Galway GAA discussion thread

wonder88

Not going too well, but level now despite being against the wind after goal. Have improved a lot since half-time.

aidan24326

Waterford are a bit of a bogey team at this stage, have beaten us a lot in recent years.

deisedude

cson wrote: »

Saw Tannian playing Centre Back for Ardrahan in the County 1/4s against Portumna and though he was superb that day. Could be the position for him for the County team this year.

Got destroyed today. Should have been yellowed numerous times and gave away a tonne of frees judging from the radio commentary

Borders no.2

Was listening on the radio, sounds like we were beaten up physically again! Padraic Mahony looked like he had a field day. Each team in the league now has 2 points but I'd fear for Galway away to Kilkenny who while ropey defensively still have enough quality to put up a big score.

Well done to Connacht on the Railway Cup success. Mainly Mayo players but its good to break the duck of something like 45 years in this competition.

T0001

T0001 wrote: »

It is ya. But I don't think they'll be as fluid as they were last week. 1-20 I think is the score they'll need to beat Waterford who on a good day can hit 20-22 scores.

I wasn't too far off. 1-20 would have beaten Waterford and Waterford did hit 22 points.

Not a good day. But, we are missing some powerful forwards. Alot of people are remarking the forwards lack of physical power. Canning, Hayes e.t.c. would have been more physical.

Cathal Mannion 0-3 from play, a few years down the line he'll be like Colin Fennelly!! Likewise with Jason Flynn. Great goal.

I must repeat my opinion of Davy Glennon, not a finisher. And he didn't get on much ball so he wasn't a great distributer today.

But as always we'll pick ourselves up and move on. Kilkenny away next weekend. We won't win. Hopefully we won't concede 5 goals.

KevIRL

Was surprised but happy to see Mannion come off for ye today, he and Conor Cooney were easily Galway's biggest scoring threats.

Diabhal Beag

How was Cooney on frees?

h2005

Which Galway players played in the Railway final today?

h2005

h2005 wrote: »

Which Galway players played in the Railway final today?

Going by the team picture, Conroy, Armstrong and Bradshaw played.

In the semi final I believe Joss Moore was also involved(I don't know his face so can't comment on the team photo) and Cummins.

Think that was the lot.

h2005

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Going by the team picture, Conroy, Armstrong and Bradshaw played.

In the semi final I believe Joss Moore was also involved(I don't know his face so can't comment on the team photo) and Cummins.

Think that was the lot.

Thanks. I seen the pic but the whole squad seems stripped and I couldn't make out jersey numbers.

MfMan

Moore played full-back and acquitted himself well, as did all Galway and Connacht players. Only 1 team there today, Ulster quite disjointed. Nice to see a long hiatus come to an end.

spiritcrusher

Team for Saturday night:

1.Manus Breathnach
2.Donal O'Neill 3.Joss Moore 4.Johnny Duane
5.Gary O'Donnell 6.Gareth Bradshaw 7.Paul Varley
8.Fiontan O'Curraoin 9.Tom Flynn
10.Gary Sice 11.Sean Armstrong 12.James Kavanagh
13.Eoin Concannon 14.Paul Conroy 15.Adrian Varley

Getting closer to what I would imagine will be the championship team, with Meehan and Hanley returning from injury hopefully.
Quite an attacking team I would say, and pretty young also. Defence could be an issue (when hasn't it been) but really they should be winning on Saturday if they have any notions of getting a semi-decent championship run.

h2005

Will the game be on tv?

Starie1975

h2005 wrote: »

Will the game be on tv?

No, the Meath vs Armagh match is live. (Time for a plug ) Get all the updates, team news and photos on TribesmenGAA facebook and twitter pages.

Two points badly wanted.

Syferus

Good to see Adrian Varley getting more game-time. Reminds me of an Andy Moran type play-maker, very unselfish in possession and always looking to play his other forwards into good positions.

How long is Meehan going to be out for? On one foot he remains better than the vast majority of the IC forwards in the country.

on the river

Padraig joyce needs to be brought in .

His expertise would help greatly.

we did rubbish last year but redeemed ourselves agaibst cork.

He need to compete with mayo

and at least make it to last 16 of championship

on the river

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKnEY6Oagco

Meehan pile driver

h2005

Syferus wrote: »

Good to see Adrian Varley getting more game-time. Reminds me of an Andy Moran type play-maker, very unselfish in possession and always looking to play his other forwards into good positions.

