Galway GAA discussion thread

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Not a post in weeks and both teams unbeaten so far.

I guess the bigger news was Powers retirement, a year or two earlier than anticipated but that's another superstar gone.

People might try to say they won it without him last year and that's true to an extent but he'd have played if he was available and it's another unproven player that has to come in.

Apart from that midfielder who was minor last year they haven't anything astounding to replace the great players that are leaving in spades.

Be nice if at least one more left though we can probably bank of Jackie and Larkin going in the next two years.

Big plus for them now though is they have two of the top three players in the country.

Footballers aren't probably worth talking about until the league settles and we see have any new additions been attained.

We can forget about challenging though against the top 3/4 unless we come back with a worked on kick out strategy.
The days of pumping aimless balls are long gone, might get you to a quarter but you wont beat the likes of Dublin using traditional midfielders(they need to lads who can interchange into either forwards or defence if needs be to maximise your tools from open play ala MDMC) and pumping balls down the pitch.

Kilkenny undoubtedly haven't the depth of other years but we've seen over the last few years that they nearly always find solutions to problem positions. Their first 17 or 18 are still formidable and they are always bringing in a couple of players gradually to the squad who end up making a name for themselves when not expected.

We need to see how we can improve starting with last year's 2nd half horror show. The gap between Kilkenny and Galway has remained comfortably enough in Kilkenny's favour the last few years. 2013 was Kilkenny's only off year during which we completely caved in.

I'm encouraged to see a few new names get a run and make a name for themselves. We need to strengthen again if we hope to push on. With the likes of Collins, Smith, Tannian, Donnellan and them lads pushing on we need new players pushing through. Paul Hoban is a good player who probably should have got in before this year.

Paul Claffey has done well in the games to date, we need Padraig Brehony to start delivering at senior level, he has the talent if the steeliness and belief can be put into him. Good to see Niall Burke back in the fold with Johnny Glynn not back from his travels yet afaik. Eanna Burke has done well at club level the last couple of years and has started the year well.

Sunday is the first real outing we've got. Don't see Dublin doing anything later in the year but Parnell Park is always a difficult venue to win.

I honestly don't see much hope for the footballers. The promise that eventually started to show at the end of Alan Mulholland's reign has amounted to little. With Gary Sice gone and Micheal Lundy and Johnny Duane gone abroad I don't really see much hope for us. David Wynne impressed me the opening day against Sligo. The other additions to the panel are good footballers but don't see them giving the squad the boost it needs. Given the last of senior players/leadership in the squad we need a few good batches of underage teams coming together and the talent just doesn't look to be there at the moment. Allied to that the management team really fails to inspire me from what I've seen of them to date.

Good win for the footballers. The FBD League isn't a big deal but its a good few years since we won any silverware at senior level so it's a nice confidence boost to win it before the start of the league especially with it being a tight finish. Another defeat today would have been a further dent to a fragile confidence. In the end Galway probably needed it a bit more than Roscommon today who will feel they laid down their marker against Mayo last week.

The two goals was a huge start and I thought we did quite well for the majority of the first half. We were on top in midfield and the half backs were getting forward well. 2nd half was a different story and in the end I was certain Roscommon would nick it. We created little and squandered the 2 or 3 good chances we did create. To be fair when it went to level pegging we got the next two scores and that hasn't happened often in recent years.

I'd be a critic of Paul Conroy but today he delivered a good performance, Comer got the two goals which we needed in the end and I thought Gary O'Donnell did well. Some of the new players have done fine. Johnny Heaney is a player that impresses me, David Wynne is doing ok, Brannigan and Enda Tierney had their moments. Kyne did ok with a tough job on Senan Kilbride but longer term I'm not convinced he's the answer.

Really the ref prevented a decent game breaking out, he blew for a free inside 3 seconds and it went downhill from there, his dishing out of yellow cards was random to say the least.

Despite some positives there remains far too much inconsistency in this Galway side. There have been umpteen matches under Kevin Walsh where we look a decent side for 20-30 minutes but then completely go out of the game for another 20-30 minute spell. Again no score for I'd say around the first 20 minutes of the 2nd half.

