Galway GAA discussion thread

Utopia Parkway

Naux wrote: »

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.

I wouldn't put too much blame on Burke to be honest. He had to run at full pelt just to get there. All because Bradshaw had abandoned his man to run towards the ball carrier. By right Bradshaw should have stayed wide and Burke would have been able to close down the ball carrier.

WallyGUFC

I wouldn't be too worried about the goals conceded. Yes it was only Tipp, but they have a very potent attack and the game was well over at that stage. 4-17 is a mammoth score to put on anybody and confidence should be at a decent level going into Sunday.

There is absolutely no pressure on us now. Anything from here on in is bonus territory. Unless Kerry just don't show up we haven't a prayer imo so there's nothing to lose. I'd expect a decent performance, a 4-7 point loss, a bit of hope for next year and a Winter of conditioning work. We have the guts of a decent top 8 team, just need to find some defenders and implement a defensive plan.

RobbieRuns

h2005 wrote: »

Their keeper was very poor in general. Should have saved that and was beaten by Cummins in an aerial duel. Thats unforgivable.

You say that, but Cummins has a great leap on him for a small fella, he scored a fine fisted goal last year v Armagh jumping above everyone and I have seen him regularly outjump players. He was very unfortunate for that ball to hit the woodwork. There was also a defender there as well as the goalkeeper. I think it was great play by Cummins rather than poor goalkeeping.

TCDStudent1

WallyGUFC wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about the goals conceded. Yes it was only Tipp, but they have a very potent attack and the game was well over at that stage. 4-17 is a mammoth score to put on anybody and confidence should be at a decent level going into Sunday.

There is absolutely no pressure on us now. Anything from here on in is bonus territory. Unless Kerry just don't show up we haven't a prayer imo so there's nothing to lose. I'd expect a decent performance, a 4-7 point loss, a bit of hope for next year and a Winter of conditioning work. We have the guts of a decent top 8 team, just need to find some defenders and implement a defensive plan.

I really hope the Galway camp arent thinking like that. If they are not worrying about the goals they conceded, then they wont be able to improve on that area. I would be very worried about the goals they conceded!

Stanza2

Strange thing is that it was the soft goals against Mayo that really won them the game a few weeks ago and even in Croker last year against Cork we gave the lead away with a soft goal. We need to cut it out, we do have to worry about those goals !

spiritcrusher

In my mind the goals are what are killing us, although I guess that's an inevitable by-product of a poor defence. We could probably keep up the score count with the majority teams now but when we're letting soft goals in we have no chance in coming out on top against any kind of balanced and well set up team. As games get tighter towards the end of the season that's where defensive weaknesses are found out, especially as our forwards will be scoring less (against the top defences) and our backs conceding more. Our tackling technique looks shocking for the most part, and that's probably the reason why even with 14 men behind the ball Tipp were still going through us! 14 men behind the ball is silly and not needed anyway unless you've shite forwards. It just causes confusion unless it's been worked on for years like the lads up north. Our strength as a county is unlikely to ever be a huge variety of talented defenders but good tackling and a decent defensive system when we don't have the ball should still be possible.

Naux

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I wouldn't put too much blame on Burke to be honest. He had to run at full pelt just to get there. All because Bradshaw had abandoned his man to run towards the ball carrier. By right Bradshaw should have stayed wide and Burke would have been able to close down the ball carrier.

You are right in that Burke was trying to cover for another defenders mistake but I still think he defended badly in that situation. It was not as if he dived to block the kick or anything, he just ran straight past the guy and the guy was near the endline!

Naux

WallyGUFC wrote: »

I wouldn't be too worried about the goals conceded. Yes it was only Tipp, but they have a very potent attack and the game was well over at that stage. 4-17 is a mammoth score to put on anybody and confidence should be at a decent level going into Sunday.

There is absolutely no pressure on us now. Anything from here on in is bonus territory. Unless Kerry just don't show up we haven't a prayer imo so there's nothing to lose. I'd expect a decent performance, a 4-7 point loss, a bit of hope for next year and a Winter of conditioning work. We have the guts of a decent top 8 team, just need to find some defenders and implement a defensive plan.

