball Derry went into a defensive formation quickly and snuffed out any route into the inside forwards, lumping the ball in is a 50/50 chance and probably favours the bigger defenders over the smaller attackers, the break ball will be collected easier by the defense..

Westmeath beating Meath isn't a big shock, the handicap was 3 points, ours was 13, Westmeath were at home and knocked up a big score against Longford who beat us at home.

Playing Cavan or Fermanagh at home and we'd still be underdogs which would be a better comparison, Cavan put us a way handy enough that last time though

[imtommygunn]

We are miles off it in Ulster and Westmeath are not in Leinster. They have the likes of Luke Loughlin and McCartans etc. They produce very handy footballers.

TC is our level unfortunately so it'll be interesting to see how we go there. On the point of conditioning etc we have a lot of churn year on year so I don't think half the players have the continuity of year on year conditiong programmes.

[NatSoSaff]

This tripe about being x number of years off Derry in terms of conditioning, where does this waffle come from? They all looked fairly similar to me on Saturday, big strong athletic players across both panels. Where are you pulling these conditioning figures from? Have you seen test scores or max reps lifts or whatever it is they measure this stuff by?
It's a cop out. Those Antrim lads have been in gyms and on programs since their early teens like every other county. Derry players have come up through a much better standard of club coaching (by and large), much better/more competitive leagues, championships and fixture structures, and as a result they continually play at a much higher level on a sustained and consistent basis. That's it. Not the extra 2 mm Paudie Mcgrogans jersey sleeve stretches in comparison to Nial burns.

Wake up.

[Milltown Row2]

This tripe about being x number of years off Derry in terms of conditioning, where does this waffle come from? They all looked fairly similar to me on Saturday, big strong athletic players across both panels. Where are you pulling these conditioning figures from? Have you seen test scores or max reps lifts or whatever it is they measure this stuff by?
It's a cop out. Those Antrim lads have been in gyms and on programs since their early teens like every other county. Derry players have come up through a much better standard of club coaching (by and large), much better/more competitive leagues, championships and fixture structures, and as a result they continually play at a much higher level on a sustained and consistent basis. That's it. Not the extra 2 mm Paudie Mcgrogans jersey sleeve stretches in comparison to Nial burns.

Wake up.

They are conditioned from secondary school up! The levels they play within just the schools never mind clubs is higher, the county has been bar one year in the top two leagues for many years, they obviously have better strength and conditioning when they are still fit after 65 minutes to run up and down the pitch and put in tackles, they have to be playing at that standard..

But I'm getting from your post you feel that's bullshit and Antrim should have been closer to derry or even winning?

We can't get out of div 4 this year but be in contention with Derry?

[ck]

Aw here we go again, they have better schools so that's why they hammer us in Championship. It's a lazy argument usually made by the passive who grasp at easy excuses. How many Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan schools play in McRory Cup? Not many, yet are always up there competing.
The answer always starts and stops with the clubs. Certainly the schools can compliment a good club structure but they never replace it. Always looks at the clubs if you wants answers.

As for Saturday Vs Derry. I wasn't expecting a lot bit still felt disappointed. I read somewhere last night that Derry had 12 goal chances. The score board was more than kind to us and there was still 13 in it. I thought the players gave great effort but Antrim looked to be set up for damage limitation rather than having a go. Doran did a number of interviews after and apart from not looking too bothered about the result clearly stated that he wasn't expecting to win the game. I wonder did Westmeath, Leitrim or Wicklow have a similar approach or was it different?
On a positive note I thought Niall Burns was a joy to watch. Easily Antrims best player. I still maintain the players are there to be doing better but I guess the Tailteann is now where the year will be most harshly judged.

[Milltown Row2]

I didn't, unless someone can put it up that posters on here said Antrim would be in contention to win this game?

I'll stop quoting schools if people stop quoting Westmeath beaten finalists last year in Leinster, the odds were -3 for Meath away from home that I felt was generous.

Chalk and cheese, goal chances! Christ. The score at the end is what matters, McNabb had the game between the sticks we've become accustomed to, shot stopping saves, as Roy Keane would say, he did his job, they didn't

We are a depressive type of Gael in Antrim.. If there was a league for moaning Cnuts we'd be champions every year