The pitiful state of Galway Sport

Borders no.2

Sorry if this is in the wrong place but its a general title to reflect the sad state of sport in this county at the minute. Don't mean to depress anyone but believe that the issues in Galway sport need to be addressed rapidly.

Hurlers: Absolutely terrible, as bad a Galway performance in a championship game as has been seen in a long time, a lot worse than the 19 point drubbing by Kilkenny a few years back. We've won all the underage titles, club All Irelands and so on and yet we never bring it through to senior. We've 7 minor all-irelands won since we last won a senior, we have at least 3 u21 all irelands and I'd say approx 10 club all irelands won yet that is the best we can produce tonight. Lads incapable of producing even the basic skills of the game and a large number of players lacking any heart. Dublin were good on the night and fair play to them but Dublin are still a good bit back on the big 2 so that shows how far back Galway are.

Footballers: u21 all ireland this year offers hope but how many of these lads will come through. We haven't won a serious game since 2001 (excluding Mayo which is a derby) and in recent years we've lost to teams like Sligo, Wexford, Westmeath, Donegal etc who no offence but we should be beating. We haven't had the strongest team and even at full strength we're nowhere near the top but we should have been into at least the quarter finals or semi finals every 2 or 3 years. Again minor talent going to waste.

Soccer: Galway United effectively finished. The debt left behind from the boom period is insurmountable and with the form of the team at present there is little future which is sad as there are extremely genuine people trying to run GUFC at present. Our best local players playing up the road for a potential title challenging side. Mervue are doing well this year but there's only a certain level they can reach before they'll peak which is about the level they are at now. Salthill are totally out of their depth at present.

Rugby: Ok a provincial side but its based around Galway. Some promise from Connacht in the past couple of seasons but with the loss of key personnel and a lack of adequate replacements Connacht will be struggling again. Have started to develop more local players but with little quality around them it'll be tough to bring them through and even if they do they'll struggle to hold on to them.

For a county of its size its depressing to see Galway sport in the state its in. Galway has so much to be proud of but our sports teams are in general a laughing stock at the moment which for a sports fanatic like me is heartbreaking.

Don't know what the point of this rant was, just want to know that others feel the same really.

Lapin

Hate admitting it OP, but I have to agree.

Pure Sound

Part of the reason Galway Utd are doing so poorly is said to be down to the fact that Mervue and Salthill are in the league below them so players that would have formerly moved from them two clubs are now staying where they are, so good players from Galway are now stretched among the 3 clubs.

In the Football we tend to overate ourselves and some our stars are playing mainly through reputation and may actually be holding the flow of the team back. There is hope though as some of our key players are not too old.

In the hurling I get the impression that we are a tad predictable.

I'm not saying any of the above are facts, just theories as to why we are performing so badly.

fergiesfolly

I note you started your post by listing quite a few sporting successes.
Best county in Ireland at club hurling by a country mile. And very good underage sucess.
Three League of Ireland football clubs(admittedly not doing themselves any favours by being there,but still)
A rugby team in the Heineken Cup.
Most counties would covet such failure.

Borders no.2

fergiesfolly wrote: »

I note you started your post by listing quite a few sporting successes.
Best county in Ireland at club hurling by a country mile. And very good underage sucess.
Three League of Ireland football clubs(admittedly not doing themselves any favours by being there,but still)
A rugby team in the Heineken Cup.
Most counties would covet such failure.

Fair enough but I think a county of Galway's size should expect so much more. Club Hurling is fine but in the grand scheme of things these are all secondary competitions. Senior County Hurling is all that really matters and we'll failed spectacularly in that over the number of years.

3 LOI clubs ok but I'd prefer 1 proper club like a town Galway's size should have.

HC, lets be honest it was achieved through Leinster's HC success.

snubbleste

What state is Galway athletics, badminton, basketball, cricket, hockey, rowing, tennis, weightlifting.. in?

ben.schlomo

Borders no.2 wrote: »

Fair enough but I think a county of Galway's size should expect so much more. Club Hurling is fine but in the grand scheme of things these are all secondary competitions. Senior County Hurling is all that really matters and we'll failed spectacularly in that over the number of years.

