Galway GAA discussion thread

Stanza2 wrote: »

Shane Walsh = the new Ja Fallon + Padraic Joyce

No pressure then!

I felt embarassed for Bradshaw on Sunday Game. Nowhere near his man anytime. Needs to be dropped

TheCoolWay wrote: »

I felt embarassed for Bradshaw on Sunday Game. Nowhere near his man anytime. Needs to be dropped

Bar possibly the ball that came back off the post I don't see how you can make that conclusion from watching the Sunday game.

I enjoyed the win anyway, its got us all talking again about what might happen and we are going to Croke park to play Kerry in a 1/4 final.


Its been a lot worse than that over the last 6 or 7 years. I hope we give them a game to remember or maybe win even, stranger things have happened.


Its going to be a good day out in Dublin next Sunday anyway with both Munster arch rivals and Connaught arch rivals there.


Come on Galway, and no pressure on Shane Walsh (just keep doing that kind of thing )

The defensive weakness is a major worry and you'd have to question the standard of coaching at this stage. Every successful team be it gaelic football, hurling or soccer is built on the foundation of a solid defence. You can have 6 Padraig Joyce's in the forward line but while the defence are leaking so many soft scores you'll always be in trouble.

That's the big failing of this management team that in 3 years they still haven't put together any sort of defensive system. The way teams waltz through the middle of our defence is shocking, it's defending like you might expect in a Sunday morning junior match. And I agree with the comments about Bradshaw, he is a good footballer but defensively useless.

On the plus side, and clutching at straws of optimism, Croke Park often does seem to bring out the best in Galway teams as does playing Kerry. It has the makings of another good game between two counties that like to play football the old fashioned way but Kerry's extra experience and extra bit of class should see them home. We have the forwards to cause them problems but our defence could be brutally exposed again.

antoobrien wrote: »

Your theory is being comprehensively disproved by the current Dublin team, who lets be frank are conceding a fair bit, but they are scoring at least 20 times per match, which is a very good rate for football.

If Dublin were playing on Saturday, they would have kicked on again for another 10 scores. This is something that does not seem to be in the makeup of the footballers (or the hurlers).

I don't think you're being entirely fair here. Dublin are an exception because they have a ridiculous amount of scoring power and they can bring forwards off the bench who would walk onto most county teams, lads who will come on and score 1-2 or 0-3 and you wonder why they're not starting until you realise the amount of quality that Jim Gavin has to choose from.

I was speaking in general terms, that the defensive setup is the first thing you have to get right. Take the great Barcelona team of the last few years, all the talk was of tika taka and great passing and all of that but what was often overlooked is how much they hassled the opposition when they did lose the ball, they way they worked so hard to get it back. Chasing, harrying, closing down space.

Dublin do that too, they work hard to get the ball back and defend in such a way that it starts from number 15, everyone has to get stuck in when you're not in possession. What worries me about Galway is that when teams run at us through the middle it's like Moses parting the red sea. This has been a problem for a few years now and I just wonder what's being done in terms of coaching and tactics to try and correct this.

aidan24326 wrote: »

I don't think you're being entirely fair here. Dublin are an exception because they have a ridiculous amount of scoring power and they can bring forwards off the bench who would walk onto most county teams, lads who will come on and score 1-2 or 0-3 and you wonder why they're not starting until you realise the amount of quality that Jim Gavin has to choose from.

I was speaking in general terms, that the defensive setup is the first thing you have to get right. Take the great Barcelona team of the last few years, all the talk was of tika taka and great passing and all of that but what was often overlooked is how much they hassled the opposition when they did lose the ball, they way they worked so hard to get it back. Chasing, harrying, closing down space.

Dublin do that too, they work hard to get the ball back and defend in such a way that it starts from number 15, everyone has to get stuck in when you're not in possession. What worries me about Galway is that when teams run at us through the middle it's like Moses parting the red sea. This has been a problem for a few years now and I just wonder what's being done in terms of coaching and tactics to try and correct this.

Galway seem to have plenty of numbers back in defence but a lot of them don't seem to know what they should be doing or who they should be picking up. It just seems like a basic lack of organisation coupled with some players who have poor defensive instincts like Bradshaw.

