Galway GAA discussion thread

wp_rathead

Well this is depressing...
1-12 to 0-14 with 2mins to go...


my how we have fallen

c_man

Just back. not good :-(

FlashD

We got lucky with the draw in this round but we made very hard work of it. Waterford are three places from the bottom of div 4 after all!

Galway board need to take a good look at the management now. This is far from good enough against the likes of Tipp & Waterford. There is no team there, just a bunch of individuals.

Expecting to be beaten out the gate in the next round......

Diabhal Beag

Rough stuff to watch. A lot of silly mistakes made in slippy conditions but mistakes nonetheless. Conroy and Meehan were excellent, although Meehan turned into Joe Canning in the 2nd half as a midfielder and looked crocked for a long time. He saved this football team yet again. Conroy was scoring some monster frees in that first half and even the one he missed Cummins almost got a goal out of.

Danny is a really lively player but his goal-shooting is horrible. Between the League and the qualifiers so far he has been very good but shooting blanks. It needs to be worked on bigtime. That was it really. Duane was making runs but they would end up as nothing. No other real standout showings. Army was shocking, which will delight certain people.

It was looking really bad until O'Curraoin came on along with Flynn. They didn't set the world on fire but Waterford's strong showing ended there and then.

The draw will break this run at some point but we've been very lucky so far and our luck is running out you'd feel.

Hopefully the hurlers will cheers us up.

spiritcrusher

Just in the door. Holy shit... We're bad. Very, very bad. I don't think I've ever felt such anger in a (very small) crowd than during that second half. Wasn't in Antrim last year but that's the worst I've seen in a long time. If it wasn't for Conroy it would have been a total embarrassment.
Armstrong, Meehan, Hehir were a shambles, Higgins was lost, Sice seemed blind to where the ball was half the time, half backs did an awful amount of messy handpassing in the middle of the field that a decent team would easily intercept (exactly like Mayo did), Forde was beaten nearly every time the ball came his way, Kelly was a little better when he came on, Hanley and Duane were the best backs probably. Duane in particular kept us in it for a long stretch on the second half. Most other players were just "there" for most of it. Barely even offering enough to form an opinion.
Flynn settled things down a bit when he came on in fairness to him, gave a bit of stick to that Waterford 12. He's still a bit light and probably a little naive but he's definitely got something.
Probably the most worrying thing coming from today was how little confidence they seemed to have when Waterford made a bit of a burst in the second half. Really seemed to be like a collecting shitting of pants going on. Sideline included. I've been a bit of a Mullholland supporter and I'd really like a nice period of managerial stability but I think he may have lost it sadly.
In fairness to Waterford they are a massive team, a lot of absolutely huge men on it and their free taker is fantastic. But at the same time... They're just not as good as they were allowed to be today.
Strange to come out of a championship win feeling worse than before. Next round will be a huge step up in all likelihood and it mightn't be pretty.

fuinneamh

As a Waterford man at the match; I have to say I was shocked by how poor Galway were. Constantly going lateral/backwards; ponderous approach play and never played to their strengths. Galway clearly had way more football and pace than Waterford but Waterford were far more organised. Unfortunately they lacked the football and the bench to get them over the line today.

In an era where intercounty football is all talk of systems and tactics; you'd wonder what the hell Mulholland has been doing for the whole season as Galway looked rudderless. On that note it was quite amusing to hear the hostility in the crowd towards Mulholland mid-way during the second half.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Felt like a loss. So much for building up a head of steam in the qualifiers. As poor as we were last week in the first half I still had high expectations for this game. Thought it would be a chance for the players to rack up a sizeable score.

We're not going to win our next game and we'll get hammered if we get drawn away. I fear for them if we're drawn against Tyrone or Kildare.

porterbelly

To be honest, we would have been better off getting Tyrone in the first round of the qualifiers and getting beaten out the gate and putting us out of our misery.

The management are completely brittle and this translates to the players. We learned absoultely nothing from last week and against Mayo when handpassing the ball around the backline got us into trouble.

Again, another eye opener for Galway football. When it comes to championship football we are a mid table division 4 team.

Knowing our luck with the draw we'll probably get London in the next round.

