Ulster Championship - Antrim v Donegal

Well how do we see this one going? Is it worthwhile Antrim turning up at all?

There is no doubt Antrim have made some major strides under Baker Bradley though it could be argued that of late they have started to slide backwards ever so slightly. Donegal under new manager Jim are going places, he has installed a new work ethic not seen in Donegal since Brian McIver was manager and whilst they may not be the pretiest to watch they are getting the all important results. In Michael Murphy they have uncovered a player who is certainly having a big impact.

Antrim appear to have their fair share of problems with injuries with CJ not expected to be available for selection for a while and brother Kevin suffering from an ankle injury and Thomas McCann plagued with a serious enough back injury. It would seem they are also contemplating deploying a rookie full back to look after Mr Murphy on Sunday.

Baker has accussed Donegal of being ultra defensive and playing real puke football, and whilst McGuinness has refrained from getting in a slanging match it could well add some bite to Sundays game.

I fully expect Donegal to go along way this season, though if that is the direct route remains to be seen, and so i am going for a comfortable Donegal win with the winning margin being 6 points or more.

Struggling to see why Donegal are getting so much hype and "dark horse" comment

For two decades they have been division one or "division two promotion" challengers so nothing different this year
For several years we have seen good league form or good McKenna cup form not replicated in May/June
This is Murphys third season on the starting 15 - so its not like he is new find
We have seen some dismal Ballybofey displays in the last couple of years - Down and Antrim for starters
McFadden has been in good form in the league and has scored heavy - but nothing new there - he was often been a good winter player - strong but doesn't seem to have the second gear for summer (Tyrone 04 excepted - and it was a winters day that June)
13 men behind the ball has been the game plan on and off for 15 years so nothing new there.
They had two good games in the league and nearly threw

- On the positive side there is some new blood coming through from a good U-21 side (Brick etc)
Mcfadden might actually start to benefit from not being the primary target man
The vibe with jimbo does seem stronger

I'll go for donegal by 3 but more a reflection of Antrim that Donegal

I wouldn't rule out Donegal as potential Ulster champions this year although they do have some stiff tests ahead of them en-route. The winner of the anglo celt traditionally doesn't come from the preliminary round winner but I fully expect them to dispose of Antrim at the weekend with some ease. Donegal then face Cavan which will reunite many of the players from the 2010 U21 championship Ulster final, I still think Donegal will win through but it is a potential banana skin for them. A Donegal win then would mean they play either Monaghan or Tyrone. If its Tyrone they face in the semi's then I wouldn't be too over confident as a Tyrone man, Donegal have often been a thorn in many a Tyrone side in the past.

The question is can Murphy step up and become a real leader on this team - In my opinion He is probably the best forward in Ulster at the moment and this year will reveal whether he can step up another level in championship football. The other question is if the team can offer some consistency in their performances. In 2009 they were surprisingly beaten by Antrim in Ballybofey, They then strung together some good results via the back door before being absolutely pummilled by Cork in the quarter final. They were Ultra defensive in the league match against Tyrone earlier and if they can hold and frustrate the opposition the likes of McFadden, Murphy and Molloy can potentially rack up some big scores and their physical approach will cause most defences problems.

Molloy has been fairly non-existent IMO for donegal this year, contributing only frees.
I don't buy into this crack that McGuinness has a blooded a lot of young lads. Yes he has brought a lot of lads in from under21 panel. The only one has really shone for me is McGrath. Classon, Mulhern, mcLaughlin, A mCfadden, have all been largely anonymous and were quite poor for donegal in the under21 this year those who were underage.

And now I see he has brought back McGee and Paddy McBrearty who is doing his leaving cert next year?

I'm not sure.

However I have backed Donegal and Dublin each way for all-ireland....

hope thats dublin hurlers johnno!

fancy donegal quite handily again its a mix of regression on antrims part and the fact that mcguiness is clued in and could go far wtih this relatively young donegal team.

OMAR wrote:Struggling to see why Donegal are getting so much hype and "dark horse" comment

For two decades they have been division one or "division two promotion" challengers so nothing different this year
For several years we have seen good league form or good McKenna cup form not replicated in May/June
This is Murphys third season on the starting 15 - so its not like he is new find
We have seen some dismal Ballybofey displays in the last couple of years - Down and Antrim for starters
McFadden has been in good form in the league and has scored heavy - but nothing new there - he was often been a good winter player - strong but doesn't seem to have the second gear for summer (Tyrone 04 excepted - and it was a winters day that June)
13 men behind the ball has been the game plan on and off for 15 years so nothing new there.
They had two good games in the league and nearly threw

- On the positive side there is some new blood coming through from a good U-21 side (Brick etc)
Mcfadden might actually start to benefit from not being the primary target man
The vibe with jimbo does seem stronger

I'll go for donegal by 3 but more a reflection of Antrim that Donegal

i see where your coming from OMAR but there appears to be something different about them this year - certainly a better workrate and possibly a better team ethic and discipline - now that could be a false dawn as we all know how quickly they can press the self destruct button.