A more clinical "cuter" team(ie Kerry) would have scored a number of goals against Galway early on in that game. Game over.

Tipp were not at all clinical in their passing.

I hope O'Donnell recovers as he looks to be the best option we have for NO.6

Naux

Hulk Hands wrote: »

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

Hanley made a couple of great interceptions in the first half, cut out some dangerous looking attacks.

I could not understand why he retreated back so far in the second half when Tipp were looking for goals. He was almost standing on Healy's toes for a couple of the goals. It reminded me of what you would see an under 10 player do! We need Hanley to boss the defense for Galway as he is by far the most experienced player. He needs to step up big time against Kerry.

Worthwent14

Conroy and Kavanagh will likely be roaming for kickouts and giving the goalie extra opti

Worthwent14

Conroy and Kavanagh will likely be roaming for kickouts and giving the goalie extra options and also create space for him to kick it into. Workrate must be upped 100% by everyone starting in the forwards. We need to make ourselves difficult to break down. Cummins will be our go to man he will win ball and create space bringing conroy Walsh and the big scorers into play and he was brilliant last year v cork before injury. I fear Kerry will negate Walsh so cummins and Martin will be very important. O curraoin needs to bring more to the team because if he isn't catching the ball he is a liability and a passenger. Would prefer to see someone like steede in there ideally if we had him and a proper kickout plan but o curraoin just needs to bring more to his all round game like the goal he scored for example. Think id keep the same team altho not too sure about Healy. Was very poor for first goal and is very small whereas Breathnach has prior form in croke park and is a bigger presence. A Varley may have a big role to play yet with his speed and ball winning skills could be a shock hero

TheCoolWay

Drop Bradsshaw

aidan24326

TheCoolWay wrote: »

Drop Bradsshaw

Care to elaborate?

Personally I think he is weak defensively and a bit headless but there's no use just saying 'drop him' unless you're going to qualify that statement, and unless you can suggest a better alternative (we're not exactly blessed with defensive options at the moment).

keane2097

How are the confidence levels lads? Nobody really seems to be considering the possibility of a Galway win, seems like a good situation to come into a game under.

O.A.P

I just hope we give them a game, if Kerry beat us at least make them work hard for it.
Galway play well in Croke park as a rule and I'm a bit nervous about them falling apart this time.

Naux

keane2097 wrote: »

How are the confidence levels lads? Nobody really seems to be considering the possibility of a Galway win, seems like a good situation to come into a game under.

Kerry are very overhyped I think. Cork were very poor and Clare put up a good show V Kerry so a Galway win is not an impossibility.

Should be a cracking game anyway.

spiritcrusher

Anyone try to get Cusak tickets yet? It's the only sideline stand doing the student refund but tickets.ie only have Hogan and Davin stand tickets for sale. Can Cusak be got in Super Valu? Don't fancy being down in the corner again like I was last year.

donnem33

spiritcrusher wrote: »

Anyone try to get Cusak tickets yet? It's the only sideline stand doing the student refund but tickets.ie only have Hogan and Davin stand tickets for sale. Can Cusak be got in Super Valu? Don't fancy being down in the corner again like I was last year.

i tried to get cusack stand tickets in supervalu literally just a few mins ago but it wasnt coming up on their system for any available. surely they cant be all sold at this stage of the week could they?

Diabhal Beag

How much is the student rebate for the Cusack? Half thinking of heading Hill.

donnem33

Diabhal Beag wrote: »

How much is the student rebate for the Cusack? Half thinking of heading Hill.

€10 rebate for cusack and davin stand

Fireball07

Lots of people talking about Anthony Daly as next Galway hurling manager. Thoughts if true?

donnem33

Fireball07 wrote: »

Lots of people talking about Anthony Daly as next Galway hurling manager. Thoughts if true?

i reckon daly could do with a break from the game tbh. hes been with dublin for the last 6 years..its a long time!

as long as its not johnny kelly or tony keady i wont mind. there is a serious u21 team this year that wont reach its potential with those 2 in charge..which is a great shame!!!

