Now that the academic year is back in swing, and students are once more falling out of bars at all hours of the morning (how I wish I'd passed the GCSEs) what is you views on the new up and coming talent from Antrim representing their universities. We in Antrim can in fact claim to have a few teams good at football in the three universities, unforetunately none of our players actually play in these teams! Having seen a few freshers matches, being of retired age, a few Antrim men have stood out. In the football young Colm Fleming had an excellent game against St. Marys, carrying on his great form from school, club and county. He ended the day with 1-2 and provided many outlets and opportunities for the forwards around him, namely Micheal Armstrong, another Antrim man (and grandson of the great Kevin 'Army' Armstrong of the 40s) was an excellent finisher. rarely missed be it putting the ball over the black spot or playing someone in. It's nice to see two city men from the Rossa impressing at the cream of football at their age level. Didn't notice any other Antrim men impressing but I'm sure there'll be a few representing Jordanstown. At least in the football Antrim have been getting more and more representatives and football is improving in the county. Unforetunately hurling is not, due to the already mentioned on other threads north antrim bias, pro north antrim county board etc. The best hurlers in the universities at the moment are Derry men and blow ins from the southern counties. I watched a freshers game between Queens and Jordanstown and to be honest you would struggle to pick a team between the two of them who would beat any decent southern higher level team. The best of a bad bunch was Matthew Devlin, had a great game in nets saving a penalty and two one on ones. In fact I am being a bit unfair here, he was genuinely good and could make a good impression in the county in the coming years. He has impressed me of late but it remains to seen how he will fair when pitted against top opposition down south. Any player can look good in Antrim at the moment, but it remains to be seen whether they are any good in the grand scheme of things. Has anybody else seen any universities games or know of any good players. It woulld also be helpful if we could maybe informed of university games as they're a bit hard to find out about. I'll take any excuse to get out of looking at four walls, take the pitbull for a walk and get in a bit of the hurling or the football, especially if theres players from stronger GAA counties playing.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 07/11/2009 00:03:50    477847

Anyone know how Queens and Jordanstown are getting on this year? Do St Mary's have a team?

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 10/11/2009 23:46:19    480743

St.Marys University College, Belfast also have a hurling team. They have some fine hurlers from Antrim in their ranks, CJ McGourty (St.Galls), Niall McAlea (Sarsfields), John Kerr & Liam McAuley (Rossa) and Duffin (Tir na nOg). They played against QUB on Wednesday and were beaten but only Duffin from the list above played as others have club championship games this weekend.
At Freshers football level there are a number of Antrim players featuring for their Universities. On Wednesday QUB v UUJ (Freshers) A & B squads played. Queens won the B game and the A game ended in a draw. In the B game Creggan's Hugh McNulty featured well for Queens. In the A game Mark McAleese (Portglenone) started for UUJ and Colm Fleming (Rossa) started for Queens. Michael Armstrong (Rossa) came on as a second half sub for Queens.
The A game ended in a draw with Fleming scoring 1 - 7 from play.
It is good to see plenty of Antrim representation both starting and on the panels. The more Antrim players playing at this level the better for the county team development. University football is a higher level than most are getting at club level. Good luck to all Antrim players both Freshers and Sigerson level.

CEMT (Antrim) - Posts: 4 - 13/11/2009 01:08:10    482665

In fairness to st marys in the freshers football games they were missing 5 key players due to club commitement and werent a kick in the **** off queens or jordanstown theyll be a team to be reckoned with come championship after christmas when they have these men back in the side namely petey harte who is probably the bestm footballer at his age

OnlookingGael (Antrim) - Posts: 14 - 13/11/2009 14:53:17    483022

flankie
Have to disagree ith you there!
UUJ senior hurling team have been performing extremely well this year in divsion 1 of the league!Star perfomances from Crissy o connell in nets A.graffin andf Neal Mc Auely in backline and NmcManus in forward line!all N.antrim men of course as you seem to have a slight grudge against them!

