Galway GAA discussion thread

Fireball07 · 08-07-2013 02:32PM

I'd also question the ability of some of those players... no doubt they're capable of raising it as they did last year, but if you want to contend for All-Irelands on a regular basis, you'll need to find improvement.

It's not like you haven't had success at underage, so where are all the players? Full-back, centre-back, maybe one corner-back are still problems.... midfield is a bit of an issue if Tannion can't find last year's form. And up front, scoretaking is a massive massive problem.

Canning is Canning, he's fine. David Burke is a hard worker, and a useful player to have...but outside of that? Niall Burke was class for the U-21s, always been a bit inconsistent at senior level, he's still young though. Cooney- great club player, never showed it in a big intercounty game. Donnellan- always flaky. And Glennon...another talented player but he's not a top class forward.

Hard to win when you rely so much on one forward.

gandroid · 08-07-2013 02:40PM

intellectual dosser wrote: »

I'd be hesitant to single out Galway players for criticism/de-selection because you'd end up with a whole new 15. Even Joe Canning had a poor game by his standards, and despite the brief glimpses of masterclass. Dublin were better in every sector AND were twice as hungry.

I am not sure what standards you expect to be honest.

Stanza2 · 08-07-2013 04:37PM

Would not swap Joe Canning for anyone

nootroc · 08-07-2013 05:40PM

We need to value possession a lot more and not be tossing it away. One Dublin goal came from a nothing shot into the corner that was mopped up by the full back who galloped past half way unhampered even though the corner forwards were not at their posts. The striking wasn't crisp enough. We must have played 5 minutes with a player injured on the Dublin square and Joseph Cooney was hobbling a good while before anyone seemed to notice.
That being said I thought we were in it when the gap was brought back to 6 if we got the next score. Sadly the gap was stretching the longer the game went on.

Well done Dublin and I almost enjoyed the whooping and hollering as the game wore on. There was never going to be last minute heartbreak.

TBP · 08-07-2013 10:58PM

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Tannion was probably our player of the year last year.Now suddenly after one bad game he's not good enough and management should be critisised for picking him? Theres too many knee jerk reactions. Dublin were amazing yesterday. Very like Galways leinster final 12 months ago. When a team is playing like that, if your anyway off 100% you'll be beaten, as Kilkenny and now Galway have found out. Better the wake up call came now than in a semi final or so. They didn't become bad hurlers overnight

What did you think of him over the coarse of the League campaign?

From what I've saw of him I wasn't surprised with how poor he has been in the Championship so far. The signs were there since the day he was subbed after 20 odd minutes against Kilkenny in Salthill.

davehedgehog · 09-07-2013 12:17PM

I find it strange that people are criticising individual players after last sunday, lot of people bringing up the "sure they were never any good" line on players. the fact is that the players we have are good enough to compete at the very top level as consistently shown over the championship last year. For the first time in years we can say we have the best players in the county with the panel and only through bitterness or club loyalties can people complain about player A or B not being there.

The mgmt are looking at these players in training and have decided that the 15 that started are showing the best so that must tell you that the others arent giong as well.

as all 15 starters and even the subs that came in werent able to match dublin for intensity, touch etc then it points to a more basic problem with regards to how up for the game we were, training methods, tiredness ect

InchicoreDude · 09-07-2013 01:31PM

davehedgehog wrote: »

I find it strange that people are criticising individual players after last sunday, lot of people bringing up the "sure they were never any good" line on players. the fact is that the players we have are good enough to compete at the very top level as consistently shown over the championship last year. For the first time in years we can say we have the best players in the county with the panel and only through bitterness or club loyalties can people complain about player A or B not being there.

The mgmt are looking at these players in training and have decided that the 15 that started are showing the best so that must tell you that the others arent giong as well.

as all 15 starters and even the subs that came in werent able to match dublin for intensity, touch etc then it points to a more basic problem with regards to how up for the game we we

re, training methods, tiredness ect

I agree with your post up to a point. However, if you read back through this thread, you will see that people seriously questioned Regan being picked at midfield. Those posters were proven to be right, management were proven to be wrong (especially as Smith did very well when he came on).

