Galway GAA discussion thread

Diabhal Beag · 13-08-2013 02:33PM

Galway hurling will never be more than a club match away from an absolute ****storm.

Just on the Galway Hurling forum it was like a slow dog chasing its own tail by the end. The same 5 thickos getting in arguments. Makes Hoganstand look like Boards in comparison.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 13-08-2013 02:40PM

Toplink wrote: »

Do you really think a good manager would have allowed James Skehill to play the AI final replay last year?

Do you really think a good manager would have allowed his lieutenants to step out of line?

Would a good manager allow his home club to cloud his vision for the county team?

Individual mistakes does not make a poor manager, overall his managing career has been quite successful, albeit in football predominantly.

The third point is the basis for him being a poor manager for Galway, but he's already a proven manager. Leading Garrycastle to a near AI club win was a phenomenol achievements, as were most of his achievements last year with Galway. I think we were the first team to annihilate that Kilkenny team, and winning Leinster was no mean feat.

He'll have success elsewhere.

Toplink · 13-08-2013 02:47PM

THFC wrote: »

Individual mistakes does not make a poor manager, overall his managing career has been quite successful, albeit in football predominantly.

The third point is the basis for him being a poor manager for Galway, but he's already a proven manager. Leading Garrycastle to a near AI club win was a phenomenol achievements, as were most of his achievements last year with Galway. I think we were the first team to annihilate that Kilkenny team, and winning Leinster was no mean feat.

He'll have success elsewhere.

You do make a good argument in fairness. Anyway along with managerial blame, it sounds like some of our players have focus issues.

Even if I was good enough and I'm not I know I would never have the commitment for county hurling. I dont understand how you can put in 20 - 30 hours a week for months on end and let it all go to waste?

audman · 13-08-2013 05:39PM

There's nothing wrong with a bit of club rivalry, Ballyhale Shamrocks and O'Loughlin Gaels will tell you that, De la Salle have their rivals and Sarsfields theirs, the list goes on. There is club rivalry in every county.

This fact makes the whole situation in Galway hurling quite embarrassing really, to put it simply, it's immature. How a group of grown men can't put their club differences aside to represent their county (something every clubman should dream of) is beyond me. Forgive me for bringing soccer in to this but there are just as big of rivalries (if not bigger) between the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool, then when the likes of Gerrard and Lampard line up alongside each other in an England shirt they'd die for one another on that pitch. Why am I using this as an example actually? Michael Fennelly and Henry Shefflin for example, they play for two different clubs but would you think it (the Galway players notion) by the way they play for one another with Kilkenny?

Something else that puzzles me, if a player is happy to give life and limb for his club, but not for his county due to playing with rival players, then why give up half of his life to play county. Think about it, playing inter county hurling involves sacrifice with social life, family life and of course work/careers. Why sacrifice all this if you can't even temporarily sacrifice and put aside club rivalry to throw on the maroon and white as one?

I have been going to Galway games for as long as I can remember and will continue to do so. But, when it's something as simple and as immature as this that's one of the main problems it's utterly disheartening and disappointing. There are supporters out there more passionate than some if the players have shown.

Anyway, rant over and I hope things change soon or Galway hurling will hit a new low, if it hasn't already.

Stroke Politics · 13-08-2013 05:59PM

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Galway hurling will never be more than a club match away from an absolute ****storm.

Just on the Galway Hurling forum it was like a slow dog chasing its own tail by the end. The same 5 thickos getting in arguments. Makes Hoganstand look like Boards in comparison.

Is the Galway proboards site back? I get a "maintenance mode" screen page each time I attempt to view it for the last 10 days. Agree with you about the same people and their socks posting/baiting each other, but a good row is very entertaining sometimes....

13-08-2013 06:49PM

audman wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with a bit of club rivalry, Ballyhale Shamrocks and O'Loughlin Gaels will tell you that, De la Salle have their rivals and Sarsfields theirs, the list goes on. There is club rivalry in every county.

There are generally rivalries in every county and sport, but most are bourne out of success and only exist between the ''big two'' or whatever you have in said situation.
There's a lot more bad blood in Galway hurling between multiple clubs based on location, success, ill tempered games in the past etc.

