Galway GAA Discussion Thread #2

Two bad performances to end the year but definitely far from our lowest ebb in a long time, last year was bad not even getting out of Leinster. This year we easily accounted for Wexford and got our first win in Parnell Park. I trust O'Donoghue to have us making some progress, even if its small over the next few years.

The Henry experiment set us back a couple of years, trying to juice the last of the 2017 team when they had nothing left to squeeze and Limerick were preeminent. It's all up for grabs again and we've missed out timing wise.

Galway are going nowhere for the next couple of years, the players simply aren't there, our best players are the wrong side of 30 and their replacements aren't of the required standard. Getting out of Leinster this year was not much of an achievement, Wexford were absolutely dire this year and have regressed massively. The only positive result is the performance against Dublin, which looks better now after Dublin beating Limerick today, but, the performance of Dublin today was far superior to anything Galway have produced this year. Are we better than we were last year, marginally, but, that's an extremely low bar, and it confirms that we are indeed at our lowest ebb in a long time as we have now had two extremely disappointing consecutive seasons where we haven't really threatened against decent opposition or produced a top class performance.

I agree that the Shefflin years were wasted and set us back, he definitely was left a year too long in the job. We are well down the pecking order now, and there doesn't appear to be much coming through. Unfortunately this is our level now and likely to be so for the next few years.

As disappointing as yesterday was, I think it's the reality check everybody associated with hurling in Galway needs.

We go into the club championship now. 24 "senior" teams. Another circus.

Two teams with no defensive structure at all up in Down. Just a matter of who manages to execute better in each attack. Flaherty poor enough on kickouts. Often had an overload on the left of 3 on 1 and still went right to a bunched area.

He should have been pulled already. Ridiculous decision to leave him on there. Same last year when his ankle went in Croke Park. Joyce is very hard on injured players.

Flaherty is absolutely pathetic on kickouts. He was brought in to improve that and he's made it worse.

Joyce has alot of answer for playing with 14 for the full 2nd half. Its clear Walsh is still minding the arm

Matthew Thompson = Wizard

Culhane should have been on for Walshe 2nd half + defence cut open way too easily…Faherty I don't know.. I think Gleeson for all his faults marchalled his backs better.. Maher a jcb again

A few lads really stood up today. Obviously Thompson and Walsh but O'Flaherty, Cooke and Culhane were monumental off the bench when the game was in the balance.

Down are excellent fare. A good attacking team playing the right way. I hope they're competing at the top in the near future.

We'll pay dearly once we meet one of the top teams. Whether thats next weekend or not remains to be seen.

We have 11 back, why not set up on the slower attacks with 3 in the FB line 5 on the arc, one either side of the D and 3 to sit outside the arc to go with a runner. Stop that pop pass into the D for handy scores and goals. If they're good enough to kick 8 to 10, 2 pointers, then best of luck to them.

The way we set up now makes no sense whatsoever. Its like a hybrid between man marking and zonal and its a complete mess.

We scored 30pts and scraped over the line. Thats crazy.

Well done to the lads, we have some issues , injuries, loss of form etc but they gave everything again and managed to get the job done.

The Shane Walsh injury is concerning and not just for the injury. This is what Joyce had to say afterwards.

Joyce admitted it is a concern ahead of going to Croke Park. “Yeah, he got a nasty injury, he fell forward and the Down player followed through with the knee on the shoulder so he's a bit of a bother there with the shoulder.

“We left him on there for 10 minutes just to see how he got on but he's getting no better so we'll assess him here, we'll go back and see what it is, it looks a nasty injury.”

Now theres a few things in that.

Firstly, you admit it was a nasty injury.

Then you say you left him on for 10mins to see if he improved. When in fact, you left him on for 5 mins. Then had half time and still sent him out for about 25 to 30mins of the 2nd half.

We've seen this before. A refusal to take off clearly injured players, not only being detrimental to the team at that moment but also exacerbating the players injury and risking further damage. Had Walsh shipped a shoulder in the the time after the injury he could be out for months.

Its crazy stuff like this that would leave me doubting whether we'd every get across the line with unfathomable decisions on the sideline like this. We effectively played with 14 players from the 30 to the 60th minute or so and it put the entire team under severe pressure.

Walsh arguably won the game with his 2point free before he went off. So it's hard to win

Jeasus I'd hate to see the amount of negativity that would be in here if we lost. It was an open game of football and we WON.

Imv Gleeson for all his faults has a better read on his backs, he's Allways shouting instructions to them, improved a lot in the last year or so in this..I just don't like to see injured players being left on, did Joyce overrule the sideline team on this? , I know Walshe scored a 2 pointer later on but Jazus he was playing through the pain barrier, I could see that, should have trusted Culhane to do a job otherwise why is he there