Galway GAA discussion thread

RealityCheck

Fireball07 wrote: »

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While I wouldn't necessarily go along with it, you can't blame people for saying stuff like that, the big games in Connacht have turned up very uninspiring fixtures over the last few years. The Galway-Mayo game last year (I think it was last year anyway) was one of the worst games I have ever seen.

Particularly when Mayo and Galway would traditionally be fairly stylish teams. The Connacht final of the last few years hasn't been great either.

But thats the point, its about time the teams in Connacht did something about it. I don't altogether disagree with the sentiment tbh. Be nice to see a very competitive Connacht, at least on one side of the draw.

Fireball07

RealityCheck wrote: »

But thats the point, its about time the teams in Connacht did something about it. I don't altogether disagree with the sentiment tbh. Be nice to see a very competitive Connacht, at least on one side of the draw.

Yeah I hope so too. It's not like the Connacht teams are incapable of playing good football.

blowitupref

The Connacht final of the last few years hasn't been great either.

Connacht final wasn't great last year not helped by the weather however the finals in years before that were good spectacles.

keane2097

You couldn't really blame the quality of the final last year on the players, it was probably the worst "summer" day you'll ever see.

RealityCheck

keane2097 wrote: »

You couldn't really blame the quality of the final last year on the players, it was probably the worst "summer" day you'll ever see.

That much is true, however the form of the two teams was very indifferent with Galway having been relegated and not having played a game in over 2 months and Mayo were nearly beaten over in Ruislip. The quality was therefore no surprise, weather considered or not.

rossie1977

weather was fine at last years connacht matches

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uJzAftZ0Y3o/TiM3RHSkvhI/AAAAAAAACIY/ZpmLXzV-ioc/s1600/HydePark20110717.jpg

WallyGUFC

Syferus wrote: »

I'm glad that saying Roscommon are the equals of Galway pushes so many of your buttons, but that's just a side-effect of a genuine opinion. I most certainly back up what I said with plenty of information so agree or disagree, but don't try to pull that one.

I think I'll be quoting this again come Sunday evening, LOLing deliriously at it's ridiculousness. To say that any of the Roscommon forwards can match Galway's is blasphemous. Donie Shine, while a very talented footballer with youth on his side, is basically a freekick merchant, albeit a good one. A mid table division 3 side against a team who were a penalty away from being promoted back to Division 1. Armstrong, Meehan and Joyce back. There can only be one winner in my eyes.

Syferus

WallyGUFC wrote: »

I think I'll be quoting this again come Sunday evening, LOLing deliriously at it's ridiculousness. To say that any of the Roscommon forwards can match Galway's is blasphemous. Donie Shine, while a very talented footballer with youth on his side, is basically a freekick merchant, albeit a good one. A mid table division 3 side against a team who were a penalty away from being promoted back to Division 1. Armstrong, Meehan and Joyce back. There can only be one winner in my eyes.

Did you even look at the video provided? Shine is one of the most natural scorers in Connacht. His only knock is pace but when you're a skillful guy who is 6'5'' your modus operandi isn't to burn players with your pace. Armstrong is only coming back from injury, Joyce, albeit still a fantastic talent, is 35 and no longer is able to be relied on for a full shift and Meehan, sadly, has only played 25 minutes in a single competitive game (for his club in a senior league game) in the last year. Our guys are fully fit and if they get fed ball there's no doubt in my mind they're be more than capable of going toe-to-toe with Galway's attack and out-playing them.

This is the time of the year where people who don't even take notice of other teams, seeing at most one game live on the Sunday Game in an entire year, come out and try to act like experts - with all due respect, few here dismissing our best forwards are talking from experience.

There's going to be one hell of a clean up operation here if we win.

Fireball07

WallyGUFC wrote: »

I think I'll be quoting this again come Sunday evening, LOLing deliriously at it's ridiculousness. To say that any of the Roscommon forwards can match Galway's is blasphemous. Donie Shine, while a very talented footballer with youth on his side, is basically a freekick merchant, albeit a good one. A mid table division 3 side against a team who were a penalty away from being promoted back to Division 1. Armstrong, Meehan and Joyce back. There can only be one winner in my eyes.

To the people saying anything along those lines, there have been a few in this thread...you are either trolling or simply stupid.


