Galway GAA discussion thread

Worthwent14

Looking at the 2 u21 winning teams i put together a team and subs from the players that lined out in both finals.
Breathnach
Moore
Duane
Walsh
Fahy
Burke
Doherty
Flynn
O Curraoin
Boyle
Shane Walsh
Comer
Cummins
A Varley
Ian Burke

Subs:
Tom Healy
Forde
Shaughnessy
Teirney
Paul Varley
Moran
Mulryan
Hehir
Maughan
Farragher

Wouldnt be a bad team id say altho lightweight in areas. Fahy and Doherty would be 2good attacking wing backs who can also defend and Boyle and comer two industrious wing forwards with Boyle being a good runnr and scorer. FF line would be full of pace and pose problems to many defences. Feel Duane will be hanleys successor at fullback and moore is gettin better and better. Eoin Walsh is a sticky player tho a bit light but could see him developing into a decent player. CB and CF look in capable hands with Burke and Walsh and midfield speaks for itself. Breatnach in goals has proven to be a top operator and the bench has some power about it also. In the current galway setup we could do a lot worse than have Boyle fahy Duane Doherty farragher in there but work and other commitments prevent them for being able to play inter county at the moment.

Judgement day is in sight.

Both Galway teams could be yet again knocked out of Champ before August arrives.

I haven't been convinced in Mulholland since watching the Wexford league game down the stadium last year.
Team just seemed to be all over the place, 15 lads playing on instinct.

The HT stats in the Mayo game for kick outs were unacceptable. 2:15 of our own kick outs won.
There are many reasons why Dublin are a step above the rest but a big one is the short kick outs.
Kicking a ball long to a contest is a waste of time unless the keeper can't find an option within the first 5/6 seconds and is forced into the decision.
The aim should be to get the ball short regardless of who's in midfield.

I can't remember any short kick outs in either of the last two games and Mayo were allowed to take a number in the first half.
Push the forwards up to force the long ball and withdraw the backs further on your own ones should be the order of the day.
If you're only going to work on one tactic in training this has to be the one as it's worth a few points a game given the challenge in turning the ball over in football.

Defensively as well he hasn't seemed to learn a thing since last year.
We're constantly opened up due to leaving vast areas of space in behind the 45 metre line.
Meath could have scored 9/10 goals in the league, Mayo continuously opened us up in 2013 and 2014 and Cork were able to easily open us up with a 5 point lead in the dying minutes when flooding our defence was the most obvious and easily made decision a manager should ever have to make.

Might still have enough to take Tipp and with the easiest path to an All Ireland final in donkeys of years laid out I feel we're going to miss a golden opportunity to revive fortunes this year with an inept management team in place.

Roll on 2015 though and hopefully two new managers in place for both the hurlers and the footballers.
Both are underachieving and no shine can be put on it to say otherwise as the results speak for themselves.
They've both had their three years and no improvements have been forthcoming.
Mul' is in the better position in terms of having two winning U21 teams coming along in that period.

rebel girl 15

Clubs have decided to open nominations for Cunningham's job - nominations in by August 5th, will be interesting to see what names crop up

rebel girl 15

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Clubs have decided to open nominations for Cunningham's job - nominations in by August 5th, will be interesting to see what names crop up

He has to go IMO.

From the teams he's sent out this season, only ONE player has good pace- Johnny Coen.
Lack of pace: Players are hooked/blocked more, players are less capable of doing aforementioned in defence.
Hasn't used any bona fied corner forwards preferring to use tall, slow players.

One of Galways best players over the past 10 years, Damien Hayes who fits this role has been considered surplus to requirements and when used, played out of position.

The big problem a few years ago was ''Playing JC at FF leads to him being double marked, what can we do to counter this''
Now we can say ''Johnny Glynn needs to be double marked at FF'', so that's two players we have that need to be doubled aerially, that should be a good starting point to developing your game-plan and is a good problem to have as a manager.
You're starting with a positive in your favour, there aren't many counties that can boast having two players who are such a threat aerially in attack.