Murphy certainly has a big season ahead of him but i would be surprised if he doesnt have a very good season. I dont think they are capable of winning SAM but i wouldnt be at all surprised to see them in an All Ireland semi final!!!

bocerty wrote:

OMAR wrote:Struggling to see why Donegal are getting so much hype and "dark horse" comment

For two decades they have been division one or "division two promotion" challengers so nothing different this year
For several years we have seen good league form or good McKenna cup form not replicated in May/June
This is Murphys third season on the starting 15 - so its not like he is new find
We have seen some dismal Ballybofey displays in the last couple of years - Down and Antrim for starters
McFadden has been in good form in the league and has scored heavy - but nothing new there - he was often been a good winter player - strong but doesn't seem to have the second gear for summer (Tyrone 04 excepted - and it was a winters day that June)
13 men behind the ball has been the game plan on and off for 15 years so nothing new there.
They had two good games in the league and nearly threw

- On the positive side there is some new blood coming through from a good U-21 side (Brick etc)
Mcfadden might actually start to benefit from not being the primary target man
The vibe with jimbo does seem stronger

I'll go for donegal by 3 but more a reflection of Antrim that Donegal

i see where your coming from OMAR but there appears to be something different about them this year - certainly a better workrate and possibly a better team ethic and discipline - now that could be a false dawn as we all know how quickly they can press the self destruct button.

Murphy certainly has a big season ahead of him but i would be surprised if he doesnt have a very good season. I dont think they are capable of winning SAM but i wouldnt be at all surprised to see them in an All Ireland semi final!!!

Bob (seems to be my morning for disagreeing with you ). It will only be a false dawn relative to the national medias expectations. Expectations within the county are much less (and probably more realistic). The papers are full of stuff about Donegal and their new direction. How they can be the team to win Ulster. All we have done is win a competition between the 9th-16th best teams in the country. A dose of reality is needed badly.

Antrim: S O'Neill, K O'Boyle, R Johnston, C Brady, T Scullion, J Crozier, A Healy, M McCann, A Gallagher, C Murray, T McCann, M Sweeney, B Herron, K Niblock.

Baker Bradley has opted for four debutants against Donegal at the weekend, They are goalkeeper Sean O'Neill, full-back Ricky Johnston plus half-forwards Conor Murray and Mark Sweeney. Michael McCann lines out at midfield but will probably move into the full forward line. There are no McGourty's in the Antrim line up, Kevin has an ankle injury and CJ is simply burnt out...

Two years ago Donegal looked great and somehow lost.

They have regressed since then.

Antrim have just had their best league in about 35 years, beating the Leinster champs during it.

Despite that they have lost one of the best players in Ireland and one of the two scoring forwards. The other scoring forward is a free taker.

Doesn't look good.

Donegal the pick of a poor two.

I expect Brady to mark Murphy, who scored a point of him two years ago.

That was better than Gooch or Stephen O'Neill managed that year, and equaled Johnson of Cavan.

So Murphy must be some player.

Antrim are terrible so it's hard to judge how good Donegal are but I would say Cavan will give them lots based on this showing..

Cavan should comfortably dispose of Donegal. Hopefully Cavan's forward artists won't be too inconvienced by the negative tactics.

Antrim - that is the worst performance I've seen in years. For per head of population, Antrim must be one of the most under-achieving counties, sports-wise, in Ireland. It certainly dosen't look like they partake in Gaelic Games anymore.

Same old problem with the rules too - nobody knows when the tackle crosses the border into foul. Open to individual referee's interpretation. A free is equally likely to be given to the opposition if they surround a player and harass him into overcarrying, as it is that same player holding out to get a free for agressive fouling. New hand-pass rule, which cost many score when introduced, now seems to have been abandoned on the quiet.

For 2012 opening championship match, RTE should look at televising a Leinster game, happens every year; Ulster championship preliminary round, wet, blustry conditions, two teams looking to not lose rather than win, referee card happy, cries that the state of football is in worst state ever.

Loyal2TheRoyal wrote:Cavan should comfortably dispose of Donegal. Hopefully Cavan's forward artists won't be too inconvienced by the negative tactics.

Antrim - that is the worst performance I've seen in years. For per head of population, Antrim must be one of the most under-achieving counties, sports-wise, in Ireland. It certainly dosen't look like they partake in Gaelic Games anymore.

Same old problem with the rules too - nobody knows when the tackle crosses the border into foul. Open to individual referee's interpretation. A free is equally likely to be given to the opposition if they surround a player and harass him into overcarrying, as it is that same player holding out to get a free for agressive fouling. New hand-pass rule, which cost many score when introduced, now seems to have been abandoned on the quiet.

For 2012 opening championship match, RTE should look at televising a Leinster game, happens every year; Ulster championship preliminary round, wet, blustry conditions, two teams looking to not lose rather than win, referee card happy, cries that the state of football is in worst state ever.

Wow that was horrible to watch horrible conditions teams trying to avoid attacking and lots of fouling...

