Galway GAA discussion thread

Syferus

Hulk Hands wrote: »

All he said was that Sligo were very beatable. How is that insulating? He wasn't saying we would hammer them? Sure plenty have been saying that Bayern are beatable this week, it hardly means United fans are talking about who they'll face in the next round

'Very beatable' is different to 'beatable'.

The correct word to describe what Sligo away will be for Galway this year (London pending) is a 'challenge'.

Sligo will see you as plenty 'beatable' too - that match-up looks like a dead heat right now.

Borders no.2

I don't back down from my original statement and I don't see what's wrong with it. Galway are a poor side but Sligo are also. Sligo were keen to move Kevin Walsh on and got a decent manager in Pat Flanagan but they have still struggled in a division 3 that is weaker this year than last year. They have yet to launch a realistic promotion bid since going back down to division 3. They have fared quite well in championship up until last year but aside from Mayo a few years back, haven't taken many scalps.

Of course if Galway get that far it'll be a tough challenge and one Galway will have to face head on at a tough venue if they are to get through. If Galway do win it'll be only by a point or two but if Galway are to justify their division 2 status they should be beating Division 4 and Division 3 teams. No excuses.

Sligo will know they have the beating of Galway if they get their own game right and they are fully justified in believing that but from my viewpoint as a Galway fan, the year will be a failure if we don't get to the Connacht final. Sligo will feel the same.

Before all that is a trip to London that is fraught with danger.

Lemlin

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Division 2 2015

Kildare
Westmeath
Meath
Down
Laois
Galway
Cavan
Roscommon

Cavan and Galway are playing 2 weeks today on May 3rd at Killygarry pitch in Cavan for its opening.

Might be good practice for ye because I don't know about their other games but Sligo very much attempted to play our own defensive style against us in the league.

I've often wondered what happened Galway. Three years ago in Croke Park your U21 lads gave us a pasting in the final. I expected Galway in the years following to be flying because your players were going into an already capable senior team whereas ours was in disarray.

Have the lads just not made the step up or what has been the problem? I remember ye had some cracking players that day. The corner forward under 13 was definitely one to watch.

The two midfielders, Flynn was one I think, lorded it over Gearoid McKiernan which isn't an easy task.

Stanza2

No 13 that day was Danny Cummins. Still there, had a good campaign last year (him personally, not the team). Not played loads this year due to injury but will do hopefully when the championship starts. He is a good example of management fiddling around, they keep trying new players and never settle on a team, especially in the league. I was amazed Cummins was used as a sub so often this year, he is someone that I expect to fill Meehans and Joyce's boots. Praying that we settle on a team and give them confidence and belief. We never seem to know our best 15.

Lemlin

Stanza2 wrote: »

No 13 that day was Danny Cummins. Still there, had a good campaign last year (him personally, not the team). Not played loads this year due to injury but will do hopefully when the championship starts. He is a good example of management fiddling around, they keep trying new players and never settle on a team, especially in the league. I was amazed Cummins was used as a sub so often this year, he is someone that I expect to fill Meehans and Joyce's boots. Praying that we settle on a team and give them confidence and belief. We never seem to know our best 15.

I thought it was Cummins alright. Did he play against Cork for ye last year? I thought ye had a good team that day. Some goal by Meehan at the end from the penalty. Such a pity the injury problems he has had.

Cummins gave Dara Tighe who was marking him in the U21 final a torrid time. Eventually Tighe went off injured. I don't think he was too worried about trying to stay on!

Stanza2

Some goal alright, especially as it wasn't from a penalty ! A free kick, the whole Cork team were on the line, not just the Goalie

Lemlin

Stanza2 wrote: »

Some goal alright, especially as it wasn't from a penalty ! A free kick, the whole Cork team were on the line, not just the Goalie

Sorry, yep, remember the whole team on the line so couldn't have been a pen.

