Well I hope all of you are exultant at this instant. The show is well and truly back on the thoroughfare. Fight, supremacy and zeal with a sprinkle of the 'sweet Antrim style', is what we can expect from our gargantuan warriors this season! I can say that I have in no way been more proud in my existence after opening my fresh copy of the Irish News yesterday morning to see that Dinny had returned, and im sure all the saffron warriors had smirks cheek to cheek (even our friends down in the big city). A Div 2 final is next on the cards this season, and I accept as true, we will trounce anything put in our way. Offaly better watch out in this years championship, the saffron train is coming, coming, coming. Glensman125. 'P.S Lawrence Smyth, John McSparran, Frankie Quinn and Woody McKinley deserve a warriors handshake for the late night talks that brought Dinny to the glens'.

Glensman125 (Antrim) - Posts: 17 - 04/11/2009 22:46:26    475558

Glensman, you don't happen to be a member of the Antrim executive infiltrating our wonderful site here? Thought you had enough over on the 'county' one to be replying to.

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 04/11/2009 22:52:20    475564

Hello Glensman welcome to the forum! Unforetunately this is the only positive thing I will say in this reply.

When I saw the name glensmen I knew what to expect and I really am not surprised. This post just exemplifies the snide, condescending attitude prevalent in north Antrim. Us city folk will only be happy when the county board acknowledges we exist. And wise up! Dinny yes Dinny is a fantastic coach but to think that he will magically make Antrim good is deluded in the extreme. I've said it many times before Antrim need to invest in good underage structures to change our fortunes. Not these quick fix high profile appointments. Unforetunately the county executive is using Dinny as a smokescreen to deflect from the fact NOTHING HAS CHANGED. Yes Dinny can improve our players, but he will only be making average players slightly better. Sure this may make them look good in the mickey mouse league that is Antrim but as soon as they go down south and play real men then we'll see how limited Antrim are. In fact I'm going to set a reminder on my phone so that I may bring this post back up after Offally send Antrimback up with they're tails behind they're legs.

I am an Antrim man, a proud city man, and having been all my life. I do and will continue to support Antrim no matter how bad they get, but it sickens me to see how gullible and deluded the majority of my coutny compatriots are, especially when the county board embellishes them with a few words they'll believe anything.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 04/11/2009 22:58:05    475574

Jaysus ye are worse than we are in Galway... Would have thought ye'd be a united county at least!!
Dinny can develop players .. Ye had a coupe of god minor teams in the last 5 years.. Capable of competing now surely?

milicDunanuchta (Galway) - Posts: 149 - 04/11/2009 23:41:26    475620

FAO: FLANKIE

For a seemingly ancient 50-odd years, I've worshiped the saffron army. My found Glens Men memory's are 1986 when the Saffrons hit 1-24 against Cork in an All Ireland semi final. Man was I one exuberant saffron that day. 1989 (of course) & 1991 (no brainier).
My tears, blood, and sweat are all saffron in colour. I enjoy every minute of Antrims' hurling. There isn't anything I would rather do on a Sunday but watch the super saffrons go head to head with the biggest names in hurling.
I do everything I can to cheer my team on. I go to the games and shout at the top of my lungs when the warriors take to the battle ground of casement. I lose my voice when we score a goal. I go absolutely bonkers when a saffron combatant turns his man for another point.
If simply cheering isn't enough, my walls of my study are decorated in Saffrons' paraphernalia and on my spare rooms bed, a 6 x 4.5 foot Antrim Hurling '2008 Walsh Cup Champions, Sean Delargy with cup' fleece blanket lay (which I got specially made). My Laptop from which I type now even has a Antrim hurling sticker on it.
The chair in the corner of my study where my Sunday Game, grilled cheese burger, potato salad, peaches and my Cola sit has a Saffron colored' throw-over. Oh, and the plate that the food sits on, it's got a giant picture of an Antrim badge (thanks to ebay). Not to mention, the grill that I cook with has a Antrim' grill cover (again thanks to ebay!!).
Yes Flankie, I can't wait for Sundays or the occasional Saturday qualifier. Hurling season is the best time of the year. With seventeen glorious weeks of Hurling, what else could I fans ask for?
Let me answer that question for you.
I don't want Div.2 anymore. A year is only fifty-two weeks long and watching hurling from Div.2 is pitiful. Here's what I want more than anything: DIV.1!!.
I want to sit on that Saffron /C-Dall' throw-over and watch my Antrim taking on the NHL'S best in a winner takes all scenario with all my friends and family. After the Saffrons have finished the rest of the NHL off, I want to get after those punks in the Championship as well.
It would make my day to have Sean Delargy own Eoin Kelly like he did to Eoin Clarke in last years Ulster Hurling Final. You know, the one where little Clarke is flat on his back looking up at the frame that is SD.