That was a woeful game, and while Donegal may improve, it is hard to know where Daddy Bradley thinks Antrim are going. Patrique loves to remind us about Antrim's glory days of the early 20th century, when 4 points was enough to win most games, and for a long time this afternoon it appeared that they were hoping to win with a similar tally today.

Their opponents, it must be said, were barely any better, and only a bit more talent in attack enabled them to reach double figures on the scoreboard.

Really pathetic stuff, and neither side will have anything to shout about this summer if their tactics don't change.

The Ulster Championship never fails to disappoint utter

Why would Donegal bring on a 17 year old that played in the minor match on..Disgraceful to treat a youngster like that...

Poor fare - Agree with Loyals comment - Antrims display was probably as poor an attempt as we have seen from
any of the 31 championship playing counties on this island in several years
As TC has mentioned Antrims tactic seemed to centre on scoring half a dozen points and that if the played two men on Murphy they would restrict donegal to less than six points.
Donegals game plan seemed to revolve around Murphy getting lost which in theory gives them an extra man. But they followed this up with a short passing game and 13 men behind the ball.

From a Donegal perspective it was the first round of the championship in dreadful conditions so was never going to be one for the purist . Its a win and their first in Ulster for several years so in the context its mission accomplished.
Workrate was good even if the game plan was ugly. But to go much further they will need to play much faster and better ball into the forwards. If they are going to play men back - these players need to be able to break fast and score on the break so big turnaround needed from Kavanagh, McGlynn, Molloy and the other ball carriers which does look a big ask.

was away watching my club getting beat again and didnt see this game - from reading the reports on here it appears that i am one of the lucky people.

bocerty wrote:was away watching my club getting beat again and didnt see this game - from reading the reports on here it appears that i am one of the lucky people.

+1000

I was there.

We played music foir an hour before hand in Jackson's so missed the minor game.

At the entrance JC Devlin said he had a spare stand ticket and gave it to me for nowt.

After the game I was looking for him, as he obviously must not like me giving me tickets to this.

Antrim were brutal.

Donegal were worse.

And worst of all was the ref who hadn't a clue. Blew up Donegal at least 8 times when there was no foul and Antrim about seven times.

I told veryone three years ago Baker hasn't a clue.

At a recent league game V Sligo he starts with Kevin McGourty at full forward. Now Kevin is noted for a few things, as a play maker and fielding ability. Anyone ever see a play maker at the edge of the square?

Kevin's "temperament" is also noteworthy. After two minutes he was roaring and yelling at everyone for being excluded from the action.

Antrim rely on work horses but have no scoring threat bar Cunningham frees.

But a good win by the minors.....

patrique wrote:
I told veryone three years ago Baker hasn't a clue.

If we needed any further convincing, he said in his post match interview "If I had paid in to watch that I wouldn't go to it, plain and simple"

Jonsmith wrote:

patrique wrote:
I told veryone three years ago Baker hasn't a clue.

If we needed any further convincing, he said in his post match interview "If I had paid in to watch that I wouldn't go to it, plain and simple"

and he knew exactly what sort of game it was going to be - could he not have advised the supporters of this beforehand and everyone could have saved their money!!!!

I see Bradley is also quoted as saying that there needs to be rule changes in order to prevent defensive football and improve the game as a spectacle.

Perhaps a better option might be for managers (e.g. Bradley himself) to take on responsibility for providing enjoyment to supporters! Bradley talked about not wanting to lose by 10-15 points and, as a result, packing his defence, but to what avail? To instead lose by 6 points and bore everyone to tears?

Bradley must have realised that Antrim were not capable of winning an Ulster title this year, so why not try and take something positive from the occasion by at least letting players express themselves. In the long run a team will benefit much more from enjoying their football than they will from playing in a system designed to nick the odd win here and there.

Thomas Clarke wrote:I see Bradley is also quoted as saying that there needs to be rule changes in order to prevent defensive football and improve the game as a spectacle.

Perhaps a better option might be for managers (e.g. Bradley himself) to take on responsibility for providing enjoyment to supporters! Bradley talked about not wanting to lose by 10-15 points and, as a result, packing his defence, but to what avail? To instead lose by 6 points and bore everyone to tears?

Bradley must have realised that Antrim were not capable of winning an Ulster title this year, so why not try and take something positive from the occasion by at least letting players express themselves. In the long run a team will benefit much more from enjoying their football than they will from playing in a system designed to nick the odd win here and there.

couldnt agree more TC, and the same thought occurred to me yesterday watching the club suffer another defeat due in large to the fact that we dont have much by way of scoring forwards.

If the same amount of time and effort was devoted to developing players, working on their weaknesses and improving shooting, ability to break tackles, to name but a few, as there is devoted to developing systems which do nothing but stop other teams from playing then we would all be in a better place with regard to the football we watch.

bocerty wrote:was away watching my club getting beat again and didnt see this game - from reading the reports on here it appears that i am one of the lucky people.

snap !