How long is Meehan going to be out for? On one foot he remains better than the vast majority of the IC forwards in the country.

I doubt we'll see him in the league. I doubt we'll actually see him in a galway jersey again.

Diabhal Beag

Can't see him not playing for Galway again at least once. The amount of surgery he's gone through to play for a Galway team that only just beat Tipperary B last year and a team that got hammered by Sligo the year before says he's not to be deterred. Not being able to train 100% isn't ideal by any means but he managed 3 games in fairly quick succession last summer. Even if he couldn't play again I'm delighted to have seen him grace Croke Park one last time and absolutely tear Cork asunder.

Borders no.2

I'd be worried for Galway. Laois beat Galway very comfortably last year in Portlaoise. Galway were boys up against men against Donegal and conceded a cricket score in Navan so not feeling too confident. On the positive side, Laois were similarly taken apart by Donegal and have imo made a poor decision in terms of their manager for 2014. Galway need something from this game. 2 of the harder games on paper are over but 3 defeats in a row would leave an awful mountain to climb especially with Monaghan away in the last match.

Hulk Hands

I agree about Laois hammering us in Port last year. However theyve been utter cack so far whereas we were at least functional at times against Meath. I'd be hopeful. Feeling quite sick at the moment but hopefully will be alright to make the trip tomorrow

Utopia Parkway

Shocking goings on with the footballers. Being flaked by 13 points by Laois. Reporters saying they basically gave up and stopped trying at half-time.

Looking at the Cork v Dublin game and Cork look quite good with a lot of the same young players that Galway have beaten regularly at U-21 in recent years.

Diabhal Beag

Ollie Turner has been doing a one-man dialogue on how Galway football is dead forever and how this is a new low for the last 40 minutes. He must've drank the Antrim match away from his memory.

aidan24326

Depressing stuff this evening. Where do we go from here? We can slate Mulholland all we like but several other managers tried before him with no greater success (with many of the same players).

We're in grave danger of slipping away into footballing obscurity at this rate, and division 3 is clearly where this Galway team belongs (in truth we've been a division 3 team in disguise for a few years now).

Laois themselves are no great shakes and they've hammered Galway out the gate. 2001 seems a very long time ago.

Utopia Parkway

Laois 1-20 Galway 0-8

Absolutely shocking stuff. Hello Division 3.

Utopia Parkway

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

Ollie Turner has been doing a one-man dialogue on how Galway football is dead forever and how this is a new low for the last 40 minutes. He must've drank the Antrim match away from his memory.

That was only a 1 point defeat at least. Galway have been flaked and bet out the gate by 15 points tonight. By Laois.

Syferus

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Laois 1-20 Galway 0-8

Absolutely shocking stuff. Hello Division 3.

Was looking forward to Mayo/Ros/Galway pow-wows in D2 next year. Don't give up the ghost yet, lads.

Always_Running

I think it was 1997 since Galway were in div 3 don't need to say what happened after that

Borders no.2

There is talent in Galway but its another transitional period and once again the senior players are displaying no leadership and the younger players have to try and pick up the mantle. No-one who has been following Galway is too surprised by this result. Being honest even when past it Padraig Joyce was keeping that side some way respectable almost single handedly.

I don't think going down to Division 3 is the end of the world but Galway are drifting. I don't personally rate Alan Mulholland but we've had a lot of managers in and out and none of them have been able to get this team to the level many would expect. The players need to show that they want it first.

24yearslater

No self respect, no shame, no gameplan, no future. Galway football dead, has been on life support for a number of years. Only thing now is to arrange the funeral

Lookitnow

As Joe Brolly said last year Galway aren't serious about their football. All parties involved from county board to players and management are culpable. When you can't be competitive against Laois you're in big trouble (no disrespect). London will fancy their chances and tbh if I was to wager on it right now I wouldn't be backing Galway.

Of course things can change, but if they do in the near term it will just be another false dawn. We need to re-examine everything we are doing from grassroots up, else we could go a decade or two without any silverware (at senior) whatsoever. Thats not being hysterical. Its a possibility.

Winning U-21's with nice footballers is all fine and well but these successes are just tapering over the cracks that exist in Galway football. Biggest problems:

Uncompetitive club championship

Systematic tactical naivety

Inadequate physical coaching

Inability to defend/tackle both individually and collectively as a unit

Living in the past mentality

Most of this needs to be rectified at grassroots level.