So how dare you come on this site and question my judgments. But then I shouldnt expect much more from a city man.

Glensman125 (Antrim) - Posts: 17 - 04/11/2009 23:56:08    475634

Flankie and glensmen, the pair of use are completly full of. pull your necks in. the both sets of panels you have are rubbish. flankie, seriously one north antrim hurler from loughgiel! glenmen your as bad. pj o connell is from Ahoghill.

Dunloyrealist (Antrim) - Posts: 498 - 05/11/2009 10:09:15    475778

Glensman just like flankie i welcome u 2 the forum. however it is unforetunate it will be short lived as i will have to side with flankie on a matter like so! Whenever i seen glensman i also knew straight away we would have an anti-city complexion on our hand followed from your previous post u mentioned you were a cushendall man then i definatly new a situation would arise! Glensman. . . the fact of the matter is just because uve supported a terbulant county over 50 years doesnt mean your any more a supporter than us city boys. it also doesnt mean u no any more r any less than us just because u have dinear plates with antrim crests (may i add i found this quite strange and cant comprehend this. . u must reali have a life!.. also its quite easiy for somebody lets say from togo to buy a dinear plate with an antrim crest on it of ebay with there daily grain of rice and claim to be the greatest antrim supporter ever! ) . again to echo flankies thoughts on this, dinny is an exceptional hurling man he nose his stuff however he can onli make all-ireland champions out of players who are all ready talented hurlers, NOT AVERAGE. people lik u glensman will probably expecting some kind of mericle (like yas did from sambo n woody. . . im i at all suprised ;) hence the cushendall conection ;)) but us city boys are more realistic and seem to be the onli ones callin out for underage structures to be hugely improved! but noone WANTS TO LISTEN TO US. . .

lenyard (Antrim) - Posts: 91 - 05/11/2009 11:03:17    475829

dunloyrealist, if you had read my post correctly I was trying to make a team which does not currently play for the county. The fact that Belfast hurling has been brushed aside by pro north antrim managers is why there are so many belfast players on the team. City players aren't given a chance. In fact I only included the North Antrim players because I knew if I didn't there would be a whole uproar from the north antrim 'elite', such as you and gelnsman. Maybe if you took the time to understand and appreciate that yes hurling is played in Belfast also, you would know of the players I am talking about and appreciate how good they really are. At Glensman, your lengthy spiel has merely confirmed to me you are the sort of man I believed you would be. You look at Antrim in rose tinted glasses, you're so deluded you probably look out at Cushendall field when you play a city team and see only 15 maroon and white jerseys running around, in your mind probably practicing tactics for next weeks game against north antrim opposition. Just because you have lots of antrim paraphanellia does not mean your a true Antrim supporter. Your such a yes man you probably believe the county board when they spout their rubbish! Maybe if you come down to the city for a while you may understand that there are far more passionate hurling men in the city doing great things only to be rumbled by the county board and they're pro north antrim agenda! You have to realise that the Antrim team is actually North Antrim with a token city player. But your probably locked in your ivory tower in Cushendall only seeing Antrim GAA from a North Antrim/Cushendall prospectus. The way things are going I genuinely believe South Antrim should break off and reate they're own team and put back pride in Belfast hurling. A radical situation yes, but one that needs to be done in these desperate times.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 05/11/2009 11:57:47    475900

What a pile of trash people are writing on here, people in the country don't hate the city, people in the country hate Loughgiel. I'd love the city teams to come good again, it looks like Rossa are on the way back but the responsibility for the decline in city hurling rests with the city clubs, they are the ones who are supposed to market our games in belfast and recruit players and develop them, maybe if the rest of the clubs in belfast took a leaf out of rossa's book they'd turn the corner and be on the way back too.