League divisions doesn't mean that much, Galway have been absolutely terrible the last couple of years. I'm sure they're heading in the right direction now, and might well beat Roscommon but I don't think it'll be easy. Donie Shine and Senan Kilbride would both walk into the Galway team for Sunday.

aidan24326

The more I think about Sunday's game the more I'm convinced that Galway will win it. Some of the Roscommon posters here are deluding themselves. Granted this isn't the greatest Galway team to wear the maroon, but Roscommon are currently a poor division 3 team who have no chance of going further than a round or two of the qualifiers. Ros have had good underage teams recently and may have a pretty good team in the next year or two but Galway will win on Sunday. Better players, end of.

Utopia Parkway

aidan24326 wrote: »

The more I think about Sunday's game the more I'm convinced that Galway will win it. Some of the Roscommon posters here are deluding themselves. Granted this isn't the greatest Galway team to wear the maroon, but Roscommon are currently a poor division 3 team who have no chance of going further than a round or two of the qualifiers. Ros have had good underage teams recently and may have a pretty good team in the next year or two but Galway will win on Sunday. Better players, end of.

Galway are allegedly very slight favourites with the bookies however most previews I've seen either on the radio or in the papers today and yesterday have generally tipped Roscommon.

In a close game on paper I think the tendency is to give the benefit of the doubt to the home team.

68Murph68

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Galway are allegedly very slight favourites with the bookies however most previews I've seen either on the radio or in the papers today and yesterday have generally tipped Roscommon.

In a close game on paper I think the tendency is to give the benefit of the doubt to the home team.

Roscommon 2/1 with PaddyPower looks like a misprice. They have Galway 8/15.

RealityCheck

Galway fans getting over confident again. Do we ever learn? We'd have said the exact same thing about Sligo in the past and they made us eat our words.

On the other hand Roscommon fans are also over confident, and despite this confidence ye still haven't beaten Galway or Mayo in recent seasons. Roscommon have an awful lot to prove yet and sure maybe they will Sunday but theirs no point talking about it until it begins to happen.

In terms of your forwards, I'd rate all three, Shine, Kilbride and Cregg as good players. In the same way the likes of Wexford and Longford have nice forwards. It doesn't necessarily make them the finished article.

The Galway management I feel will swing it in our favour. I just feel Mullholland and his selectors are able to get an extra 20% out of the team.

Diabhal Beag

2/1 on Roscommon to win at home is ridiculously good.

Syferus

The weather looks like it'll be good, a bit cloudy but dry, little to no wind and temperatures around 14 degrees. Should be an almost perfect platform for a good game.

Hulk Hands

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

2/1 on Roscommon to win at home is ridiculously good.

1 win against Galway in about 20 years and coming off the back of an average league campaign in division 3. I'd want to be given a significantly better odds than a 1 in 3 chance of winning. Even if they do end up winning, this is and always will be a poor value 2/1 shot.

It's 5/2 on Betfair and that'll be even bigger tomorrow if you're still willing to bet on it, a little bit closer to Roscommon's true price.

Diabhal Beag

Match recent history and you'll see that Roscommon were Connacht finalists in the last two years whereas in the last two years Galway have beaten New York only and haven't won any other match in the championship. That's including a year where they stayed up in Division 1 so League means little at times.

RealityCheck

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Match recent history and you'll see that Roscommon were Connacht finalists in the last two years whereas in the last two years Galway have beaten New York only and haven't won any other match in the championship. That's including a year where they stayed up in Division 1 so League means little at times.

All you need to do is look at the Sligo teams that beat us recently. Roscommon are at about that level. They won Connacht in 10, we haven't since 08.

Syferus

RealityCheck wrote: »

All you need to do is look at the Sligo teams that beat us recently. Roscommon are at about that level. They won Connacht in 10, we haven't since 08.

I think in terms of fully-fit front-line players playing to their ability (which Sligo have not done in any real sense the wreckage of the 2010 Connacht final), you're right. The difference is that our under-age set-up has provided alot of talent to be moulded over the last three years and we now have enough depth to compete with both Galway and Mayo. Is it enough to win? We'll see on Sunday.

Certainly both counties would be licking their lips at a Sligo-Roscommon semi-final, a year after it really should have happened. We played a shadow-boxing game at the end of the league this year but I'm sure the Sligo lads would kill to get a real shot at us in the championship.

Diabhal Beag

As good as Galway were at times in the League there were some awful showings so you can only use it so much without having to look back at the championship past. Would love to see a Galway win as it would give a lot of the new faces a shot of confidence should they face Sligo. This is new low they have experienced in the last 2 years that I think any neutral would like to see them overcome.