Utopia Parkway

The thing is Cork beat Dublin this weekend with a lot of young lads that were regularly beaten by Galway at U-21 level in recent years. Just makes no sense. Even with young inexperienced players there is just no way any Galway team should be getting hockeyed by 15 points by an average side. Shameful.

manofwisdom

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

The thing is Cork beat Dublin this weekend with a lot of young lads that were regularly beaten by Galway at U-21 level in recent years. Just makes no sense. Even with young inexperienced players there is just no way any Galway team should be getting hockeyed by 15 points by an average side. Shameful.

Thats a fair point however the likes of Goold,Kerrigan,Goulding are leading by example how many of the more experienced Galway players are standing up or standing out? Young lads need leaders and strong characters to drive them on i don't see many of those type of players on the current Galway team.

Utopia Parkway

manofwisdom wrote: »

Thats a fair point however the likes of Goold,Kerrigan,Goulding are leading by example how many of the more experienced Galway players are standing up or standing out? Young lads need leaders and strong characters to drive them on i don't see many of those type of players on the current Galway team.

Can't argue with that. Meehan maybe provides that but given his injury problems he can't be relied on week in week out.

spiritcrusher

Embarrassing. Yesterday was just completely embarrassing. Possibly a worse low than the Mayo game last year. Hard to see how it can be turned around at this stage either. Players ran out of ideas after about 15 minutes, and the sideline offered nothing at any stage. How Bradshaw was on the field after 20 minutes I don't know, he was coughing the ball up at will to Laois players. The "senior" players overall offered nothing. No heart, no pride, nothing from them. I felt genuinely sorry for O'Curraoin when he came off. Himself and Varley in the forwards probably tried the hardest, and played decently, but he looked truly disgusted coming off. I worry that those young players, who are talented, might be put off playing if things don't change. In fairness to O'Curraoin and Flynn midfield did look like the only place we half had a chance for some of the game but there was no support from any other area of the pitch.
I think there's a good chance too that they're about to lose the "die hard" supporters too. There have been a good few low moments over the past few years, too many for a county like Galway, but last night felt a bit different. Ourselves, like a few other fools, have travelled stupid distances to watch crappy league games and have always gone to the next one. After last night I'm not even sure I could be arsed going 10 minutes down the road to Tuam to see them get a hiding from Down. Seemed to be similar rumblings from a few others too. It's too much money and time being spent to come away embarrassed and annoyed.
And this is exactly why everyone is so annoyed:

The thing is Cork beat Dublin this weekend with a lot of young lads that were regularly beaten by Galway at U-21 level in recent years. Just makes no sense. Even with young inexperienced players there is just no way any Galway team should be getting hockeyed by 15 points by an average side. Shameful.

I was hopeful when Mullholland started he'd get the most out of those players he brought up through u21 but it hasn't worked. I can't understand how two talented u21 All-Ireland winning teams are being squandered so badly. Leadership was certainly lacking yesterday, but players like Armstrong, Sice, GOD, even Kavanagh should be able to offer something.

Cosmo Kramer

Quick question from an outsider who hasn't seen any of Galway's league games. Is there any sign of Mulholland developing any sort of tactical system to get his players working as some kind of cohesive unit? That for me is a minimum requirement to allow Galway to at least continue to play at the level I think their current capabilities should allow - i.e. division 2 football with an eye on promotion rather than relegation.

If he can't develop a modern game plan of some sort then, even if he had the best group of players in the country at his disposal, he'd achieve nothing. I am sure most of the supporters are aware that the kind of 'knock it about' football that won Galway senior all irelands, and more recently underage ones, is no longer any use at senior level. If he cannot or will not change it he should call it off now rather than risk losing another year of the better younger players' development relative to other teams.

WallyGUFC

From listening last night and the other 2 league games, and watching the championship games last year, it's clear that a number of those players have no business being near any county squad. Their attitudes of giving up at HT are shocking and embarrassing. Singling out Bradshaw here, but what kind of player goes away to America after being sent off against Mayo, abandoning the squad, and walks right back into the team in the new year? It would be grand if he was a decent player, but on the evidence I've seen, he isn't. Hardly any point blaming the manager at this stage too, given the number of managers that have tried and failed to get any sort of performances out of this sorry bunch.