Diabhal Beag

Gary Sice quit again
https://twitter.com/gsice/status/456907107795996672

MfMan

Ho hum. Don't think he was asked back in the first place, think the panel as a group were against his return. Greg Higgins gone in solidarity too I think.

WallyGUFC

What's that all about?

Utopia Parkway

MfMan wrote: »

Ho hum. Don't think he was asked back in the first place, think the panel as a group were against his return. Greg Higgins gone in solidarity too I think.

What did he do to annoy the resty of the panel so much?

Diabhal Beag

Is Duane back in?

galwaylad98

Lads,
Just a heads up don't leave any valuables in dressing rooms during matches. Ahascragh were playing Gort in Gort in an U14 hurling match. During the game some older Ahascragh lads went in and stole a Gort lads iphone 5. Gaurds were able to track in on PC and get it back. Terrible thing for any young lad to do

sporter1

Any team news for the hurling tomorrow ?

Utopia Parkway

sporter1 wrote: »

Any team news for the hurling tomorrow ?

Galway (HL v Kilkenny) - C Callanan; J Coen, R Burke, D Collins; A Harte, I Tannian, Daithi Burke; David Burke, P Brehony; N Burke, C Cooney, A Smith; N Healy, J Glynn, C Mannion.

Moore out injured. Canning starts on the bench.

galwaylad14

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Galway (HL v Kilkenny) - C Callanan; J Coen, R Burke, D Collins; A Harte, I Tannian, Daithi Burke; David Burke, P Brehony; N Burke, C Cooney, A Smith; N Healy, J Glynn, C Mannion.

Moore out injured. Canning starts on the bench.

Will he though? We'll have to wait and see.

Borders no.2

Not sure about the make up of the forward line but we'll see how it goes. Not particularly bothered if Galway win or lose this but we need to see a good performance tomorrow. We've had 3 fairly good games in a row, we need to make that 4 tomorrow and keep building ahead of the Championship.

Amprodude

Good game Galway. Close in the end and really that goal was the only thing that separated the sides. Kilkenny should be favourites to take League Title.

24yearslater

No fkn fwrds - JC all washed up at 26. He can count all his club medals now - no ambition to be the best he could have been. He's no Ollie, never mind Henry. Very frustrating

Syferus

24yearslater wrote: »

No fkn fwrds - JC all washed up at 26. He can count all his club medals now - no ambition to be the best he could have been. He's no Ollie, never mind Henry. Very frustrating

I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read some comments on this forum.

Joesph Canning is 25, by the way.

h2005

24yearslater wrote: »

No fkn fwrds - JC all washed up at 26. He can count all his club medals now - no ambition to be the best he could have been. He's no Ollie, never mind Henry. Very frustrating

He's coming off an injury and has played very little league hurling. Washed up at 25 get real.

Diabhal Beag

If nothing else I'm very happy to see Ronan Burke have a good League at FB and Tan slotted in well at CHB. Brehony has been very good and had a quiet game by his standards today. Then you have Cooney who seems to have gotten a big confidence boost from being put on frees.

That said though there's a fair gulf between Galway and the top 2.

basillarkin

Tan slotting in well at Centre Back? He was torn a new one against Waterford, Waterford!!!!!

Diabhal Beag

Who in the backs played well that day? Wasn't great against KK away either but I've been happy otherwise from what I've seen/heard.

24yearslater

h2005 wrote: »

He's coming off an injury and has played very little league hurling. Washed up at 25 get real.

I'm struggling to remember when he last played well in a full game for us, the drawn AI in 2012 he played well in the first half. He's 26 this year to all those pedantics, he can't use the too young/only learning excuse anymore. Seems to be v happy fulfilling his ambitions @ club, great players need to dominate at intercounty to be worthy of the title. Ollie always did. Hope I'm wrong, but I think we've seen the best of him in the maroon jersey.

Diabhal Beag

James Regan was great at club the year Thomas's won the All-Ireland. Doesn't mean he isn't arsed to play at intercounty it just means the quality is far higher.

I think the game was lost on the line today.

