Galway GAA discussion thread

InchicoreDude

This was a shambles of a performance. The worst I have ever seen from a Galway team. I did fell reading the teamsheet that it wasnt as strong as the team that started against Roscommon - Realitycheck pointed out a couple of days ago that O'Donnell & Armstrong were real weak points in pivotal positions and so it proved today.

Mulholland has rightly received a lot of praise in the past. But today he deserves a lot of criticism. He chose a lot of wrong options:

1. Antrim withdrew one of their full forward line leaving Duane as a sweeper. Essentially he played as a free half back. Bradshaw should have been assigned that role and Duane should have been put marking someone. You should name your tightest markers in the full back line. Therefore, they should be marking someone. Not rocket science. Bradshaw has potential to do a lot of damage in a free role.

2. Meehan should have been taken off. He is a class act but today was just not his day. How many wides did he end up with? There was a ready made replacement in Michael Martin on the bench. Why was he not brought on? He had a good league before he got injured and played well in the club championship recently. He certainly would seem more likely to score a point at the end than Gary Sweeney.

3. In the first half, the ball delivered into Galway forwards was just terrible. Awful. I think Conroy's lack of movement may have contributed. But Blake could have made a difference as whatever about his lack of pace, he distributes the ball very intelligently into the forwardline. I simply dont understand how Gary O'Donnell is considered a better option at 6 than Blake.

I was so optimistic after the league and Roscommon games. All gone away now. Someone suggests giving youth a chance. But that was a very young team today: Kelly, Duane, Fahey, O'Currain, Doherty, Conroy, Hehir, Flynn, Cummins, Sweeney are all young players. They didnt setthe world alight today, far from it.

MfMan

spiritcrusher wrote: »

Despite the total failure of a championship this year, arguably our worst year, I'd still leave Mulholland in charge for another year. He clearly failed tactically in the last two matches, I witnessed the team running around like headless chickens against Sligo and it sounded the same today, but I think he's better than that and the managerial revolving door is good for no one.

That being said, the team, managerial team and county board should be spared no criticism this year. I'm really f*cking annoyed at the result. After all the stupid following the team across the country for the last few years hoping for an improvement today feels like serious kick in the balls.

The clubs themselves cannot be exempt from criticism. Players just aren't being produced / nurtured / coached / sometimes over-coached / brought to maturity etc. As said, the standard of fare at all levels borders on pathetic; at least in club hurling, the basics are there, and the better clubs produce some very good matches. At times, you'd want to be paid or forced in to watch club stuff within the county.

The board probably needs an overhaul too, with some of the more venerable members moved on or up. Newer, dynamic (internet-savvy etc.) officers are required.

RealityCheck

InchicoreDude wrote: »

This was a shambles of a performance. The worst I have ever seen from a Galway team. I did fell reading the teamsheet that it wasnt as strong as the team that started against Roscommon - Realitycheck pointed out a couple of days ago that O'Donnell & Armstrong were real weak points in pivotal positions and so it proved today.

Mulholland has rightly received a lot of praise in the past. But today he deserves a lot of criticism. He chose a lot of wrong options:

1. Antrim withdrew one of their full forward line leaving Duane as a sweeper. Essentially he played as a free half back. Bradshaw should have been assigned that role and Duane should have been put marking someone. You should name your tightest markers in the full back line. Therefore, they should be marking someone. Not rocket science. Bradshaw has potential to do a lot of damage in a free role.

Thats a very good point. Tactical naivety. This should have been flagged from the start. Did Mullholland not expect this? He had 4 weeks since the Sligo game where we were stifled in the exact same manner. We're stuck in a rut. We just seem to think we'll beat teams by playing football 15 vs 15, but we don't have the players to do such things. We need concrete plans, systems and strategies. Long term strategies. He needs to do a lot of homework for next year. Maybe someone with a bit more tactical nous could be brought in in the background to help him out? Management are probably a bit inexperienced at this level, someone outside the country would be ideal if no one like this exists in Galway.

