Galway GAA Discussion Thread #2

Girly Gal

Decent win and improved performance, but, Wexford are really poor it has to be said. Dublin match will tell more, should really make Leinster final now, and hopefully run Kilkenny tight, which would be about our level, we are well down the pack, probably 5/6 teams ahead of us, we're miles behind any of the teams that will come out of Munster.

testtech05

It sounds like Walsh is close to being back in contention for this weekends game.

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/shane-walsh-on-brink-of-making-galway-return-for-visit-of-dubs-in-group-of-death-opener/a1714913499.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAYnJpZBExSFFqRkNpUjNKYm8xWVNHZQEejteSvYBMZ78KS35gDqAtNsBY0VZV6ekuM0m51dgARlffWonVBXl7IiCc6Mk_aem_rHQiF_Lckye6Aj0ntR4DnQ

ShamNNspace

What a group we're in, Dublin smarting after being defeated by meath, Armagh like a herd of young bulls ready to bust the gates gettin on to the field to prove a point and Derry tipped last year as contenders and quietly planning an ambush.. Still if we're ever to win it we'll have to beat what's in front of us

Girly Gal

Probably the toughest group since the round robins came in. Dublin is a horrible start and the result there will determine a lot. Win and it should be plain sailing, lose and we're under massive pressure straight away!

yobr

slightly off topic, any tips for parking around Pearse Stadium? Any schools nearby doing any paid parking? Thanks

bike2wkr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123448331#Comment_123448331

They'll beat dublin and derry. Armagh is the one that could be a draw. Dublin not what they used to be. Could do with walsh v Dublin mind you

Megager

Dublin will love this. Under the radar and Galway favourites. Fancy the Dubs to win by 3/4.

spurshero

poor result for the u20s in the hurling . We have been abysmal in that grade for a while now .Not good for the future senior outlook

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123448799#Comment_123448799

It was septic stuff. No game plan whatsoever. Hit and hope time after time mostly resulting in bad wides. Niland shouldn't have stayed on more than 15mins, had zero interest in working but they left him on for 50. The amount of brainless hurling was off the chart. We don't seem to nurture smart hurlers, just athletes who can move the ball, just not to the right place or person.

Stool_Pigeon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123436505#Comment_123436505

Trayers would need to find a way to stay fit, for a start. Didn't puck a ball all year with the U20's though based on last night he gets better with every game he doesn't play.

Healy has surely run out of road now, last night v Dublin we were desperate and there is no logical argument to retain him as manager.

He has said his job is to develop players for senior as opposed to 'winning titles'.

You can actually have both, you can certainly have one or the other, but you cannot have neither, because then what's the point? What is he bringing to the table?

Stool_Pigeon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123449325#Comment_123449325

We looked like a team that was picked out of a lucky bag. If Dublin hadn't got a dose of green flag fever they could have won by as much as they liked. Hard to blame them though given that almost every time they ran at us they got through, but if they had tapped over half of the opportunities they had from 40 yards out instead of carrying in, it would have been a lot uglier.

So much for 'player development'. Time for some management development, as this crew have learned absolutely nothing from 12 months ago when we got a similar beating in similar circumstances. It seems as if the 'game plan' is to expect Niland to perform miracles, with absolutely no alternative ideas.

I watched Tipperary v Clare afterwards and it was practically a different sport.

muddle84

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123448443#Comment_123448443

I usually park in Coláiste Muire Máthair.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/r6T8z35vfWr9WCLh7

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123449576#Comment_123449576

The game plan revolved around Niland but they are doing a disservice to the other 5 forwards as a result. First 5 balls went to one man who lost them all. Dublin knew that keeping that locked down was half the battle and other lads were starved of ball. IMO there are 2 better forwards in there who only started getting ball after 25mins.

Hurling development is a joke, there's no development from my experience of it. We only look at winning now with big strong fast lads who just don't cut the mustard when things level out and late developers catch up. We've won how many minors, yet we can't develop seniors for the same reason for 40years. We laugh at Mayo for not being able to produce forwards but we haven't been able to produce hurlers that can think their way through a game in the same length of time. I think our record is actually worse.

SqueakyKneecap

That u-20's defeat was probably the most deflated I've felt from an underage performance in, maybe, ever.

Firstly Dublin were so sharp and hard-working. Say what you will about Niland who has a tendency to go missing in open play, but they marked Burke and Callanan really well. It was only when Rabbitte got ball that goal chances came. The wide count was criminal though.

The halfbacks were decimated. Donnellan could've been subbed off 20 minutes earlier. A disaster where every mistake ended up in a Dublin score.

If anything yesterday reminded me that Galway hurling won't really be bottoming out for another 3 or 4 years, which is frightening.

RMAOK

All of this talk about "development" etc of players is, imo, just a cover to justify poor performances year in, year out.

This management team have failed, in the exact same way, for 2 years in a row. Which shows, to me anyways, that they learned absolutely nothing from last year. Any chance Healy had of getting the senior job went with that defeat last night.

The team looked extremely badly coached -reminiscent of the seniors under shefflin last year, the ball from the half back line into the full forward line was, at best, 50/50 for the forward (when they weren't being double marked). Plus, the ridiculous shooting in the second half was something to see 🙄.

But what disappointed me last night was the sheer lack of work from lads when they didn't have the ball - whatever about skill, talent etc, the fact that they wouldn't fight for the ball was ridiculous, imo.

If Kenneth Burke was to do something positive with the minors this year, then he should get a crack at the u20s next year, but I'd fear it would be the same outcome. For whatever reason, we cannot develop players from minor to u20. Until that is properly solved, any dreams of Galway lifting Liam will remain that - dreams....

