Galway GAA discussion thread

Diabhal Beag

Seriously time for the footballers to step up after Galway beat the AI champions convincingly today. Would be lovely to have two sides still in competition come August.

aidan24326

We always knew the hurlers had that kind of a performance in them, but didn't think it would ever happen. But my god did they produce it yesterday. That was simply awesome.

The backs in the first half gave as good a display as I've ever seen, they played like lads who were told they'd be executed if they lost. Cyril Donnelan, Johnny Coen, Damien Hayes - all man of the match contenders. I would actually have given it to Donnellan, not Joe Canning, even though Joe was outstanding too.

At midfield Smith and Tannian destroyed an inexperienced Kilkenny pairing, and the half back line were unbelievably good. Past history will make me and all Galway supporters wary of getting our hopes up, as we've been dropped from a height many times before. The test now is to see can they reproduce something even close to that the next day.

aidan24326

Will Mulholland make changed for Saturday?

Midfield is an issue as per usual, and the defence got taken to the cleaners by Sligo. Up front I don't think Thomas Flynn at 12 is working, and I'm not sure about Armstrong either. Damien Burke gets through a lot of work but really you want a number 11 that can score and he doesn't provide that. Start PJ the next day.

Antrim will be no pushover and the fact they only beat London narrowly is of no relevance. Because:

1. They had a wedding the day before so probably weren't as well prepared as they should have been. Maybe took London a little bit for granted.

2. London are decent now and are capable of giving all bar the top teams a serious game. Would Galway beat them by much right now? You wouldn't bet your month's wages on it.

So all in all I think this will be tough. Antrim will have no fear at all of Galway, and why should they?

Syferus

It could go either way. Antrim can be quite putrid at times and if they turn up in that mood Galway wlll walk it at half-speed speed and learn as much as they did in the Roscommon game. If they Antrim team that played Wexford in the league turn up you might get a challenge. I think it's likely you'll need to wait until the next round to find anything out about your team.

RealityCheck

aidan24326 wrote: »

Will Mulholland make changed for Saturday?

Midfield is an issue as per usual, and the defence got taken to the cleaners by Sligo. Up front I don't think Thomas Flynn at 12 is working, and I'm not sure about Armstrong either. Damien Burke gets through a lot of work but really you want a number 11 that can score and he doesn't provide that. Start PJ the next day.

I suspect we'll see O'Curraoin replace Higgins. Maybe we might see someone like Conor Doherty come in at wing forward for Tom Flynn, with Flynn as a sub later in the game if the midfielders tire. I would like to see a change at wing back but I don't think thats likely. At the least I'd like to see a change in playing mentality there. They should first and foremost be good defenders. They need to hold their positions more. I think we'll probably leave Burke at 11. We might bring in any of PJ, Meehan and even Danny Cummins, depending on fitness.

aidan24326 wrote: »

Antrim will be no pushover and the fact they only beat London narrowly is of no relevance. Because:

1. They had a wedding the day before so probably weren't as well prepared as they should have been. Maybe took London a little bit for granted.

2. London are decent now and are capable of giving all bar the top teams a serious game. Would Galway beat them by much right now? You wouldn't bet your month's wages on it.

So all in all I think this will be tough. Antrim will have no fear at all of Galway, and why should they?

Antrim should be an opportunity for them to redeem themselves. Its a perfect game. Antrim are potentially a good side but their still a side we are capable of beating. If we turn up and give 100% there's a very good change we'll win. Anything less and we could be in serious trouble. A 1 point defeat the most likely outcome in that case.

aidan24326

Flynn needs to be moved or replaced as a priority because he's contributing very little at wing forward. It's not his position.

I had high hopes for Higgins but he's been a bit disappointing and if O'Curraion is fit he'd be worth a try.

Some lads seem to think that Antrim are a poor side who will be comfortably beaten but that's not really the case. If you look at their Ulster Championship results over the past few years they don't get beaten by much, nor in the qualifiers either. They even gave Kerry a good test a couple of years ago.

Realistically we're beatable by almost anyone at the moment and I reckon Antrim will fancy their chances. If Galway can play well you'd hope that we'd have the better players to pull through but if this turns into a dogfight I'd be worried, because we just can't seem to win those sort of games.

Diabhal Beag

I'd drop Flynn alright. Even against Roscommon he had a very average match at best. I'd give Burke the benefit of the doubt as well as Armstrong though because I feel as though it was one bad match they had against Sligo where Army got no ball supply. Higgins had one bad match so far and that was against Sligo IMO but I see O'Curraoin starting.