TCDStudent1

gilberto_eire wrote: »

He has to go IMO.

From the teams he's sent out this season, only ONE player has good pace- Johnny Coen.
Lack of pace: Players are hooked/blocked more, players are less capable of doing aforementioned in defence.
Hasn't used any bona fied corner forwards preferring to use tall, slow players.

One of Galways best players over the past 10 years, Damien Hayes who fits this role has been considered surplus to requirements and when used, played out of position.

The big problem a few years ago was ''Playing JC at FF leads to him being double marked, what can we do to counter this''
Now we can say ''Johnny Glynn needs to be double marked at FF'', so that's two players we have that need to be doubled aerially, that should be a good starting point to developing your game-plan and is a good problem to have as a manager.
You're starting with a positive in your favour, there aren't many counties that can boast having two players who are such a threat aerially in attack.

Pace is a very difficult thing to improve in a player. Probably, Galway send out lots of fast pacy players and then you will have people complaining that there arent enough big strong guys on the team!

threeball

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Pace is a very difficult thing to improve in a player. Probably, Galway send out lots of fast pacy players and then you will have people complaining that there arent enough big strong guys on the team!

Thats exactly where we came from, light pacy players not up to the cut and thrust of championship was the general concensus. Galways problems don't lie in the personnel its the relationships of the personnel.

T0001

How does one apply to be manager ( not that I am btw). Do you go through your club or is it open application?

Mountainlad

T0001 wrote: »

How does one apply to be manager ( not that I am btw). Do you go through your club or is it open application?

Would be through the club, put your name forward internally and then if you get their backing stand as their representative.

MfMan

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Clubs have decided to open nominations for Cunningham's job - nominations in by August 5th, will be interesting to see what names crop up

Think this was always going to be the case; Cunningham's 3-year term was up so even if he won Liam, he would have had to have been re-elected anyway. Don't hear of too many names being bandied about in opposition.

Personally, don't think I'm in favour of him continuing. From the highs of 2012, last year was an unmitigated disaster (the selectorial fiasco was never explained), and this year was only slightly better. As someone already mentioned, the pace seems to have been coached out of the team, but they also haven't played with any great confidence this year - you feel they are afraid of shipping a hiding everytime they go out, regardless of opposition. It's hard for players and pundits to argue for continuity when that's happening. (Galway don't particularly change their manager more often than most other counties, despite what you may read.)

Worthwent14

Big game tomorrow very surprised theyv changed the keeper at this stage never hear of it happening unless a goalie did a huge blunder. Thought the goalie had done well this far and was good last year also so it seems an odd decision. Also surprised armstrong isn't starting. He looked hungry wen he came on v mayo. Still have doubts about Kavanagh but he is experienced and that may prove vital tomorrow. Hope conroy plays as a FF because he is dangerous close to goal! We hav enough quality in the forwards to do damage but tipp do also just hope our backs are better. Sweeper should be played i think to shore up the backs maybe play Lundy as a sweeper?

Borders no.2

Its very hard to see Cunningham getting the backing to stay and really if he does I won't be wasting any time, money or effort to go watching them in 2015.

The big asterisk I'd put beside that is that there are far bigger problems in Galway hurling than the senior management and really there aren't a huge number of players outside the panel who you'd be rushing into the panel. The local championship is competitive and dog eat dog but having watched a lot of club hurling the last few years, the county players are usually the top performers.

Galway intermediates are playing Cork tomorrow, its a long time since Galway put a competitive team together at this level. This should be an important stepping stone but isn't currently and I fully expect another comprehensive defeat for Galway tomorrow.

The u21s are due to face Wexford in a few weeks. We have had great success at minor but that hasn't translated to u21 more often than not despite getting straight into the semi-finals. 2 years ago Galway wiped Wexford out in a minor quarter final but Wexford will probably be fancied to come through that game. Galway got 0-5 in 60 minutes against Clare who Galway had matched up to at minor and that was with Clare resting their big guns with 15 to go. Them sort of results should set alarm bells ringing for everyone involved in hurling in the county.