InchicoreDude wrote: »

2. Meehan should have been taken off. He is a class act but today was just not his day. How many wides did he end up with? There was a ready made replacement in Michael Martin on the bench. Why was he not brought on? He had a good league before he got injured and played well in the club championship recently. He certainly would seem more likely to score a point at the end than Gary Sweeney.

Its sad to see really. The problem with Meehan is there is only so much time he can spend training, meaning he's just not sharp enough. It can't be helped. We're completely devoid of scoring forwards now. They just don't seem to be there. Martin seems to be a mystery, he seemed to have a bit of scoring pedigree but never got an opportunity for the county. Furthermore we've no pace in the forwards. No pace and no scoring ability means they're going to get caught out against mediocre teams. We really missed Nicky. Nicky just sums up Galway football.

InchicoreDude wrote: »

3. In the first half, the ball delivered into Galway forwards was just terrible. Awful. I think Conroy's lack of movement may have contributed. But Blake could have made a difference as whatever about his lack of pace, he distributes the ball very intelligently into the forwardline. I simply dont understand how Gary O'Donnell is considered a better option at 6 than Blake.

I was so optimistic after the league and Roscommon games. All gone away now. Someone suggests giving youth a chance. But that was a very young team today: Kelly, Duane, Fahey, O'Currain, Doherty, Conroy, Hehir, Flynn, Cummins, Sweeney are all young players. They didnt setthe world alight today, far from it.

I'm usually a critic of Blakes but god any player in any position would be better than O'Donnell. He's just so mediocre.

I don't think we can piggy back off the success of the U21's. It won't work. We need more radical changes.

Had a long rant written out and it dissappeared but here's my two cents:

Player mentality is pathetic. Players lack the workrate to implement any game plan and the only one trying to rescue the situation once again was the oldest player on the pitch who has more won than the rest of them put together. Losing in such circumstances as today again is unacceptable no matter how poor the performance. A lot worse teams than Galway have had good qualifier runs as they have a better mentality. Getting a Galway jersey should be the start but many lads see it as mission achieved. Too many narrow defeats in recent years and two more vital results thrown needlessly down the drain again this season against Kildare and Antrim, suppose you could include Westmeath game there as well.

Gameplan. What is the game plan? We lack the pace and quickness of thought in the team to play a running style of game, the direct ball is incredibly limited and needs a better athlete than Conroy to implement against a decent defence. We lack the workrate to implement a blanket defence. A game plan is only as good as its personnel and how much the players are prepared to work for it.

Co. Board. Everyone knows change is needed here but it isn't forthcoming. We need someone in charge who has the support of at least a substantial percentage of all involved in Galway football. The present chairman has very little support outside his own back yard.

Squad. Too many average players hyped up by u21 success, have been tried and failed and need to be moved on.

Club Football. Its been weak for a long time. Too many teams. Should be 16 max. A change to a structure similar to the hurling may help. Corofin have dominated but in county terms you wouldn't pick out many from them. They are just a well drilled, balanced outfit.

Underage. All Irelands have papered over the cracks. For 2nd year in a row our minors were played off the pitch by Roscommon. u21s lost to by all accounts a very average Mayo side and bar the All-Ireland have had little success in Connacht in recent years.

League Football. We competed well in the league a few years ago but anyone who saw Galway in the league this year could tell you we weren't going well bar maybe a 20 minute spell against Kildare who were doing their best to win it for us. Division 2 was very very weak and thats not with hindsight. Also we only played 2 away games out of 7.

Management. Far from the finished article. I'd give them another year but they need to show they can make the required changes and take tough decisions. Some of their changes and selections this year have been baffling.

Galway football has one of the most proud histories of any county in Ireland but we are 11 years in the doldrums now. If we aren't careful Galway football will remain a bottom half team and will be permanently left behind by the big teams.

The only positive from today is Galway football can't go much lower. If all involved are prepared to made the big decisions and put their shoulders to the wheel we can return but we're going to have to rebuild at underage and make sure lads are able to execute the basic skills of the game at a minimum.

The Galway jersey has to start meaning something again both for the 15 who line out on any given day for the county and for the opposition. No team in Ireland now fear Galway footballers (bar maybe Kilkenny who fear everyone). Its a long road back but it has to start as soon as possible.

aidan24326

spiralism wrote: »

It's a long climb back to relevance for ye, he owes ye nothing and certainly shouldnt feel obliged to have his career fade out on very average galway teams.