3 LOI clubs ok but I'd prefer 1 proper club like a town Galway's size should have.

HC, lets be honest it was achieved through Leinster's HC success.

Hard enough to maintain even one when the mythical Galway sporting public wont get off their bar stools and support them.

FlashD

Totally agree with the OP.

Its depressing how poor the senior hurling have been doing over the years considering how well their performance is at every other level.

They last contested a final in 2005 and they last won an All-Ireland in 1988 :eek:, hard to believe! I can name all 15 players plus subs from that '88 team, I can barely name 5 players on the current team.

As for the football, I wouldn't count too much on the current team but there's always hope, Galway footballers have contested an All-Ireland final in every one of the last 10 decades so we have another 9 years ahead of us, surely we'll be in for a shout in one of them. .

Anyway, sure look on the bright side, things could be worse, you could be a Mayo supporter :P.

Regards.

Diabhal Beag

As a Galway man who goes to Hurling, football, rugby and soccer I do feel insulted that in three out of the four sports we haven't had anything to shout about in five years at least. The rugby team are doing fine and I'm looking forward to seeing Toulouse come to Galway this year.

But the other teams are shocking. I go to about 15 Galway United matches a year. Don't know why I even bother anymore and the more I think about the less I want to invest money in this dying club when so few else are interested. At the same time I can't blame people for not wanting to go to matches where we'll lose to Bohs, Pat's, S Rovers and Sligo. How can people justify seeing a defeat at nearly every match when they can practically save the money and visit Anfield or Old Trafford? That answer is getting more obvious by the year. People won't spend money when they are only feeding a myth about supporting Irish soccer which is a sinking boat.

Football has been in a dyer state for years as is Connacht. We might improve with some of the U-21 winning side coming in to the fray. I'll be up to Mayo next week and hopefully we'll get a win and something positive from the match. I can at least have hope for football.

Hurling. :mad: I love hurling. I don't want to say too much but I've seen friends and relatives go into that side and leave it horrified. We have to players to be in the top four but we are heartless. No pride in the jersey and a bunch of mongs afraid to catch a ball. I'd say I spend more money watching hurling than any other sport. I don't mind when we are getting to play at Croker but after yesterday that performance level and appearance is unlikely to be seen this year. Hurling fans are very loyal but with performances like yesterday you might aswell just piss all over them.

Placebo Effect

We Need Community wrote: »

Part of the reason Galway Utd are doing so poorly is said to be down to the fact that Mervue and Salthill are in the league below them so players that would have formerly moved from them two clubs are now staying where they are, so good players from Galway are now stretched among the 3 clubs.

In the Football we tend to overate ourselves and some our stars are playing mainly through reputation and may actually be holding the flow of the team back. There is hope though as some of our key players are not too old.

In the hurling I get the impression that we are a tad predictable.

I'm not saying any of the above are facts, just theories as to why we are performing so badly.

Not too sure about that, Galway Utd & the other Galway clubs have never had a great relationship, can't ever remember too many players going from them to Galway Utd over the years..

Pinturicchio

Placebo Effect wrote: »

Not too sure about that, Galway Utd & the other Galway clubs have never had a great relationship, can't ever remember too many players going from them to Galway Utd over the years..

Alan Keane, Vinny Faherty, Seamus Conneely, Paul Sinnott, Shane Keogh, Conor Winn and Enda Curran all have moved from Salthill or Mervue to United in recent years.

Placebo Effect

Pinturicchio wrote: »

Alan Keane, Vinny Faherty, Seamus Conneely, Paul Sinnott, Shane Keogh, Conor Winn and Enda Curran all have moved from Salthill or Mervue to United in recent years.

I haven't really followed them in recent years , not many from Mervue anyway over the years!

Amazotheamazing

Borders no.2 wrote: »

For a county of its size its depressing to see Galway sport in the state its in. Galway has so much to be proud of but our sports teams are in general a laughing stock at the moment which for a sports fanatic like me is heartbreaking.