Syferus

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

As good as Galway were at times in the League there were some awful showings so you can only use it so much without having to look back at the championship past. Would love to see a Galway win as it would give a lot of the new faces a shot of confidence should they face Sligo. This is new low they have experienced in the last 2 years that I think any neutral would like to see them overcome.

Very few neutrals would be cheering Galway on to beat Roscommon or Sligo..!

Hulk Hands

Someone said earlier in the thread that we underestimated Sligo before and got found out. That may be true, but at least Sligo had a bit of big game form to come in on prior to that, having beaten Mayo. It also took them 2 games and a monumental error by Bradshaw to win by 1 point. So you could reasonably make a case for Sligo at that time at short prices.

Roscommon in turn haven't to my mind beaten one of the big 2 in Connacht since 2001. Until they actually go and do that, you can't have them with confidence against a Galway or Mayo. Therefore, I can't understand how anyone thinks 2/1 is a good price. It's not like its 5's or something. In any walk of sport, you'd have to be fairly confident to take a price as short as 2's. I can't see where that level of confidence in Roscommon to go against history is coming from. The Gaa isn't as simple as saying that x has a better squad than y and should win.Especially when that statement is up for serious debate to begin with

RealityCheck

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Someone said earlier in the thread that we underestimated Sligo before and got found out. That may be true, but at least Sligo had a bit of big game form to come in on prior to that, having beaten Mayo. It also took them 2 games and a monumental error by Bradshaw to win by 1 point. So you could reasonably make a case for Sligo at that time at short prices.

Roscommon in turn haven't to my mind beaten one of the big 2 in Connacht since 2001. Until they actually go and do that, you can't have them with confidence against a Galway or Mayo. Therefore, I can't understand how anyone thinks 2/1 is a good price. It's not like its 5's or something. In any walk of sport, you'd have to be fairly confident to take a price as short as 2's. I can't see where that level of confidence in Roscommon to go against history is coming from. The Gaa isn't as simple as saying that x has a better squad than y and should win.Especially when that statement is up for serious debate to begin with

I can see where you are coming from. I think that is what the odds are already reflecting. You obviously believe that tradition is worth more than they reflect and that we are better than Roscommon more than I do. Which I guess is fair enough.

Anyway enough talk about the game lets see how they go today. I'm feeling optimistic. As I've said before I reckon management will swing it.

ChocolateChip

RealityCheck wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from. I think that is what the odds are already reflecting. You obviously believe that tradition is worth more than they reflect and that we are better than Roscommon more than I do. Which I guess is fair enough.

Anyway enough talk about the game lets see how they go today. I'm feeling optimistic. As I've said before I reckon management will swing it.

Management won't swing anything. Ye have gone through 4 managers in 4 seasons. Ridiculous county board decisions.

I'm actually going for Galway today, and I don't mean to sound harsh, but it is 100% down to the players. Management, if they are good, are a profitable asset, but rarely are big wins down to just a change of manager.

Good luck Galway.

RealityCheck

ChocolateChip wrote: »

Management won't swing anything. Ye have gone through 4 managers in 4 seasons. Ridiculous county board decisions.

I'm actually going for Galway today, and I don't mean to sound harsh, but it is 100% down to the players. Management, if they are good, are a profitable asset, but rarely are big wins down to just a change of manager.

Good luck Galway.

I believe we have the best man for the job and a man who'll get that extra 10/20% out of players (that maybe we haven't got before). I think he has a track record of that at underage. He's also not afraid to make changes when required and is a good motivator. So far he appears to have given players who were poor before this another lease of life and has them playing with a much better skill level than before.

Maybe its blind faith and that there's a big difference between league and championship. We'll see soon enough.

Diabhal Beag

It's impossible to know who's right or wrong until the match is decided really. Have a feeling there'll be a replay.

O.A.P

Traditional football at last, Alan Mulholland deserves enough time to make Galway work.
They re very impressive but maybe the opposition flatter us a little.
One happy Galway man.

Diabhal Beag

Kilbride ya dirty man

Diabhal Beag

Delighted to see Meehan put in a good showing. Very unselfish to set up Sice like that too.

Fireball07

I love watching Meehan play, he's pure class. I honestly think he's the best forward in the country in terms of ability. Pity about the injuries.