jesusjones (Antrim) - Posts: 385 - 05/11/2009 12:31:44    475951

Lenyard Quote: "but us city boys are more realistic and seem to be the onli ones callin out for underage structures to be hugely improved! but noone WANTS TO LISTEN TO US. . ." You're having a laugh Lenyard. What do you think the NA board have been doing with the munster council coaches for the past 5 years (and have welcomed many SA men into that activity)? Why do you think think NA wanted well funded divisional development squad structures? Catch yourself on. The reality is that the people operating on the ground from all over the County see that this is needed while men like that Glenman125 boy sit's in his well adorned room dreaming. Of course I am in 100% agreement with your main point regarding proper underage structure investment. The county has now reeled back the investment in development squads. There will only be a single ALL county development squad per age group and the number of sessions and games planned is seriously limited (most games will be against ulster teams). Now as you're saying yourself, where is the sense in that IF proper development of players is the most important thing? By the time these boys get out of minor we will not be anywhere near the level to compete at intercounty senior as has been the case for Donkeys years.....but we're pretty good at making the same mistakes over and over again.

theskull1 (Antrim) - Posts: 36 - 05/11/2009 12:41:51    475964

Flankie you seem to blame anyone but yourself, the truth of the matter is that its the belfast teams fault that belfast hurling is in decline, instead of crying about it and spouting your "The county board is pro north antrim" drivel you should catch a grip of yourself, no one in north antrim complains that there are no north antrim men on the Antrim football team. The fact of the matter is that a north antrim team would wipe the floor with a city select and we shouldn't think any different, It must have been the same county board running antrim since about 1979 because city teams have only won the county championship twice since the 70's, rossa twice. The fact that country teams are better has nothing to do with the county board or country teams not respecting belfast teams, its because we have better players, better coaches and a fantastic north antrim board who have done brilliant things for hurling, time to stop crying about it Flankie and get out and do something about, typical city man, plenty to say but won't do anything about it. North Antrim's Best 1. Gareth Magee 2. Aaron Graffin 3. Cormac Donnelly 4. Micky Mc Cambridge 5. Malachy Molloy 6. Neil Mc Auley 7. Johnny Campbell 8. Karl Mc Keegan 9. Paul Shiels 10. Liam Watson 11. Neil Mc Manus 12. Johnny Tosh 13. Shane Mc Naughton 14. Paddy Richmond 15. Joey Scullion That team would stuff anything south antrim had to offer

jesusjones (Antrim) - Posts: 385 - 05/11/2009 13:24:04    476005

Lenyard Quote: "but us city boys are more realistic and seem to be the onli ones callin out for underage structures to be hugely improved! but noone WANTS TO LISTEN TO US. . ." You're having a laugh Lenyard. What do you think the NA board have been doing with the munster council coaches for the past 5 years (and have welcomed many SA men into that activity)? Why do you think think NA wanted well funded divisional development squad structures? Catch yourself on. The reality is that the people operating on the ground from all over the County see that this is needed while men like that Glenman125 boy sit's in his well adorned room dreaming. Of course I am in 100% agreement with your main point regarding proper underage structure investment. The county has now reeled back the investment in development squads. There will only be a single ALL county development squad per age group and the number of sessions and games planned is seriously limited (most games will be against ulster teams). Now as you're saying yourself, where is the sense in that IF proper development of players is the most important thing? By the time these boys get out of minor we will not be anywhere near the level to compete at intercounty senior as has been the case for Donkeys years.....but we're pretty good at making the same mistakes over and over again.

theskull1 (Antrim) - Posts: 36 - 05/11/2009 14:45:38    476089

Nobody can deny that Dinny is a good coach, my only fears are if he adopts the same strategy as before, by cancelling league games leading up to county matches, that our developing players will suffer. Senior players will tell you that the only way to keep your match fitness is to play in competitive games. Players do develop more as the season goes on so how is the manager going to see this if its not at club level. We have some good young players in Belfast, (who hopefully will be playing in Div1 next year) that should be invited onto the squad to get a taste of inter county training and heighten their ambition to gain county senior recognition. I think we should increase the teams Div1 to get more competitive, regular, yes regular, games. These games can only be a helpful commodity in improving hurling in Antrim. Players were remonstrating over the lack of inter club games this season, its more rather than less we will need.

