Antrim v. Donegal -- Ulster SFC 2009

John The Bad

How fantastic was this for Antrim? Tough on Donegal who had some horrendous wides yesterday but well my oh my Antrim well deserved this.

lisbon_lions

Yeah congratulations to Antrim, fully deserving winners yesterday. Was at the game and you wouldnt begrudge the fans who were estatic at the end of the game. Good luck to them in the semi - hope they can do it in Clones.

We have gone backwards big time. No passion in the Donegal shirt from some players. McFadden was woeful in his misses yesterday, there are too many players who think they just need to show the face to get on that team. Karl Lacey back in the county from Aus for 3 weeks and starts !?! McIvor should never have been shoved out last year. Yesterday was a sad sad day for the realisation of where we are at in Donegal football. I think a lot of people were living in dream land having Donegal with one hand on the Ulster title before throw in yesterday. Well, today we wake up, dust off and face the play offs. I only hope the players do the same thing and find a spine in the meantime.

shiibata

First of all fair play to Antrim, hungrier team on the day

But am totally gutted, think once Cavan beat Fermanagh last weekend, people here thought we had an automatic Ulster final spot( 2 of our bogey teams out, Fermanagh and Down).
Listened to the game on local radio and they were even previewing an Ulster final of us and Tyrone before yesterdays game:rolleyes:
Did not go to the game as thought there would be some bigger sundays ahead where I would be looking for days off:o
Cant see us doing anything in qualifiers as think its 3 games in 4 weeks (if you win them all), could be too much for this team and some big teams there too, will not get handier than Antrim and Cavan to get to the last 12.
Going to be a long summer:(

blackbelt

With 17 wides,you'd think Donegal were the better team.Had they coverted 2 or 3 of these they would be in an Ulster semi-final.I don't think they'll ever get an easier side of the draw (on paper) for a long time and they blew it.

Maybe they underestimated Antrim.

Redsoxfan

That was easily the worst performance and result I have seen in 20 odd years of attending Donegal games.

The first half was so low key that I could have sworn I was watching National League or McKenna Cup football. The Sunday Game focused on Donegal's wides and the free awarded to Antrim at the death, but In reality, Donegal did not deserve to win for reasons that went beyond these 2 issues. The lack if intensity was shocking and the standard of play (shooting, passing etc) was awful.

It's actually difficult to single out individuals to blame for yesterday's debacle-the general play was so poor that you could easily justify 10 changes for our next game, but I'd be surprised if we see more than 3, and I have no doubt that we will have seen these faces too many times before.

Donegal should have beaten Cork in an All-Ireland QF less than 3 years ago. Cork have kicked on since then, improving every year, and are seen as All Ireland contenders this year. This is in stark contrast to Donegal, who cannot even contend for an Ulster title (and the current team/panel does not look like doing so anytime soon).

John Joe Doherty has presided over relegation and a 1st round Championship exit to a team that was probably ranked 9th in Ulster before yesterday. In addtion, we had only 1 championship debutant in the starting 15, and our most consistent performer (IMHO) during the league (Toye) was on the bench yesterday. What John Joe has given us over Brian McIvor isn't immediately obvious to me.

Congratulations to Antrim-a deserved victory and I hope they can build on this for the remainder of the Championship. Their attitude should serve as a lession to our players.

P.S. the commentator on The Sunday Game was some feckin' eejit.

John The Bad

shiibata wrote: »

First of all fair play to Antrim, hungrier team on the day

But am totally gutted, think once Cavan beat Fermanagh last weekend, people here thought we had an automatic Ulster final spot( 2 of our bogey teams out, Fermanagh and Down).
Listened to the game on local radio and they were even previewing an Ulster final of us and Tyrone before yesterdays game:rolleyes:
Did not go to the game as thought there would be some bigger sundays ahead where I would be looking for days off:o
Cant see us doing anything in qualifiers as think its 3 games in 4 weeks (if you win them all), could be too much for this team and some big teams there too, will not get handier than Antrim and Cavan to get to the last 12.
Going to be a long summer:(

This post is a little worrying. For me it smacks of an undervaluing of Antrim and other so-called weaker teams.

bennyc

On a plus side for Donegal Michael Murphys point in the first half was one of the best you will see this year. I wouldnt know who to blame yesterday but there was no apparent tactic. About three or four long balls into the box all day. Murphy was inside every time and the one time he came out a ball went in over his head late on. I think its harsh to say the players were not hungry enough but you could see in their faces the agony after each miss in the second half. I was up behing the river goals and the likes of Rooper missing from there twice I would have had my house on him. They could do well in the back dor but maybe McHugh has a point with the older players stepping down now and letting in the new blood for the back door.

Antisocialiser

I was at the match not expecting too much but as always with that glimmer of hope in the knowledge that antrim possesses some really fantastic footballers e.g. tomas mccann, patrick cunningham both on sigerson winning jordanstown side last year, not to mention the st galls contingent and niall mckeever (who has just been offered a 3 yr contract with the brisbane lions).

Some brilliant spells from our boys but i cant gain any confidence over the 18 wides debacle. If these scoring chances were given to nearly any other county in ulster we would have been beaten... after the goal went in for us we won absolutely nothing in midfield and breaks which was worrying.