I guess the big difference in Galway to other counties as well is the success rate after winning the county title, winning Galway gets you to within two games of an AI while for other clubs its an after thought to winning a county title. Maybe the added bonus leads to a lot of overly physical play and all that spawns off it.

That said, you'd imagine with such a tough county championship at the very least we should be able to get 15 lads who'll go through walls to win the ball... infact we get the opposite.

nootroc · 13-08-2013 07:01PM

Why am I using this as an example actually? Michael Fennelly and Henry Shefflin for example, they play for two different clubs but would you think it (the Galway players notion) by the way they play for one another with Kilkenny?

Fennelly & Shefflin both play for Ballyhale. I see enough club games in Kilkenny to know the county lads don't spare each other in games or in training either. One lad told me that Dinny Cahill would be a nice manager for Galway. I said we've had too many nice managers.

Toplink · 13-08-2013 08:12PM

Of course there are rivalries in every county between clubs. The difference appears to be that management in Galway allow it to seep into the county panel.

Do you think Cody, Donal O'Grady or even Davey Fitz would allow this **** to carry on? Would they hell... Panels need to air this stuff and get it on the table. If someone isn't buying in then a big call needs to be made.

Alot of players have a childish stubborn streak in them and will play up if they are allowed to display it but if they know that they will be cast aside if they don't buy into the county set up then they wouldnt be long falling in.

Remember the way Cody dealt with Charlie Carter. No-one is bigger than the team.

audman · 13-08-2013 09:05PM

nootroc wrote: »

Why am I using this as an example actually? Michael Fennelly and Henry Shefflin for example, they play for two different clubs but would you think it (the Galway players notion) by the way they play for one another with Kilkenny?

Fennelly & Shefflin both play for Ballyhale. I see enough club games in Kilkenny to know the county lads don't spare each other in games or in training either. One lad told me that Dinny Cahill would be a nice manager for Galway. I said we've had too many nice managers.

Sorry, just said the two Kilkenny players that came in to my head first without thinking, mid rant. No excuse, I know, but you get my point, if I have one

Sorry again, very embarrassed about that one

audman · 13-08-2013 09:10PM

As we all know there are club rivalries, incidents in matches, etc...

Has anyone any specifics? Not that I don't believe it, obviously I do. But, just out of curiosity. Any names? Specific incidents like the Thomas' lads travelling alone for example? The apparent altercation between two panel members during race week, etc...

Toplink · 13-08-2013 09:51PM

Where did it all go wrong?

13-08-2013 10:36PM

audman wrote: »

As we all know there are club rivalries, incidents in matches, etc...

Has anyone any specifics? Not that I don't believe it, obviously I do. But, just out of curiosity. Any names? Specific incidents like the Thomas' lads travelling alone for example? The apparent altercation between two panel members during race week, etc...

I didn't hear about those latest ones until this thread.

But going back to the other site you had...

St.Thomas players going to the 7s even though all county players were asked not to play.

Not exactly confirmed but you can gather from that and squads thereafter they went unpunished and no doubt this leads to frustration amongst other players with preferential treatment of home club

Falling out between members of management

Personal one I heard from a reliable source: Players were in Monroes the night of the LF, the man approached the players to tell them to keep their heads up and good luck in the 1/4s... as he left the table they were heard laughing and joking about it in a real ''haha we haven't a hope'' way...not sure who was at the table though.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 13-08-2013 10:49PM

Well, Thomas' and Portumna better meet again in the championship. They should at least have the decency of providing us with entertainment :pac:

audman · 13-08-2013 10:49PM

I remember hearing something or another about Andy Smyth leaving the panel before the LF before returning. Whatever reason for both I don't know, I don't even remember where I heard it or whether there's any truth to it but...

I'd be interested to see where Joe Canning is amongst all this. Obviously there's a lot of focus and presure on him given his ability on the pitch and he's always came across as a gent. A few would criticise him for his comments re:Shefflin last year but sure... I suppose I'm just curious more than anything.

God if this time last year or in September even I was told that this would be the kind of talk going on in this thread less than a year later I woulda told whoever to go jump. Not that I'm surprised that we're out practically without a fight a year after nearly winning an AI but the way in which it happened and the stories arising.

Toplink · 13-08-2013 10:57PM

What the players do outside of hurling is their own business in fairness. They are amateurs after all.

