Antrim Football Thread

[Milltown Row2]

The 'Crickey'? i used hair gel the last time i played there. Doubt they are playing there. play their games at Mallusk.

[clarshack]

Game is at mullask

[imtommygunn]

Not a great start today.

Key reasons for losing were complete inability to win any break ball in midfield, missing centre of defense, lack of ability to break tackle and to be honest the movement wasn't too hot at times.

Lowlights: Neither of the league debutants did anything to suggest they will be good additions, Kevin McGourty needs to concentrate more on the game rather than mouthing, Justin Crozier still not living up to his potential and we picked a midfield who weren't competing.

Highlights: Michael McCann very good when he came on, Healy looks like he could be a good addition(to the squad at least though I think he merits a start), Dougan looks reasonbly dangerous when he got the ball and Paddy Cunningham looked like a class act today.

Tony Scullion would have probably been best for us - he drove at Kildare a lot and drew frees, Kevin O'Boyle not bad either.

Realistically I think to compete at this level the midfield must be McGourty and McCann. Loughrey is irreplacable to us and that showed today. I also , no harm to the fella, don't think Terry O'Neill is working for us at intercounty level. Niblock must be CHF too. The sweeper wasn't played all day today but was for a good bit and, as usual, didn't work. Also as per the Kildare c'ship game we couldn't combat their sweeper. We need to get smarter to this being played against us. It counteracted Cunningham and Dougan a lot.

[Simon Says]

sean o neill- good save in second half,kickouts were poor,struggled to hit midfield - 5

colin brady- one of our better performers, few good blocks and stealing possesion. 6.5
andy mc lean- battled well, unlucky with 2nd yellow card in my opinion. 4
kevin o boyle- good block in first half. not a great 2nd half. 6

tony scullion- good attacking option run at kildare with power and pace, defensive duties arent great.5/6
justin croziier- abysmal. done nothing in such an important postion.3
dean o neill- battled well, had his hands full with there no10. 5

aidan gallagher- started well with a few impressive catches and driving runs, faded as the game went on. 6
brendan herron- competed well in the middle, and was unlucky to be taken off.6.5

terry o neill- can tell by his body language he is not happy playing this role. gets through a mountain off work. 5
kevin mc gourty- throwing the toys out of the pram again, kicking the post after someone didnt pass him the ball. is he serious? was busy getting about the pitch, getting on the ball competing for kickouts. 5.5
mark sweeney- like herron unlucky to be taken off worked tirelessly, won a lot of breaking ball and worked back.

paddy cunningham- won alot of ball could score more from play, but expert free taker. frees kept us within touching distance. 8
mark dougan- won a few balls, after a good mckenna cup was a shadow of himself against derry.5
kevin niblock-won a mountain of ball and strong as an ox when carrying the ball. i dont understand why baker plays him in corner forward when his best position is no11. 6

1-17 with a sweeper system? i dont think its very fair on terry o neill either as he is a forward. loughrey and kelly are huge losses at this level. not a good start what so ever.

[imtommygunn]

I would agree with a lot of that Simon. Think you overestimate Sweeney/ Brady and I think Kevin O'Boyle had maybe 3 men who he was marking taken off so would give him a higher mark.

In second half Niblock, who played well to be fair to him, hit a bad ball to McGourty which McGourty's man chased down. Instead of chasing the ball down and hassling his man McGourty turned round and started shouting at Niblock. This guy is what - 28 years old? Will he ever grow up? It's ridiculous.

Also I thought Dougan was good when he got the ball. Not much played in though. Basically Kildare had a sweeper who was blocking the FF lines runs. Nothing was done to combat that - someone should have been pushed up on him.

[Simon Says]

it was a disgrace his behaviour, kicking the post. We definatley need him, hes our best player on his day but he just doesnt have enough of them days.

[imtommygunn]

I would agree with a lot of that Simon. Think you overestimate Sweeney/ Brady and I think Kevin O'Boyle had maybe 3 men who he was marking taken off so would give him a higher mark.

In second half Niblock, who played well to be fair to him, hit a bad ball to McGourty which McGourty's man chased down. Instead of chasing the ball down and hassling his man McGourty turned round and started shouting at Niblock. This guy is what - 28 years old? Will he ever grow up? It's ridiculous.

Also I thought Dougan was good when he got the ball. Not much played in though. Basically Kildare had a sweeper who was blocking the FF lines runs. Nothing was done to combat that - someone should have been pushed up on him.

Easy to see why he got frustrated though. It was the easiest pass to give and for some unknown reason Niblock humped the fcukin thing a mile over his head.

HS that behaviour was ridiculous - easy pass or not.

The boy can play football and no-one doubts that but that kind of attitude stinks.

It wasn't like Niblock wasn't doing well.

Anyway, glad to see Mick McCann playing as he was very good when he came on.

