Galway GAA discussion thread

What's happened to David Burke? His performances in 2012 were a joy to watch especially in the Leinster final when he scored one of the best points I've ever seen.
He seems to have suffered a dramatic loss of form, does he need to go back to midfield where he has played some fantastic hurling in the past?

donnem33 wrote: »

Just judging by the radio commentary, I thought he seemed to play ok. He scored a point and seemed to be involved a bit. He certainly seemed to be more in the game anyway compared to Joe Cooney. Even Joe Canning hardly seemed to be involved much

KK bossed the MF in the first half. GY came more into it there in the second half. Too many of GY forwards didn't fire yesterday: J Cooney, N Burke and to a lesser extent Canning were anonymous. Glynn tried hard but GY got no return from his work. Flynn was a threat but was smothered by Tyrrell particularly in the second half. IMO Cooney was GYs best forward and from what I've seen is a more accurate free taker than Canning.
KK packed the defence and played for the breaks esp in the second half. This made a tough job even harder for the GY forwards.

donnem33 wrote: »

Good analysis. From a Galway viewpoint, we need to drop andy smyth. Good club hurler but doesnt cut it at intercounty. He gives away far too needless frees and the majority of the time offers very little. He did play well in the drawn match but in most matches he can be frustrating to watch

Not sure about that. Was near enough best player the first day. Needs to control his naturally combative streak a little bit but he is really a long way ahead of a totally out of form David Burke who badly needs to be rested.Probably cannot sustain a full game but still an important player for Galway.

24yearslater wrote: »

Horrendous, absolutely horrendous. No gameplan (assuming u don't call lorrrying crap high balls into a non existent, well beaten full forward line), no tactical awareness, no courage, no concept of even the basic requirements of intercounty hurling, no fight, no teamwork, no hope. These hurlers are hopeless, completely hopeless. 1 good performance in 3 yrs, and that was quickly followed up by quickly throwing away a winning position in the AI final against the same team, a team who were paralysed with fear of us for 2/3 of the game until they realised we were totally incapable of driving on from a real winning position. We'll have our arses handed to us to a big big way next Saturday, & in fairness thus bunch of players deserve nothing less. I don't mind losing, God knows we're used to it, but when we turn up & merely roll up to have our bellies tickled, & raise the white flag after about 15 mins, well then I know it's time for me to say to hell with them. I'm done following them now, they're not worth the effort anymore. Some people say that they put in the same effort as all others & hence they deserve our support, but I'm not buying that, if they did they wouldn't be putting in so many bad performances over the last 20 odd months. We'll get destroyed on Saturday, Cunningham will get the bullet, there'll be a load of sparring between the clubs, a new man will be appointed after another co board charade, and these same players will pull 1 decent performance out of the fire when it's least expected, but they'll ultimately fail. It's so bloody devastating, Galway hurling is dead, and there isn't even an effn pulse.

Jaysus 24-I thought I was in foul mood until I read this post. Have been there many times over the past quarter century. I have walked out of Croke Park on nine occasions following AI senior hurling final defeats and I have lost the faith a few times too but feck it we are all Galway men/women and the hoodoo will eventually be broken, possibly when least expected. I agree with some of your comments. Tactically we were poor. Frankly I was baffled at the starting line up with pace being sacrificed for strength. I can't fault the effort in fairness and the lads who did not play well probably feel bad enough today without us keyboard geniuses laying into them. We must remember that players and management are amateurs but are giving an awful amount of their time and effort to the cause. I would not be totally without hope next Saturday provided the correct 15 are selected. Tipp will be under enormous pressure from their supporters whereas most of ours probably feel like yourself. I will have no issue if they are beaten as long as they die with their boots on, so to speak, but if they capitulate like last year v Clare then it certainly is time for a change.Keep the faith for another week 24.

savannahkat wrote: »

There was 4 points in it when the 70 minutes were up and if Joe Canning had taken his point instead of going for a ridiculous attempt at a goal that game could very well have turned. Galway did not roll over yesterday. After the last five minutes of the drawn game you could not fault any selectors for picking the starting fifteen Galway went with yesterday, the fault if any was not bringing in the smaller faster types to have a cut off Brian Hogan, Jackie and maybe even JJ. You are being extremely hard on your own players. I think you expected to win not realizing that Kilkenny knew they were in trouble and Cody had a very different game plan to day one. Four of the six Kilkenny forwards yesterday were near enough passengers which speaks volumes for the Galway defense and but for the fouling would have restricted Kilkenny to a very paltry score line. Galway are way better than most of their own supporters here are saying