13-08-2013 10:58PM

There is a lot of talk going on about club rivalries and so forth and I don't doubt that the Thomas' v Portumna match left some open wounds as having been at that match, a lot of nasty digs went in all over the pitch while a hopelessly out of his depth ref didn't know where to turn.

However, before this match was ever played, in the early months of the year we were going very poorly. We were in trouble in all the key positions from early in the year, full back was isolated and exploited all year long, centre back was never nailed down, midfield never really found their form leading to the bizarre selection of James Regan for the Leinster final. Same at centre forward, Canning had a big influence on some games but rambled around aimlessly for most games. David Burke has looked a shadow of himself for a long time, Conor Cooney hasn't come near delivering at this level yet. Cyril Donnellan hasn't played well since the Leinster final in 2012. The list goes on.

Really things didn't look right from an awful long way back and no-one really came through to give us additional options. Shane Kavanagh and Jason Grealish came in from the cold having not seen any action. Niall Donohue in my mind was one of the few whose performances held up in most games during the year but he was inexplicably dropped.

While Cork finished below us they had only one real disappointing game at home to Clare where Clare got a late run on them. We beat a poor Waterford side, beat KK with a run of early goals but against Munster, Clare, Tipp and the KK semi-final we were so poor it was obvious that the side needed a shakeup yet we failed to address the glaring weaknesses both in terms of personnel and performance.

There is a lot of talent in Galway still but we need to forget all these minor, u21 club all Irelands etc. and start from the basis that without work rate and intensity we have nothing. All those medals are worthless in the grand scheme of things. There is only one show in town and its at a different level than anything that will ever be experienced at club or underage.

We showed against KK in 2012 that we can get our intensity up to the top level but that needs to be every day. The gap between the majority of teams is very little in hurling terms (as witnessed by the performances of Offaly, Wexford, Waterford etc.) but looking at the game last Sunday highlights how far our lads are off the pace in terms of workrate, sheer will to win and commitment to put their body on the line for the county. Dublin and Corks work rate was superb as will Clare's and Limerick's next Sunday. We beat Cork last year but despite their defections they were unrecognisable from last year in how far they'd moved their intensity levels on.

As an Offaly man said to me once, if we had the players ye had we'd win the All-Ireland every year! While I laughed him off at the time there is an element of truth in it, teams like Offaly, Clare, Dublin and Limerick etc. will go through the wall to win.

I couldn't bring myself to look at a video of the Clare game but my perception being there on the day was that there were numerous rucks in the game and out of these always came a Clare man with comfortable possession. Until we win the dirty ball or at least make sure the opposition know about it when they've come out of such a ruck we can forget ever achieving anything.

audman · 13-08-2013 11:06PM

Toplink wrote: »

What the players do outside of hurling is their own business in fairness. They are amateurs after all.

But incidents like Monroes/altercations race week/etc... (if true) would affect the team.

That said and I'll say it again, when all this rivalry and everything that goes with it was non-existent I can't imagine we would have one the AI this year anyway. Dublin and Cork last weekend really highlighted how far off the mark we are.

premierstone · 14-08-2013 11:32AM

audman wrote: »

There's nothing wrong with a bit of club rivalry, Ballyhale Shamrocks and O'Loughlin Gaels will tell you that, De la Salle have their rivals and Sarsfields theirs, the list goes on. There is club rivalry in every county.

None of the examples you have given come any where close to the abhorrence and downright hatred I have witnessed at Glaway CLub hurling matches over the last 15 years, the only thing I have ever seen to come even remotely close is in Laois and considering some of the hurlers they have also produced it can be argued they have also underachieved.

Toplink wrote: »

Of course there are rivalries in every county between clubs. The difference appears to be that management in Galway allow it to seep into the county panel.

Do you think Cody, Donal O'Grady or even Davey Fitz would allow this **** to carry on? Would they hell... Panels need to air this stuff and get it on the table. If someone isn't buying in then a big call needs to be made.

I wouldn't blame management at all, Im sure you would have included Ger Loughnane in that list too only he htried and failed to resolve it, the hatred and bitternes in Galway Club hurling goes far beyond players aswell, I genuinely was quite scared in the stands at a few games over the last few years.

Toplink wrote: »

What the players do outside of hurling is their own business in fairness. They are amateurs after all.