Last year, Galway lacked a couple of quality subs that could have the potential to change things in a match. I suspect that is why you had players like Regan & Glennon starting ahead of Smith & Hayes.

davehedgehog · 09-07-2013 01:56PM

I couldnt pick a single player (from starting 15 or subs) who could say they were happy with their performance so to its very hard and unfair single out players for criticism when it was a collective problem.

just on james regan - how did the tactical discussions with kenny and cunningham go such that it ended up that skehill was landing shortened puckouts down into our midfield with one of our smallest players under them and still him having to fight on his own with 2 dublin players beside him - then when he doesnt win them he gets taken off..

Syferus · 09-07-2013 02:59PM

At least the footballers are winning.

Diabhal Beag · 09-07-2013 03:04PM

A lot of people I've talked to since are on about how there's still a lot of bad blood between the Thomas's and Portumna lads. I dunno how true it is but it's absolutely bollocks to still be throwing tantrums about a club match before such a massive game as last Sunday's was.

porterbelly · 10-07-2013 10:23PM

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

A lot of people I've talked to since are on about how there's still a lot of bad blood between the Thomas's and Portumna lads. I dunno how true it is but it's absolutely bollocks to still be throwing tantrums about a club match before such a massive game as last Sunday's was.

There's more to it than just that, but that's partly the reason

One of the Portumna players on the panel was supposed to have walked away during the week but was coaxed back around to play on Sunday. (Came on as a sub)

There was a meeting between players and management on Monday where basically the law was laid down. Get on board or pack your bags.

Not ideal in mid championship. I can't see us getting beyond a Kilkenny/Clare/Limerick/Cork with this hanging over us.

spiritcrusher · 19-07-2013 01:26PM

Galway team for tomorrow
1. Manus Breathnach
2. Donal O'Neill
3. Finian Hanley
4. Keith Kelly
5. Johnny Duane
6. Gary O’Donnell
7.Gary Sice
8. Paul Conroy
9. Tom Flynn
10. John O’Brien
11. Sean Armstrong
12. Conor Doherty
13. Michael Martin
14. Michael Meehan
15. Danny Cummins

Hard to know what's going on with the team. More changes. Tom Flynn replacing Greg Higgins is clearly a good call but now Keith Kelly is back in, Doherty is gone back to half forward, Michael Martin and Donal O'Neil haven't exactly seen a whole pile of championship football. The positions that have been changed were the ones that were in big trouble alright the last day but it still sounds like there's confusion regarding what's the best team.
Anyway, might as well have one last day out of stress in Pearse Stadium

InchicoreDude · 19-07-2013 01:30PM

spiritcrusher wrote: »

Galway team for tomorrow
1. Manus Breathnach
2. Donal O'Neill
3. Finian Hanley
4. Keith Kelly
5. Johnny Duane
6. Gary O’Donnell
7.Gary Sice
8. Paul Conroy
9. Tom Flynn
10. John O’Brien
11. Sean Armstrong
12. Conor Doherty
13. Michael Martin
14. Michael Meehan
15. Danny Cummins

Hard to know what's going on with the team. More changes. Tom Flynn replacing Greg Higgins is clearly a good call but now Keith Kelly is back in, Doherty is gone back to half forward, Michael Martin and Donal O'Neil haven't exactly seen a whole pile of championship football. The positions that have been changed were the ones that were in big trouble alright the last day but it still sounds like there's confusion regarding what's the best team.
Anyway, might as well have one last day out of stress in Pearse Stadium

I like the look of this team a lot more than I did with the last few teams however. I think you have good full back line (Kelly is a good corner back I feel), a reasonable half back line, an ok-ish midfield, an interesting half-forward line that could be dangerous and a full forward line with three players very capable of scoring.

Still think Galway will lose though!

Diabhal Beag · 19-07-2013 02:19PM

It was definitely essential to take Forde and Higgins out. Hoping for a big showing from Tom Flynn. He tends to go not see an awful lot of possession when he plays but he steadied up a terrible Galway team against Waterford. You couldn't count on Forde to try and stop Clarke.