Pappa Charlie

They live to fight another day! More direct football is needed, the lateral passing killed them v mayo when it went wrong early on. How mulholland hasn't adopted a more direct game after what he's seen so far is beyond me.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

porterbelly wrote: »

To be honest, we would have been better off getting Tyrone in the first round of the qualifiers and getting beaten out the gate and putting us out of our misery.

The management are completely brittle and this translates to the players. We learned absoultely nothing from last week and against Mayo when handpassing the ball around the backline got us into trouble.

Again, another eye opener for Galway football. When it comes to championship football we are a mid table division 4 team.

Knowing our luck with the draw we'll probably get London in the next round.

We can't get any losing provincial finalists. Laois, Derry, Tyrone, Longford/Wexford, Cavan/Fermanagh and more than likely Armagh and Kildare are the possibilities.

I wouldn't fancy us away to any of those. I'd like to think we could present a challenge at home to anyone bar maybe Tyrone and Kildare.

Winners of those matches play losing provincial finalists.

MfMan

Pappa Charlie wrote: »

They live to fight another day! More direct football is needed, the lateral passing killed them v mayo when it went wrong early on. How mulholland hasn't adopted a more direct game after what he's seen so far is beyond me.

In fairness, Galway couldn't afford to go too direct, esp. in the first half, as W'ford had extra men back covering in front of the FB line.

Of the forwards, only Meehan and Cummins to any extent could be satisfied with their display. The rest simply aren't county-level standard. Neither is Greg Higgins; when he and others were replaced, it was only then that momentum swung back to Galway and showed up how ordinary Waterford really were. Backs weren't that bad, though they fouled too much for comfort, and Duane had a fine game.

God though, we must be the poorest team remaining. All our dead legends would turn in their grave to see the prolonged fallow spell we've been going through since '02.

porterbelly

THFC wrote: »

We can't get any losing provincial finalists. Laois, Derry, Tyrone, Longford/Wexford, Cavan/Fermanagh and more than likely Armagh and Kildare are the possibilities.

I wouldn't fancy us away to any of those. I'd like to think we could present a challenge at home to anyone bar maybe Tyrone and Kildare.

Winners of those matches play losing provincial finalists.

Ya my mistake

We won't beat any of the teams left draw unless they've done a Wicklow or Offaly and gone on the lash since they were knocked out of the provincial championship.

Difference even between us and even the Fermanagh's/Longford's is that they have the hard yards put in on the training ground and we don't. And we'll be found out against a half tuned in team.

Mulholland said before the Tipp match that they never trained as hard for the 6 weeks after the Mayo match. I'd love to know what they were at all winter, scratching themselves by the looks of things

It gets worse with each passing game. Its a very weak Galway side at this stage. Thankfully Paul Conroy and some poor Waterford finishing got us out of jail when we were struggling.

Really I give us no hope against anyone next time out, lets hope the hurlers can deliver tomorrow, a defeat tomorrow would be a seriously depressing weekend for Galway GAA.

Positives
This will be short:
Conroy, Meehan and Hanley were the best of a very bad lot but at least they showed a bit of leadership, Keith Kelly and Johnny Duane made some crucial interventions when we were in trouble. Some of the subs at least improved matters slightly.

Negatives
1) Lack of Quality. The harsh reality is that the Galway side of 2013 is the worst Galway team in a long number of years. There are those older than me who may have seen worse Galway teams but senior football in the county is at a seriously low ebb. In my opinion only 3 players on that side would get near any decent side. From the crucial 5-12 positions Conroy and Armstrong are the only players that are above club level imo and Armstrong only does it the odd day and was very poor today. I have no doubt a lot of these lads are putting in the effort but they just aren't good enough. I think there is better options in some positions which need to be given an opportunity but we are lacking in quality in far too many positions.

2) Indiscipline. The importance of tackling in the modern game can't be overestimated. The fact that with all the training we are doing that lads either aren't able or willing to tackle properly is a big issue.

3) Lack of leadership. Once again when things started to run away from us, players started hiding, very few were showing for the ball or were willing to take the hard hits and win the 50/50s to get us back into the game.