Unfortunately his career has already faded out on a bad Galway team over the past few years. Some of his own old magic has still been in evidence but there must have been times he wondered why he bothered playing with this lot. Not least today.

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Underage. All Irelands have papered over the cracks. For 2nd year in a row our minors were played off the pitch by Roscommon. u21s lost to by all accounts a very average Mayo side and bar the All-Ireland have had little success in Connacht in recent years.

This is very true. Last year's All-Ireland triumph aside, we've been knocked out of U-21 in the first round in 6 out of the last 7 years.

That's a much more telling statistic than the one that reads 'Galway All-Ireland Champions 2011'.

No team in Ireland now fear Galway footballers (bar maybe Kilkenny who fear everyone). Its a long road back but it has to start as soon as possible.

I said it in a post here a few days ago that Antrim would not fear us, and why should they? We've been crap for a number of years now. In bygone days this is a draw that Antrim would have hoped to avoid but this year when the names came out of the hat and they had Galway at home I'll bet they were quietly confident.

With no disrespect to Antrim, they're hardly a footballing powerhouse. At no time in living memory have they ever been much more than the ordinary division 3 team that they are now. Given results of the last couple of years, that's realistically where we're at now too.

No other county in the country has had such an alarming slide down the rankings as we have in recent years, from champions only a decade ago to being ranked, realistically, somewhere in the low 20s right now.

RealityCheck

The obvious reason why Galway have managed to stay a Division 1 or 2 team is because the league is played at a completely different intensity than the championship. Galway play the same way throughout and are completely unable to up it come championship. It also explains why the likes of Laois and Armagh, who at this stage are nearly as hopeless as Galway are, managed to make it to Division 1 ahead of the likes of Kildare and Tyrone who are teams at a completely different level come championship. We've consistently lost to Division 3 teams in the Championship (Sligo, Wexford, Antrim). There are very few teams we could rank ahead of us based on championship performances. We're definitely at the bottom rung of the mediocre football teams. I can name the top 9/10 but after that they're impossible to rank.

1. Dublin
2. Cork
3. Kerry
4. Donegal
5. Tyrone
6. Mayo
7. Kildare
8. Down
9. Meath

At a wild guess after this.
10. Wexford
11. Sligo
12. Monaghan
13. Armagh
14. Tipperary
15. Longford
16. Derry
17. Louth
18. Laois
19. Westmeath
20. We might be somewhere here, with Roscommon.

But you'd have to question whether we'd beat any of Limerick, Clare, Cavan. Thats how bad we've become.


For a bottom half team, we shouldn't dare have a 20 team championship. We need a maximum of 16 and arguably 12 would be plenty. We need to remove the mediocre teams like Claregalway, Annaghdown who just go out and win a game and are guaranteed Senior football. 3 or 4 groups of 4 would be ideal. Get rid of the complacency in Galway football.

Edit: Also meant to have Antrim in there somewhere. Seem to have disappeared.

InchicoreDude

RealityCheck wrote: »

The obvious reason why Galway have managed to stay a Division 1 or 2 team is because the league is played at a completely different intensity than the championship. Galway play the same way throughout and are completely unable to up it come championship. It also explains why the likes of Laois and Armagh, who at this stage are nearly as hopeless as Galway are, managed to make it to Division 1 ahead of the likes of Kildare and Tyrone who are teams at a completely different level come championship. We've consistently lost to Division 3 teams in the Championship (Sligo, Wexford, Antrim). There are very few teams we could rank ahead of us based on championship performances. We're definitely at the bottom rung of the mediocre football teams. I can name the top 9/10 but after that they're impossible to rank.

1. Dublin
2. Cork
3. Kerry
4. Donegal
5. Tyrone
6. Mayo
7. Kildare
8. Down
9. Meath

At a wild guess after this.
10. Wexford
11. Sligo
12. Monaghan
13. Armagh
14. Tipperary
15. Longford
16. Derry
17. Louth
18. Laois
19. Westmeath
20. We might be somewhere here, with Roscommon.