For the first Tipp goal there should have been no danger of a goal at all but Bradshaw got attracted to the ball carrier and left his man in acres of space out wide. Once he got close the Tipp player just handpassed it over his head to the free man. Bradshaw should have held his width and marked his man because the Galway cover was getting across to the ball carrier. At worst the Tipp player might have had the time to kick a handy point but Bradshaw rushing out to him created the free man who eventually scored the goal.

antoobrien wrote: »

So it's surprise you to note that Dublin have conceded the second highest (joint with Wexford) score by a winner in Leinster (0-16)?

Their defence isn't great, it's the fact that their forwards can and do win most of their own ball that makes them so lethal.

I agree that their forwards/midfield are what may set them apart from other teams but that is not to say that their defense "isn't great".

If that's the case then neither is any of the other provincial winners defense great. I just think your comment earlier about another poster's comment re good defense being "comprehensively disproved" by Dublin is just not accurate.

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Galway seem to have plenty of numbers back in defence but a lot of them don't seem to know what they should be doing or who they should be picking up. It just seems like a basic lack of organisation coupled with some players who have poor defensive instincts like Bradshaw.

For the first Tipp goal there should have been no danger of a goal at all but Bradshaw got attracted to the ball carrier and left his man in acres of space out wide. Once he got close the Tipp player just handpassed it over his head to the free man. Bradshaw should have held his width and marked his man because the Galway cover was getting across to the ball carrier. At worst the Tipp player might have had the time to kick a handy point but Bradshaw rushing out to him created the free man who eventually scored the goal.

Fair enough but the attempt made by Burke to cover the goalscorer was poor. He charged in and bought a very basic dummy from the Tipp forward who then had loads of time to make a better angle and pick his spot.

Worthwent14 wrote: »

Tipps first goal looked straight at the keeper and he looked like he dived to his left out of the way. Should have been saved a routine save at this level

Their keeper was very poor in general. Should have saved that and was beaten by Cummins in an aerial duel. Thats unforgivable.

Naux wrote: »

Fair enough but the attempt made by Burke to cover the goalscorer was poor. He charged in and bought a very basic dummy from the Tipp forward who then had loads of time to make a better angle and pick his spot.

I wouldn't put too much blame on Burke to be honest. He had to run at full pelt just to get there. All because Bradshaw had abandoned his man to run towards the ball carrier. By right Bradshaw should have stayed wide and Burke would have been able to close down the ball carrier.

h2005 wrote: »

Their keeper was very poor in general. Should have saved that and was beaten by Cummins in an aerial duel. Thats unforgivable.

You say that, but Cummins has a great leap on him for a small fella, he scored a fine fisted goal last year v Armagh jumping above everyone and I have seen him regularly outjump players. He was very unfortunate for that ball to hit the woodwork. There was also a defender there as well as the goalkeeper. I think it was great play by Cummins rather than poor goalkeeping.

Strange thing is that it was the soft goals against Mayo that really won them the game a few weeks ago and even in Croker last year against Cork we gave the lead away with a soft goal. We need to cut it out, we do have to worry about those goals !

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I wouldn't put too much blame on Burke to be honest. He had to run at full pelt just to get there. All because Bradshaw had abandoned his man to run towards the ball carrier. By right Bradshaw should have stayed wide and Burke would have been able to close down the ball carrier.

You are right in that Burke was trying to cover for another defenders mistake but I still think he defended badly in that situation. It was not as if he dived to block the kick or anything, he just ran straight past the guy and the guy was near the endline!

Hulk Hands wrote: »

As happy as a pig in shiite! Not perfect by any means but feck it, a QF is progress and we can be happy with the year if it ends here. Thank God for Hanley in the first half, and good to see the goals coming from unlikely sources. From looking here, dont think ive ever seen a twitter reaction to a score like the one from Walsh! He has much to learn but you cant teach class and he has it in abundance

Hanley made a couple of great interceptions in the first half, cut out some dangerous looking attacks.

I could not understand why he retreated back so far in the second half when Tipp were looking for goals. He was almost standing on Healy's toes for a couple of the goals. It reminded me of what you would see an under 10 player do! We need Hanley to boss the defense for Galway as he is by far the most experienced player. He needs to step up big time against Kerry.