We seriously need to improve under breaking ball as the stats from yesterday would make grim reading. Kelly is probably the best in the county at reading breaking ball - unfortunate really.

[imtommygunn]

HS we played far from ok and we know that.

You have to take some positives from it.

Kildare are far too physically strong for us hence the loss of ball. Our movement and how slow we moved the ball were poor. We don't have a defense capable of living with decent teams either.

Kevin O'Boyle, Tony Scullion, Mick McCann, Niblock and Cunningham di d ok though. There is no point in assessing something as being sh*te and that it is it.

The FF line ball winning was because Kildare had 3 men on 2. Evade 1 man and you're against the other. That is a key point I'm making - we have to combat sweepers. Cunningham too small to win against 2 men. You play a system to beat that.

Of 18 odd players about 4 or 5 played reasonable.

[Simon Says]

hardstation it was a terrible display 1-17 with a sweeper system is dire, but you must try and take positives out of it. some of the boys played well, some were abysmal as stated. when is the next game?

[Trout]

it was a disgrace his behaviour, kicking the post. We definatley need him, hes our best player on his day but he just doesnt have enough of them days.

How many of these "days" has there been for Antrim? You hear this said about him now and again but the performances certainly haven't matched the talk or hype.

[Gold]

Awful.

Kick outs awful.

Not strong enough to compete in most parts of field. Won first kick out but TON took too long on ball and we were turned over--thus setting the tone.

KMcG got yellow hard within 20 secs for screaming like a child at the ref after being outmuscled to a ball by his man who broke the ball away. He went on to kick the post like a child (to roars of laughter by the Kildare fans around me) --to be fair Scullion should have kicked him the ball first but he passed left to Niblock who couldnt get it to KMcG. He was doing the David Beckham thing having to hit every free kick.  Moaning to others and shouting at the manager and not tracking back, just leaving his man if the ball isn't given to him perfectly is beyond boring now. Was cringeworthy watching some of those antics.

JC never touchedd the ball. Big lad at FF Rob Kelly was too big for our full back line who simply couldnt deal with him (although he didnt score).
Dean O'Neill won a free for a score at the start but chased his man and never touched leather after.

Tony Scullio at least has the power to compete.
Herron competes but was poor.
AG broke a few and caught one early on but got turned over too often and wasnt good.
TON running straight back to sweep leaves us seriously short up front.

Sweeney got on a few breaks but did little else. Niblock is a great ball winner and was getting a hard time of it but still winnin ball --needs to play at 11
Dougan hardly touched ball but scored 1 good point

PC did all he could do and scored 1 good point from play.

Anto Healy is a great relaxed player who looked at ease when came on and is a must start.

Mick McCann caught 2 good balls when came on.

Loughrey and Tomas McCann are irreplaceable --we have no line breakers bar Niblock on the team at present--noone else with the power and speed to be able to break a tackle and leave a man for dead.


Depressing start and can see nothing but a grim season

[Simon Says]

couldnt agree more guys, kevin has the talent and potential to be absolutley brilliant and has done since he has been on the scene, but his behaviour was a disgrace. if memory serves me right in an interview last year baker described kevin niblock at that time "the best number 11" in ireland. yet he went and played him corner forward? Gold your spot on regarding A.healy, hes calm on the ball and a great kick passer he has to start. Crozier did nothing defensively or attacking. We cant carry people, we need to get the best team out and get a win against laois. Laois game is a must win. I think we need to scrap the sweeper system also as we have conceded 2-14 and 1-17 in the last two games. some players need a swift kick up the hole.

[múinteoirmór]

You lads make it sound like we played ok yesterday. I thought we were complete horseshit all over the pitch. Far too loose at the back. When our backs had the ball, none of them wanted to get it up the pitch. Constantly f**king about with it and the passing/handling errors were atrocious. Midfield and half forwards constantly losing the ball due to running it into trouble. Full forward line offered very little in terms of ball winning. The difference in physical strength was massive.

It was a very poor performance.

I could not agree more Hardstation.  That boyo Kevin mcGourty, a complete and utter waster/mouthpiece! I would ditch him and that boyo T. O'Neill as well.  I read his article in the IN this morning, he seems to think he is some sort of authority on Antrim Football.  Those two boyos IMO, I would bypass and select  a few other lads who will give their all, stop hiding and more importanly, keep their traps shut!   A case of like 'father like son' on both counts!

[Simon Says]

múinteoirmór elaborate regarding o neill? Mc Gourty yes. O neill No.

[múinteoirmór]

múinteoirmór elaborate regarding o neill? Mc Gourty yes. O neill No.

Takes too much out of the ball, moves forward, then moves back twice the distance.  Does not release the ball at the right time, makes some dreadful passes!   Does not have the will or the physicality to mix it with the big boys!