We were going well in the first half, 11 points isn't a bad total and Cooney should have scored the goal(AC needs to ban players from hitting goal chances into the ground, that chance follows N.Burkes missed one against Clare) which would have boosted that more.

We came out for the second half then and decided to go back to rotating our forwards every few minutes.

There hasn't been one game where this has worked for us, all it does is leads to situations where the ball is played into no mans land or 1 v 2s
This was the case last year and that second half was a carbon copy of all that we did bad in 2013.

Glynn MUST stay at FF, he tries his best but hasn't the stick work, pace or agility to be used on the wing.
They did the same thing against Tipp, he tore Tipp to shreds at FF, then he was moved to the wing for the start of the second half and we hadn't a sniff at goal for the rest of the game.]

I really hope that was some ridicules ploy to throw our opponents off guard ahead of the Championship as when we rotate forwards, we stop scoring and make the oppositions backs jobs a lot easier.
I'd have my doubts though as the writing was on the wall from before the league semi in 2013, and we just kept walking towards the inevitable with zero alterations to adjust.

As things stand I'd go for Glynn/Canning at FF, then whatever mix in the HF/Mid sector.
The most important thing has to be sticking to the positions.
It's no good for Joe or Glynn to be thrown out to the wings and Cooney is doing his best work out the field so pointless moving him into FF.

Lets see what they do in a few weeks, though 2013 would suggest they'll keep persisting with what clearly doesn't work.

Fair play to the backs again today.
Can't keep the score lower than that and I'd say Callanan is the best keeper is the country between the league semis last year and now(anyone who remembers the semi last year would remember some remarkable saves he made that day before being dropped again for Skehill)

24yearslater

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I think the game was lost on the line today.

We were going well in the first half, 11 points isn't a bad total and Cooney should have scored the goal(AC needs to ban players from hitting goal chances into the ground, that chance follows N.Burkes missed one against Clare) which would have boosted that more.

We came out for the second half then and decided to go back to rotating our forwards every few minutes.

There hasn't been one game where this has worked for us, all it does is leads to situations where the ball is played into no mans land or 1 v 2s
This was the case last year and that second half was a carbon copy of all that we did bad in 2013.

Glynn MUST stay at FF, he tries his best but hasn't the stick work, pace or agility to be used on the wing.
They did the same thing against Tipp, he tore Tipp to shreds at FF, then he was moved to the wing for the start of the second half and we hadn't a sniff at goal for the rest of the game.]

I really hope that was some ridicules ploy to throw our opponents off guard ahead of the Championship as when we rotate forwards, we stop scoring and make the oppositions backs jobs a lot easier.
I'd have my doubts though as the writing was on the wall from before the league semi in 2013, and we just kept walking towards the inevitable with zero alterations to adjust.

As things stand I'd go for Glynn/Canning at FF, then whatever mix in the HF/Mid sector.
The most important thing has to be sticking to the positions.
It's no good for Joe or Glynn to be thrown out to the wings and Cooney is doing his best work out the field so pointless moving him into FF.

Lets see what they do in a few weeks, though 2013 would suggest they'll keep persisting with what clearly doesn't work.

Fair play to the backs again today.
Can't keep the score lower than that and I'd say Callanan is the best keeper is the country between the league semis last year and now(anyone who remembers the semi last year would remember some remarkable saves he made that day before being dropped again for Skehill)

Agree with most of the above - very heartened by what I'm seeing from the defence all year, but the fwrds are terribly frustrating. Conor Cooney has come on a ton in fairness, & Mannion has great potential, even if he found the going tough today. Another disappointing show from n Burke, whilst I've already said my piece on a few others. I know it's only the league, but the lack of scoring is a big concern

galwaylad14

24yearslater wrote: »

I'm struggling to remember when he last played well in a full game for us, the drawn AI in 2012 he played well in the first half. He's 26 this year to all those pedantics, he can't use the too young/only learning excuse anymore. Seems to be v happy fulfilling his ambitions @ club, great players need to dominate at intercounty to be worthy of the title. Ollie always did. Hope I'm wrong, but I think we've seen the best of him in the maroon jersey.

