IT WAS appropriate that on the weekend when Ulster failed to provide one of the football League's semi-finalists, an attempt was being made within the province to address its worst case of decline Antrim.

The county's plight is most vividly illustrated by its championship record. You have to go back to 1982, the year after Ulster last failed to field a NFL semi-finalist for Antrim's most recent win in the senior football championship. The hurlers have enjoyed better fortune due to their stranglehold on Ulster but even that is now occasionally disputed by Down.

On Saturday in Ballymena, a seminar on development within the county was held, with a number of distinguished guests contributing. It was grimly fitting that this search for a new direction in the county whose GAA affairs have been most affected by the Troubles should itself be disrupted for an hour by a bomb scare.

The problems of the county run deep. Even when allowance is made for Northern demographics, Antrim has effectively as large a population as Cork. Yet there has been a complete inability to harness this catchment area.

Antrim has never brought home a senior All-Ireland but the county had a distinguished football and hurling tradition. Leading proponents of a fast, short-hall game in the I940s, the county was infamously roughed out of the 1946 All-Ireland semi-final by Kerry.

They even survived a ban on the hand pass instigated by Ant rim themselves following hostilities between county and city factions to win their most recent Ulster title in 1951. Since then, the county has been passed out in the provincial roll of honour by first Monaghan and then Down, who hadn't won a title when Antrim recorded their tenth 46 years ago.

If it's hard to put a finger on what went wrong in the I950s, the late 1960s offer no such problem. Football in Ulster was on the move and Antrim with it. Down won the League and All-Ireland in 1968, Derry the under-21, Ballyshannon the then unofficial club All-Ireland. A year later, Antrim were crowned All-Ireland under-21 champions.

By 1970, Derry and Antrim were scrapping it out in the Ulster final. Antrim haven't reached a provincial final since.

The outbreak of the Troubles was a major contributory factor when all that promise turning to dust. The affect on the 1969 under-21s was obvious. Team captain Liam Boyle was interned Michael Colbert imprisoned for murder but all the while protesting his innocence Din Joe McGrogan murdered by a loyalist bomb Billy Millar emigrated to Canada.

While the fortunes at county level never recovered, civil strife made the administration of football and hurling difficult. Basic matters taken for granted elsewhere became demoralising difficult. Clubs on the fringe of loyalist areas suffered most but trouble spread through the system. Some pitches cannot be played in July during the marching season because other clubs can't travel through the surrounding areas.

St Patrick's, Lisburn, were hunted off their pitch a the beginning of the decade by thugs wielding industrial grinders to cut down metal goal posts. Broken glass was scattered on the playing surface. Even now, they can't use their pitch on Sunday. Another club recently had to pick nails off its pitch.

Fixture making in such circumstances is a nightmare. The county's Games Administration Committee may have to postpone a match at a couple of days' notice if incidents suddenly raise the temperature locally. Parents are understandably tempted to channel their children into less culturally expressive sports like soccer.

Nevertheless, the county is beginning to realise that all the difficulties do not excuse a failure to make the best of the situation.

Despite the population numbers, Belfast and Antrim colleges make little impact on the McRory Cup. Among the points made in Ballymena was that competition is manic among juveniles at the expense of developing skills. Competitiveness amongst the clubs also leads to postponements being sought at underage levels if certain players aren't available.

County vice-chairman Gerry McClory, an inter-county referee, can recount the galling experience of seeing children being whisked away in a minibus to play soccer.

Other difficulties arise. There is an ancient hostility between city and county. Many players are indifferent about representing the county a situation exacerbated by the pitiful lack of success. Urban deprivation in working class areas means that leisure pursuits don't enjoy a high priority.

These may not be unique problems but Antrim's other difficulties make the need for resolutions all the more pressing.

A new officer board was elected at a rancorous annual convention earlier this year. Hopes are high that a fresh start can be made but already there has been trouble with the senior footballers, whose manager, John Morrison, from Armagh, resigned abruptly in February. It is said the executive wanted to cut the costs of the county panel.

It is likely that any progress in football will await the institution of under age structures and the development of young talent up to senior level. This is a matter for the county itself. There's no shortage of goodwill for Ant rim but if reconstruction is to be effective, the solutions have to come from within.

One item, however, can be delivered by Croke Park. The hurling reforms which are currently on trial include the controversial re-admission of defeated Munster and Leinster finalists to All-Ireland quarter-finals where they will face Connacht and Ulster champions.

The idea has the full support of perennial Connacht champions, Galway, because they recognise the ultimate benefit of an extra match in their quest for All-Irelands. In Ulster, the idea-attracted initial hostility because it would cost the provincial champions the prestige of annual, automatic Ireland semi-final places.

Instead of trying to assert their unproven right to mix it with the big boys, Antrim should exploit the raison d'eire of the proposals. Ulster champions have been relegated to quarter-final status because they have not been able to compete with the other provinces on a consistent basis one All-Ireland final every 50 years.

Accordingly, the GAC should announce quickly, before the contestants become known that the All-Ireland quarter-final involving the Ulster champions will be played in Casement Park, Belfast.

This would give a compensating advantage to Down or Ant rim who would still have to raise their game to have a chance but who would be better prepared for a semi-final were they to win through to one.

It would also raise the stakes a little for any Munster or Leinster county thinking of realising the traditionalists' great nightmare by throwing their provincial final as an automatic semi-final in Croke Park would be considerably more appealing than taking on the Ulster champions in their own back yard.

Such outside help is necessary if the faltering steps towards self-help, initiated last Saturday, are to lead anywhere.