Worthwent14

I wouldnt say no to daly but he does probably need a break. Give Cunningham another year so we can save up for daly

djPSB

donnem33 wrote: »

i reckon daly could do with a break from the game tbh. hes been with dublin for the last 6 years..its a long time!

as long as its not johnny kelly or tony keady i wont mind. there is a serious u21 team this year that wont reach its potential with those 2 in charge..which is a great shame!!!

What has Daly achieved as a manager that makes people rate him so highly compared to Cunninghamñ

donnem33

djPSB wrote: »

What has Daly achieved as a manager that makes people rate him so highly compared to Cunninghamñ

to be honest im kinda wondering that too. fair enough he has raised the profile of hurling in dub, won a league and leinster championship. with the investment that was received, i believe the return over the last 6 yr has been minimal.

in fairness to cunningham he won a leinster and was a puck of the ball away from winning an all ireland. This year he has blooded a few new players who have great potential. The players played for him this year, and from talking to a few of the lads on the panel, the players were happy with him. Id be inclined to give him one more shot this year

Fireball07

donnem33 wrote: »

to be honest im kinda wondering that too. fair enough he has raised the profile of hurling in dub, won a league and leinster championship. with the investment that was received, i believe the return over the last 6 yr has been minimal.

in fairness to cunningham he won a leinster and was a puck of the ball away from winning an all ireland. This year he has blooded a few new players who have great potential. The players played for him this year, and from talking to a few of the lads on the panel, the players were happy with him. Id be inclined to give him one more shot this year

He did win a league title and a Leinster title with a Dublin team who aren't blessed with loads of great hurlers. He was also very unlucky with Clare in 2005... okay, it's not the most encouraging thing to hear of almost winning, but he is a very decent manager and last year Dublin were up there with the best. The every 2nd year thing is very odd, but I think Galway will improve under him.

threeball

Worthwent14 wrote: »

I wouldnt say no to daly but he does probably need a break. Give Cunningham another year so we can save up for daly

Dalys a very tactically niave manage which has cost him dearly over the years. Can be a bit wayward on the man management on occasion which is the opposite of what this county needs too. We need a man to bind this team together and get past the inter club bs that has blighted us. No county can have the spread of regular club all irelands we have and not have the players. Its the cohesion of the team and buy in to a common purpose that needs to be addressed. I'd have thought Donal o grady before the mess earlier in the year with limerick.

donnem33

threeball wrote: »

Dalys a very tactically niave manage which has cost him dearly over the years. Can be a bit wayward on the man management on occasion which is the opposite of what this county needs too. We need a man to bind this team together and get past the inter club bs that has blighted us. No county can have the spread of regular club all irelands we have and not have the players. Its the cohesion of the team and buy in to a common purpose that needs to be addressed. I'd have thought Donal o grady before the mess earlier in the year with limerick.

ya i would have thought donal o grady aswell, or perhaps john allen. a man id like given a chance is donal og...i know he has not much experience and probably wont take the job but i believe he would be good. terrific analyser of the game

threeball

The problem with hurling is the limited number of successful counties and therefore proven managers. Out of the eight managers you could talk about theres at least 4 that alot of players and fans wouldn't fancy, Cody included. Its a crap shoot after that to pick an internal man or pick up a guy who had success with the likes of antrim and see what he can do with one of the biggest selection of players in the country

donnem33

i think a man they should go after is martin fogarty from kilkenny. he was part of codys backroom teams and he appears to be a very astute individual. he had a part of play with the westmeath camp this year so i presume that he would be available

TheCoolWay

aidan24326 wrote: »

Care to elaborate?

Personally I think he is weak defensively and a bit headless but there's no use just saying 'drop him' unless you're going to qualify that statement, and unless you can suggest a better alternative (we're not exactly blessed with defensive options at the moment).

Because you could clearly see in the last game that he wasnt back marking his man for at least two of the goals. Poor attitude too i'm hearing from members of his club.