But you'd have to question whether we'd beat any of Limerick, Clare, Cavan. Thats how bad we've become.


For a bottom half team, we shouldn't dare have a 20 team championship. We need a maximum of 16 and arguably 12 would be plenty. We need to remove the mediocre teams like Claregalway, Annaghdown who just go out and win a game and are guaranteed Senior football. 3 or 4 groups of 4 would be ideal. Get rid of the complacency in Galway football.

Edit: Also meant to have Antrim in there somewhere. Seem to have disappeared.

The top 7 teams in your list are miles ahead of Galway. But there is very little between the other teams on the list. I would not be confident of Galway beating any of them. But I also think they are capable of beating any of them.

Thats a very good point. Tactical naivety. This should have been flagged from the start. Did Mullholland not expect this? He had 4 weeks since the Sligo game where we were stifled in the exact same manner. We're stuck in a rut. We just seem to think we'll beat teams by playing football 15 vs 15, but we don't have the players to do such things. We need concrete plans, systems and strategies. Long term strategies. He needs to do a lot of homework for next year. Maybe someone with a bit more tactical nous could be brought in in the background to help him out? Management are probably a bit inexperienced at this level, someone outside the country would be ideal if no one like this exists in Galway.

Its not even tactical naivety. Its just a lack of common sense.

J Cheever Loophole

aidan24326 wrote: »

No other county in the country has had such an alarming slide down the rankings as we have in recent years, from champions only a decade ago to being ranked, realistically, somewhere in the low 20s right now.

Cough, cough....:o

Raisins

ShamoBuc wrote: »

I mean the general level of player they have. Galway have a few players that stick out, Meehan Joyce in particular, but I think the rest of the team have players that are a step up from the antrim fellas and therefore shouldn't really be losing to them.
Obviously those 2 not being fully fit would have hampered them somewhat, but shouldn't be the reason for the loss.

This loss is no shock to anyone who understands Galway football or is a knowledgeable GAA fan in general. Galway are in the lower tier of the mediocre teams, on that basis any team in the Championship whether it is London or Antrim or Sligo or whoever will seriously fancy their chances on any given day.

Galway have not beaten a team outside Connacht (arguably the weakest football province in the country) since 2004. That's 8 years. And the team they beat was Louth. If that statistic was applied to a team without Galway's history then the loss to Antrim wouldn't be reported as a shock at all.

The expectations with the Galway football team remind me of the expectations around the England national soccer team. Players performing well domestically against bad teams, some aging has beens, team consistently overrated by a minority of their supporters, and a team with absolutely no bottle.

Fireball07

RealityCheck wrote: »

The obvious reason why Galway have managed to stay a Division 1 or 2 team is because the league is played at a completely different intensity than the championship. Galway play the same way throughout and are completely unable to up it come championship. It also explains why the likes of Laois and Armagh, who at this stage are nearly as hopeless as Galway are, managed to make it to Division 1 ahead of the likes of Kildare and Tyrone who are teams at a completely different level come championship. We've consistently lost to Division 3 teams in the Championship (Sligo, Wexford, Antrim). There are very few teams we could rank ahead of us based on championship performances. We're definitely at the bottom rung of the mediocre football teams. I can name the top 9/10 but after that they're impossible to rank.

1. Dublin
2. Cork
3. Kerry
4. Donegal
5. Tyrone
6. Mayo
7. Kildare
8. Down
9. Meath

At a wild guess after this.
10. Wexford
11. Sligo
12. Monaghan
13. Armagh
14. Tipperary
15. Longford
16. Derry
17. Louth
18. Laois
19. Westmeath
20. We might be somewhere here, with Roscommon.

But you'd have to question whether we'd beat any of Limerick, Clare, Cavan. Thats how bad we've become.


For a bottom half team, we shouldn't dare have a 20 team championship. We need a maximum of 16 and arguably 12 would be plenty. We need to remove the mediocre teams like Claregalway, Annaghdown who just go out and win a game and are guaranteed Senior football. 3 or 4 groups of 4 would be ideal. Get rid of the complacency in Galway football.