4) Gameplan? We are getting a lot more players behind the ball in the last two games, the problem is no-one knows their job and even with 10+ players back its easy to score against us or draw a free. Really the only time we saw Galway moving well in the last two games was in the 15 minutes against Tipp and the few minutes when we got ahead towards the end where we committed more players to attack. Sometimes you have to go back to go forward and its good to see us trying to recycle the ball back at times rather than shooting wildly but its all so pedestrian and at times watching Galway hand passing back and sideways when the space is there to drive into is soul destroying.

5) Management? The jury is out on the management but the side really haven't moved forward the last couple of years. We don't have the players to expect too much but over the last two weekends what I have seen is two poor sides in Tipperary and Waterford that were much better organised than we were.

I'm unsure if a change in management will do anything for this team but the management made big mistakes in the Mayo game and it might be harsh but they have to take responsibility for some areas of the poor skill level and discipline in this Galway team. They got things right with most of the subs today in fairness but I'd have said that these are the lads who should have been starting anyway. Certainly there are 3 or 4 changes which should be made for the next day, if the management stick with the same team again I think I'll lose any remaining faith in them. I want to see Mulholland succeed but will a 3rd season help in any way? I don't think so being honest about it.

6) Skill Levels. People say Galway is a great footballing county in terms of how we play the game and the u21 win demonstrated the natural footballers we do have but really the skills of some of our players is wretched and as a result we are slowing the pace down to walking pace at times to make sure of the hand pass or the kick. This should all come naturally to players at county level but too many of our lads need the extra second you don't get at this level. The farce against Mayo demonstrated how the better teams will exploit players needing the extra second on the ball

7) Confidence. It really is shattered at this stage.

All in all today was seriously depressing. Trying to stay positive, while this win won't do much in the short term, for the long term outlook of Galway football it might be regarded as an important result a number of years down the line. We have some good underage talent coming but we need to get the team back to a level where these lads will be coming in to a team that isn't down among the worst in the county. That is where we are at now and the next 2 or 3 years are crucial in getting Galway back on the right road. Its a long and painful road back but whatever course of action we are going to take at the end of this season everything needs to be put up for discussion from county board down and whatever action is taken must have everyone's full backing.

Syferus

Alright, we're gone. To my eternal shame I was born in Portiuncula so I'm breaking out the maroon face-paint as I speak. Whose going to be the next giant to be slain by Galway?

Leitrim? Longford?

Diabhal Beag

porterbelly wrote: »

To be honest, we would have been better off getting Tyrone in the first round of the qualifiers and getting beaten out the gate and putting us out of our misery.

So you'd rather that they were still waiting to break the qualifier curse? This genuinely is being negative for the sake of being negative.

PTH2009

porterbelly wrote: »

Ya my mistake

We won't beat any of the teams left draw unless they've done a Wicklow or Offaly and gone on the lash since they were knocked out of the provincial championship.

Difference even between us and even the Fermanagh's/Longford's is that they have the hard yards put in on the training ground and we don't. And we'll be found out against a half tuned in team.

Mulholland said before the Tipp match that they never trained as hard for the 6 weeks after the Mayo match. I'd love to know what they were at all winter, scratching themselves by the looks of things

I wonderd what happend with Wiclow last week. 0-02 is a joke to score in a championship match, probly on the piss the night before too

Always_Running

Galway footballers seem to be on borrowed time. Any of the round 3 sides they are likely to beat?

Syferus

Always_Running wrote: »

Galway footballers seem to be on borrowed time. Any of the round 3 sides they are likely to beat?

Armagh are usually good for a loss in the qualifiers. Galway just seem to be hanging around. Have to imagine they'll put in an good performance before the championship is out or this will be one of the most bizarre runs in inter-county history.

CastingCouch

Didn't see the match today but when I see Paul Conroy being named as one of the best performers it's bad. Never ever seen him play a great game, bar times he was in the forward line. One of the laziest players I have seen and seems arrogant.

Where the hell is Cormac Bane gone????