In fairness to Anthony Cunningham, he probably overachieved in his first year and seemed to get the most out of Tannian, Canning and others but despite that I firmly believe that was an All-Ireland we left behind the first day. We were disjointed in the 2nd half and didn't do enough to get the result but some of the changes made and not made that day didn't help. Kilkenny were firing nowhere near top form on the first day and really should have been put away. Our tactics were relatively effective but one-dimensional and that was found out starting in the 2nd half that day.

Last year was a disaster from the off really. The team was under-performing from the off but management kept persisting with the same players and bizarre selections.

Anthony Cunningham's defenders are giving him credit for blooding new players this year which is fair enough but he has to take responsibility for not doing that in 2013 which precipitated him having to make changes for 2014. Even at that some of the selections were crazy again this year especially for the KK replay.

This year had some improvements but really KK dealt with us handy enough in the 3 big games we played them. We were in a good position on occasion in all those games but once KK upped the heat they burned us off easily enough.

We started the league by hammering Dublin and then fell on our face against Waterford We went within seconds of losing to Laois after getting a good scare off them last year also. Without dissing Laois' undoubted major improvements, for a team with any aspirations of being around in August or September, they should be dealt with comfortably enough as Clare did last year and Waterford did this year. Even Antrim beat them in Portlaoise the week before they played Galway.

The collapse against Tipp was an unmitigated disaster, we played quite well in patches in that game but again when the heat came on we caved in. Tiredness is not an excuse. Tipp may stumble in a semi-final and may even topple Cork but they were there to be beat and we fell asunder spectacularly.

Anthony Cunningham isn't the man to bring Galway back up the pecking order but whoever comes in the setup and structures throughout Galway has to get a lot more professional. We can't keep squandering talent and deluding ourselves that we are a top county at senior level. We aren't, that's the sad reality at the moment. It pains me to say it but its the truth.

We can hide behind the fact that we did ok against Kilkenny and should have beaten Tipp but its past time all from the top down faced up to the reality that we are nowhere near good enough at the moment and we are more than a quarter of a century without an All-Ireland, most years not even in the shakeup and no end in sight to the drought.

Hulk Hands

A good early start and I think Galway can play with confidence and a bit of swagger. A bad start and the inhouse fighting will come into play and frustration will set in. If pushed I think we'll win but i'd have the current 10/11 price as spot on. Massive massive game

Stanza2

Galway midfield needs to improve in second half in Tullamore. Really think that the forwards can get the scores if the supply comes.

Stanza2

Good win, shame about the goals at the end. Defence slacked. A quarter final in Croker is progress. Still think that we have the forwards to do damage to any team, Shane Walsh is just a class act, the touch, turn and left foot score was terrific. Well done to them all.

Borders no.2

Pleased we have one team still alive in the championship heading into race week. Hasn't happened too often in recent years.

We're into the last 8 without really beating anyone of note but still given our record in recent years its 3 championship victories regardless of the opposition I suppose. I don't think anyone in Galway is fooled that we are a top 8 team at present but we are there and in some aspects progress is being made.

Tonight was a mixed bag, first 20 minutes or so was poor, we were struggling at midfield, looked disjointed, no movement and struggling for scores. I was genuinely worried at that stage as only Tipp's poor shooting kept us close.

We finally got it together and started to expose the weaknesses in the Tipp backline and took our goals well. To lead by 6 at half time flattered us. The attitude straight after the break was fantastic to go 14 clear at one stage. We were ruthless in going for goals which is good to see as we'll need to take any sniff of a goal chance against Kerry.

I'd be worried about the fact that every time Tipp went forward in the last 20 they looked like they'd get a goal, we were still tipping away with points to minimise the damage of the goals but it seemed like almost everyone was dropping back but no-one taking responsibility. I don't know was it the subs or complacency or whatever but it was worrying.

On the positive side, Joss Moore did quite well tonight I thought, Donal O'Neill was better than in the last 2 games, Daithi Burke did quite well when he came in and after a poor start Paul Varley improved as the game went on. Flynn and O'Curraoin struggled at stages but contributed to the victory, up front Michael Lundy got through a lot of dirty work, Michael Martin, Shane Walsh and Danny Cummins all showed quite well also and Armstrong kicked a couple of nice points off the bench.