Ruairiog (Antrim) - Posts: 15 - 13/11/2009 18:08:45    483194

Oh really. As far as I am aware in their last two matches they were beaten by a poor Queens team and them absolutely humiliated by a real hurling team made of real hurlers, UCD. Oh wait they did win a challenge match against division two side, St. Pats Drumcondra who are not even in Fitxgibbon and were missing all their real hurlers like richie hogan etc. ruari og I believe you have created an account just to antagonize my good self and i in return have exposed you. If that is what you onsider a team doing well, I'd love to know what ou consider a team doing badly is! btw the only decent players Jordanstown have are the blow ins from Clare. And while your on that Simon McCrory is a massive part of that tem and he is from SA. So what if some NA boys are part of UUJ, its not like UUJ are a good hurling team so its nothing to boast about. wake up and smell the coffee!

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 14/11/2009 00:43:10    483490

1.UUJ have played queens twice this year 1st time in freshers where UUJ won by double figure and played the entire game with 14players..and the 2nd time a CHALLENGE match were queens won.
2.UUJ played St Pats in a DIVSION ONE league game where they won and yes St Pats had a full team..although once again its shows ur lack of knowledge as Richie Hogan no longer attends university.
3. Also i think you will find both St. Pats Drumcondra and DIT are both in the Fitzgibbon, both of whom UUJ got results against.Yes UCD did beat them but condiersing UUJ have only trained half a dozen times as well have having 8 or 9 players missing i think they are doing quite well and you are rather bitter.
4.The only Clare player that UUJ have is Rory Mulqueen i would hardly say that 'the only decent players Jordanstown have are the blow ins from Clare' as there only is one u iddiot.
5. And yes Simon mc Crory is an excellent player for the university of course.
I would hardly say you have exposed me now!!

Ruairiog (Antrim) - Posts: 15 - 14/11/2009 15:04:48    483687

ruariog, as I do not attend university I obviously do not know as much about the goings on of UUJ. despite this my comment still stands and you have not proved me wrong in any way.

1. Even I know freshers does not mean anything, so discount that immediately. secondly, what is the point of playing a challenge game if your not going to try to win it.Might as well not go to the bother organising everything. And UUJ were still soundly beaten by a poor Queens team that does not even play in Fitzgibbon.

2/3. St Pats and DIT are not hurling power houses. Yes they are in Fitzgibbon, doesn't make them good! UUJ are in Fitzgibbon and sure this thread was started lamenting how bad the northern universities are. Both these colleges are small with a tiny intake. I would expect a college the size of UUJ to be beating them, even though they are from a hurling county. Point in case I would expect a NA with a hge pick of players comparitively to beat a team from KK that is made up from a small village/hamlet. Nothing to boast about here.

4. Fair enough I was lead to believe that there were a few players from Clare. Is it not true though that he is one of the main players for UUJ? If so my point still stands.

5. Yes I'm glad that I have convinced you. Maybe you won't be shouting from the rooftops and inferring that the only good players at the poly are from NA.

At the end of the day so what if a few NA are star performers on the team. They are still star performers on a mediocre team and the minute they play a real Fitzgibbon team they get little boys made out of them. Listen I am not just slating NA here, this happens to all hurlers from the north. I can be a main player on a junior B team, doesn't mean I'm of any use.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 14/11/2009 19:01:47    483851

1.Are you not a player from Queens university as im lead to believe Flankie??
2.The reason the chage match was played was because queens wanted a game at short notice so UUJ played majority of subs and freshersn to give them a match..that ok with you?
3.And i dont know where you ar getting your inofrmation about st pats and D.I.T not being hurling power houses??Talking to couple of players after they have a far larger catchnment area than UUJ have!
4.You say 'UUJ are in Fitzgibbon and sure this thread was started lamenting how bad the northern universities are' IT Was you that started the thread just to have a go at UUJ!
5.And once again no you heard wrong there is one hurler from clare and he isnt a bad hurler but not anywer near top 10 hurlers on the team!
6.What do you mean play a medicore team..UUJ have completed all there league match and have held there own!are you sayin that they put all bad teams in one side and all good teams in other.....catch a grip son!