He was class against Dublin last year in the Leinster final. Galway were pathetic on the day but Joe was top class.

As regards the performance, it was a tricky one to evaluate. Some positives for sure, good first half and the backs were pretty decent throughout (nothing at all wrong with conceding 1-16, we should be able to outscore that) in particular the two Burkes were very good, Aidan Harte however was in huge trouble on TJ Reid but had Tan been available then he'd have played at 6 and maybe Daithi Burke could have picked up Reid. Collins, Coen and Cooney were ok, struggled at times but did well in patches too.

At midfield we were okay, Smyth played most of the game here and was vintage Smyth, very busy, on loads of ball but striking let him down once or twice but chipped in with 2 points, can be pleased with his performance overall. Burke beside him actually was about the only Galway player to have a better second half than first half, he got on far more ball second half. Breheny played at wing forward for most of his time on the pitch and got on loads of ball but always seemed to take wrong options or execute his options badly. Just one of those days but I wouldnt drop him.

Conor Cooney was superb, really really good and it now looks like he's ready to deliver on all his promise and become the top class intercounty forward we all knew he could be. 4 points from play, lead the attack well and hit his frees well. Niall Burke on the other side was poor, he has so much talent but half the time his mind just seems miles away from where it should be. His striking is just so sweet but he some days he just can't seem to get into the game and starts to take wrong options etc. Could be under pressure for his spot now.

Inside then we had Joe, Jonny Glynn and Mannion. Don't think any of these can be overly pleased with their days work. Canning and Mannion struggled to win ball and while Glynn won plenty his striking was so bad he couldn't make anything of it. I think Glynn has to be left at 14 or else dropped entirely. He's no use at all out in the half forward line becuase even when he catches it he's not able to do anything with it, where as if he catches a ball all he has to do is either flick off a pass or the full back probably has to foul him. He's far more effective in there as the big target man provided we keep a couple of players very close to him for breaks/passses etc. Mannion was quiet today but he's had a good league, I'd imagine he has a decent chance of keeping his place for championship. He could become a real good corner forward in time.
Hard to know what to do with Canning, he didn't look at his best today for whatever reason. If we're going to have any chance this year we need to get the very best out of him whether thats in the full forward line (and I increasingly thing it isn't) or further out the field, we'll just have to wait and see. If we do play him inside I wouldn't mind seeing us maybe trying a system where him and Johnny Glynn basically play the full forward position and pump every ball into the 2 of them. They'd be a serious hand full for anyone. However more likely I think Joe will probably benefit from possibly being named at full forward but being given licence to roam wherever he likes and leave Glynn and maybe Niall Healy inside.

Overall the game today was lost just after half time, Kilkenny completely started to dominate, their backs got totally on top and everytime the ball was down on top of our backs a few seconds after they cleared it. And their forwards were then able to turn this possession into the scores they needed to get back in the match. I'd actually put more of the blame for this on our inside forward line than our half forward line, though the half line battled fairly well but the full forward line just couldn't win a ball or make a tackle for a lot of the second half, especially when Glynn was moved out. And also they didn't really create a single decent goal chance in there either which is a worry, I know Burke hit the crossbar but that was just from a line ball hit in and not as a result of good attacking play.

So in summary, pleased enough with the backs and midfield especially considering we still have Moore and Tan to slot back in but the forwards are a worry and it is pivotal that we find the correct role for Canning up in that forward line. Only forward than can be genuinely pleased today is Conor Cooney.

hurlingman97

One positive from this years League is we finally know the spine of our team ie. Callinan - R.Burke - Tannian - D.Burke, Smith - Cooney - Canning. Our best team for championship imo is:

Callinan
Moore - R.Burke - Coen
Harte - Tannian - Collins
D.Burke - Smith
Donnelan - Cooney - Brehony
Healy - Canning - Glynn