Edit: Also meant to have Antrim in there somewhere. Seem to have disappeared.

Poor Limerick


As a Limerick fan, I'd fancy our chances against Galway. In fact, any of those teams from 10 on, I think we could beat.

O.A.P

[QUOTE=Raisins;79737691

The expectations with the Galway football team remind me of the expectations around the England national soccer team. Players performing well domestically against bad teams, some aging has beens, team consistently overrated by a minority of their supporters, and a team with absolutely no bottle.[/QUOTE]

Now thats hard to take, we are at an all time low now but I dont think we have ever pushed it down any ones throat when we were on top, like the brits or some other GAA counties.

For Forks Sake

Ahem. I like being right, posted this here a month ago: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79120930&postcount=1195

Galway have the same issue as they've had for many years now, there's not one player on that panel playing for the jersey, once the going gets tough they cave. Whoever ye draw in the qualifiers ye may bet on them as there won't be any stomach in Galway for another slog.

RealityCheck

Fireball07 wrote: »

Poor Limerick


As a Limerick fan, I'd fancy our chances against Galway. In fact, any of those teams from 10 on, I think we could beat.

I don't mean any offence to Limerick but your right Limerick are exactly the type of team Galway lose to. Limerick on their day can probably beat all outside the top 7, never mind ten. Limerick can be great one day, poor the next.

Diabhal Beag

For Forks Sake wrote: »

Ahem. I like being right, posted this here a month ago: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=79120930&postcount=1195

I think anybody could have pointed that out over the last 4 years in fairness.

cson

Watched A Year Til Sunday the other day before the match and its depressing to see how far back we've gone since then.

Tbh Connacht Football in general is in shite. We're where Ulster was 10 years ago.

gammygils

Look lads. We didn't expect much so we can't be disappointed.

We predicted a loss to Roscommon & and a loss to some sh1t team in the

Qualifiers like London or Wicklow. So we can't complain!!

Wasn't there myself on Saturday due to previous plans. But would love to have been there. I don't miss many Championship games.
It can only get better!!

Syferus

cson wrote: »

Watched A Year Til Sunday the other day before the match and its depressing to see how far back we've gone since then.

Tbh Connacht Football in general is in shite. We're where Ulster was 10 years ago.

http://www.stadiumsireland.com/picture21.html

Bold man to be predicting the end of the priest's curse for Mayo.

FlashD

It's sad to see Galway slide so much, they have always been regarded as a one of the traditional powerhouses of football. If it was Kerry in a similar state, heads would be rolling.

Haven't had the chance to see them in action for the past few years, been out of country, but someone mentioned has beens, I would have thought at this stage we would be starting to build a new team.

What's the average age of the team these days?

If these lads aren't performing then what have the management to lose by giving another bunch of lads a chance. The jersey should be earned, it's not an friggin entitlement!

premierstone

cson wrote: »

Tbh Connacht Football in general is in shite. We're where Ulster was 10 years ago.

What about to win 3 All Irelands in 4 years?? 4 decades would seem optomistic to me.

MfMan

cson wrote: »

Watched A Year Til Sunday the other day before the match and its depressing to see how far back we've gone since then.

Tbh Connacht Football in general is in shite. We're where Ulster was 10 years ago.

Given the disparity of the national leagues and with the back-door scheme now firmly in place, I don't think Provincial boundaries mean an awful lot these days anyway. Last 16 / last 8 of the c'ship is a more accurate barometer of the pecking order rather than saying one province is weaker than the rest.

Raisins

O.A.P wrote: »

I dont think we have ever pushed it down any ones throat when we were on top, like the brits or some other GAA counties.

I know you're right but I never claimed Galway fans were like that. The comparison I drew with the English team was based on the fact that expectations are inflated and totally unrealistic among a significant minority of Galway supporters that I know. Many Galway players like Sean Armstrong, for example, are completely overrated by supporters in my experience. Players who have never in their whole careers delivered for the Galway county team at senior level but who dominate the club scene.

Galway football have not beaten anyone outside Connacht in 8 years and yet when we lose every year I have to hear fans groan about 'players not achieving their potential' or 'we definitely have the quality to beat them, that's embarrassing' and the media report the results as a huge upset.