Bring back Sice lols

Worthwent14

Don't think there's any realistic alternative to brashaw at the moment unfortunately. Hopefully next season Duane Sice Doherty fahy will all be available to give us realistic options in the halfback line.

spiritcrusher

TheCoolWay wrote: »

Bring back Sice lols

Christ, don't mention the war. I know a fair amount of Corofin people who are extremely bitter Sice isn't on the team, "Besht player in the county lasht year and he not on the team...".
I think Sunday's toughest call for Mulholland will be do you start O'Donnell who may not be 100% but is our most experienced CB, and is by no means a rock in defence anyway, or risk a fully fit Daithi Burke who hasn't played a huge amount of football lately and certainly has never some up against anything like a Kerry forward line?

aidan24326

keane2097 wrote: »

How are the confidence levels lads? Nobody really seems to be considering the possibility of a Galway win, seems like a good situation to come into a game under.

Confidence in the Galway camp should be decent after what was for the most part a good performance against a useful Tipp team (the game was effectively won long before the defensive meltdown at the end).

Galway tend to play well in Croke Park too, so there's reasons to be hopeful and reasons to believe that Galway can be competitive and give this Kerry team a good test. But realistically a Kerry win is the most likely outcome and odds of 1/4 reflect that.

djPSB wrote: »

What has Daly achieved as a manager that makes people rate him so highly compared to Cunninghamñ

In fairness he probably achieved about as much as he could with the players at his disposal. Whether Cunningham did likewise is very debatable.

TheCoolWay wrote: »

Because you could clearly see in the last game that he wasnt back marking his man for at least two of the goals. Poor attitude too i'm hearing from members of his club.

Bring back Sice lols

I agree that Bradshaw is defensively suspect. Our defence in general is weak but we don't have a whole lot in the way of alternatives either, and management seem tactically weak in terms of implementing a proper defensive system.

Some of the scores conceded in the last 2 games have been unbelievably soft and there's been little or no progress made in that department. It was the exact same situation last year where Mayo and subsequently Cork sauntered through our defence for soft scores, and Cork would have had about 6 or 7 goals but for a bit of luck and some great goalkeeping.

Worthwent14

Cork would have had about 6 or 7 goals but for a bit of luck and some great goalkeeping. - this is why we need Breathnach in goals sunday he was excellent v tipp and cork last year and has experience of playing in croker and is a bigger keeper than Healy. I hope im wrong but i feel Kerry will expose this on sunday. I've seen him let in goals for his club that taller keepers would have stopped and thats what worries me about him

TheCoolWay

Worthwent14 wrote: »

Cork would have had about 6 or 7 goals but for a bit of luck and some great goalkeeping. - this is why we need Breathnach in goals sunday he was excellent v tipp and cork last year and has experience of playing in croker and is a bigger keeper than Healy. I hope im wrong but i feel Kerry will expose this on sunday. I've seen him let in goals for his club that taller keepers would have stopped and thats what worries me about him

awkward...

Utopia Parkway

Galway team v Kerry

Tom Healy
Donal O'Neill
Finian Hanley
Joss Moore
Gareth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Paul Varley
Fiontain O'Curraoin
Tom Flynn
Michael Lundy
Shane Walsh
James Kavanagh
Michael Martin
Paul Conroy
Danny Cummins

Mulholland Out.

He hasn't learned a thing since he took over.
Hand passing is needless, not working on a system that hits players with pace.

Still no defensive system, trying to man mark without spare backs is criminal.
We were the only team playing without spare backs.
We manned up, Kerry held their forwards central and were able to just make simple runs into the corners with acres of space for the kick.

Nothing done either on kickouts, players were just standing static until Healy kicked it long.

He got his gallant loss against Cork last season, we didn't improve this season and I wouldn't count two 7 point losses as an improvement.
Two sets of AI winning young lads to work with.

Need someone who can organise a defence to come in, work on moving it with pace and developing a kick out stragedy.

Another woeful year for Galway GAA....

Stanza2

gilberto_eire wrote: »

Mulholland Out.

He hasn't learned a thing since he took over.
Hand passing is needless, not working on a system that hits players with pace.

Still no defensive system, trying to man mark without spare backs is criminal.
We were the only team playing without spare backs.
We manned up, Kerry held their forwards central and were able to just make simple runs into the corners with acres of space for the kick.

Nothing done either on kickouts, players were just standing static until Healy kicked it long.