On the negative side of things, Gareth Bradshaw isn't doing enough to justify his place on the first XV imo. James Kavanagh was a mixed bag but if he's dwelling on the ball like he was at stages tonight Kerry will turn him over easily. Also, Paul Conroy is doing ok but we need more from him.

Really we need to be quicker out of the blocks next week. In the last 3 games we've started the 2nd half well but we need to be up and at it from the off next Sunday.

I'd be majorly worried about how that defence will hold up next week, what Declan O'Sullivan, James O'Donoghue etc. could do to us is scary. Defence has to be a 15 man job, if no-one takes responsibility further our the field and teams start getting overlaps against you, you will pay the price.

We've achieved our primary goal for the year, hopefully we'll get some kind of performance next Sunday but either way while we still have major problems, we are making small steps in the right direction.

Decent Galway following this evening, hopefully get a few more up to Croke Park next Sunday.

spiritcrusher

Almost the typical Galway performance this evening. Periods of going to sleep with one big burst of scores that basically killed the game. Some nice forward play but bloody hell our back line is leaky. Hanley and possibly Moore are our only defenders with any real class and that's nowhere near enough.
Forward line does have potential though. Some very well worked scores. And also... That touch. People were looking around almost in disbelief after that score.
Anyway, nice to get a day in Croke Park next weekend. Should be a good day having the Mayo crowd around too. More than likely there's a hiding in store but I'd rather play Kerry than any of the provincial winners as it should make for the most entertaining game.

Hulk Hands

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

Worthwent14

Glad of the win however we should never have let tipp that close to us after being 14 up. All forwards did well with the exception of Kavanagh who seems to be struggling. Midfield was destroyed again in the air by Flynn did well from play. Half bck line was once again very easy to break through but varley did well going forward. Bradshaw is a real worry defensively but thought Burke did well and would like to see him kept on at CB. Full back line did well but Hanley had a shaky moment under high ball. Goalie was ok. Good save but was poor for first goal IMO. Long kickouts werent working. Did ok wen he used the free man for short kickout. Will be hard to have that freedom nxt week v Kerry tho as they forced cork to go long for every kickout. We need to work on kickouts this week to have a good chance of beating Kerry. We have the firepower to win but are poor at the back and cant handle runners. We need o brien from the start nxt week so he can pick up breaks from kickouts. Great to be back in quarter finals and think we can shock Kerry with a good performane and some luck

TCDStudent1

Mulholland needs to take some of the blame for the poor end to the game. He made the subs far too early. I can understand the Armstrong - Cummins one. But taking off Lundy & Kavanagh together completely upset the shape of the team that was doing quite well to that point.

You can argue progress has been made this year. But if Galway do not put up a performance against Kerry, it is difficult to say they truly have made progress. Galway have had an easy route to an AI q/f this year - Wins against London, Sligo & Tipp brought them there. There can be no question that thats a favourable draw.

Worthwent14

The players were behind the ball but did not know what to do. It was obviously something that they never before worked on. There are very good footballers in the team but we just dont seem to have any plan B. That is managements fault. With proper game plan and tactics and ability to adapt to different ways of playing this team could go very far. Management needs to up their game. Kavanagh clearly isn't good enough anymore was woeful yesterday. Bradshaw seems to forget he's a defender. We did look good wen we moved the ball forward at speed and that's when we've caused teams problems this year so we need to try do that more and run at teams more because a pedestrian build up is always our downfall and we get turned over.

threeball

Yesterday confirmed my thoughts from the sligo game, that once again we have the forwards. Put Meehan back in the mix and we possibly have the best front six in the country but we're really loose at the back. Fortunately its easier to find an answer to a defensive issue than a forwards one as Mayo have found to their cost. In fairness we got the men back yesterday but they were far to bunched and didn't filter across well when the ball swiched direction. Its a relatively simple fix and one that doesn't need gifted footballers but it does take commitment and concentration. Unfortunately thats not something they'll learn in 7 days.