I don't accept that at all and especially not in the middle of a championship campaign, if you accept the invitation to join the county panel for the year then you are giving a commitment to management, your fellow players and the county as a whole, if you feel you are unable to commit to that then you don't accept the invite in the first place imo.

Toplink · 18-08-2013 11:29AM

Best of luck to the Galway minors today.

Also hard luck to our intermediates yesterday sounds liked they were comprehensively beaten on the day. Interesting to note that Gerry Mac's son Gearoid lined out at 6 for Galway yesterday.

Utopia Parkway · 18-08-2013 03:48PM

gilberto_eire wrote: »

On another note it seems the Galway Hurling Forum has been pulled, been down for about two weeks now.

No doubt there was loads of personal insults to players and management thrown out that brought the site into legal problems.

The fact the site was unmoderated only compounded matters, was actually close to applying for the thing myself given the amount of trolling and fighting that was going on the past while.

Shame to see.

There were some knowledgeable lads on that forum but also 3 or 4 headbangers that had personal feuds going on for months at a time and used to chase each other across the various threads. Was only a matter of time before they ruined it for everyone else.

Mars Bar · 18-08-2013 03:53PM

Well done to the minors! \o/

Lapin · 18-08-2013 03:55PM

Mars Bar wrote: »

Well done to the minors! \o/

Another September date in Croke Park for us

:):)

CONGRATS GALWAY !!!

nagirrac · 18-08-2013 06:54PM

Conor Whelan was brilliant today and made the difference in extra time with a few lovely scores. A lad whose first touch and pace we could have done with on the senior team a few weeks ago. Hurling is now a young man's game, look at Tony Kelly running rings around Limerick today. Although AC went with youth when he came on board as manager, we were very lacking in pace this year. Where are lads like Ritchie Cummins who has serious pace?

Utopia Parkway · 18-08-2013 07:38PM

nagirrac wrote: »

Conor Whelan was brilliant today and made the difference in extra time with a few lovely scores. A lad whose first touch and pace we could have done with on the senior team a few weeks ago. Hurling is now a young man's game, look at Tony Kelly running rings around Limerick today. Although AC went with youth when he came on board as manager, we were very lacking in pace this year. Where are lads like Ritchie Cummins who has serious pace?

Cunningham seemed to go for size over skill or pace maybe with an eye on matching Kilkenny's physicality. However this year there are two mobile pacy sides in the All-Ireland final.

nagirrac · 18-08-2013 08:26PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Cunningham seemed to go for size over skill or pace maybe with an eye on matching Kilkenny's physicality. However this year there are two mobile pacy sides in the All-Ireland final.

Looks like we will have to change tack again then as Clare, Cork ,Dublin and Limerick are relatively young sides. Two frustrating aspects of this is Galway hurling traditionally has always been based on pace and skill, and we have matched or beaten all these rivals at underage in recent years. It is somewhat annoying to say the least that in the year Kilkenny have been toppled, there are two teams in the AI final we had been beating on a regular basis for the past 3 or 4 years. They clearly moved on and we went backwards.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero · 18-08-2013 08:56PM

Presuming now Daithi Burke will be committing to a senior team next year? I know he's been asked to join the hurlers numerous times, wonder which code (if any) he'll pick, or if he'll give both a go. He's a long term no. 3 or no. 6 IMO (hurling).

MfMan · 18-08-2013 09:26PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Cunningham seemed to go for size over skill or pace maybe with an eye on matching Kilkenny's physicality. However this year there are two mobile pacy sides in the All-Ireland final.

We had plenty of pace last year; what happened since? Was it trained / ran out of them?

O.A.P · 18-08-2013 09:42PM

Well done Galway minors that took guts ,
I have never seen a ref that was worse either at a game or on the telly,
They have a good case about the first point and that spoils things but its down to the ref.
Did nobody tell him today was not about him?

statesaver · 18-08-2013 10:49PM

Congrats Galway minors. Feel for Limerick a bit because of that disputed point.
And ye put the seniors to shame

Congrats also to the Galway lady hurlers and footballers.

Gaillimh Abú

Utopia Parkway · 18-08-2013 11:10PM

Talk on TSG of Limerick appealing the result because of the point that wasn't given. In fairness the ref evened it up with that ridiculous free right at the end. Not sure Limerick will see it that way though.

Galway GAA discussion thread

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