Stanza2

I thought that Conroy was the best by some distance today, the only arrogant player that I saw was Armstrong, he was so bad it was not true. Hanley and Duane in the backs were ok and the stand out forward once again was Cummins. People go on about him not scoring goals, but he had a great shot on target today that drew a fine save from the keeper, he was the one who set up the goal really and everytime that he got the ball they were scared. Truth is that we do not play proper balls into him enough, he was the one scaring the defenders, they kept digging him off the ball and even hit him clean in the face once when he turned his back on one defender. Meehan gives his all but just looks too slow to me. They were the only ones in a very mediocre team for me.

The faffing around with the ball in the middle of the pitch and half back line is suicide stuff, it just drives you mad watching it. Armstrong was ok against Tipp but today was shocking, as bad a performance from a supposed top player as I have ever seen.

InchicoreDude

CastingCouch wrote: »

Didn't see the match today but when I see Paul Conroy being named as one of the best performers it's bad. Never ever seen him play a great game, bar times he was in the forward line. One of the laziest players I have seen and seems arrogant.

Where the hell is Cormac Bane gone????

That is very very unfair on Conroy. He has had many good games for Galway.

Bane left the panel last year because he wasnt getting any game time. He said it was due to a "loss of form". He also has a young baby now so I'm guessing he probably doesnt want to return. I doubt Mulholland wants him back either as he is part of the generation that Mulholland doesnt really want to know about.

CastingCouch

InchicoreDude wrote: »

That is very very unfair on Conroy. He has had many good games for Galway.

Bane left the panel last year because he wasnt getting any game time. He said it was due to a "loss of form". He also has a young baby now so I'm guessing he probably doesnt want to return. I doubt Mulholland wants him back either as he is part of the generation that Mulholland doesnt really want to know about.

Maybe it is, but he could be so much better than he is. Has the talent imo!

And Bane, well that's disappointing. Excellent footballer and has the ability to score points from distance.

InchicoreDude

CastingCouch wrote: »

Maybe it is, but he could be so much better than he is. Has the talent imo!

And Bane, well that's disappointing. Excellent footballer and has the ability to score points from distance.

In fairness to Conroy, I think he is far more effective at full forward. You could argue that Galway's constant moving of him over the last few years has impacted negatively on his progression as a footballer.

Conroy is the least of Galways problems at the moment though. Its the other 14 players that are currently the problem!

CastingCouch

True! :P

Last Galway game I really enjoyed was the match in Croke Park v Kerry years ago. The first championship match played in floodlights. Great great match with amazing scores from both sides.

spiritcrusher

Conroy has copped himself on big time in the last two years. I had thought he wasn't up to much a few years ago when he was very young but he's arguably our best player now. He's one of our only genuinely big men that has football ability in him. He scored some massive frees today, at least one big long ranger from play, was the standout player in the middle of the field for good stretches and showed a bit of heart and pride unlike a lot of them.

InchicoreDude

Unfortunately, I couldnt make the match today :-(

How did the subs do? Like Denvir for Doherty is an interesting one? And Martin? Has he done anything to claim a starting place the next day?

Denvir made a good direct run which caused Waterford problems and set up one of the key scores, could even have been the goal, all a bit of a horrible blur at this stage! His pace will always be handy coming off the bench, probably not county quality and is a bit small but injects a bit of pace that's badly needed in the team and really I'd put him ahead of either O'Brien or Farragher but they are all a toss of a coin really.

Michael Martin kicked one good point but wasted a couple of other opportunities, we were getting more ball in at that stage but for me I'd have him in ahead of Mark Hehir who hasn't delivered in any game I've seen this year and looks low on confidence.

kraggy

What's Mulhollands background, bot as a player and manager?

Remember him vaguely playing for the county team but didn't think it was for too long.

More importantly, who has he managed and for how long?

I was very surprised when he got the job.

Always_Running

CastingCouch wrote: »

Didn't see the match today but when I see Paul Conroy being named as one of the best performers it's bad. Never ever seen him play a great game, bar times he was in the forward line. One of the laziest players I have seen and seems arrogant.

Where the hell is Cormac Bane gone????

The chap on Galway bay FM reckons Paul Conroy is shoe in for All star after his displays against Waterford,Tipp. I kid you not.

CastingCouch

Always_Running wrote: »

The chap on Galway bay FM reckons Paul Conroy is shoe in for All star after his displays against Waterford,Tipp. I kid you not.

Who's the buck on GB?
Not Ollie is it?