Galway GAA discussion thread

MfMan · 02-07-2015 10:03AM

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

The same Cyril Donnellan that's having his best season in a Galway jersey this year?

Oh no. Good v Dublin in the drawn game, probably wouldn't have gotten a result without him, reasonable in the replay, very average in the Laois match. His best season was shaping up to be 2012, with the Leinster final his best ever display in a Galway jersey IMHO, unfortunately injury (again) derailed him a bit that year.

I like Cyril but I can see why some aren't too gone on him; he is awkward and rather ungainly. He has a good attitude and willingness for work, with perhaps his biggest strength being his strength on the ball, his biggest weakness his use of it at times, tends to waste possession too cheaply in spots. As I've said before, ideally there should only be room for either he or Glynn in a starting team.

TCDStudent1 · 02-07-2015 10:28AM

MfMan wrote: »

David Burke at his best is a much better hurler than Colin Fennelly and at least on a par with Larkin.

Wouldn't agree with that at all.

1) We haven't seen the David Burke at his best now since 2012. That's a long time to not be at your best.

2) In my opinion, Fennelly is a far more dangerous forward than Burke. Faster, more skilful & more accurate.

In saying that, Burke can be a damn good player when on form.

donnem33 · 02-07-2015 10:50AM

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Wouldn't agree with that at all.

1) We haven't seen the David Burke at his best now since 2012. That's a long time to not be at your best.

2) In my opinion, Fennelly is a far more dangerous forward than Burke. Faster, more skilful & more accurate.

In saying that, Burke can be a damn good player when on form.

I would agree that Fennelly is a better forward than Burke due to Burke being more of a natural mid field/wing back but wouldnt agree that Fennelly is more skillful, they are both about the same!!

As for accuracy..you must be joking me!!! Fennelly is an awful striker of the ball!!! Yes he is good when shooting for goals...but shooting from distance for points he is very unreliable!

TCDStudent1 · 02-07-2015 11:09AM

donnem33 wrote: »

I would agree that Fennelly is a better forward than Burke due to Burke being more of a natural mid field/wing back but wouldnt agree that Fennelly is more skillful, they are both about the same!!

As for accuracy..you must be joking me!!! Fennelly is an awful striker of the ball!!! Yes he is good when shooting for goals...but shooting from distance for points he is very unreliable!

In what way do you think he is a better forward so?!

donnem33 · 02-07-2015 11:20AM

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

In what way do you think he is a better forward so?!

He has serious pace that would cut through a defense and is a very direct runner. If he improved his shooting he would be one of the top forwards in the game!

TCDStudent1 · 02-07-2015 11:23AM

donnem33 wrote: »

He has serious pace that would cut through a defense and is a very direct runner. If he improved his shooting he would be one of the top forwards in the game!

I would already rate Fennelly as one of the top forwards in the game.

Inevitably he will let me down on Sunday after saying something like that. But if he does, it increases Galway's chances of winning. If he doesn't, I can come back on here and say "I told ye all how good he was"!

MfMan · 02-07-2015 02:50PM

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I would already rate Fennelly as one of the top forwards in the game.

Inevitably he will let me down on Sunday after saying something like that. But if he does, it increases Galway's chances of winning. If he doesn't, I can come back on here and say "I told ye all how good he was"!

Nowhere near it. Donnem33 is correct, he's very average at striking - look at the one-on-one he missed in last year's drawn final. Burke is at least a long way ahead on stickwork, but as was said, he (Burke) is more 'out the field' where Fennelly is usually a FF man.

Roquentin · 02-07-2015 02:59PM

both of them are better than cyril

Hulk Hands · 03-07-2015 01:44AM

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Never... He's not as good of a footballer though watching him for Corofin. Not to say he's bad just not as good as his hurling.

Why Never? He'd walk onto the Galway side in either half back or midfield, and be one of the better players in the country when doing so. Dunno, when you've watched him for Corofin this year, his standout performances in either code came in the semi final against Vincents when he was the best player on the park, and the final. Would love to see him give the dual a go some year. A bit laughable for the hurling manager (Cunningham) to be the one to forbid dual players, considering the financial mess the hurlers have caused and the history of success of the respective teams

galwaylad14 · 03-07-2015 08:11AM

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Why Never? He'd walk onto the Galway side in either half back or midfield, and be one of the better players in the country when doing so. Dunno, when you've watched him for Corofin this year, his standout performances in either code came in the semi final against Vincents when he was the best player on the park, and the final. Would love to see him give the dual a go some year. A bit laughable for the hurling manager (Cunningham) to be the one to forbid dual players, considering the financial mess the hurlers have caused and the history of success of the respective teams

How do either of those factors make Cunningham's decision laughable? They're totally irrelevant. If he doesn't want dual players then he's perfectly entitled to put that rule in place.