I certainly did not expect to win, Jesus if any Galway person went to any Galway match expecting to win I'd seriously suggest that they should be admitted, oven all that we have suffered over the past 25 years. We aren't like Kk, we don't think we have this God given right to win games. I don't know about others, but I've dreaded going to matches over the last 10 years or more, given the likelihood of humiliating carnage. What I do expect however, is that we don't roll over - & that's exactly what happened. Lazy tackling guving up gimme frees, no teamwork in the forwards, the likes of David Burke getting blocked down doing the same fkn thing time after time, JC couldn't be arsed, Smith trying to get himself sent off, Niall Burke not trying a leg, Killeen hopelessly out of his depth. I could go on, but what's the point? Just watched the Sunday Game there - you'd swear they were given a script to follow, rolling out cliches all night. No critical analysis, some brief reference to hopeless balls into the kk defence, and Mulcahy going on about Reid's class goal at the end, even though he blatantly fouled the ball at least twice. Sums it all up - a complete shambles

24yearslater wrote: »

Horrendous, absolutely horrendous. No gameplan (assuming u don't call lorrrying crap high balls into a non existent, well beaten full forward line), no tactical awareness, no courage, no concept of even the basic requirements of intercounty hurling, no fight, no teamwork, no hope. These hurlers are hopeless, completely hopeless. 1 good performance in 3 yrs, and that was quickly followed up by quickly throwing away a winning position in the AI final against the same team, a team who were paralysed with fear of us for 2/3 of the game until they realised we were totally incapable of driving on from a real winning position. We'll have our arses handed to us to a big big way next Saturday, & in fairness thus bunch of players deserve nothing less. I don't mind losing, God knows we're used to it, but when we turn up & merely roll up to have our bellies tickled, & raise the white flag after about 15 mins, well then I know it's time for me to say to hell with them. I'm done following them now, they're not worth the effort anymore. Some people say that they put in the same effort as all others & hence they deserve our support, but I'm not buying that, if they did they wouldn't be putting in so many bad performances over the last 20 odd months. We'll get destroyed on Saturday, Cunningham will get the bullet, there'll be a load of sparring between the clubs, a new man will be appointed after another co board charade, and these same players will pull 1 decent performance out of the fire when it's least expected, but they'll ultimately fail. It's so bloody devastating, Galway hurling is dead, and there isn't even an effn pulse.

Settle now, settle. Things are bad but as Fergal Moore once said "You're never as good as you look when you win nor as bad as you look when you lose". For the record, if we had the 6 backs yesterday evening for the '12 final, we would have won it. The backs are good enough, the 2 Burkes are right cuts of hurlers and the half back line is at least the correct location for Tan. Moore and Collins did nothing much too wrong either. Yes, they conceded too many frees in the first half, but that is one of the easier things to rectify.

However, MGMT now have to bite the bullet and drop David Burke, restore Coen to midfield where he was very effective in the league, drop Niall Burke who epitomises the inconsistency of Galway; drop Joseph Cooney and Johnny Glynn, grand honest lads with great heart, but nowhere remotely near county level standard. Restore Cathal Mannion, though quiet the first day, at least has a better controlling touch and an awareness of teammates in space. Encourage Andy Smith to temper his aggression with control. After that, I don't know, try and patch up the blanks with a few, new hungry lads. If you're going to lose, it may as well be doing it trying something new.

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

You are dropping a lot of players there - hope you have some better replacements to bring in!

I would have dropped David Burke for the replay. He just hasnt really done it this year and maybe dropping him would have sparked something in him. He has so much talent that its frustrating when you dont see him show it. I am not sure there is a huge amount you can do to improve the actual line up of the team. Is there any obvious player currently not getting a game that should be? I cant think of one. I'd like to see Mannion start at 10 and drop David Burke (or move Burke to midfield). Other than that, it's difficult to see where the team can be improved. Its easy to say X should be dropped. But everybody said that about Brehony last week, Cooney comes in and now he should be dropped. No point in dropping these players if the replacements are no better! Instead,they need to be encouraged and improved by getting game time.

Yes, but that is what I mean in the last line by trying something (somebody) new. David Burke played midfield all evening Saturday with no obvious improvement. Joseph Cooney (and Glynn) have been on the panel all during Cunningham's time, again with no discernible improvement in about 3 years. There comes a time when you have to draw a line under them and do something different. Of course, they may come good in time, it's taken TJ Reid probably until now to finally establish himself as a first teamer for KK, but it's unlikely there's going to be a sea change in the fortunes of the aforementioned in a week.