Hopefully they'll give kerry a game, maybe another shoot out like 08. They shoul then immediately hit the gym to bulk up a bit and work on the defensive system and they might just give it a good crack next year.

RoscommonTom

I think the kerrys will have to much for you even without the gouch, your backs will need to be much better than against the sligos or it could be a trashing, best of luck

AngeGal

If Cunningham isn't staying on and Daly does finish up with Dublin, I wouldn't mind see him coming west.

Stanza2

I feel that Mulholland made substitutions far too early yesterday, he seems to want to get Armstrong on as soon as he can and one of the major improvements in our forwards this year is that he does not start !

Cummins and Martin both had great games. The thing with them both is that they show for the ball so well and they chase and chase when the opposition defenders are moving the ball out, slowing down attacks, something Armstrong just does not do. Martin is great when he gets the ball, always looking up to see what's on about him. Cummins is one of the fastest forwards around and wins so much ball in attack and sets up lots of scores as well as pulling defenders around to create space for midfielders and others to run through. With Conroy pulled out to midfield were he is needed, the two lads have a lot of running to do, Armstrong is more interested in getting on the scoresheet than doing the donkey work. When it is working so well, why change it? Baffles me. Fresh legs I suppose as scores are easier to come by, but defence in football these days starts with forwards chasing and I never see Armstrong do it...... Ever. If anyone should have been taken off yesterday it should have been Kavanagh or Bradshaw.

The balance of a team is so important, I'm not sure if Mulholland got it right yesterday or against Mayo. We have the forwards to win big games, if the manager can get the tactics right we could surprise people. Cut out the stupid goals that we give away and we will be competitive. I also wish that people would not talk us down so much. We have players who have won U21 all Ireland's in Croke Park who should believe that they are good enough, we have the best young player in the country in Shane Walsh, we only lost to Cork by a point last year. We are complete underdogs against Kerry, but we are also just two wins away from an All Ireland final. Those chances do not come around very often, I really hope that we go up there and give it a real go.

threeball

Unless kerry have an absolute stinker we just don't have the defensive system to keep them under control so talk of 2 games from an all ireland is fanciful at best.
Also kavanagh put in a massive effort yesterday and covered a huge amount of ground. The difference in the leakiness half back line was very evident once he went off.

Stanza2 wrote: »

I feel that Mulholland made substitutions far too early yesterday, he seems to want to get Armstrong on as soon as he can and one of the major improvements in our forwards this year is that he does not start !

Cummins and Martin both had great games. The thing with them both is that they show for the ball so well and they chase and chase when the opposition defenders are moving the ball out, slowing down attacks, something Armstrong just does not do. Martin is great when he gets the ball, always looking up to see what's on about him. Cummins is one of the fastest forwards around and wins so much ball in attack and sets up lots of scores as well as pulling defenders around to create space for midfielders and others to run through. With Conroy pulled out to midfield were he is needed, the two lads have a lot of running to do, Armstrong is more interested in getting on the scoresheet than doing the donkey work. When it is working so well, why change it? Baffles me. Fresh legs I suppose as scores are easier to come by, but defence in football these days starts with forwards chasing and I never see Armstrong do it...... Ever. If anyone should have been taken off yesterday it should have been Kavanagh or Bradshaw.


The balance of a team is so important, I'm not sure if Mulholland got it right yesterday or against Mayo. We have the forwards to win big games, if the manager can get the tactics right we could surprise people. Cut out the stupid goals that we give away and we will be competitive. I also wish that people would not talk us down so much. We have players who have won U21 all Ireland's in Croke Park who should believe that they are good enough, we have the best young player in the country in Shane Walsh, we only lost to Cork by a point last year. We are complete underdogs against Kerry, but we are also just two wins away from an All Ireland final. Those chances do not come around very often, I really hope that we go up there and give it a real go.