The day of the dual player is gone. There's too much involved to be able to play both. Anyway as it is now I think Daithi has a far better chance of silverware with the hurlers.

By all accounts the 2 Mannian's would walk on to the county football panel aswell if they wanted but thankfully they, like Daithi have made the right decision to focus on the hurling.

Rob Thomas · 03-07-2015 09:29AM

galwaylad14 wrote: »

How do either of those factors make Cunningham's decision laughable? They're totally irrelevant. If he doesn't want dual players then he's perfectly entitled to put that rule in place.

The day of the dual player is gone. There's too much involved to be able to play both. Anyway as it is now I think Daithi has a far better chance of silverware with the hurlers.

By all accounts the 2 Mannian's would walk on to the county football panel aswell if they wanted but thankfully they, like Daithi have made the right decision to focus on the hurling.

Cunningham is right to rule out the dual player role, its been shown time and again that it doesn't work out in the majority of cases. There is too much pressure on the player and one or both codes suffers.

Having said that, someone needs to tell Daithi.... he seems to play as much football as anyone else for Corofin, often within a week of a hurling game when guys would probably not be allowed to hurl with their clubs!!

But he is a fantastic footballer and would walk into the Galway football team, that's beyond debate. Whether he would get into a top 5 intercounty side is another question. Probably not without dedicating himself more to it but I think he has always said that hurling is his preferred game.

galwaylad14 · 03-07-2015 10:00AM

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I would already rate Fennelly as one of the top forwards in the game.

Inevitably he will let me down on Sunday after saying something like that. But if he does, it increases Galway's chances of winning. If he doesn't, I can come back on here and say "I told ye all how good he was"!

Colin Fennelly isn't within an asses roar of being one of the top forwards in the game.

Do you actually rate him as being up there with Canning, Hogan, Richie Power, Bubbles, Callanan, Kelly etc?

His striking is poor as others have noted. He's a good man for a goal in fairness and has good pace but he wouldn't lace the boots of the real top forwards in the game.

Some people seem to think that because a player has a few All Ireland's playing for Kilkenny that they're all automatically great hurlers. But this isn't the case. Obviously a lot of the players on those teams will be remembered as all time greats like Delaney, Walsh, Shefflin, Hogan etc. But a lot of the players on those teams were just good solid intercounty hurlers, that were lucky to have been able to play beside some of those greats and that was ulimately the reason they were able to win all those All Ireland. It's not that those teams had 15 superhuman heroes playing for them.

03-07-2015 11:29AM

Hulk Hands wrote: »

Why Never? He'd walk onto the Galway side in either half back or midfield, and be one of the better players in the country when doing so. Dunno, when you've watched him for Corofin this year, his standout performances in either code came in the semi final against Vincents when he was the best player on the park, and the final. Would love to see him give the dual a go some year. A bit laughable for the hurling manager (Cunningham) to be the one to forbid dual players, considering the financial mess the hurlers have caused and the history of success of the respective teams

Never as in he never has been part of the squad.

I don't think he's that good in fairness. He's a great club player but I don't think he'd have the same impact at county, he's a HB and in football that position needs good ball carriers... He's more a traditional HB.
Not saying he isn't worth a look but guys have been on about Steed among others from that team thinking the club performances warranted inclusion but I don't think any are glaring omissions.

brookville · 03-07-2015 12:04PM

Don't think colin is the greatest foward kk have but what he has is absolute huge workrate and great pace,the hook he made against limerick last year was highlighted after chasing back the length of croke park,these are the things people don't see,his striking seems to let him down and has to be improved but the switching of him to full foward in the replay last year in the second half was a turning point getting 3 points and winning two frees,his not the silkiest hurler but his a handful for any defender

Hulk Hands · 03-07-2015 12:57PM

galwaylad14 wrote: »

How do either of those factors make Cunningham's decision laughable? They're totally irrelevant. If he doesn't want dual players then he's perfectly entitled to put that rule in place.

The day of the dual player is gone. There's too much involved to be able to play both. Anyway as it is now I think Daithi has a far better chance of silverware with the hurlers.

By all accounts the 2 Mannian's would walk on to the county football panel aswell if they wanted but thankfully they, like Daithi have made the right decision to focus on the hurling.

I can understand if both managers came to the decision to make players choose. Just found it funny how one gave the option while the other outright forbid it, knowing which side the player in question would choose. Our county boards as a whole should have the common goal of improving GAA in the county, and if a dual player playing would weaken one but improve the whole then it should be an option. Nothing has stopped the hurling crowd putting a lot of pressure on a certain young footballer to play hurling in the last 4/5 years, so a bit of hypocrisy there.