Hopefully if we beat cavan we can build some momentum but as a fan there is no way im writing that game off as a win it will be a fierce contest for two hungry teams. I can assure everyone that the antrim team are not looking any further than the 27th June.

Great praise must be given to Terry O'Neill who played the sweeper role immaculately.

Ps. Antrim 4SAM09

Lemlin

shiibata wrote: »

First of all fair play to Antrim, hungrier team on the day

But am totally gutted, think once Cavan beat Fermanagh last weekend, people here thought we had an automatic Ulster final spot( 2 of our bogey teams out, Fermanagh and Down).
Listened to the game on local radio and they were even previewing an Ulster final of us and Tyrone before yesterdays game:rolleyes:
Did not go to the game as thought there would be some bigger sundays ahead where I would be looking for days off:o
Cant see us doing anything in qualifiers as think its 3 games in 4 weeks (if you win them all), could be too much for this team and some big teams there too, will not get handier than Antrim and Cavan to get to the last 12.
Going to be a long summer:(

Antrim are a decent team on the up who are learning how to play as a unit and win now and are picking up a few trophies. They won Division 4 and the Tommy Murphy. Some people may laugh at that but competitions like those are good practice for bigger games.

They've several St Gauls players in their ranks, along with some UUJ players too. They're a decent side and alot of Cavan people would have preferred to be playing Donegal than Antrim on Saturday week.

K-9

Lemlin wrote: »

Antrim are a decent team on the up who are learning how to play as a unit and win now and are picking up a few trophies. They won Division 4 and the Tommy Murphy. Some people may laugh at that but competitions like those are good practice for bigger games.

They've several St Gauls players in their ranks, along with some UUJ players too. They're a decent side and alot of Cavan people would have preferred to be playing Donegal than Antrim on Saturday week.

Antrim have being making great strides in the last couple of years, always had talented players, getting the team ethic and discipline was always a problem. McGourty was a marker put down on the discipline side.

Donegal will not be as bad as yesterday again and if they get a decent Non Ulster draw they could get a run going. McFadden was poor and he has only one foot but he's a good reader of play, him and Murphy could make a good Full Forward line if used properly.

Walsh and Griffin deserve a run.

shiibata

K-9 wrote: »

..

Walsh and Griffin deserve a run.

Ye, they both had a good McKenna cup campaign but as the old guard eventually came back into the squad, they seem to get shoved to the side.

spear thrower

Is this the biggest shock of the championship in the last 10 years?

Lemlin

spear thrower wrote: »

Is this the biggest shock of the championship in the last 10 years?

No way. Monaghan knocking out Armagh back in 2003 (am I right with the year there?) in the first round of the championship has to be the biggest shock of the last ten years.

K-9

Lemlin wrote: »

No way. Monaghan knocking out Armagh back in 2003 (am I right with the year there?) in the first round of the championship has to be the biggest shock of the last ten years.

Probably beats it as Armagh where the AI champions and Monaghan where not as good as they are now.

Antrim have a history of running Donegal close, ran us to 3 points in 93 in Ballybofey, but think very few seen this one coming.

Lemlin

K-9 wrote: »

Probably beats it as Armagh where the AI champions and Monaghan where not as good as they are now.

Antrim have a history of running Donegal close, ran us to 3 points in 93 in Ballybofey, but think very few seen this one coming.

Did Antrim not beat ye before in 2002 or 2003? I think they did. They beat Cavan one of the years back round then too. I think it was 2003.

blackbelt

The last time Antrim beat Donegal before Sunday was back in 1970!!!

K-9

Lemlin wrote: »

Did Antrim not beat ye before in 2002 or 2003? I think they did. They beat Cavan one of the years back round then too. I think it was 2003.

You thinking of Fermanagh in 01 and 03?

Antrim did beat Cavan then, they drew with Derry or Down around that time as well IIRC.

blackbelt wrote: »

The last time Antrim beat Donegal before Sunday was back in 1970!!!

Think so, though may have been 69. Last time they reached an Ulster Final I think.

Lemlin

K-9 wrote: »

You thinking of Fermanagh in 01 and 03?

Antrim did beat Cavan then, they drew with Derry or Down around that time as well IIRC.



Think so, though may have been 69. Last time they reached an Ulster Final I think.

Yep, it is Fermanagh that I'm thinking of.

grenache

Isn't it just fantastic when a huge underdog wins. I guess its no surprise in a way, given the success of St Galls in the club championships, its one thing that often leads to success at inter-county level. They have a real chance against Cavan, although the Breffni boys are forewarned!

Lemlin

grenache wrote: »

Isn't it just fantastic when a huge underdog wins. I guess its no surprise in a way, given the success of St Galls in the club championships, its one thing that often leads to success at inter-county level. They have a real chance against Cavan, although the Breffni boys are forewarned!

I'm hoping Antrim will be favourites for that game. I think the Cavan panel are well aware of how dangerous Antrim are.

John The Bad

Lemlin wrote: »

I'm hoping Antrim will be favourites for that game. I think the Cavan panel are well aware of how dangerous Antrim are.

I'd imagine Cavan would be favourites for this one. A quandary for me now -- as a Leitrim man I got a great lift seeing Antrim win and hope they continue in the Ulster Championship but my mum was from Cavan so....