The problem with Galway's sport is that there's too many teams dividing up too few players, you see the same in Limerick, Wexford, Offaly etc. If Galway was like Kerry or Kilkenny, effectively one-sport counties, ye'd be among the top at whichever sport it happened to be.

Even Cork, with a much larger population, hasn't a much better record across a range of sports, they excel at hurling but have only decent football/soccer/rugby records and in general in rugby and soccer they funnel all their talent into one top team (Con in rugby, whatever Cork City are called this week in soccer).

That doesn't excuse Galway's hurlers from Saturday though, don't think I've ever seen a Galway team play with such little skill, let alone heart. Whatever about them not winning things, they usually provide top quality entertainment. Sadly they've been on the losing side of a lot of classic games in the last howevermany years.

evil_seed

Just because the Dubs bet us in the hurling. Bit of an over-reaction IMO OP. They were always going to and Clare will in the qualifiers. This happens when you have bad management making bad selections.

I can't comment on the LOI teams cos I don;t follow any of them. But the fact that Galway has 3 teams in the league is fair going I'd say.

I've stopped following the football, but are the U-21's last yrs All Ireland Champions?? That's a nice foundation to build upon and I'm sure the lads stepping up to the senior team to play next weekend will be good enough to do the job.

As for Connacht, well, they are not just Galways team because they are based here. The hint is in the name. They are a team that are going places. It's just a matter of building on each season bit by bit and getting the proper support from the higher ups and the supporters around the province.

FlashD

evil_seed wrote: »

Just because the Dubs bet us in the hurling. Bit of an over-reaction IMO OP. They were always going to and Clare will in the qualifiers. This happens when you have bad management making bad selections.
QUOTE]

I don't think it's an over-reaction from the OP, the record speaks for itself. At all other levels the hurlers are competing, why does it fall apart at senior level?

You probably put your finger on one of the main problems, bad managment but it's not the only one.

Simarillion

Just because the city/county doesn't excel in the mainstream sports doesn't mean we're not successful at sport!
As someone who has no interest in soccer or any GAA sports I always find it annoying that the newspapers rarely give coverage to anything but the Big Four (Gaelic, Hurling, Soccer and Rugby).

Rowing - 5 clubs in Galway, all repeatedly successful. Always claim at least 2/3 national titles between them each year and supply a significant proportion of the National Squad for European/World Championships and the Olympics.

Basketball - Moycullen and Barna continuously sucessful and do get quite a bit of coverage.

Hockey - 4 clubs in the city all capable of holding their own, with Galway HC winning the Examiner Cup in Munster this year. At least 3 girls from the Galway Clubs on Irish squads right now.

Swimming/Water Polo - again regular successes on the national stage for both and have supplied people for National Squads in past 5 years

Archery - mainly based at NUI Galway and GMIT. Both are regular winners at intervarsities every year and NUIG have 3 of it's members on the Irish Squad with one in the running for an Olympic position.

Sailing - consistently successful at events outside of the Western region, with a recent win in Dublin, and the sport is growing in numbers every year predominantly at GBSC in Renville.

So when you say that Galway is dire at sport, you really mean in the mainstream televised sports. All of us in the background do quite well we just don't get the credit for it. I agree that as a major city/county and in particular as a province we don't really hold our own against Leinster, Munster and Ulster on a regular basis but that is really down to population and funding.

beeintheknow

come off it simarillion, those are not proper sports.

wet-paint

Forty per cent of the men's freestyle kayaking team is from Galway, including the team captain Brian Cahill. They're over in Germany right now comepting.

OldSchool94

Not only is Galway sport gone to dogs but Irish sport is! The GAA is a discrace. They should do something usefull with their time. Just looking at 20-30 people gathered around in a pub watching yesterdays match was discracefull! If anyone saw the likes! You don't see 20-30 people gather around a t.v in a pub to watch the likes of the news and when somebody like a murderer was found everybody starts cheering and clapping....

gandroid

OldSchool94 wrote: »

Not only is Galway sport gone to dogs but Irish sport is! The GAA is a discrace. They should do something usefull with their time. Just looking at 20-30 people gathered around in a pub watching yesterdays match was discracefull! If anyone saw the likes! You don't see 20-30 people gather around a t.v in a pub to watch the likes of the news and when somebody like a murderer was found everybody starts cheering and clapping....