Ruairiog (Antrim) - Posts: 15 - 15/11/2009 13:47:37    484148

ruariog I am not a player from queens university. I wouldn't have enough grades to get into a good secondary school never mind a university! This thread was not created to have a go at UUJ. It was created to look at and discuss university GAA. I merely commented the lamentable standard of university hurling in the north. I directed that comment against all the northern universities, including queens. maybe reread the posts without your jordanstown tinted glasses on. Infact if anything I have made more disparaging remarks about queens than jtown! Hardly something a queens hurler would do! especially given the fierce rivalry between the two.

and listen, I have family living down south, with a grandson who went to DIT. DIT and St. Pats are not hurling power houses. DIT had a decent team a coupple of years ago and hade a good crack at it but that was a once off, not the normative. Both DIT and St Pats are technical colleges, closer to techs up here. Most people attend part time courses and go for the trades etc. People do not attend them to play hurling as would occur in the top southern universities. There are only a few good technical colleges WIT, LIT and CIT. You will find they have arisen only in recent years but for most of those types of colleges around the south what I stated is generally true.

The only thing I can think that I said about UUJ was that yes they are in Fitzgibbon and div 1, but they are making up the numbers if nothing else. You are obvioulsy from Jtown and you can kid yourself if you want but at the end of the day UUJ will get nowhere. UUj play any of the good Fitzgibbon teams, UCD, LIT, UL, CIT, UCC, UCG etc. they will be on a hiding for nothing. hence my statement that hurling in the northern universities is of a lamentable standard. Surely even you, with your extremely optimistic outlook on university hurling cannot disagree with these sentiments!

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 15/11/2009 15:31:14    484194

congratulations to J Crozier being named Queens Football (Sigerson) Captain for the year

opposition (Antrim) - Posts: 41 - 16/11/2009 00:26:14    484637

Well done to Justin, great player, great future.

JoeyMcILroy (Armagh) - Posts: 8 - 16/11/2009 00:27:48    484638

What Antrim players are on the first's panel for Queens and UUJ?

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 16/11/2009 19:41:24    485434

I'm not too sure. Just want to say that queens are playing UCD at the dub in all ireland quarter final on wed at 3. gonna head up and bring the pitbull for a walk to take it in. shud be a gud match.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 16/11/2009 22:29:14    485664

Flankie for a man whos retired you know an awful lot about the games every uni plays, is there a website for keeping track of this. ANother point the yound cdall man is clearly a uuj fan through and through. passionate about his hurling and right to defend his team. A fellow dall man the manager he will defend them. Uni hurling in general is not as strong as uni gaelic and i think more work could go into university hurling to advertise the talent on display

kdog15 (Antrim) - Posts: 197 - 16/11/2009 22:39:32    485687

These fixtures are regularly in the Irish News I think on a Tuesday morning, might have the afternoon off work and head over myself.

The_facts (Antrim) - Posts: 130 - 16/11/2009 22:52:20    485710

No kdog. It is difficult enough to find out when the games are on but getting to them is no problem, being retired I've nought else to do. As for your statement that uni hurling is generally weaker than uni gaelic catch a grip! Look at LIT, WIT UL etc. All hurling colleges through and through. Uni hurling is weak here because most of the players come from poor hurling countys. A uni where most of the best hurlers will be from antrim is destined to fail from the start. it sounds like a harsh thing to say but its true.

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 16/11/2009 22:53:02    485711

disagree sigerson is followed the media greatly in ireland. the universities here have entry into the mc kenna cup which gives them the oppurtunity to test their might against county teams, they are given the glittering coverage which results in crowds turning out to watch. can you say this is the same for hurling. A couple of matches in a league couple of games in the championship then its over. Little turn out at the games. Now are you still saying my thoughts are wrong. i think im right

kdog15 (Antrim) - Posts: 197 - 16/11/2009 23:03:27    485721

em, ever heard of the Waterford crystal cup? Up north the media is more interested in football ut down south its a whole different ball game. In my last visit to KK I picked up a local paper. In it had a sports section dedicated to that weeks round of league fixtures. Every game had at least a page dedicated to including pictures. This was true for senior, intermediate and even junior. Not a mention of soccer or rugby or any of the other sports. Not ever place in the country is as devoid of hulring as antrim is. And thats a good thing because we've nothing good to report!

flankie (Antrim) - Posts: 281 - 16/11/2009 23:14:17    485732

Your dislike of Antrim hurling is unfortunate. Your another grumpy south antrim player/fan who has the them and us mentality. It is for this reason that Antrim has struggled to be successful,. there is too much inter-club hatred and rivalary so when it comes to playing together for thier county they cant put their differences aside

kdog15 (Antrim) - Posts: 197 - 16/11/2009 23:21:30    485738