Galway GAA discussion thread

O.A.P

leinster champions
at last

Fireball07

I've got to apologise, I wrote Galway off completely, didn't think they were capable of a performance like that but that was top class. Unbelievable intensity. Well done, well deserved.

Id like to congratulate Galway on an amazing performance today. I must admit alot of people myself included asked questions of their character coming into today but any team coached by Anthony Cunningham never lacks character because if you look at his CV the guy is a born winner.

They played Kilkenny at their own game the first half and never let them rest for a second. Second half perhaps fatigue and maybe slight complacency crept in but they worked their socks off from start to finish and got their just desserts.

Amazing stuff well done lads

elefant

Ladies footballers won the Connacht Championship today against Mayo too, having been trounced by the same opposition in the league final just a few weeks ago.

A great day for Galway GAA!

Syferus

Stunning performance by Galway - you did the West very, very proud today.

O.A.P

It was on the cards though 01 and 05 were the same but this time it was not even close.
Its feels good to be the champions of Leinster, I'm not worried about any more progress this year that will do fine lads, any more will be a bonus.:)

Syferus

O.A.P wrote: »

It was on the cards though 01 and 05 were the same but this time it was not even close.
Its feels good to be the champions of Leinster, I'm not worried about any more progress this year that will do fine lads, any more will be a bonus.:)

They need to be at least targeting the AI final now, they'll be paired with Tipp/Waterford/whoever beats them in the semi.

O.A.P

Syferus wrote: »

They need to be at least targeting the AI final now, they'll be paired with Tipp/Waterford/whoever beats them in the semi.

Yeah but take it as it comes, We have to call this a good year regardless, we have a cup and a lot of county's would envy that.
If we win more great, but if we dont, well we have something for a change.

Fireball07

O.A.P wrote: »

It was on the cards though 01 and 05 were the same but this time it was not even close.
Its feels good to be the champions of Leinster, I'm not worried about any more progress this year that will do fine lads, any more will be a bonus.:)

You see I never bought that. 01 and 05 were different Galway teams and imo a lot more talented. I thought there were serious question marks over this bunch of players but they proved themselves today.

Not to mention this Kilkenny team is on a different level completely than the 01 and 05 teams, as good as they might have been.

O.A.P

Fireball07 wrote: »

You see I never bought that. 01 and 05 were different Galway teams and imo a lot more talented. I thought there were serious question marks over this bunch of players but they proved themselves today.

Not to mention this Kilkenny team is on a different level completely than the 01 and 05 teams, as good as they might have been.

Some of the best hurlers to ever play county hurling on those two teams but none of them have a gold championship medal.
These lads do at long long last.

Diabhal Beag

Seriously time for the footballers to step up after Galway beat the AI champions convincingly today. Would be lovely to have two sides still in competition come August.

aidan24326

We always knew the hurlers had that kind of a performance in them, but didn't think it would ever happen. But my god did they produce it yesterday. That was simply awesome.

The backs in the first half gave as good a display as I've ever seen, they played like lads who were told they'd be executed if they lost. Cyril Donnelan, Johnny Coen, Damien Hayes - all man of the match contenders. I would actually have given it to Donnellan, not Joe Canning, even though Joe was outstanding too.

At midfield Smith and Tannian destroyed an inexperienced Kilkenny pairing, and the half back line were unbelievably good. Past history will make me and all Galway supporters wary of getting our hopes up, as we've been dropped from a height many times before. The test now is to see can they reproduce something even close to that the next day.

aidan24326

Will Mulholland make changed for Saturday?

Midfield is an issue as per usual, and the defence got taken to the cleaners by Sligo. Up front I don't think Thomas Flynn at 12 is working, and I'm not sure about Armstrong either. Damien Burke gets through a lot of work but really you want a number 11 that can score and he doesn't provide that. Start PJ the next day.

Antrim will be no pushover and the fact they only beat London narrowly is of no relevance. Because:

1. They had a wedding the day before so probably weren't as well prepared as they should have been. Maybe took London a little bit for granted.

2. London are decent now and are capable of giving all bar the top teams a serious game. Would Galway beat them by much right now? You wouldn't bet your month's wages on it.

So all in all I think this will be tough. Antrim will have no fear at all of Galway, and why should they?

Syferus

It could go either way. Antrim can be quite putrid at times and if they turn up in that mood Galway wlll walk it at half-speed speed and learn as much as they did in the Roscommon game. If they Antrim team that played Wexford in the league turn up you might get a challenge. I think it's likely you'll need to wait until the next round to find anything out about your team.

RealityCheck

aidan24326 wrote: »

Will Mulholland make changed for Saturday?

Midfield is an issue as per usual, and the defence got taken to the cleaners by Sligo. Up front I don't think Thomas Flynn at 12 is working, and I'm not sure about Armstrong either. Damien Burke gets through a lot of work but really you want a number 11 that can score and he doesn't provide that. Start PJ the next day.

I suspect we'll see O'Curraoin replace Higgins. Maybe we might see someone like Conor Doherty come in at wing forward for Tom Flynn, with Flynn as a sub later in the game if the midfielders tire. I would like to see a change at wing back but I don't think thats likely. At the least I'd like to see a change in playing mentality there. They should first and foremost be good defenders. They need to hold their positions more. I think we'll probably leave Burke at 11. We might bring in any of PJ, Meehan and even Danny Cummins, depending on fitness.

aidan24326 wrote: »

Antrim will be no pushover and the fact they only beat London narrowly is of no relevance. Because:

1. They had a wedding the day before so probably weren't as well prepared as they should have been. Maybe took London a little bit for granted.