TheCoolWay

Shane Walsh = The New Ja Fallon

TCDStudent1

Dont understand why people are being so hard on Kavanagh. He provided an alternative for the kick outs to our midfield. That alternative was badly needed after the Mayo performance.

donnem33

TCDStudent1 wrote: »

Dont understand why people are being so hard on Kavanagh. He provided an alternative for the kick outs to our midfield. That alternative was badly needed after the Mayo performance.

he lacks pace and doesnt appear to be much of a scoring threat anymore. not sure if he has the legs for croke park anymore tbh

threeball

donnem33 wrote: »

he lacks pace and doesnt appear to be much of a scoring threat anymore. not sure if he has the legs for croke park anymore tbh

He's being employed as a sweeper in front of the half backs and behind midfield, what does scoring have to do with it. That role is also about positional sense and game reading rather than pace, once he doesn't carry he works well in the role

Stanza2

TheCoolWay wrote: »

Shane Walsh = The New Ja Fallon

Shane Walsh = the new Ja Fallon + Padraic Joyce

h2005

Stanza2 wrote: »

Shane Walsh = the new Ja Fallon + Padraic Joyce

No pressure then!

Diabhal Beag

donnem33 wrote: »

he lacks pace and doesnt appear to be much of a scoring threat anymore. not sure if he has the legs for croke park anymore tbh

He's more of an extra HB. The way he was showing for ball yesterday was very encouraging and even though he lost possession he still was doing the dirty work that we all praised O'Brien for last year against weaker teams. He still got forward and had a great goal chance before Fox took him out. I disagree that he won't be suited for Croker either. He was winning those kickouts in small gaps in Tullamore so the wide pitch would be beneficial. If we want to keep it respectable a guy like Kavanagh will be vital to winning possession.

TheCoolWay

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

MfMan

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

He's more of an extra HB. The way he was showing for ball yesterday was very encouraging and even though he lost possession he still was doing the dirty work that we all praised O'Brien for last year against weaker teams. He still got forward and had a great goal chance before Fox took him out. I disagree that he won't be suited for Croker either. He was winning those kickouts in small gaps in Tullamore so the wide pitch would be beneficial. If we want to keep it respectable a guy like Kavanagh will be vital to winning possession.

Erm... Tullamore is actually a bigger playing surface than Croker, believe it or not.

h2005

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.

Diabhal Beag

MfMan wrote: »

Erm... Tullamore is actually a bigger playing surface than Croker, believe it or not.

Really?

Edit: .5 of a metre bigger indeed. 145x90 v Croke Park's 144.5x88.

O.A.P

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 )

RobbieRuns

Great that the footballers are being talked about and indeed still playing into August. They have made progress and it should be no shock to people, the talent is there. We may lack a bit of physical size, but we have some great footballers in the team, some real skillful players. They have nothing to lose next week.

aidan24326

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

aidan24326 wrote: »

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.

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).

aidan24326

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.

Naux

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).

Dublin do not concede more than the average ....so far.

Average scores conceded in this years championship by provincial winner

Dublin 13
Kerry 13
Donegal 11
Mayo 11 (includes New York game)

So not much between the defences of the provincial champions.

Utopia Parkway

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

Naux wrote: »

Dublin do not concede more than the average ....so far.

Average scores conceded in this years championship by provincial winner

Dublin 13
Kerry 13
Donegal 11
Mayo 11 (includes New York game)

So not much between the defences of the provincial champions.

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.

Naux

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.

Worthwent14

As poor as Bradshaw is defensively we are going to need his powerful running and attacking instincts v kerry to have a chance. He will need to work extra hard to track back and defend tho which I can't see him doing. James shaugnessy is the only other alternative on the bench who could play wing back (granted daithi Burke is starting) and he has never played for galway before. We have no options in the backs. Thought joss Moore was dispossessed too easily for tips 3rd goal. Kerry will notice that and hound us starting with their forwards and try and pressure us into turnovers. I imagine if Kavanagh is starting v kerry he will drop deep and Burke will be play in front of o donoghue?

Naux

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

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

h2005

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.

Worthwent14

I was on about the goal tipp scored but yes their keeper was poor