Antrim v Donegal

Think Antrim can win up at Ballybofet theyve been working really hard and the defeat by sligo probably came at the right time as going undefeated into the championship can leave you a bit big headed when youve no right to be.

I hope Antrim do it, its always a great spectacle anytime Antrim football teams do well, the mass'es of city people get behind the boys in saffron.

Donegal on the other hand have left to be an unknown quantity in this years championship due to their league form, theyve a good team with some great footballers and Antrim will need to probably punch above their weight should they be to win.

Hope Antrim do it, its great to get back to casement in the second round and see the sea of saffron just like 2000 v Derry a great spectacle and hopefully we can repeat it again this year.

Ah I think Antrim will have it handy alright NSG - Donegal aren't up to much! Seriously though I think Casement obviously would have given them a better chance but maybe they can get the draw and bring Donegal there.

I agree the Sligo defeat will not have done any harm and made a few players refocus.

ps Great to have you here - you can never have too many Leeds fans!!

2000 v derry a great spectacle? wouldnt like to see a poor turn out

Ah good old samin the belfast basher how ive missed you!!!

My mistake but im pretty sure there was about 30k at that match the only end not full was the far terrace. In the replay there was not as many but still about 20-25k. Pretty good id say.

it was a good turn out alright NSG and a great match to go with it. Couldnt resist though.

Hope you were not one of the stewarts throwing your weight about in casement lately?

to be honest i cant see Antrim beating donegal, was at the game against Sligo and i thought that Antrim where poor, they have a big mid-field but they cant solo, or pass the ball. they have a big full-forward but the never kicked it into him, only out to the side which did not work at all as he was not that quick.

good half-back line IMHO, but poor full back line as our full-forward line won nearly everything that went into them,

think Donegal will win by a few points. Sorry Pat and NSG

Hey Rich - great avatar!

But how did you manage to get your year of birth as your race number?

Wouldnt be like ya samin lol

Howya NSG and welcome to the site.
Sadly I have to disagree with you there about Antrim. Dont think their anywhere near Donegals level to be honest. If they were at home I'd give them some sort of shout but Ballybofey is an awful place to go and try and get a result.
Keep an eye on your hurlers though NSG. I think they find themselves in almost perfect position going into Leinster and, assuming they've a fully fit side, they be just the team to bring the Dublin juggernaut crashing down to Earth.

Have to say myself, I wouldn't give Antrim much of a chance to be honest. Don't like saying it but I just think Donegal will be too much and have a good championship in them, getting to the Ulster final at least anyway. As much as it would be great to see the underdog win, and it would really liven up the championship, I can see Donegal winning by 5-6 pts.

I believe Antrim have it in them to cause a shock a least. If it had of been in Casement Park Antrim would have been landed. It would be a great advertisement for Ulster Football to see Antrim win.

samin10 wrote:2000 v derry a great spectacle? wouldnt like to see a poor turn out

I think you missed the point, I think he means how he they ran us so close except for Tohill rising like a Phoenix to deny them the win.

At Casement they knock about 5,000 of the official crowd, because you have to pay vat. The last really big crowds at Casement were the two games against Derry in 2000.

I am a steward at Casement, although I have never actually done it. I leave that to our referee, a pleasant lad.

Antrim train as hard as any team, are dedicated, but shoot themselves in the foot all the time. Clubs actively encourage players not to play for the county, and of course we are short three or 4 of our better players, self inflicted wounds.

I cannot see us beating Donegal. I backed Donegal to win Ulster, best price available as they could make the final easily.

I hope I am wrong, but I doubt it.

patrique wrote:Antrim train as hard as any team, are dedicated, but shoot themselves in the foot all the time.

Has that not improved with the Peace Process and decommissioning and all P?

So ... on the 14th of June we'll have some visitors from the North East! One thing I'm sure of is that this will be a close game. In the last 20 years we have met 5 times in the championship with 4 of the games being decided by less than 3 points. The last time was in 2004 at the same stage when Donegal won by 6 points 1-15 to 1-09. The fact that Donegal have won all 5 games still doesn't fill me with confidence though.