Taking Hehir out was another good move. He wasn't bad or anything but he just doesn't make much of an impact. Say what you will about Cummins but he is the liveliest forward with the exception of Meehan. He badly needed some shooting practice before tomorrow and hope he got it. He has been impressive this year.

They really love Doherty but he has been decent in the qualifiers. Just hope it wasn't because it was against poor quality sides.

I don't think Armagh are that much ahead of them IMO but they should win. They won't score 8 goals anyways.

RobbieRuns · 19-07-2013 02:40PM

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

It was definitely essential to take Forde and Higgins out. Hoping for a big showing from Tom Flynn. He tends to go not see an awful lot of possession when he plays but he steadied up a terrible Galway team against Waterford. You couldn't count on Forde to try and stop Clarke.

Taking Hehir out was another good move. He wasn't bad or anything but he just doesn't make much of an impact. Say what you will about Cummins but he is the liveliest forward with the exception of Meehan. He badly needed some shooting practice before tomorrow and hope he got it. He has been impressive this year.

They really love Doherty but he has been decent in the qualifiers. Just hope it wasn't because it was against poor quality sides.

I don't think Armagh are that much ahead of them IMO but they should win. They won't score 8 goals anyways.

Agree mostly with this, Tom Flynn was a very good addition v Waterford, just hope that he gets involved and looks for the ball. Hehir had to be changed, he just fouled everytime and was going to get sent off, never looked like scoring. Cummins is by far the liveliest of the forwards and his speed continues to give backs problems, I think that he just needs to take those points and forget about goals, people making to much of it. He always hits the target and he always gets into the right position to give himself the chance. He also collects a lot of high ball for a relatively small man. Meehan has lost pace for me, but class is there permanently!! he is a great player who sometimes drifts a bit to far out, but he does score and him and Cummins are key to winning the game. Armstrong..... not sure how how keeps getting picked

CastingCouch · 19-07-2013 11:32PM

I reckon Armagh by 5 or more.

19-07-2013 11:59PM

RobbieRuns wrote: »

I think that he just needs to take those points and forget about goals, people making to much of it. He always hits the target and he always gets into the right position to give himself the chance

He won't start to score more goals unless he learns how to strike them.
There's two types of goal kickers in GAA, those who use controlled power(think Joyce against Kildare 98) and those who just line it up and smash it.

If you're a smasher which Cummins is, you'll miss far more than you score(recent case in point: Kerry/Cork two weeks ago, young Kerry player burst through, dropped the head and smashed it wide. Same position a few minutes later with Gooch and he slots it past the keeper).
He needs to work on a more controlled finish if he wants to start seeing his goals rattle the net.

Diabhal Beag · 20-07-2013 12:48AM

I think regardless of the result tomorrow that AM needs to be kept on. Say what you will about the hammering against Mayo but not only did Galway play poorly but they were demolished by All-Ireland contenders. They'll be under-rated again now that Kerry beat Cork but I'd have them as the 3rd best team in the country. He beat the qualifier curse and did so with the momentum of a snail in the desert but you have to look at it from the perspective of the side that were embarrassed against Sligo and hit the lowest low in decades against Antrim. On reflection you can't really be surprised that they weren't impressive in the Tipp and Waterford games, specifically Waterford though because they showed real fight.

^^^That reads like a massive suckup job that will make me look like a complete tit in this thread (again) if they concede 8 goals against Clarke and friends. I can't see a win myself if the current form shows up but it's a home match in a Summer that just will not end (look at my sunburn!) and who's to say that Michael Meehan can't lead these guys out if the darkness if Armagh are woeful (like Cavan this year woeful).

This hasn't been one of my better posts (sorry).

20-07-2013 02:08AM

I'm undecided on another year for Mulholland. I wouldn't be if there was a top quality option available but no-one really stands out to take up the reins if Mulholland leaves. I just don't really see where he is taking the team. He is two years in charge and I don't think he knows his team. We moved from total naivety against Mayo to a blanket defence against division 4 sides that was embarrassingly easy to cut through, the last two games we have got most of the team behind the ball at stages but we have no system in place and poor sides were still easily cutting through us. I think we all know the team is poor but it also looks like a poorly organised team who have no real plan in place.