2. London are decent now and are capable of giving all bar the top teams a serious game. Would Galway beat them by much right now? You wouldn't bet your month's wages on it.

So all in all I think this will be tough. Antrim will have no fear at all of Galway, and why should they?

Antrim should be an opportunity for them to redeem themselves. Its a perfect game. Antrim are potentially a good side but their still a side we are capable of beating. If we turn up and give 100% there's a very good change we'll win. Anything less and we could be in serious trouble. A 1 point defeat the most likely outcome in that case.

aidan24326

Flynn needs to be moved or replaced as a priority because he's contributing very little at wing forward. It's not his position.

I had high hopes for Higgins but he's been a bit disappointing and if O'Curraion is fit he'd be worth a try.

Some lads seem to think that Antrim are a poor side who will be comfortably beaten but that's not really the case. If you look at their Ulster Championship results over the past few years they don't get beaten by much, nor in the qualifiers either. They even gave Kerry a good test a couple of years ago.

Realistically we're beatable by almost anyone at the moment and I reckon Antrim will fancy their chances. If Galway can play well you'd hope that we'd have the better players to pull through but if this turns into a dogfight I'd be worried, because we just can't seem to win those sort of games.

Diabhal Beag

I'd drop Flynn alright. Even against Roscommon he had a very average match at best. I'd give Burke the benefit of the doubt as well as Armstrong though because I feel as though it was one bad match they had against Sligo where Army got no ball supply. Higgins had one bad match so far and that was against Sligo IMO but I see O'Curraoin starting.

I wonder will he keep Kelly in the starting line-up?

RealityCheck

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I'd drop Flynn alright. Even against Roscommon he had a very average match at best. I'd give Burke the benefit of the doubt as well as Armstrong though because I feel as though it was one bad match they had against Sligo where Army got no ball supply. Higgins had one bad match so far and that was against Sligo IMO but I see O'Curraoin starting.

I wonder will he keep Kelly in the starting line-up?

Rumour has he will in favour of McGrath who'll be dropped.

Hulk Hands

Couldn't get to the Sligo game but can't comment, but I thought Flynn was very good against Roscommon. Always first to the ball, linking play, always an option for anyone in possesion and getting through a power of work. A number of people around me who's football opinions i'd rate highly thought he had an excellent game also. Fair enough he's not scoring and as a forward that's an issue. I can say that Mulholland is and will be very reluctant not to start him though. The problem is he's probably just not ready to play at midfield yet, which will of course be his normal position in the years to come. Aside from that, looking forward to seeing O'Currain back

deisefolife

from a waterford point of view..

just like to say well done to Galway, by god did ye show the mighty Cats a thing or two sunday. great game to watch, a mate of mine said to me last week go down and put what you have on galway to win. i didnt belive him, honestly i didnt see that coming,

keep it up and liam could also be going west this year, i wouldnt like to meet ye in the semi

but we have tipp to deal with sunday so hopefully we can pull of a galway display this weekend..

Deise Abu

Syferus

I think every neutral's dream final would be Waterford vs. Galway.

Diabhal Beag

I'd wonder if Mulholland is thinking about starting Meehan. We need somebody up there to help Conroy out and Joyce is super-sub #1 seemingly.

Syferus

With all Merhan's troubles conventional logic would dictate Joyce starting and being replaced by Meehan in the second half, but there you go.

InchicoreDude

Completely missed the Sligo match because in Poland.

Am somewhat shocked to see McGrath's place in doubt. He has been wonderful so far this year. He must have had a shocker against Sligo???

Mulholland generally doesnt like to make a whole lot of changes. He is far too patient for that I think.

Diabhal Beag

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

Syferus

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

I honestly believe Meehan is a way better sub, Joyce always plays at such a considered pace that his introductions have less of a meaningful impact. Meehan only had to play a challenge match against us when he came on but he was far more lively than Joyce, he's always had the ability to change the pace of games. Even his introduction in that game was greeted by a far louder cheer from the Galway supporters, admittedly his first appearence of the year.

RealityCheck

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Completely missed the Sligo match because in Poland.

Am somewhat shocked to see McGrath's place in doubt. He has been wonderful so far this year. He must have had a shocker against Sligo???

Mulholland generally doesnt like to make a whole lot of changes. He is far too patient for that I think.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. He's made big enough changes in the past. I reckon there might be 2/3 changes.

That whole full back line were completely at sea against Sligo, especially in the second half. Both corner backs had stinkers. Ok they didn't have much cover, but I think McGrath was far too high up the pitch at times.

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I'd wonder if Mulholland is thinking about starting Meehan. We need somebody up there to help Conroy out and Joyce is super-sub #1 seemingly.

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

The problem I have with these substitutions is the manager tends to make changes simply because they're there and not because they're specifically coming in to do a specific job. I'd prefer if we could start our best team, but obviously thats not a luxury we have. I think we needed a change of direction in the second half of the Sligo game. I don't like substitutions decided before the game actually starts.

Starie1975

First bus is nearly filled. Will send up a second bus if we get enough names. Details on link below.

http://www.tribesmengaa.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1015:supporters-bus-to-belfast&catid=92:team-news&Itemid=70&Itemid=53

keane2097

Coleman out for a while now after chipping a bone in his knee. Unfortunate for him.

There's talk that Paddy Cunningham is at loggerheads with Baker and the Antrim backroom team which is potentially good news for Galway. If not I think the bookies lines are fairly off the mark for this one and will be looking closely at Antrim +4.

cgpg5

Antrim are one of those teams that seem to go by unnoticed every year. Saw highlights v Monaghan they looked fairly decent only the class of substitute Thomas Freeman separated the sides. They never really get hammered and will be very hard bet i'd say. This won't be easy.