We have some good news in the last few weeks. Neil Gallagher and Barry Dunnion have resumed training after injury and Karl Lacey is returning to Donegal at the end of May after spending some time travelling. Gallagher was in a good form early in the year and hopefully he can pick up where he left off after dislocating his shoulder. Dunnion has been plague with injuries for a few years now and TBH I reckon he will struggle to reach the form he showed prior to that. Having an all star like Lacey back can only be a good thing but a lot will depend on how fit he was able to keep himself while away. He won't have time to get up to championship fitness if he has fallen behind.

Both Eamonn McGee and Ciaran Bonner are back training as well after they were both dropped from the panel for disciplinary reasons. There's mixed opinions about whether this is a good move; especially with Bonner as he's a bit of a prima donna and has walked away from the panel before. Still he's a fine player and could make a big impact this year.

Another positive so far this year has been the play of Christy Toye. The lad has bucket loads of talent and he's been playing really well in midfield. If he can continue to excel then we will have several effective options in the middle of the park (Boyle, Gallagher, Toye, Bonner).

All of the above is very well but (as I'm sick to death of reading) you never know what you are going to get from Donegal. "Inconsistent", "hot and cold", "expect the unexpected", "they can beat anyone on their day". I'm sure is makes repetitive reading for the average GAA fan so imagine what it feels like to be a Donegal supporter! Still, what can we do. As a fellow county man said recently somewhere ... All aboard the Donegal Vengabus!

As for the result ... I think we will win after a hard fought game with a goal for Donegal making the difference D 1-12 A 0-12.

RM? What do you make of the re introduction of the members who were put off the panel?

Can't see donegal being bet. Seen antrim against leitrim and to be honest Leitrim could have beaten them. What a joke it is that neither of the MCGourtys will line out.

johnnos bulls wrote:RM? What do you make of the re introduction of the members who were put off the panel?

I dunno tbh. We have a well documented disciplinary problem that stretches back for years and I can understand the argument that McGee, Bonner and Woppa should be kept out as an example to others and as a sign that it won't be tolerated.

At the same time, a managers job is to deal with these young lads (and they are yound lads) and to help them through the highs and lows of being an IC player. There are plenty of ego's on every team in Ireland and JJ has to be able to get people working for him. The easiest thing for the manager to do is to kick them off. The harder thing is to work with them to make them believe in your strategy and your vision for the team.

JJ doesn't strike me as someone who would put up with a lot of shite so I'd be fairly confident that things have been made clear to the returning players about what is expected from them.

And at the end of the day, we really need someone of Bonners ability on the team.

NiamhDerry wrote:

samin10 wrote:2000 v derry a great spectacle? wouldnt like to see a poor turn out

I think you missed the point, I think he means how he they ran us so close except for Tohill rising like a Phoenix to deny them the win.

No Niamh i knew exactly what he was talking about. He was talking about the game after beating Down and how the Antrim support really got behind the team for the Derry match. He was talking about the great day it was running Derry so close with a huge support of 2000. He obviously meant 20 000.

Aw Samin i see, sorry!

NiamhDerry wrote:Aw Samin i see, sorry!

No worries Niamh

in fairness a few people seem to be tipping Donegal for an Ulster final appearance and even a win - i will be amazed if they get near an Ulster Final the old achilles of poor discipline is still there - Donegals antics of the field seem to attract more newspaper column inches than the perfromances on it.

I am going for an Antrim win

Really cant see Donegal doing much at all.

Not long noe Bocerty, the big one Armaghv Tyrone. Midfield is a huge problem for us, McGrane retired then Vernon who was really looking like he was going to have a massive year for us gets his jaw broke. Huge loss

samin10 wrote:Really cant see Donegal doing much at all.

Not long noe Bocerty, the big one Armaghv Tyrone. Midfield is a huge problem for us, McGrane retired then Vernon who was really looking like he was going to have a massive year for us gets his jaw broke. Huge loss

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