I wonder will he keep Kelly in the starting line-up?

RealityCheck

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I'd drop Flynn alright. Even against Roscommon he had a very average match at best. I'd give Burke the benefit of the doubt as well as Armstrong though because I feel as though it was one bad match they had against Sligo where Army got no ball supply. Higgins had one bad match so far and that was against Sligo IMO but I see O'Curraoin starting.

I wonder will he keep Kelly in the starting line-up?

Rumour has he will in favour of McGrath who'll be dropped.

Hulk Hands

Couldn't get to the Sligo game but can't comment, but I thought Flynn was very good against Roscommon. Always first to the ball, linking play, always an option for anyone in possesion and getting through a power of work. A number of people around me who's football opinions i'd rate highly thought he had an excellent game also. Fair enough he's not scoring and as a forward that's an issue. I can say that Mulholland is and will be very reluctant not to start him though. The problem is he's probably just not ready to play at midfield yet, which will of course be his normal position in the years to come. Aside from that, looking forward to seeing O'Currain back

deisefolife

from a waterford point of view..

just like to say well done to Galway, by god did ye show the mighty Cats a thing or two sunday. great game to watch, a mate of mine said to me last week go down and put what you have on galway to win. i didnt belive him, honestly i didnt see that coming,

keep it up and liam could also be going west this year, i wouldnt like to meet ye in the semi

but we have tipp to deal with sunday so hopefully we can pull of a galway display this weekend..

Deise Abu

Syferus

I think every neutral's dream final would be Waterford vs. Galway.

Diabhal Beag

I'd wonder if Mulholland is thinking about starting Meehan. We need somebody up there to help Conroy out and Joyce is super-sub #1 seemingly.

Syferus

With all Merhan's troubles conventional logic would dictate Joyce starting and being replaced by Meehan in the second half, but there you go.

InchicoreDude

Completely missed the Sligo match because in Poland.

Am somewhat shocked to see McGrath's place in doubt. He has been wonderful so far this year. He must have had a shocker against Sligo???

Mulholland generally doesnt like to make a whole lot of changes. He is far too patient for that I think.

Diabhal Beag

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

Syferus

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

I honestly believe Meehan is a way better sub, Joyce always plays at such a considered pace that his introductions have less of a meaningful impact. Meehan only had to play a challenge match against us when he came on but he was far more lively than Joyce, he's always had the ability to change the pace of games. Even his introduction in that game was greeted by a far louder cheer from the Galway supporters, admittedly his first appearence of the year.

RealityCheck

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Completely missed the Sligo match because in Poland.

Am somewhat shocked to see McGrath's place in doubt. He has been wonderful so far this year. He must have had a shocker against Sligo???

Mulholland generally doesnt like to make a whole lot of changes. He is far too patient for that I think.

I wouldn't necessarily say that. He's made big enough changes in the past. I reckon there might be 2/3 changes.

That whole full back line were completely at sea against Sligo, especially in the second half. Both corner backs had stinkers. Ok they didn't have much cover, but I think McGrath was far too high up the pitch at times.

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

I'd wonder if Mulholland is thinking about starting Meehan. We need somebody up there to help Conroy out and Joyce is super-sub #1 seemingly.

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Thing is you don't want him coming on when the tide has turned against Galway like against Sligo. Once the momentum goes against Galway in championship matches it doesn't come back.

Joyce can lift the team in a way nobody else can.

The problem I have with these substitutions is the manager tends to make changes simply because they're there and not because they're specifically coming in to do a specific job. I'd prefer if we could start our best team, but obviously thats not a luxury we have. I think we needed a change of direction in the second half of the Sligo game. I don't like substitutions decided before the game actually starts.

Starie1975

First bus is nearly filled. Will send up a second bus if we get enough names. Details on link below.

http://www.tribesmengaa.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1015:supporters-bus-to-belfast&catid=92:team-news&Itemid=70&Itemid=53

keane2097

Coleman out for a while now after chipping a bone in his knee. Unfortunate for him.

There's talk that Paddy Cunningham is at loggerheads with Baker and the Antrim backroom team which is potentially good news for Galway. If not I think the bookies lines are fairly off the mark for this one and will be looking closely at Antrim +4.

cgpg5

Antrim are one of those teams that seem to go by unnoticed every year. Saw highlights v Monaghan they looked fairly decent only the class of substitute Thomas Freeman separated the sides. They never really get hammered and will be very hard bet i'd say. This won't be easy.