He got his gallant loss against Cork last season, we didn't improve this season and I wouldn't count two 7 point losses as an improvement.
Two sets of AI winning young lads to work with.

Need someone who can organise a defence to come in, work on moving it with pace and developing a kick out stragedy.

Another woeful year for Galway GAA....

I have to say that this team is better than the manager and by quite some distance ! The tactics are just woeful. The difference in the way the two teams played into the wind won Kerry the game. We were kicking the leather off the ball from the 45 in the first half into the strong wind, wide after wide. Kerry in the second half when under pressure kept the build up going until they were within 20 yards and popped it over for crucial scores. We did not even use our full forward line at all in that game. Cummins and Martin who are ball winners never got one delivery of quality, JOD from Kerry had class supply that allowed him to turn and score or supply a score. Big high balls into the two boys when balls into space were required. At half time I expected Cummins and Martin to create and score with the wind at their backs and plenty of space instead we get Armstrong on who has no pace to speak of on for Cummins (who's confidence must be shot to bits, don't know why he started him as he obviously does not rate him) and then takes Martin off shortly after to bring Hoare on ? We needed pace and goals so we bring big target men on. Even when we got it back to 2 points I thought we might go on and win it, the wind was a big difference playing into the Davin end, but no defensive system and they pop down and score when they want. The boys do not lack effort or ability but our structure is sadly lacking and coherence at all, just do not understand it. Shane was played all over the place more in hope than anything that he could get us out of the s##t. If we had played smart football with all the pocession that we had, that game was there for the taking. Do not know what the wide count was for both teams, but it must be heavily in Kerry's favour. I seriously do not believe that our players are worse than Kerry's or many other counties, but the management is rubbish. Hate saying it, but we are not the best team in Ireland, but we are better than that display today and Mulholland is not getting anywhere near the best out of them.

Fireball07

threeball wrote: »

The problem with hurling is the limited number of successful counties and therefore proven managers. Out of the eight managers you could talk about theres at least 4 that alot of players and fans wouldn't fancy, Cody included. Its a crap shoot after that to pick an internal man or pick up a guy who had success with the likes of antrim and see what he can do with one of the biggest selection of players in the country

But there are club managers, colleges managers, U-21/minor managers as well as coaches within intercounty set-ups... obviously it can be hard to identify how well they'll step up to the higher grade, but I suppose you interview them, see how well they talk, look at their record and take a gamble.


There aren't that many proven managers, that is true but teams do have to take a risk every now and then.

sean555

Very frustrating today, Kerry were there today but we could not take them. Management seem think that if they put Gary O Donnell marking space that counts as a defensive plan. The problem is Gary does not know where to stand, when to move forward, when to move back he spends the game ball watching. Too easy to blame him for that as in fairness he always tries his best and is a very honest player. The fault lies with management in not picking someone who can read a game better. Finian was excellent today until his attempted punch of the ball when it could have been caught. 2 corner backs roasted but given no help at all. Gareth Bradshaw great going forward, a liability going anywhere else, in the last ten minutes he gave up marking Keane and gave the responsibility to Lundy who then had 2 men to mark.
Paul Varley did pretty well esp. defensively. Fiontain played very well in midfield, Tom Flynn played well in patches and did score an excellent goal.
Lundy had a great game, Shane Walsh for a 20 year old played very well but will play even better in Croke Park next time he is there. John O' Brien started quite well, had one bad moment then gone for the second half. Michael Martin never got going and while he did get some good ball gave it away too often cheaply. Paul Conroy by his standards was not good at all, showed well but too often took wrong options, Danny Cummins just looked nervous , he got 3 or 4 good passes in the first ten minutes took one ridiculous shot and twice the ball bounced off his hands or chest. Subs Damien Comer looks decent,strong, tries hard confident, Seán Armstrong did pretty well too,2 points, nice pass for the goal.
There is a the bones of a very good team there but we need agression, passion and structure.

Fireball07

That Lundy guy was very good, haven't really seen much of him before. What age is he?

He was your best player imo.

