View Guestbook

admin,

Can I just reply to something that you have said in a previous post.

You have posed the question asking what can be done to improve attendances and while I appreciate that the county may have done some or all of these in the past these are things that work with other organisations and may be worth trying.

Banner ads on the Website: These looked excellent and very professional. They may not have added hundreds or thousands to the attendances but they cant have done any harm either. The problem is if we are trying to attract the casual fan how much time would they spend on this site? Why not look to things such as facebook, Bebo etc... where younger people do spend time on the internet? Could these banner ads be printed into posters and sent to schools/clubs? to save money they could even be emailed as a pdf.

school offers: Why not invite two guest schools to each game with their pupils recieving free entry to Casement?

Guest clubs: The same as schools with their under age players recieving free entry to the matches. This would lead to replys of who is going to take them but could an incentive scheme be put in place for clubs with the greatest take up e.g. championship tickets for mentors?

School visits: In the same way that tyrone players visit schools and clubs with the sam maguire have antrim players done this with the tommy murphy cup and ulster hurling championship trophy? They could talk to the pupils about playing at croke park etc... and encourage them to come to casement.

These are just a couple of ideas that may have been tried before but just because it didnt work before dosent mean it wont work in the future.

In all honesty the only way we will really improve attendances is with success, most people dont want to sit at casement on a cold winters day watching division 4 football as they dont see it as an attractive propostion. I think if we could get some of these people through the gates to see the style of football and Hurling antrim have the potential to play I'm sure they would come back!

Has the draws been made for the county antrim senior hurling championship. If so what are the details

Not sure I'm 100% on the PRO's articles - isn't it his job to promote the county? I for one don't want to see ublic doing down of our players by our own PRO like this "Paddy Cunningham was clearly not at his best tonight", "For CJ McGourty, it was perhaps a night to forget".

Let the reporters do the reporting!

to add to what minor hurler said below , I am wondering is the all county minor league still going ahead this year?

Spring was in the air at Pairc Naomh Pádraig, Portaferry, for the opening round of the National Hurling League, Division 2, between Antrim and Down. There was little between the sides, in the first half, which was played in warm sunshine and against a gentle breeze, in Antrim's case. Antrim midfielders, Brendan Herron and Paul Shields, essentially set the early pace, scoring between them 1 - 9 in the opening half. [BH1-2 and PS 0-7]

Always on their heels and keen to respond however was Down’s number 12, Paul Braniff, who took four of his sides tally of seven first half points, before going on to have an outstanding personal game. Karl Stewart and Paddy Doherty each added a point in the first half.

Antrim defence was tried and tested, and Neill Mc Auley in particular seemed to get plenty of early action, chasing down and driving the ball, back amongst the Antrim forwards and Down’s half backs, from whence it came. The first half was played at a lively pace until Down’s number 17, Stephen Johnston, picked up a straight Red Card for what seemed to be a deliberate personal attack upon Karl Stewart. At half time the score was Antrim 1 – 11 Down 0 -7. Simon Wilson and Andy Savage had each added a point to those of Brendan Herron and Paul Shields.

The players came out to colder grey skies in the second half; the game too quickly faded and somehow never looked like picking up to the pace where they had left off. Down were clearly at a serious disadvantage, with 14 men; the ultimate price to be paid for lack of self control. Perhaps again it had something to do with early season hurling? Whatever the reason, the game was down-beat and lack-luster from the second half throw-in, with the possible exception of the sustained and consistent free kicking efforts of Paul Shields [4] and some great individual hurling from Paul Braniff. [Down] [6] These two appeared clearly focused and calmly collected their tally of points; quite a few from unforced errors and seemingly careless frees.

Johnny Campbell and Neil Mc Garry both picked up yellow cards and had to walk, as the game deteriorated. Joey Scullion came on in the second half and soon drew attention, by his determination to get on the score board; which he did, with two from three. Simon Mc Crory came on for Paddy Doherty but was off the target with two attempts.

Scorers of the 8 second half points for Antrim were, Paul Shields [4], Joey Scullion [2], PJ O’Connell [1], and Karl Stewart [1].
Antrim Senior Hurlers finished their first league match with seven points to spare, [1 – 19 to 0 – 15] in a game which lost pace and faded somewhat but what is important, is that they are comfortably through the round with the job at hand done and dusted. One day at a time is perhaps enough to ask of Antrim, or any county at this point in the new season. We should appreciate any win and hope for many more to follow.
Lawrence Smyth PRO.