Starie1975

Looks like Coleman's is not as badly injuried as reported.

keane2097

Starie1975 wrote: »

Looks like Coleman's is not as badly injuried as reported.

What have you heard about it?

cgpg5 wrote: »

Antrim are one of those teams that seem to go by unnoticed every year. Saw highlights v Monaghan they looked fairly decent only the class of substitute Thomas Freeman separated the sides. They never really get hammered and will be very hard bet i'd say. This won't be easy.

They have an unbelievable half back line which is where a lot of their potency comes from. Galway will have to be very mobile in that sector to curtail them.

RealityCheck

I think we could do with pace in the forwards. Their defenders don't like being ran at but I don't think we have many options with that ability?

If our forwards are as static as they were the last day we'll be in trouble as Antrim are likely to try and congest the defence.

aidan24326

cgpg5 wrote: »

They never really get hammered and will be very hard bet i'd say. This won't be easy.

I think Antrim have enough about them to really put it up to Galway and given our shocking record in the qualifiers they'll be quietly fancying their chances.

But we probably have the better forwards if they fire on the day, and a repeat of the Roscommon performance should be enough to see off Antrim you'd imagine. But whether they can reproduce that remains to be seen. The formlines from the Roscommon and Sligo games are confusing to say the least. Saturday should provide some answers as to whether the Sligo game was just a bad day at the office or a true reflection of where we really stand.

cgpg5

aidan24326 wrote: »

I think Antrim have enough about them to really put it up to Galway and given our shocking record in the qualifiers they'll be quietly fancying their chances.

But we probably have the better forwards if they fire on the day, and a repeat of the Roscommon performance should be enough to see off Antrim you'd imagine. But whether they can reproduce that remains to be seen. The formlines from the Roscommon and Sligo games are confusing to say the least. Saturday should provide some answers as to whether the Sligo game was just a bad day at the office or a true reflection of where we really stand.

Definitely. The thing is I really don't rate Sligo and think they'll be well beaten by Mayo on sunday. I don't think there'd be much between Antrim and SLigo if I'm honest.
What worried me at the Sligo match though was that Sligo appeared to be hungrier for every ball although they were inferior in many positions. They worked that bit harder to get the breaks and it was awful to watch. I'll put it down to complacency on our part. We should have been a lot more up at h/t and completely dominated. Sligo then got a bit of belief as we couldn't put our chances away. They may have shell-shocked us a bit. I'd expect much improvement but you cannot be sure. Our record in the back door is awful to say the least!

cgpg5

Our under 21 hurlers are 2/1 to win the All Ireland. Minor champs 09, reigning under 21 champs and 18 senior panellists, that folks is an absolute steal and get on it asap I suggest!

aidan24326

cgpg5 wrote: »

Definitely. The thing is I really don't rate Sligo and think they'll be well beaten by Mayo on sunday. I don't think there'd be much between Antrim and SLigo if I'm honest.
What worried me at the Sligo match though was that Sligo appeared to be hungrier for every ball although they were inferior in many positions. They worked that bit harder to get the breaks and it was awful to watch. I'll put it down to complacency on our part. We should have been a lot more up at h/t and completely dominated. Sligo then got a bit of belief as we couldn't put our chances away. They may have shell-shocked us a bit. I'd expect much improvement but you cannot be sure. Our record in the back door is awful to say the least!

Not sure I'd fully agree with you on that bit. Sligo are decent enough and while Mayo should beat them I don't see a hammering. Barring one poor season they've been a pretty competitive outfit for a few years now. And in Kelly and Marren they have two forwards that will trouble any defence.

Galway lost that game in the first half really, as they should have been a good bit more than 4 pts ahead, a lead of 8 would have been a truer reflection and that would have made a big difference. Once Sligo wiped out the 4 pt lead so early in the second half it gave them the confidence to push on. So Mulholland should be drilling it into the players that it's vital to take your chances and make it count on the scoreboard when you are on top, because a failure to do that is probably what cost them the Sligo match.

Diabhal Beag

The Mortimer exit will affect the Mayo panel too. He's their best player along with Andy Moran so he's a big loss. Also add in the fact that Sligo are a good team that will be big odds to win and you have a lot of pressure on Horan to deliver a Connacht title.

RealityCheck

I know the team will be named in the next couple of hours, but according to the Tribune, its likely enough that O'Donnell will be named centre back and Sean Arsmstrong Centre Forward. I can't say I'm too enthusiastic about that. I'll wait for the team to be named though.

