Galway GAA discussion thread

MfMan

Green Peter wrote: »

There needs to be serious planning on kick outs, it didn't look like there was a plan yesterday. We should be able to pick out Conroy and Flynn on a fairly consistent basis especially with the mark and have closer options to vary it. Bradshaw is reverting to dwelling on the ball again and it cost us yesterday a few scores. I'd try Cathal Sweeney at No 6 next day and play Daly on the wing instead of brannigan. Not sure about Armstrong. Galway need to play more direct football like they did just after half time.

Flynn needs not to be picked on a more consistent basis.

Utopia Parkway

MfMan wrote: »

Flynn needs not to be picked on a more consistent basis.

Not picked at wing forward anyway. He's definitely no wing-forward but Walsh keeps picking him there.

Seems strange that midfield has become an issue once again. Between Flynn, Conroy, FOC, Day and Cooke we should be able to field a reasonable midfield.

However Conroy is inconsistent. Either great or anonymous. FOC hasn't really kicked on since his U-21 days. Also had his injury troubles to be fair. Flynn I think would be good with a strong partner beside him but Walsh seems to prefer picking him at wing-forward. Day and Cooke to be fair are fairly new still.

Worthwent14

The problem with midfield is that the same guys getting picked the last few years are still getting picked despite no improvement. Day is the first player other than Flynn FOC and Conroy to start a game at midfield in the league under Walsh that I can think off. A massive problem here too is kickouts. Despite all the keepers used the last few years, there is still no plan and no runs. Cluxton would struggle in that team because nobody is making themselves available.

Regards next weeks team, going by what was available on the programme yesterday and performances, team id pick is:
Lavelle
Kyne
Hanley
Burke
Sweeney
O Donnel
Heaney
Conroy
Flynn
Daly
McDaid
Brannigan
Cummins
Comer
Mchugh

Diabhal Beag

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Gonna disagree with you on these two.

Heaney was very poor yesterday after a great FBD final. He made a couple of awful errors in the second half which is what prompted the Galway management to take him off. I was sitting just behind them in the stand and could see the exact moment they called for Cathal Sweeney.

Conroy did an awful lot of bad things in the match yesterday. However, a lot of Galway attacks originate from him doing good things. He came short a few times for kick outs when they were not winning them at midfield. He gave a few good balls into Comer.

I actually am the opposite. I thought Heaney was the only lad who would put any sort of pace into breaks from our half yesterday in the first. He died down a lot in the second half and Sweeney pointing fairly soon into his arrival probably makes it look worse.

I thought Conroy had a non-existent first 50 and pulled it back towards the end.

MfMan

Big weekend coming up.

Hurlers, if they're any ways minding what they're at, should have well enough for Offaly, though I'd imagine there may be a bit of hangover-niggle from last year's c'ship game in Portlaoise.

Very depressed all week after footballers' display v Cork. Back to the bad old days of going nowhere; bad defence, indifferent midfield, too many forwards not sparking, lateral passing at the back instead of playing the ball forward quickly. Deceptively, last year's Connacht final win is starting to look like a 'Prague spring' in terms of promise. KW is caught in a sort of vicious circle; the team currently is nearer to getting relegated than promoted but the players he really needs to strengthen the side, particularly in defence, are all club-tied and may not be available until the good is again gone from the current league campaign. Even introducing them en bloc after Paddy's day may be risky as making too many changes at once can unbalance a team too. A Fermanagh team at home and in decent form, a side we couldn't beat in Tuam last year with a man extra, look to be extraordinary value at 6/4 with PPs. If KW picks anywhere near the same team again, especially in the HB and HF lines, I think I'll cry.

Corofin/Crokes could be a cracker. (Nice alliteration there!) Don't think Corofin have recaptured their brio of 2 years ago but they had very good wins in Castlebar and Carrick', and will be hungry for this one. On all balance I think they're the better team if both play to form.

TCDStudent1

MfMan wrote: »

Big weekend coming up.

Hurlers, if they're any ways minding what they're at, should have well enough for Offaly, though I'd imagine there may be a bit of hangover-niggle from last year's c'ship game in Portlaoise.

Very depressed all week after footballers' display v Cork. Back to the bad old days of going nowhere; bad defence, indifferent midfield, too many forwards not sparking, lateral passing at the back instead of playing the ball forward quickly. Deceptively, last year's Connacht final win is starting to look like a 'Prague spring' in terms of promise. KW is caught in a sort of vicious circle; the team currently is nearer to getting relegated than promoted but the players he really needs to strengthen the side, particularly in defence, are all club-tied and may not be available until the good is again gone from the current league campaign. Even introducing them en bloc after Paddy's day may be risky as making too many changes at once can unbalance a team too. A Fermanagh team at home and in decent form, a side we couldn't beat in Tuam last year with a man extra, look to be extraordinary value at 6/4 with PPs. If KW picks anywhere near the same team again, especially in the HB and HF lines, I think I'll cry.