Was looking at the profiles there...very small team, less than half under 6 foot like. Only a few over 13 stone

Has anyone any idea when the minor hurling league is planning to starts up ?

Re: Martin Furlon issue. With respect to the admin and indeed to Wicklow secretary, I have to say that if Antrim played with an illegible player there is no doubt that Wicklow and any other county would pursue this issue and seek redress, i.e the extra league point. What if we lose out on promotion by a point? Furlong should not have been playing and he scored 2.1 that day. Seems straightforward to me and given that our Chairman has rightly and forcefully pursued our collective interests with HQ in the recent past I hope we do so this time too.

Antrim 1 – 14 Clare 1 – 07.

Antrim had a nightmare of a start to to-nights match against Clare. They were caught out with an early and clearly unexpected goal; an uncharacteristic handling mistake, which was to prove significant. Antrim were severely punished for a dropped ball at outset and truly stung by an audacious and successful attack on goal. To their credit they responded immediately, by launching into a fierce and determined resolve to make good the damage, which they duly did.

This proved to be something of a ragged game with too much in evidence of unenforced error.

A number of players might well expect to be held to account, [privately as it should be] by their demanding Manager and training staff. However, inconsistency could often be said to be the substance of many and most games in the early rounds of competition, where both player and ground condition could oftimes be described as being somewhat raw. In to night’s situation however, as winter conditions go, ground condition was more than fair! One other significant point would be that Clare did not come here tonight to lose without a fight. Timely interference and disruptive tactics will always take their toll.

At the interval Antrim had recovered and more than balanced the books, with a great goal from Paddy Cunningham; [Captain] they were in effect now ahead 1 – 7 to 1 – 3.

On the positive side and yes, there were more positives than negatives, [but in truth not enough] Antrim players responded with heart and took their early set back on the chin. They dug in and set about the task, slowly, but otherwise consistently, adding point upon point as and where they could, to finish 1 -14 to 1 – 07. This was a good margin, by any standards but the game did not really reflect either the potential or ability, otherwise inherent within the Antrim side.

Paddy Cunningham was clearly not at his best tonight but he still notched up a goal and 8 points, [including frees] which on a bad night has to be an outstanding performance.

James Loughrey had a terrific game and certainly punched well above his weight with a lot of good defensive effort.

Connor Murray was making his mark but was yellow carded, harshly by any standards, it would seem.

Ciaran close had a good game; he was both effective and very busy but somehow could not manage to register that performance by way of points.

For CJ Mc Gourty, it was perhaps a night to forget. He showed early signs of promise, which sadly was not to last; All too soon it all went pear-shaped and he was ‘yellow carded’.

Michael Mc Cann had a good game once again, as many have come to expect from him. He also took two points on the night.

Antrim Subs, without exception demonstrated both eagerness and purpose, Niall Mc Keever perhaps in particular.

Antrim defence was a mixed bag tonight; at times looking very vulnerable and again in other situations there was evidence of persistent and dogged determination to close down some very determined attacks.

The bottom line – this was a much needed win for Antrim. The team and the county are the better for their learning experience. It was a lack lustre performance in many respects and perhaps not one of which many players might be proud of but still, it was certainly a competitive game and the unforced errors can be revisited, behind closed doors and good lessons learned from this encounter.

Antrim won tonight, by a good margin; it is a case of taking one game at a time and making progress - that is always significant. Well done lads. Lawrence Smyth PRO

gud result 2nite antrim
but i feel that performances will stil hav 2 improve stil it looks like promotion is in our grasp

Great win against Clare! Paddy taking on the captains role and leading by example! We must keep the momentum going and get out the Div4 hell hole!

That was all a bit low key tonight at Casement. Clare were very poor and in truth we didn't have to do that much to beat them.

James Loughrey was effective in that 'sweeper' role but it really negated his impact on the game. Against Wicklow he ran the ball a lot more.

It really could have been a 10 - 12 point win only for some pretty poor shooting.

The crowd was poor, down even from the Wicklow game. Why was there no banner ad on the website home page? Saturday night floodlit matches could be huge I think if there was some more direct promotion of the games.

RE: Wicklow's ineligible player

Whether or not they played a player that they shouldn't have, Antrim still had ample opportunity to win the game. Trying to gain points in a committee room is not the way forward for anyone.

Fair play to getting the North Antrim Indoor hurling reports on to the County website so promptly! Good use of this medium!
Appreciative!

Well done to our lads in the div 1 final beating a very strong Loughgiel team. But also well done to all the boys and girls at todays tournament, played in great spirit with no little amount of skill.
A well run, fun family day.