Robson99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123449567#Comment_123449567

If Trayers had any sense he would stick with the footballers....same for a couple of more of them...

Girly Gal

Unfortunately it looks like we'll be in the doldrums for a while, we are behind all the Munster teams and Kilkenny, Dublin look like they'll overtake us soon, so we'll be battling it out with Wexford and Offaly for 3rd place in Leinster over the next few years and if we're not careful might get pulled into relegation trouble like Wexford did a few years back. The future looks bleak at the moment and something drastic needs to be done!

Markus Antonius

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2025/0515/1513164-gaa-teams-walsh-returns-to-galway-xv-for-dublin-clash/

Was hoping they would keep this news a bit more hushed. This kind of excitement doesn't serve Galway well. The "B team" we've been playing the last few weeks is more than enough to win the round robin.

testtech05

I would be surprised if Shane comes straight back in and actually starts tomorrow, I would be expecting a late change there and them to get 15-20mins into him in the 2nd half.

If he is fit to start great to have him back. Hopefully Comer isnt too far away, i see Heaney featured in a club game this week so he is getting back too

MattressRick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123454345#Comment_123454345

It's the media getting excited about it with the headlines. Joyce shut down any talk about Walsh and Comer in Castlebar, said he only wanted to talk about the 26 togged. He's not stirring it up.

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123454355#Comment_123454355

I agree. Would be very surprised if he starts as well (despite him being named for centre forward). Still surprised that Joyce would stir things up by announcing this lineup:

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123451655#Comment_123451655

Whoever takes it will still keep picking from the same crop and the same type of players. Lads who rule the roost at u16 and minor because of physical attributes but when the time comes to hurl and use their brain they don't have either. How many lads have you seen, even at club level who looked like superstars running the length of the pitch because they were either huge or ridiculously fast only to not even make the club seniors years later as they never developed as players. Thats Galway hurling.

Development is about bringing the less physically developed but good, smart hurlers along with you. Getting them exposed to nutrition, s&c and performance coaches who can improve running efficiency etc. Most won't make it but you will unearth some gems along the way.

vid36

What now after Saturday? Personally hope Conor gets a chance in goals, also think we need to find a place for Daly in the team.He has vision and able to play through balls bypassing defensive systems. Too many of our attacks were lateral.

laymansterms

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123457808#Comment_123457808

You're spot on. All the S&C in the world won't beat a good Hurling brain and Hurling technique. Underage is the time to develop both. They can always develop S&C in their 20s.

As for the Seniors, we'll know exactly where they are on Sunday evening. It's a game we can win and we definitely owe the Dubs one!

threeball

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123463770#Comment_123463770

We can win it but it's very much 50/50, possibly even 60/40 in Dublins favour. I dont think we have enough smart hurlers on the pitch, outside of the two mannions, Whelan and Gavin Lee, I wouldnt put much faith in the others to make the right choices when the chips are down. If you look at Limerick yesterday their decision making set them apart. Always moved the ball to the man in the better position, rarely took a shot unless it was nailed on or at least 90% likely to convert. Tore Cork asunder by just choosing the right options coupled with workrate.

I've watched a number of our underage teams from u14 up and the teams are half full of glory hunters who wouldn't even consider passing the ball. Hero's in their own head space. Instead of being told to smarten up or ship out, they're held on to till the hit 20, then everyone figures out that they're not really any good outside of physical attributes and we go back to repeat the cycle.

Girly Gal

We have a poor enough record against Dublin, despite them never really being top notch, they certainly don't fear us. In contrast we have a lot better record against Wexford, yet I'd consider Dublin and Wexford to generally be around the same level over the last decade or so.

SqueakyKneecap

I'm a bit shocked to see the bookies have us as 2/1 favourites in some places. The Dubs have the same lack of fear against Galway as Kilkenny do. They're also a certainty to score goals on Sunday, especially if we've Fintan at FB.

That being said it's the defining game of Donoghue's first year back. He'll know plenty about that Dublin setup and you'd hope the squad themselves will still be hurting after last year.

Whomever wins on Sunday will have a tough outing against most likely a resurgent Tipp.

Tommybojangles

This is an absolutely huge and season defining. Not wantign to get aehad of myself here but if we get over Dublin, it would be such a monkey off our back and give us big momentum to give Kilkenny a real rattle in the Leisnter final, likely losing a close one and similarly I would back us to put it up to Tipp in a quarter final. We match up well with them and I don't think they have anyone to handle Mannion. Again not sayign we'd win but exiting the championship after 2 close gaems with KK and Tipp would be a major step in the right direction. Conversely if we lose this weekend it's a meaningless preliminary q final against 1 of Carlow, Laois, or Kildare and then most likely Cork who I would be very worried about handing out a hammering. I suppose I definitely am gettigna head of myself but that's how I see it going. Sunday will be very close. we'll need a couple of goals which has been our achilles heel against them for years. I think Cathal's hattrick in 2015 is the last time we managed more than one goal against Dublin

threeball

Our minors are keeping the trend of brainless hurlers going. Some of the most turgid shìte I've seen. And Kilkenny are not much better. They haven't put two passes together in 40mins and seem to have a magnetic tendency to hit the ball 50m to 3 Kilkenny defenders. It'll be another 30yrs before we see an all ireland with the state of the county scene.

I says

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123481337#Comment_123481337

Jesus that keeper wouldn’t inspire much confidence. Although KK had eight players from last year. Doldrums is not the word at the minute at underage grades.