Utopia Parkway

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

Quick question from an outsider who hasn't seen any of Galway's league games. Is there any sign of Mulholland developing any sort of tactical system to get his players working as some kind of cohesive unit? That for me is a minimum requirement to allow Galway to at least continue to play at the level I think their current capabilities should allow - i.e. division 2 football with an eye on promotion rather than relegation.

If he can't develop a modern game plan of some sort then, even if he had the best group of players in the country at his disposal, he'd achieve nothing. I am sure most of the supporters are aware that the kind of 'knock it about' football that won Galway senior all irelands, and more recently underage ones, is no longer any use at senior level. If he cannot or will not change it he should call it off now rather than risk losing another year of the better younger players' development relative to other teams.

There is no gameplan. The team don't attack or defend as a unit. There are big gaps between the forwards and the backs. Support play seems non-existant.

You might get away with that stuff at underage where it is more off the cuff and less tactical but if you have no discernible gameplan at senior level you will lose. A lot.

Cosmo Kramer

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

There is no gameplan. The team don't attack or defend as a unit. There are big gaps between the forwards and the backs. Support play seems non-existant.

You might get away with that stuff at underage where it is more off the cuff and less tactical but if you have no discernible gameplan at senior level you will lose. A lot.

That makes sense. Because, while this is far from the greatest Galway team of all time, there are still some very good players involved and you'd have to think someone else would be capable of getting a fair bit more out of them than we've seen in the last year.

Hulk Hands

Yesterdays second half was the worst Ive seen, and felt watching the footballers play. Utterly helpless to the mighty power of Laois

feargale

Anyone have the result of the schools hurling final today, Loughrea v. Athenry?

Naux

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

That makes sense. Because, while this is far from the greatest Galway team of all time, there are still some very good players involved and you'd have to think someone else would be capable of getting a fair bit more out of them than we've seen in the last year.

Some seriously overrated players in the Galway Squad.

Not a fan of Mulhollands approach but in fairness to him the players are the ones who need to "want it" to have any success. The current bunch of more senior players(barring one or two eg Meehan)are soft centred. Look at the capitulation to Mayo last year.

I'd rather see a couple of guys with more steel in the panel(if they can be found while having decent ability as well). Drop some of the supposedly more talented but gutless fancy dans.

macslash

feargale wrote: »

Anyone have the result of the schools hurling final today, Loughrea v. Athenry?

Athenry won, by a goal I think.

laois gael

I think Laois deserve more credit I was dissapointed in Galway and the way they kind of gave up but Laois's work rate was that of a championship game and was impressive..

Galway looked clueless going forward especially when you take the fact their midfield held their own for most of the contest.

I think it could have been worse if it wasn't for the harsh black Card on Laois's dangerman and the bench been emptied by the hosts in the last 15 mins.

I hope Galway can pick it up and turn it around against Down the next day.

Met lovely people saturday night who are passionate about their football and travel along way to see it!

wonder88

A must win game against Down, with home advantage I have a feeling (against all indications of form) that Galway will get their first 2 points of current league.

aidan24326

wonder88 wrote: »

A must win game against Down, with home advantage I have a feeling (against all indications of form) that Galway will get their first 2 points of current league.

Optimistic!

Down have been going pretty well and Galway will need to improve dramatically to be winning this. Which is not out of the question but not overly likely either given the performances so far, and the serious amount of scores being conceded.

Down have some good forwards and will go to town on this Galway defence unless they can shore things up a lot. Right now as a forward you'd be licking your lips at the thought of playing Galway given how bad we've been and the amount of chances we're giving away (Meath could have had 10 goals and Laois scored more easy points than they will again for a long time).

I agree on the Down match.

Im doing the GAA predictor on Facebook and after going for two teams, I honestly couldn't think of a third sure team for the weekend before I had to put Down in.

As much as I hate to back against us, on the basis of the league games so far, I couldn't think of any other team bottom or not between any of the football or hurling divisions less likely to win in the next round.

If you take of the maroon tinted glasses, Laois were a great bet at 4/5 or whatever they were.

Syferus

Ye might be there to greet us in D2 yet.

Stanza2

Danny Cummins was fantastic when he came on today. Thought he was one of the few who excelled last year. Why is he not starting? Great goal today and great set up from Sice. Badly needed win.

Good way to come back from the Laois result.

T0001

Stanza2 wrote: »

Danny Cummins was fantastic when he came on today. Thought he was one of the few who excelled last year. Why is he not starting?

He's still not 100% from the injury in the Cork match last year