Stanza2

Danny Cummins was taken off for Armstrong after about 60 mins v Mayo and then about 50 mins v Tipp and then 35 mins v Kerry. He was second highest scorer in the championship with 2-9 up until today (all from play) with only Shane Walsh ahead of him (who scores lots from frees). If he doesn't rate him then don't pick him.

No wonder he was nervous, the manager has hardly shown faith in him ! he kicked one wide, but everytime he makes a mistake he is taken off. The second half with the wind behind was made for him. The whole full forward line, Paul Conroy included were bypassed in that first half, it was harder into the wind. Kerry worked it out better and worked the ball into better scoring positions than us.

Borders no.2

Like against Mayo comfortably beaten, played some good football at times and highlighted weaknesses in the opposition but only briefly threatened a revival which was pretty much quenched straight away.

Mulholland is a good guy and blooding younger players is never painless, there are good days and bad but defensively we have continued to be weak and naive this year and a lot of that has been down to tactics, we don't have the personnel for a quality defensive unit so we need to be defensively well setup. Once again we make a hero out of the corner forward for the opposition due to schoolboy tactics. Kerry have undoubted class in their forwards and no matter what system you devise they will kick some excellent scores but going out with no effective defensive plan leaves you open for them to tear you open as they did.

In terms of our forward play, there just isn't enough movement, hasn't been all year, we worked some good scores today but really a lot of the time we had no idea what we were doing. Kerry's defence is extremely average and very susceptible to pace which Galway have. That weakness will be exploited if not by Mayo then by Dublin yet they were able to keep Galway at arms length comfortably enough particularly in the first half. We saw what happened against Mayo, imagine facing a team like Donegal or another of the northern outfits where space would be at a premium, the speed and movement of the team has to be increased several levels before we can hope to make the next step forward. If you are dilly-dallying hand passing it over and back on the 45 waiting for a chance to appear it won't, even the weakest defences are able to filter enough men back these days.

I think Mulholland deserves credit for getting these young players experience and the players seem to respect him but really after 3 years in charge, its very hard to see him taking us any further. If Mulholland is staying on, things will have to get much more professional behind the scenes and the backroom staff improved. To me the whole setup behind the scenes in the Galway camp looks amateur compared to a lot of other sides and that has to change if we are to give this group of players a fair crack of the whip.

Outside of tactics, management and overall setup, there is no doubt we are still a good few players short, particularly in the backline but competition for places looks stronger in most positions than it has for a long time. Maybe the likes of James Shaughnessy and these lads can be blooded in the league next year, we'll have to see will Daithi Burke commit to either or both codes.

We've got back to some kind of semi-respectability but the difficult part is yet to come.

Cosmo Kramer

Borders No. 2 pretty much bang on the money there with his comments I think. There is a real amateur feel about the Galway setup still. My own opinion is that if yesterday's semi-decent performance was enough to get Mulholland another year then it will have done more harm than good because, for me, he is not improving them - they are simply improving gradually as players by themselves as they get a bit older.

There is though the undeniable problem that you can't magic up good backs - they have to be in the system to begin with. I couldn't believe Mulholland started Donal O'Neill on O'Donoghue after the roasting he got off Cillian O'Connor but I guess there must be nobody else to come in. The only obvious solution to that is to drop more men back but will the Galway public accept a more defensive approach?

nootroc

Think O'Neill does not get enough help from halfbacks. What was Hanley doing punching a ball he should have caught easily enough.

RobbieRuns

A lot of very good points being made, I particularly agree with the statement that the players are improving by themselves, as they get older, fitter, stronger etc. We do have good footballers. They have proved it at underage.

I think that a lot is down to confidence and the lack of it throughout the squad. We all talk about rubbish backs, but Mulholland needs to get them feeling like they are world beaters, thats his job, he is always putting the dampner on expectations for the whole group. The point about Danny Cummins is well made as his confidence is blown for some reason, it should'nt be he is a fine player and the fact that he kept getting subbed probably had a lot to do with it. He is a forward and puts himself up there as they all do to be judged on his scoring ability so he has to take the bullets when they come, but I do think that he was taken off to early v Mayo and at half time yesterday was harsh as his pace should have come into its own as the game opened up. He deserved a bit longer on the pitch for me. Armstrong does not offer more (did not get 2 points either Sean555) and was as guilty of giving the ball away at times as anyone.

