Galway GAA discussion thread

1. Colm Callanan

2. Johnny Coen
3. Kevin Hynes
4. Fergal Moore

5. Niall Donoghue
6. David Collins
7. Joseph Cooney

8. Iarlaith Tannian
9. Andrew Smyth

10. Johnny Glynn
11. Aidan Harte
12. Davy Glennon

13. Niall Healy
14. Joe Canning
15. Damian Hayes

Team for Sunday

aidan24326 wrote: »

Lee is probably working long hours as a junior doctor and mightn't really have the time for it at this stage.


Great win for the U-21 footballers today. Beat Mayo 0-9 to 0-7 for anyone not aware. So even if our seniors are off the pace at the moment the future isn't all bleak. Anyone know why Peadar O'Griofa wasn't involved? Is he injured?

O'Griofa did his cruciate recently. Tomas Flynn is also missing. he's just on his way back from injury. Great win today. Shane Walsh. Remember the name. He's going to be a good one.

U21 on Saturdays are usually 4pm or 4:30pm, so I expect something in that range. Last year the final was anyways, but there was a minor league match on before it. All roads lead to the Hyde lads, just don't expect our U21s collapse like our seniors did!

So O'Griofa has done his cruciate? That's a shame as he is a talented player with a lot of potential. Hopefully he doesn't end up as yet another promising minor that fell by the wayside.

MfMan wrote: »

Refereeing was diabolical, esp. in first half, he copped on a bit more after ht. Completely ruined the flow of the game. Glad of the win as you'd feel there's more in this Galway team if they could organise their forwards a bit better, Walsh is a bit light for senior football yet maybe but is a star in the making. Silke tends to be a bit rash, don't know if he's good enough long term. FB Shaughnessy had a good second half. O Curraoin always involved but tends to dwell in possession and lose it. A strong bench really helped the home side today. Onwards to the Rossies.

The U-21's definitely have a strong bench when you see the likes of Daithi Burke, Rabbitte, Maughan and Ian Burke on the bench. Most of whom were very good minors and any one of them could easily be starting for the U-21's.

THFC wrote: »

Shane Walsh also came on and I saw Tommy Flynn warming up as well. .

You sure Shane Walsh came on? The facebook updates said he came on as well but I was fairly sure it was Cathal Sweeney

Good win for the footballers but wouldn't get too carried away, still a lot of problems. The half back line were desperate in the first half, I mean seriously bad. Wexford were running right through so easily it was shocking. But the worst part of it was the sheer volume of suicidal hand passes that were being played across the 45m line. Never seen a Galway team do that so much before and it was really annoying a lot of the crowd too.
I've been critical of Armstrong before but when he dropped back to centre forward/midfield he made a huge difference. Still a lot of handpasses were being done but once he got the ball he generally kicked good ball down to the full forwards. Definitely kept us in the first half. Very solid free taking too.

Bradshaw settled the defensive aspect of the half backs in the second half but the messing about still remained, kicked a nice point too. O'Curraoin played much better today than he did yesterday oddly. He picked his game up when it mattered in the second half and won some vital ball. Man of the match for me was probably Finian Hanley, his reading of the game was faultness and he has an amazing ability to somehow get a touch that knocks the ball out of his opponent's hand and allow the rest of the full back line to set. Didn't see him beaten once.

Well we won't be going down anyway which is a good thing but it'd take some fortunate results to see us go up.

Galway are a one show pony that is Joe Canning great player but god help Galway the day they have to take the field with out the portumna star.

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

The hurlers though. UGH. Hayes was so off-form it amazed me he lasted so long. Glynn was awful. Cooney looked lost. Cork were getting scores with little to no effort in comparison to Galway. They're a team that needs a play-off IMO. Coen was my MOTM in the 2nd. Canning was pulled back to midfield after 5 minutes. It never works lads, ever. He did score some excellent points. Love a sideline cut over the bar. Tan was grand. Glennon is really impressing me and can't see Regan displacing him. Those missed frees cost us a win and safety. Some of those frees were easier than the hard ones Canning scored. Had Vietnam-esque flashbacks to the AI draw. Really hope they're planning on peaking over the Summer and this League is at the back of their minds. Still though would be nice to stay up but the points difference is the worst in the table. Absolutely nothing points wise between the teams though. A win keeps us up ya?

A win would more than likely be enough for Galway. But a win may not suffice. If Galway win and one or more of the other games finishes in a draw there will be a few teams on 5 points and it will come down to scoring difference

I don't understand why Joe switches positions so much during games. He's a fantastic player and a huge goal threat. I hate seeing him getting on the ball near goal. I breath a sigh of relief when I see him moving out the field.

From a Cork point of view I thought the game was over when Galway went 4 up. At the end I was disappointed we didn't nick it.

That Armstrong lad was very good in the football.

The football was a strange game. Galway never looked very convincing but ended up running out 8 points winners thanks to 1-5 without reply in the last 10 minutes. Before that though it was anyone's game. Hanley was very good. I noticed Griffin came off at half-time. He definitely seems to be carrying some extra timber so I presume he doesn't have the legs for any longer than 35-40 minutes. Worrying the way especially in the first half how Wexford players were making 50 yard runs forward straight through the middle of defence with nobody getting a decent tackle in. The Wexford corner-back made 3 runs like that. An awful lot of lateral handpassing from Galway as well. The movement wasn't good enough off the ball. At least they are safe in division 2 now. These lads aren't ready for division 1 at this stage.

The hurlers really should have closed out their game. Conceded two sloppy goals and Canning missed at least 3 scoreable frees which was strange as apart from those he was brilliant. Would need to see the Cork penalty again in replay but my first instinct was that it was a very soft one. Glennon played well again and is the big (and maybe only bonus) from the league campaign so far but I have no idea how Glynn and Cooney stayed on for virtually the entire game. Glynn didn't win a ball until 10 minutes from the end and winning possession is meant to be his strong point. Cooney I don't think even touched the ball until a few minutes from the end. If that was Kilkenny, Cody would have substituted both of them after about 20 minutes. Maybe Cunningham wanted to give them a chance or maybe he doesn't have faith in his bench without the Thomas' lads being available yet? Certainly Galway could do with getting David Burke, Niall Burke (not Toms I know) and Conor Cooney back and Bernard Burke and James Regan would be handy bench options.

Think the hurlers will avoid the relegation play-off if they beat Waterford barring one of the other games ending in a draw. Not easy to win down there though as Tipp found out today.

aidan24326 wrote: »

Consolodation was the aim for the footballers and in fairness they've done that. This team is not up to division 1 standard but they're safe in div 2 which seems to be our level at the moment.

As for the hurlers I wouldn't be too worried about the fact they are bottom as it's a fiercely competitive division where there's not a whole lot between any of the 6 teams on a given day. What would concern me is the continued reliance on JC for scores. Management still haven't learned from last year's mistakes and that's criminal.

Ah, give Anto a chance!

He's problem been on the tear since St. Thomas and Brigid's won their AIs :pac:

The spread of scores is still much too narrow and we're not scoring nearly enough. 1-13 against Clare, 2-12 yesterday, that's a long way short of what's needed to win games in modern day intercounty hurling.

We shouldn't be overly surprised that management haven't learned from last year because last year they didn't learn from game to game either. They persisted with this disastrous tactic of dropping everyone back in the second half and going into ultra-defensive mode. Topped off by the galling sight of JC toiling in the halfback line. They persisted with this nonsense in stubborn Trappatoni fashion even when it clearly wasn't working (and could it ever?).