24yearslater wrote: »

I certainly did not expect to win, Jesus if any Galway person went to any Galway match expecting to win I'd seriously suggest that they should be admitted, oven all that we have suffered over the past 25 years. We aren't like Kk, we don't think we have this God given right to win games. I don't know about others, but I've dreaded going to matches over the last 10 years or more, given the likelihood of humiliating carnage. What I do expect however, is that we don't roll over - & that's exactly what happened.

In fairness it's very harsh to say Galway rolled over. There was 4 points in it as normal time ended. That is nothing in hurling. Kilkenny scored 1-1 in the last minute of injury time. Believe me I've seen Galway games when they have just given up but they kept going the last day.

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

You are dropping a lot of players there - hope you have some better replacements to bring in!

I would have stopped David Burke for the replay. He just hasnt really done it this year and maybe dropping him would have sparked something in him. He has so much talent that its frustrating when you dont see him show it. I am not sure there is a huge amount you can do to improve the actual line up of the team. Is there any obvious player currently not getting a game that should be? I cant think of one. I'd like to see Mannion start at 10 and drop David Burke (or move Burke to midfield). Other than that, it's difficult to see where the team can be improved. Its easy to say X should be dropped. But everybody said that about Brehony last week, Cooney comes in and now he should be dropped. No point in dropping these players if the replacements are no better! Instead,they need to be encouraged and improved by getting game time.

We look settled at the back except for right wing. Picking Killeen in his first championship start there to mark Reid made no sense, surely if he was to start it should have been in the corner in a swap with Collins where he is used to playing and where his lack of pace wouldn't be exposed so much. Harte had to be dropped, teams were starting to target his wing with puck outs and long clearances where his weakness under the high ball was exposed, don't think he's good enough anyway. I can understand not wanting to move Collins out as the full back line looks solid with Collins and Moore good at covering for Ronan Burke when he follows the full forward out as he often does but think we need to make that change. Noticeable that after Kk hit the first few puck outs to tannians wing where he cleaned tommy walsh they changed to the right wing and had a lot of success hitting there with nearly every long ball after that.

Our midfield and particularly forward line are really struggling, with Donnellan and Healy injured and Niall and David Burke badly out of form we're short of options here. Think we have to play to our strengths and go back to a 3 man midfield ahead of a tight defence to make us difficult to score against. Brehony was unlucky to be dropped had a good league and thought he was our best player v Laois, equally Coen was unlucky especially when David Burke has been consistently poor but still gets picked, time for Cunningham to make the call here, Thomas's man or not. Might be worth trying a switch of Smith to the forward line, he plays club there has pace and can take a score. Time to bite the bullet with Canning and play him midfield where he can get him on the ball more, don't think he's going to get much out of Paudie Maher if played FF, leave Glynn on him to keep him busy with Flynn and Mannion buzzing around Glynn.

Team for me would be,

Callinan
Moore R.Burke Killeen
Collins D.Burke Tannian

Coen Canning Brehony

Mannion Cooney Smith
Flynn Glynn

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I never need to see a two man full-forward line ever again.

nothing wrong with a two man fullforward line when it worked so well 2 yrs ago.

Colm Lyons (Cork) is the ref for the game Saturday

I'm not sure though Galway have the right composition of forwards to play the type of game Cunningham wants to achieve. If he wants to play a two man full forward line, with forwards coming short creating space, he needs a lot of movement and work rate. Two years ago he had David Burke (who was in great form then) and Cyril Donnellan who gave ye this movement with Damien Hayes coming out too. It worked well with Canning, Burke and co. having excellent seasons. I know in my own county, we try similar-ish tactics, with the likes of Podge, Kelly and McGrath centrally involved.

With the exception of Conor Cooney, I don't think yer forward line last week of J. Cooney, Canning, Flynn, Glynn, D. Burke possess the movement and workrate required to play the type of game Cunningham is looking to play. Ryanair is right, ye should be looking more to the likes of the players he listed, or else play more direct.

No surprise that Coen is restored to the team, nor that Joe Cooney is dropped, nor that Brehony is reinstated in midfield and Mannion corner forward. Niall Burke had to go after last week but David Burke really also in last chance saloon now too. Serious lack of options means Glynn starts FF, only hope he can distract the Tipp FB enough to allow that corner forwards do damage. Team named shows just how limited Galway are in forward alternatives.