The midfield was a big plus this year the two lads have shown that they can do it and they are very young with good years ahead of them. Always been the key for me the centre field and that is brilliant going into next year.

The big decision is if Mullholland stays or goes. The team is a good one, there is real potential. The current management were always saying that a quarter final was a good step, for me we should be looking for more. Bringing in outside managers is fraught with danger. There is a former Galway player who cut his teeth with Sligo who should get the job!

Utopia Parkway

Mulholland took over at a difficult time having to introduce a whole raft of young players with some of the older lads retiring or simply being let go. In that respect there are a lot of young lads there now who have got some intercounty experience behind them. However I don't think Mulholland is the man to bring them forward. He is obviously an intelligent guy who runs his own business but he doesn't seem to have a clue about setting up a team tactically to hide it's weaknesses and showcase it's strengths. From watching the Kerry game it was clear he learned precisely nothing from the Mayo game because he repeated many of the same mistakes. Including leaving his corner-backs completely isolated on the opposition's most dangerous player.

Personally think it would be best to thank Alan for his services, for steadying the ship somewhat and moving on from him.

Utopia Parkway

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

From watching the Kerry game it was clear he learned precisely nothing from the Mayo game because he repeated many of the same mistakes. Including leaving his corner-backs completely isolated on the opposition's most dangerous player.

It's even going back further than that, was the same case last year against Mayo and Cork and Waterford nearly finished us in Salthill.

The record since 2012 has been poor with only a notable win over Armagh from the traditional stronger counties.

We were the only team yesterday who didn't employ spare men in defence.
That's Junior stuff and that's supposed to be the difference between Junior and Senior/County level.
Even if they didn't work on it during the year it was clear after 10mins that we needed to stop man marking, drop extra men back and primarily hold the space in front of the corner back positions.
Kerry were just bringing everyone in front of the Galway goal then leading out the wings into the space that was opened up.

RobbieRuns wrote: »

The current management were always saying that a quarter final was a good step, for me we should be looking for more. Bringing in outside managers is fraught with danger. There is a former Galway player who cut his teeth with Sligo who should get the job!

If he does get another year.
That will be exactly why, in that others would agree based on 2002-2013.
It's like since we've dropped so far for so long, that regardless of how much better the panel could be(their U21 success would point to them being better than a making a quarter being a good year) currently we should be happy to just make the last 8 of a 32 team.

Past failures shouldn't be the gauge for current expectations, but a lot are using it currently.

I remember reading either the Sentinel of the Tribune after the Mayo game and they actually used the tagline ''Pride restored to Galway football'' after getting a 7 point drubbing.

Are we supposed to be happy with making the final of the weakest Provincial Championship?
For a county who comes 3rd in the Roll of Honour I don't think losing convincingly in the final is a restoration of Pride.

Sure we didn't make it since 2008, but it wasn't good enough any of those intervening years either. Mulholland seems to be getting a pass due to the failings of his predecessors.

You'd even argue he has a better pool to draw from yet we're more uncompetitive against the stronger counties now than we were with weaker teams in the 2006-2012 years.
We put it up more to a stronger Kerry team in 2008 with a far worse panel.

IMO the weakest Galway teams should be regularly making Quarter finals due to the population gulf.
This is the case with Mayo, Dublin, Cork, Kerry and even average Meath and Kildare teams.
So seeing as I don't think this is our weakest level it's a disappointing year IMO.

WallyGUFC

Who can come in if he goes though?

Whatever happens, the team needs to spend the winter in the gym and bulk up. They need to become mean as well, and learn how to tackle effectively. 3-14 against Mayo, 4-12 against Tipp, 1-20 yesterday. That's not acceptable. We coasted to a QF by beating 3 pretty poor teams. We never had a prayer yesterday, Kerry didn't have to get out of second gear. We are years behind the likes of Mayo, Dublin and Donegal in the conditioning stakes. Nice teams don't win All Irelands anymore, you have to be ruthless. And this team is just too nice.