Corofin/Crokes could be a cracker. (Nice alliteration there!) Don't think Corofin have recaptured their brio of 2 years ago but they had very good wins in Castlebar and Carrick', and will be hungry for this one. On all balance I think they're the better team if both play to form.

Thats incredibly pessimistic!

My guess is that we will see the same HB line, 1 change at midfield (Day to be dropped) and 1 change in the HF line (Daly will start).

MfMan

It's fairly realistic I think TCD. Nothing has changed since the days pre-Mulholland.
Being reading this kind of talk too for the past number of years; (caution, article contains use of the word 'systems');

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/damien-comer-positive-about-galway-s-prospects-in-2017-1.2969868

The problem is we have no systems.

We look like a team who's turning up to training, doing some laps, drills and playing a game.

No emphasis on coaching - restarts, pressing, transition attack.

I think we'll be fine.... WHEN we get a coach in, not a manager, we need more than we're getting from this ticket...and I'd love if they'd provide it but its clear in year three our players are playing on instincts alone (like an amateur side)

Diabhal Beag

Silke had a bit on gaa.ie too where you can just tell they don't see the kickout problem is killing us against any sort of decent side. All issues from Cork were inexperience and lack of training. Lovely lads the management team but I can't see them bringing us further this year.

TCDStudent1

Ó Curraoin for Day seems to be the only change.

Daly deserves to start after his performance last Sunday.

MfMan

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Silke had a bit on gaa.ie too where you can just tell they don't see the kickout problem is killing us against any sort of decent side. All issues from Cork were inexperience and lack of training. Lovely lads the management team but I can't see them bringing us further this year.

Ironically it was the experienced lads that yet again failed to perform. New lads Ml Daly, McDaid and McHugh to an extent rose to the challenge.

O'Curraoin for Day the only change? God wept!!

Utopia Parkway

Corofin like Thomas' last week pay the price for a very slow start. 3 points down after 3 minutes and lost all their first 5 kickouts. Then conceded a flukey enough goal. Made a mini-comeback in the 2nd half but Crokes could get players behind the ball in defence and pick a few scores off on the counter-attack with Corofin pushing to many players forward.

Utopia Parkway

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Corofin like Thomas' last week pay the price for a very slow start. 3 points down after 3 minutes and lost all their first 5 kickouts. Then conceded a flukey enough goal. Made a mini-comeback in the 2nd half but Crokes could get players behind the ball in defence and pick a few scores off on the counter-attack with Corofin pushing to many players forward.

Another Galway team unable to see the importance of working on kick outs.

Sure most club teams don't do it, but that's not an excuse to follow suit.

It took them five minutes to get an attack/out of their half due to losing kickouts, they only got the attack after a kick was short.

Of Crokes 1-7 or whatever they had at HT, most came from lost kickouts.

I really hope Power doesn't come back into the county team.

He's never organised, always fumbling around for the tee and ball... put both in the same place each time ffs.

Caught with a poor goal as well, was hardly a quick, looping shot.
Conceded more than one poor one for Galway as well.

Why bring on Higgins either?... beyond limited. The changes should have been to remove technically limited players like Steede, never mind adding another one.

threeball

Powers kick out choices were very poor. The entire back 6 started sluggishly with Liam Silke being caught on the wrong side on more than one occasion resulting in a score.
Ref should have given Buckley ablack card in the first 10 mins however but bottled it. The loss of Brosnan was also a bonus as Crokes played the ball quicker without Brosnan carrying the ball into traffic.
Hopefully the few players coming back to the Galway set up helps get the promotion that the County badly needs.

Hulk Hands

Why on earth are we having to listen to the hurlers beating Offaly by 12 points in a damp squib instead of the football on GBFM

Hulk Hands

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Why on earth are we having to listen to the hurlers beating Offaly by 12 points in a damp squib instead of the football on GBFM

Funnily enough I was hoping to hear the Connacht game at 1, and this week we get max coverage of what was always going to be a drubbing.

It was the silliest of the three to cover in full, little chance we were going to lose to a team who are on D2 level these days.

Twitter it is.... Fermanagh don't seem to have a radio station(Q apparently cover some games but had music a while ago).

Hulk Hands

Now we're getting premier league updates which you can get anywhere and interviews with the hurling manager which theyve the rest of the day to play. All the while a draw game in the melting pot

Utopia Parkway

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Now we're getting premier league updates which you can get anywhere and interviews with the hurling manager which theyve the rest of the day to play. All the while a draw game in the melting pot

GBFM are bizarre with their updates sometimes. Could be a nailbiter for the senior hurlers or footballers and they go for some report on an U-16 club camoige game in the middle of it.

Green Peter

Utopia Parkway wrote:

GBFM are bizarre with their updates sometimes. Could be a nailbiter for the senior hurlers or footballers and they go for some report on an U-16 club camoige game in the middle of it.

They are clueless, very unprofessional

Diabhal Beag

Hard to know what to make of the hurling. Easily the worst Offaly side in my 24 years. Galway were error-ridden for a lot of the game and still put an absolute hammering on them. They can't possibly stay up.