Laois next week will tell us a lot more. They have hammered us a couple of times in Portlaoise and easily beat us in Tuam last year also. Its an important game with Division 2 is top heavy with Ulster sides. Tyrone aside there is no top team in the division but there are no mugs either every win is likely to be hard earned.

Bad day for the hurlers but at least we've had a look at a few new players in this competition. We'd have to be a bit behind the others in terms of where we are at preparation wise and that's not a bad thing in my view. In 2013 we tore back into training a few weeks after the All-Ireland and we never got going all year. Cork will be determined to take the first step on the road back against us in the first round of the league but we've still 3 weeks to get a bit more up to speed.

Congrats to Abbeyknockmoy on their win. No Galway team has ever won the Intermediate club All-Ireland. Bennettsbridge are a strong side with a few players on the fringes of the Kilkenny panel or who have significant underage experience but Abbey won't stand back from them and hopefully they can do the business.

Good win. Job pretty much done by half time and only really gave Laois a sniff of it in the 2nd half for a couple of minutes. Varley and Comer starting the year well in the full forward line. For a team that has struggled to put sufficient scores on the board for a few years now, 3-12 is a positive start to the season. David Wynne has started the new year well at corner back and may be the man to step in for Johnny Duane.

By all accounts Laois were poor but it's the only away win in Division 2 today and settles a few ghosts from past seasons.

Tyrone will be a massive step up in intensity next week. I don't expect a win there but it'll give us a better barometer of where we are at.

A bit disappointing both are clashing. To be fair the GAA have their schedule to stick to and they want to fight their corner as well but a large proportion of people follow a number of sports and the GAA need to be mindful of this in trying to get people in the gate.

1pm might have been a bit too early for Tyrone even though I'm sure they'll travel on Saturday. Unfortunately this is a regular occurrence which could be avoided if there was a facility with lights capable of holding these matches on Saturday night. The lack of any joined up policy in Galway GAA has resulted in 4 venues none of which are suitable for various reasons. Ballinasloe now has lights which is a credit to themselves but Duggan Park has been allowed fall into a shocking state of disrepair that would require a huge investment to bring it up to the required standard.

As for the game itself, weather doesn't look too hectic for Sunday. Tyrone are narrow favourites with the bookies. They always take the league very seriously and will want to bounce straight back up. To me they look like they should be targeting an Ulster Championship Title and a strong campaign into the summer months. If we were to win this, promotion may not look as unrealistic as it did a few weeks back.

Double post please remove

Double Post please remove

Was a reasonable performance.

Agree on the score conceded but id rather see us scoring heavily and conceding heavily than hitting and conceding less than 20.

We had some pretty bad misses on top of what was scored.

I'm quietly confident about this year, not that we've obviously got any better but our rivals have got considerably weaker(and on improvement we have plenty of 1/2/3yr players who have potential in them).
People can talk up KK all they want with the whole "the retirements didn't effect them, business as usual".
They only won one AI since the bulk retired and players like W.Walsh and C.Fogerty aren't a patch on what was starting a few years ago, they're still a contender but they're getting weaker every year IMO.

It really is up to Galway to finish them, being in Leinster we have the best chance of knocking them out, they haven't the team to win 4 or 5 straight if going into the qualifiers on a consistent basis.
I wouldn't be overly afraid of any of the rest.

A league win would lay a marker down, we haven't won anything in a few years now.

Hoping Daithi comes back and nails the 3, I prefer Lally and Daithi than using Hansbury at 3.
I think Harte can do enough of a job at HB to warrant keeping Sundays line(can defend reasonably well and is accurate shooting from distance).
Maybe Hansbury can offer something in the corner or wing but he's not a 3(and P.Mannion ended up playing 3 most of last year too).

Doesn't sound good. 1-5 without reply from the Dubs. An old achilles heel of Galway when a team gets a run on us we can't stem the tide. I don't expect Dublin to do much later in the year but they have twice beaten us very comfortably in the last few weeks which is a worry.

10 points at this stage is a pathetic total. Easy score 1-27 when there is no-one marking you but when the intensity is upped a little we revert to type.