RealityCheck

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

The Mortimer exit will affect the Mayo panel too. He's their best player along with Andy Moran so he's a big loss. Also add in the fact that Sligo are a good team that will be big odds to win and you have a lot of pressure on Horan to deliver a Connacht title.

At this stage I doubt theirs many who'll agree with that... This isn't the Mayo forum though.

Sligo are what they are. Last year excepted they tend to get the most out of their players. I'm beginning to think they've a good chance Sunday. Talk from folk of Mayo needing a good challenge on Sunday. I was guilty of that talk myself between the Roscommon and Sligo games. That didn't end well!

God I'm turning this into the Sligo-Mayo Match thread.

InchicoreDude

ooh, I dont know about Gary O'Donnell at number 6....

trunews

Hi, I am new to boards.ie and wanted to start a new thread but I'm defintely having a 'blonde' moment! I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good barrister in galway for a friend who is charged with an assault in a nightclub. Two names have been given to me Francis Comerford and John Hogan......can anyone recommend either? Thanks

Clareman

Welcome Trunews,

I think you'd be better posting a question like that in the Galway regional forum rather than the GAA forum

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=475

RealityCheck

Galway Team named. As suspected.

1. A Faherty
2. K Kelly
3. F Hanley
4. J Duane
5. G Bradshaw
6. G O'Donnell
7. T Fahy
8. J Bergin
9. F O'Curraoin
10. G Sice
11. S Armstrong
12. C Doherty
13. M Meehan
14. P Conroy
15. M Hehir

RealityCheck

I don't think either options at 6 and 11 will work. It might get us over Antrim but that makes for a seriously weak spine. I don't know if Armstrong is even worth a place, but let him prove it on Saturday. One plus is the inclusion of Fahy, O'Curraoin and Doherty as well as Meehan of course. Hopefully it goes well for him especially.

InchicoreDude

Probably a silly question....

But I have not been to a match in the North in years and have only just realised that I have no sterling on me.

Will euros be accepted up there?

RealityCheck

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Probably a silly question....

But I have not been to a match in the North in years and have only just realised that I have no sterling on me.

Will euros be accepted up there?

Into the ground yes.

Starie1975

InchicoreDude wrote: »

Probably a silly question....

But I have not been to a match in the North in years and have only just realised that I have no sterling on me.

Will euros be accepted up there?

At the gate, yes they do. Some more info sent to us by Antrim GAA

http://www.tribesmengaa.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1019:ticket-and-local-information-for-casement-park&catid=113:travel-information&Itemid=74

InchicoreDude

At the gate, yes they do. Some more info sent to us by Antrim GAA

http://www.tribesmengaa.ie/index.php...tion&Itemid=74

Good for them to put on that minor match as a curtain raiser. good for those players too.

Lapin

Listening to the football on Galway Bay FM.
Half time can't come quick enough.
Sounds like a disaster in the making.

RealityCheck

Lapin wrote: »

Listening to the football on Galway Bay FM.
Half time can't come quick enough.
Sounds like a disaster in the making.

0-5 0-4 up now. No need to panic but it sounds like they're making the same mistakes as against Sligo. Worrying.

Lapin

A pair of points just before half time puts some gloss on the scoreboard.

But I wouldn't put money on Galway to win it at this stage.

Diabhal Beag

It sounds like Antrim are putting in a masterclass of a defensive showing. Conroy is making Ollie Turner go mental when he comes out to take a free he'll miss by a mile.

RealityCheck

[QUOTE=Diabhal Beag;79726498]It sounds like Antrim are putting in a masterclass of a defensive showing. Conroy is making Ollie Turner go mental when he comes out to take a free he'll miss by a mile.[/QUOTE]

Just like Sligo in the second half.

Ollie Turner is awfully grating and we never seem to win when Ollie is commentating. Much prefer to be there but this one was a bridge too far at the moment.

RealityCheck

2 points down. Getting ridiculous now.

Diabhal Beag

Antrim sound very wasteful.

Lapin

Still relying on Joyce.

Thought it was a goal there the way Turner was roaring.

Sounds like he swallowed the microphone while he was at it.

leonidas83

Cmon galway, im a Limerick man but I hope ye knock Antrim out, dont think Galway have shown anything close to their full potential this year yet. Would really like to see them go far

Lapin

leonidas83 wrote: »

dont think Galway have shown anything close to their full potential this year yet.

Galway haven't shown any potential for 11 years.

RealityCheck

Bunch of wasters. 1 point defeat.