MfMan · 03-07-2015 01:43PM

galwaylad14 wrote: »

Colin Fennelly isn't within an asses roar of being one of the top forwards in the game.

Do you actually rate him as being up there with Canning, Hogan, Richie Power, Bubbles, Callanan, Kelly etc?

His striking is poor as others have noted. He's a good man for a goal in fairness and has good pace but he wouldn't lace the boots of the real top forwards in the game.

Some people seem to think that because a player has a few All Ireland's playing for Kilkenny that they're all automatically great hurlers. But this isn't the case. Obviously a lot of the players on those teams will be remembered as all time greats like Delaney, Walsh, Shefflin, Hogan etc. But a lot of the players on those teams were just good solid intercounty hurlers, that were lucky to have been able to play beside some of those greats and that was ulimately the reason they were able to win all those All Ireland. It's not that those teams had 15 superhuman heroes playing for them.

Absolutely spot on.

danganabu · 03-07-2015 05:28PM

gilberto_eire wrote: »

I saw a lad put down his performance against Dub in the other thread citing an injured FB which is ridicules as they weren't FF goals and that's irrelevant. He also got 3 pts in the test first game. He's better than 2/3 of the starting KK forwards Imo.

If you are going to quote me then please quote the full sentence and of course a FB line is not going to function without its first choice FB and a clearly injured corner back. And I would love to know which 2/3 forwards out of R Hogan, TJ Reid, R Power, C Fennelly, E Larkin and G Aylward that Mannion is better than??

03-07-2015 09:59PM

Regardless of the merit of any Kilkenny forward, we have plenty to be concerned about in our own backline. Fergal Moore comes in for the injured David Collins. Collins is a big loss in my eyes. Fergal Moore was one of our top performers for a number of years but he hasn't played much with Galway recently or even with Turloughmore. Its a big call putting him in considering we are likely to have plenty of questions asked of us on Sunday. Hopefully his experience will be a help.

Other change sees Davy Glennon come in. He made a good impression when he came on against Laois even if the game was over. Think he works quite well off Canning when getting decent ball in. Niall Healy didn't really take his chance against Laois.

Elsewhere, midfield has done quite well the last couple of matches. I'd have had question marks about Aidan Harte's selection but he has done quite well. This is another significant step up though. David Burke has shown good form in the last couple of outings since coming back. He'll need to cover a lot of ground around midfield if we are to do anything.

I'll be honest and say John Hanbury concerns me hugely. He is a work in progress but there is a risk he could be exposed on Sunday. Tannian is also a concern in the wide open spaces of Croke Park.

I think we can put up a decent score but its a question of how well we perform as a unit defensively to see how we get on. We have to prevent early goals at all costs so John Hanbury can't get isolated inside early on under any circumstances.

T0001 · 03-07-2015 10:12PM

Kilkenny Team
Eoin Murphy;
Paul Murphy, Joey Holden, Jackie Tyrrell;
Padraig Walsh, Kieran Joyce, Cillian Buckley;
Michael Fennelly, Conor Fogarty;
Walter Walsh, Richie Hogan, TJ Reid;
Ger Aylward, Colin Fennelly, Eoin Larkin.

Galway Team
Colm Callanan
Johnny Coen; John Hanbury; Padraic Mannion;
Fergal Moore; Iarla Tannian; Daithí BUrke;
Andy Smith; Aidan Harte;
David Burke; Cyril Donnellan; Johnny Glynn
Davy Glennon; Joe Canning; Cathal Mannion

MfMan · 04-07-2015 01:45AM

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Regardless of the merit of any Kilkenny forward, we have plenty to be concerned about in our own backline. Fergal Moore comes in for the injured David Collins. Collins is a big loss in my eyes. Fergal Moore was one of our top performers for a number of years but he hasn't played much with Galway recently or even with Turloughmore. Its a big call putting him in considering we are likely to have plenty of questions asked of us on Sunday. Hopefully his experience will be a help.

Other change sees Davy Glennon come in. He made a good impression when he came on against Laois even if the game was over. Think he works quite well off Canning when getting decent ball in. Niall Healy didn't really take his chance against Laois.

Elsewhere, midfield has done quite well the last couple of matches. I'd have had question marks about Aidan Harte's selection but he has done quite well. This is another significant step up though. David Burke has shown good form in the last couple of outings since coming back. He'll need to cover a lot of ground around midfield if we are to do anything.

I'll be honest and say John Hanbury concerns me hugely. He is a work in progress but there is a risk he could be exposed on Sunday. Tannian is also a concern in the wide open spaces of Croke Park.