silvertoungue (Antrim) - Posts: 101 - 05/11/2009 15:29:53    476142

Flankie, thank you for taking time out of your day to reply to my post I am sure your time is valuable. Unfortunately for you the pleasantry's stop here. Flankie, I have to echo what jesusjones has said. You are a prime example of how narrow minded and paranoid city men are. North Antrim men are among the greatest men on earth in my honest opinion. We are well grounded and honest individuals who have earned respect from the hurling hierarchy in the south of ireland. City people are our let downs. Flankie seems to me to be a washed up hurler who is jealous that north antrim hurling is light years ahead of you city men. So flankie, I get quite upset when someone messes with my pastime, for my time is valuable also. I am very angry. I am fifty-six years of age now , and for at least the last fifty odd years, I have had a passionate interest in the saffron army. It involves attending home & away matches, training sessions, underage games, and dinner annual dinners on a regular basis. It requires reading about and collecting programmes, books, and newspaper stories about the super saffroms and my favorite players, managers, and county officials. You clearly don't have the commitment that I and other north antrim men have. Shame on you.

Glensman125 (Antrim) - Posts: 17 - 05/11/2009 16:20:54    476204

Surely south antrim men could make the arguement that they are as strong as north antrim, certaintly underage. Sure have they not just recently collected u14,16,18 championships, and have a team contesting the 21 final. Surely this is enough to get you north antrim men worrying. Give it 10 years I say, and you will be quaking in your boots at the sound of the south antrim men coming over the hill to loughgiel, and leaving victorious.

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 05/11/2009 16:56:42    476267

Listen Glensman, wake up and smell the coffee! How dare you say I am probably a washed up has been. Let me tell you, I spent my life playing both hurling and football for the McCracken's club in the west of the city. And let me tell you I was tough hurler and handy enough at the big ball game. I have given up many hours of my life passing on the hurling gospel. First at McCrakens, then Gaele Uladh (excuse the spelling irish isn't my strong point but our club is no St. agnes ABC in Andersonstown) and finally at St. Pauls down the shaws road. I've spent manys a year teaching the young children of the greater west belfast area the joys of the caman and the beauty of the fastest field game in the world. What have you contributed glensman, apart from a few bob to the county executive? Your point is particularly proven wrong even in how you see yourself. You are just as deluded as many of the North Antrim men I come across whilst having a quiet pint down in the Casement bar. Youse Cushendall ones think your a hurling parish, like ballyhale, portumna et al when in fact you couldn't be more wrong. Those clubs don't respect you. No-one down south respects you. Your just like the man siting on the bar stool spouting about how good he was. Everyone in the room knows he is lying, no-one respects him, but he has spent so much time spouting this garbage he believes it himself. We need action not words and when it comes to walk the talk, 99% of North antrim men are nowhere to be seen.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 05/11/2009 20:24:25    476529

your right there, they like to paint a picture (literally) of how great their village is, what have they achieved, just survuving for some of them Belfast clubs you mention is a much greater success to the gaa

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 05/11/2009 22:31:17    476649

The_facts what do you mean? all clubs in antrim put in a mountain of work to get where they are. your post reaks of being just plain jealous at the fact some are more sucessfull than others.! cuushendall have done well at senior level but not so at underage, where as loughgiel are the opposite. when i was playing at underage it was St Pauls from the city who were the top dogs at under age level, i rem playing in the same age group as the likes of the gamble brothers in that era whos underage teams were great and you know what, we didnt b*t*h about the sucess they all had, we dealt with it and tried to improve to match them. thing is we worked that talent to senior level whereas they didnt. try doing that instead of b*t*hing at others. look at Dunloy, proclaimed dead as a club, no talent, all old men! aye right, the team is full of young fellas who proved they can step up to the senior level and now hopefully to Antrim.

Dunloyrealist (Antrim) - Posts: 498 - 06/11/2009 08:56:08    476840

now listen here theskull1 dont you quote me!
people lik ur the people tearing this county in2 divisions! and as for munster coaches i didnt see to many of them near the city maybe a bit of a conspiracy from a pro north antrim board. . sounds something along the lines of. . its onli the citiy boys sure they dont play hurling down there.

lenyard (Antrim) - Posts: 91 - 06/11/2009 10:15:11    476892

100% agree with u dunloyrealist. The big city teams should maybe concintrate on the things that sway their "great" underage talent, such as drink and drugs. You should maybe look at this.

GreenGlens10 (Antrim) - Posts: 64 - 06/11/2009 10:16:30    476896