Anyways I realise that's not helpful to the overall debate. It's easy to have a go at the team during the lean years.

TomKat

Raisins wrote: »

I know you're right but I never claimed Galway fans were like that. The comparison I drew with the English team was based on the fact that expectations are inflated and totally unrealistic among a significant minority of Galway supporters that I know. Many Galway players like Sean Armstrong, for example, are completely overrated by supporters in my experience. Players who have never in their whole careers delivered for the Galway county team at senior level but who dominate the club scene.

Galway football have not beaten anyone outside Connacht in 8 years and yet when we lose every year I have to hear fans groan about 'players not achieving their potential' or 'we definitely have the quality to beat them, that's embarrassing' and the media report the results as a huge upset.

Anyways I realise that's not helpful to the overall debate. It's easy to have a go at the team during the lean years.

Get rid of JJOH. Time for change

WallyGUFC

Serious lack of bottle and mental resolve considering how many games they've lost by a point. Total clearout needed it seems, although it'd be sad to see PJ go out on a note like this. Now I know the hurlers havn't won an All Ireland yet, but the clearout Cunningham undertook has clearly worked. Time for the footballers to follow suit.

MaroonAndGreen

Galway in my opinion are still the 2nd best side in Connacht. (Mayo 1st)

They will get it right, and hopefully they do.

The Connacht championship is never the same without a Mayo v Galway game. Its like Cork and Kerry in Munster.

Syferus

MaroonAndGreen wrote: »

Galway in my opinion are still the 2nd best side in Connacht. (Mayo 1st)

They will get it right, and hopefully they do.

The Connacht championship is never the same without a Mayo v Galway game. Its like Cork and Kerry in Munster.

Dear Christ. Galway have lost to Sligo the last three times they've played them. That ship has sailed so far out it's already returned and refuelling for it's next trip.

cgpg5

2nd best team? At this moment in time Leitrim would fancy their chances against us and that is saying something

spiritcrusher

Yeah, no way are we the 2nd best team in Connacht. Sligo are definitely ahead of us and then it's anyone's guess who's 3rd. Just goes to show how little you really learn from the league.

Fr.Buzz

Galway football is falling behind in the times...As we all know galway football is all about open attacking football which is great to watch when played against teams who do not have 12 or so players defending behinde the ball...But its next to impossible to play open traditional style football against teams who flood the scoring area... We don't need to abandon our style completely but need to play more like Donegal more intense in defence and work the ball quicker to our forwards who can score.. For this to work we are going to need work horses in our defence...lads who are obsessed and dedicated to the cause.. Sadly there are not enough of these in the squad...only lads who are interested in getting the fancy gear...Galway football is rotten to the core lads!!..

RealityCheck

Fr.Buzz wrote: »

Galway football is falling behind in the times...As we all know galway football is all about open attacking football which is great to watch when played against teams who do not have 12 or so players defending behinde the ball...But its next to impossible to play open traditional style football against teams who flood the scoring area... We don't need to abandon our style completely but need to play more like Donegal more intense in defence and work the ball quicker to our forwards who can score.. For this to work we are going to need work horses in our defence...lads who are obsessed and dedicated to the cause.. Sadly there are not enough of these in the squad...only lads who are interested in getting the fancy gear...Galway football is rotten to the core lads!!..

To play open expansive football you need the players. If a team was good enough at it then yes you can play that way, but if not you end up like Galway.
On top of this they need to spend the winter in the gym which isn't likely with the present crop. More of the same.

O.A.P

[QUOTE=Fr.Buzz;79850 We don't need to abandon our style completely but need to play more like Donegal more intense in defence and work the ball quicker to our forwards who can score.[/QUOTE]

I hope that never happens (puke football) we need an overhaul where everybodies position is reviewed and the most promising man in Galway club football is invited to take it on. We have a mountain to climb but I belive the talent is there.
Its that or surrender to mediocrity.
Mullholland needs time and I think has the balls to change the status quo. The crap we are being asked to support at the moment will not last or is already over hopefully.
It can only get better thats the good bit.