I think we have to see something tomorrow if he's to stay on really. I don't mind us being beaten tomorrow but we need to see a performance and a plan. Mulholland can't be kept on just because we don't want to change again. We can't undo the tinkering that went on before but this management team need to be judged separately on their performances and results independent of anything which happened previously and to me they look out of their depth.

Mayo are a strong side but the fact Mayo are going well shouldn't take away from how deplorable Galway were on the day. Being honest any of the top 6 or so teams would have dished out a similar or bigger hammering to us that day. What annoyed me wasn't that Mayo opened us up with great football (even though they were moving well in fairness) but that we conceded such laughable goals. I've watched a lot of very poor sides but I've rarely seen goals as poor as Galway have given away that day even at club level.

For me there was about a 15 minute period against Tipp we could be satisfied with in the championship. That aside we have been disastrous. Waterford should have killed us off the last day. Armagh will almost certainly finish the job. Having said that I think Mulholland has moved a significant step closer to getting a more balanced team. The 4 lads who are dropped either aren't up to it (Farragher or Higgins) or aren't performing at the moment (Hehir and Forde).

Hopefully the 15 who go out to represent Galway can at least put some pride back in the jersey.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 20-07-2013 01:19PM

Lads, Sam is ours this year!

We beat Armagh in 2001 in round 3 of the qualifiers, as the designated home team, after losing to the eventual Connacht champs and with Cork waiting in the next round.

We consequently beat Cork in Croke Park and went onto to lift Sam. It's written in the stars lads!

Diabhal Beag · 20-07-2013 01:35PM

Would be nice to see the worst Galway side in recent memory win the All-Ireland.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 20-07-2013 01:40PM

Seriously though, we can't seem to beat Northern teams, not since 2001 when we beat Armagh and Derry. Since then, our record has been appalling:

In 2003 we lost against Donegal in a replay.
In 2004 we were beaten comprehensively by Tyrone.
We then managed to avoid northern teams until 2009 when we lost to Donegal.
And then last year we lost to Antrim by a point.

I suppose you could say that we've been dire against non-Connacht opposition, but against those teams we produced particularly poor performances.

I'm not confident about later on, but I think it'll be closer than people expect.

CastingCouch · 20-07-2013 01:56PM

THFC wrote: »

Seriously though, we can't seem to beat Northern teams, not since 2001 when we beat Armagh and Derry. Since then, our record has been appalling:

In 2003 we lost against Donegal in a replay.
In 2004 we were beaten comprehensively by Tyrone.
We then managed to avoid northern teams until 2009 when we lost to Donegal.
And then last year we lost to Antrim by a point.

I suppose you could say that we've been dire against non-Connacht opposition, but against those teams we produced particularly poor performances.

I'm not confident about later on, but I think it'll be closer than people expect.

On the 2003 games v Donegal.

The first game in Croke Park (which was an amazing game in sunshine) there was a left half back playing. I think the name was Brady? He played excellently that day. Whatever happened to him?

nootroc · 20-07-2013 05:53PM

Think he (Kevin Brady) concentrated on hurling thereafter.

audman · 20-07-2013 06:42PM

Galway for Sam

statesaver · 20-07-2013 06:44PM

Gaillimh Abú

CastingCouch · 20-07-2013 06:52PM

Did Galway win? Fair play to them.

CastingCouch · 20-07-2013 06:56PM

1-11 to 9 points.

What I wanted to see for a long long time, Galway to play in Croke Park again.

audman · 20-07-2013 06:58PM

CastingCouch wrote: »

1-11 to 9 points.

What I wanted to see for a long long time, Galway to play in Croke Park again.

Of which county do you hail from CC?

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 20-07-2013 07:01PM

Great game, difference today imo was midfield. Keeping Clarke quiet was also key. Thought Flynn and Conroy were great. Massive victory, should get some long lost confidence back into the lads.

Shades of 2001

Delighted to be in an underdogs into the next match also, hopefully big numbers will travel! The footballers on Saturday and the hurlers on Sunday, will be a busy weekend!

Gaillimh Abú

Galway GAA discussion thread

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