I think we can put up a decent score but its a question of how well we perform as a unit defensively to see how we get on. We have to prevent early goals at all costs so John Hanbury can't get isolated inside early on under any circumstances.

To be brutally honest and I like Collins, on his most recent form, he isn't really. Moore deserves his chance, but his selection robs us of one more defensive option off the bench. Really encouraged about Smith and Harte this season, the latter actually going as well as I think I've seen him in maroon. Hanbury is of course everyone's concern and I don't think Tan will play no. 6.

sporter1 · 04-07-2015 12:06PM

Who is vice captain now Collins is out?

T0001 · 04-07-2015 12:55PM

sporter1 wrote: »

Who is vice captain now Collins is out?

Canning I think, although someone said Fergal Moore

04-07-2015 06:39PM

MfMan wrote: »

To be brutally honest and I like Collins, on his most recent form, he isn't really. Moore deserves his chance, but his selection robs us of one more defensive option off the bench. Really encouraged about Smith and Harte this season, the latter actually going as well as I think I've seen him in maroon. Hanbury is of course everyone's concern and I don't think Tan will play no. 6.

Collins hasn't been going great but how much hurling has Fergal Moore got under his belt. Its a big stage to step into. Tannian probably won't start 6 but regardless of where he starts, his lack of pace is becoming an increasing concern at this stage.

04-07-2015 07:09PM

I felt too much was taken of the KK/Wex game due to KK teams of the past and after 7mins here that hasn't changed.

8-1 to Cork already... Wexford look as poor as an Offaly/Laois. Just a blip last year.

04-07-2015 08:56PM

Much needed boost for Galway football with the minors winning 3-14-1-3 against Mayo in Castlebar. Face Sligo in the Connacht final now. Good to see the spread of clubs in the side as well. Midfield combination from Craughwell and Aran Islands. Galway got the wind in the first half which undoubtedly helped and led 0-12-1-0 at half time. Game was over as a contest early in 2nd half.

Hard to know if its a case of Galway being good or Mayo poor and minor level can throw up some strange results but this is encouraging.

Utopia Parkway · 04-07-2015 09:02PM

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Much needed boost for Galway football with the minors winning 3-14-1-3 against Mayo in Castlebar. Face Sligo in the Connacht final now. Good to see the spread of clubs in the side as well. Midfield combination from Craughwell and Aran Islands. Galway got the wind in the first half which undoubtedly helped and led 0-12-1-0 at half time. Game was over as a contest early in 2nd half.

Hard to know if its a case of Galway being good or Mayo poor and minor level can throw up some strange results but this is encouraging.

Lad in midfield from the Aran Islands got man of the match.

RobbieRuns · 04-07-2015 10:05PM

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Lad in midfield from the Aran Islands got man of the match.

Maith an buchail !

rossie1977 · 04-07-2015 10:57PM

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Hard to know if its a case of Galway being good or Mayo poor and minor level can throw up some strange results but this is encouraging.

i saw galway winning the ted webb (under 16) final against us last year and they were excellent all over the field so i am assuming a number of those lads are minor this year

TCDStudent1 · 04-07-2015 11:17PM

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Much needed boost for Galway football with the minors winning 3-14-1-3 against Mayo in Castlebar. Face Sligo in the Connacht final now. Good to see the spread of clubs in the side as well. Midfield combination from Craughwell and Aran Islands. Galway got the wind in the first half which undoubtedly helped and led 0-12-1-0 at half time. Game was over as a contest early in 2nd half.

Hard to know if its a case of Galway being good or Mayo poor and minor level can throw up some strange results but this is encouraging.

I dont know anything about this minor team. But the spread of clubs is not necessarily a good thing and might actually be reflective of a drop in standard in North Galway clubs, rather than an increase in quality in other clubs.

Hulk Hands · 05-07-2015 01:42AM

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

I dont know anything about this minor team. But the spread of clubs is not necessarily a good thing and might actually be reflective of a drop in standard in North Galway clubs, rather than an increase in quality in other clubs.

It's probably a bit of both. There's more clubs playing football so say a good player like McDaid, will be inclined to stay with Craughwell rather than go to say Corofin or Claregalway. Also there's newish clubs like Athenry that are very strong at underage. Biggest reason for the big spread though would be that smaller clubs are finally getting a look in, rather than the team being wrongly dominated by Jarlaths and the likes of Corofin. Coaching has far bigger reach these days so everyone good is being spotted. Given how strong Corofin are now, and to a lesser extent Salthill and Killererin in the past, i'd probably see it as a positive thing that they only had two starters between them

Galway GAA discussion thread

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