Everybody had their positives. Conor Cooney was excellent, David Burke was super once he settled down, Flynn MOTM and was hugely impressed by Molloy coming on as a sub. But Aidan Harte was absolutely woeful out there. Just toxic stuff in that first half before Offaly gave up.

Sounds like Conroy had one of this match-winning showings today from the radio. Ollie Turner was expecting a public hanging of the referee from the Brewster natives.

Hulk Hands

Brilliant win that. With Cork losing and us having Kildare at home in the final game, looks a serious chance to go up now. Down are a shambles so one potentially tricky away game looks a lot easier now. Should be beating Derry and Clare at home. No excuses this time around

Ya the hurling really was just a turkey shoot and over inside 10 or 15 minutes. Its hard to describe how awful Offaly were. How they'll pick themselves up from this is hard to know. Nice to see a few new players get a run out but after the sending off the game literally descended into farce with Offaly hitting ball on top of 3 or 4 Galway free players. Games like this are not exactly much help for the summer.

Positives were that we went hunting for goals rather than be happy to tap over the points. However, the fact we gave up a soft goal and 2 or 3 other goal chances to such a poor side is a worry. After Wexford's win today next weekend is huge. A win and we're in pole position to go up, a defeat and we're consigned to 1B for at least another season.

Big win for the footballers. At 7-3 it looked a bit dubious but good turnaround. Couple weeks off now before a tricky home game against Clare. Promotion has to be the aim from here. It could well come down to Kildare at home in the last game.

TCDStudent1

good result for the footballers. The performance was patchy enough though. Certainly a game of 2 halves. Comer was roasted in the first half by Che Cullen. But Comer had an excellent second half. Thought Daly was excellent again too. And Brannigan made a big impact when he came on. 2nd poor performance by Armstrong and taken off early in 2nd half - I doubt he will starting v Clare.

Hopefully the Corofin lads will join up before the Clare match. Lundy looked fairly sharp for them yesterday so would nice to see if he can offer Galway anything this year.

In respect of the Corofin lads you could possibly play Sice at HB with the options in the forwards these days.

I think he played there in the winning U21 team from 10 odd years ago.

TCDStudent1

gilberto_eire wrote: »

In respect of the Corofin lads you could possibly play Sice at HB with the options in the forwards these days.

I think he played there in the winning U21 team from 10 odd years ago.

Sice played all his underage football in the backs. It was corofins lack of forward options a few years ago that saw him transition to the forwards. I'm increasingly doubtful he will get a starting spot for Galway this year.

Hulk Hands

Doubt Sice has the legs now for wing back, albiet there isnt much difference with wing forward these days.

Did you go TCD? What were midfield and kickouts like?

TCDStudent1

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Doubt Sice has the legs now for wing back, albiet there isnt much difference with wing forward these days.

Did you go TCD? What were midfield and kickouts like?

They varied the kickouts. Some were short, some were long. Bradshaw and Conroy showed regularly for short kickouts. O'Currain won a few of the long kickouts. It'll be interesting to see what teams do to take full advantage of the mark. People were giving out about it earlier in the year but it's definitely a rule that I like.

TCDStudent1

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

They varied the kickouts. Some were short, some were long. Bradshaw and Conroy showed regularly for short kickouts. O'Currain won a few of the long kickouts. It'll be interesting to see what teams do to take full advantage of the mark. People were giving out about it earlier in the year but it's definitely a rule that I like.

There is no advantage in the mark.

You win more the shorter you kick it and the amount of turnovers before the half way line are so minimal that it's another reason not to.

A far kick out for Dublin will be to the HB line, wing side, to a player running onto the ball with space infront.
This will be a mark per se, but the player won't needing it to any extensive and he'll still pop it off to a runner or turn out.

You can't afford to lose more than 10% of your kickouts if you want to beat the top four, because they certainly won't be.
The further you kick it, the more chance you'll lose it.

eamonpk

I was very unhappy with the referee but as a Fermanagh fan it isn't an impartial view. Before the game there were concerns about Henry as those who were down at the match in Galway last year said that he seemed to be on first name terms with a number of Galway players due to living very close to the Mayo Galway border
Galway dominated the second half and were better team but I still think that had captain Eoin Donnelly not been black carded it might have been different as he is a very influential player - its is still a mystery why he got it and local press said it was supposedly for back chat.
For me there was a clear pick up in the box in the 2nd half for a penalty and a number of other decisions which we didn't get. And I saw 2 Galway points going clearly wide which were given.
The red card seemed fair but it was a  lot to do with the frustration the players had with the ref. The crowd at Brewster are usually not particularly animated but I have never seen them give a referee such a hard time at the end. Henry seemed to react to the boos in a childish way ensuring that he wouldn't give any 50/50 decisions to Fermanagh

Diabhal Beag

A/F game is live on youtube

Richie Power already popped one over