I don't follow?

beeintheknow

OldSchool94 wrote: »

Not only is Galway sport gone to dogs but Irish sport is! The GAA is a discrace. They should do something usefull with their time. Just looking at 20-30 people gathered around in a pub watching yesterdays match was discracefull! If anyone saw the likes! You don't see 20-30 people gather around a t.v in a pub to watch the likes of the news and when somebody like a murderer was found everybody starts cheering and clapping....

Has anyone really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

ben.schlomo

beeintheknow wrote: »

Has anyone really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Some soild posts in this thread today i see

Placebo Effect

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Some soild posts in this thread today i see

Its with O'Leary in the grave...

tribesman78

Have to agree with the OP on most of his statements, but just because Galway sport is going through a rough patch then this is the most important time for true following to get behind their respective sports and start encouraging them and show support.

I am a Galway united supporter for the last 7-10 years and i have seen some good times and some bad. presently this would rank as the worst but there are people working hard in the background trying to improve things albeit it seams like an impossible task. I believe having three teams in Galway can work as it will give more local talent a chance at a higher level of soccer.

As for other sports in general, what the players need is support and encouragement. Its very easy to jump on the bandwagon and slate people its harder to support in the bad times but people need to realize that these players are playing for their county and IMO are just as pissed off as the fans. If anyone really thinks that these people go out there and train like they do just for the fun and tiny bit of celeb status they get they are fooling themselves.

Get behind your team, get involved and give vocal encouragement.

antoobrien

FlashD wrote: »

I don't think it's an over-reaction from the OP, the record speaks for itself. At all other levels the hurlers are competing, why does it fall apart at senior level?

You probably put your finger on one of the main problems, bad managment but it's not the only one.

The underage success is down to two things. The first is that the minors are largely playing at a higher level already than most of the players in other teams. The minor management has a policy of choosing lads that are playing either senior or intermediate (I think there's been 1 exception to this policy in the past few years - he was playing junior b - in fairness his club's first team).

the second is that at 16,17,18 and to a lesser extend 19-21 you can get away with less physical power. When the same players are thrown in against bigger stronger wilier opponents they don't know what to do.

The reason for the failures is the fact that we don't coach players, just drop them.

Malice

beeintheknow wrote: »

Has anyone really been far as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

Apologies in advance for dragging this off-topic but I've reread the above post a few times and I am still no closer to figuring it out. Can anyone help?

siltirocker

evil_seed wrote: »

Just because the Dubs bet us in the hurling. Bit of an over-reaction IMO OP. They were always going to and Clare will in the qualifiers. This happens when you have bad management making bad selections.

You should check out Galway's stats since the Kilkenny win in 2005. Disaster. Of the 16 Championship games vs the top eight (Cork, Tipp, Waterford, Kilkenny, Wexford, Offaly, Dublin, Clare).

Galway have:
Won 4 (Clare 2009, Cork 2009, Wexford 2010, Offaly 2010)
Drawn 1 (Offaly 2010)
Lost 11 (Kilkenny 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010. Waterford 2006, 2009. Clare 2007. Cork 2005, 2008. Tipperary 2010. Dublin 2011.)

That IMO is woeful.

AngeGal

GAA wise, shouldn't have gotten rid of Loughnane/Kernan in my opinion. I know they achieved little in their 2 year/1 year spell but each of them had a formidable record. They were controversial and demanding but each had done enough in the past to warrant another year I would think.

Soccer - Close to every club in the LOI have significant cashflow problems. Sadly can't see Galway United surviving much longer.

Rugby - The one sport that I think is one the rise in Galway and the province itself. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have an occasional ML game in Dubarrry Park I think to keep interest around the province rising. Heineken cup this year should be amazing. Hopefully sneak one win and a couple of bonus points and improve on our ML points total again.

As others have pointed out, the county has a strong record in some of the less popular sports.

fatguy2k1

AngeGal wrote: »

Rugby - The one sport that I think is one the rise in Galway and the province itself. Wouldn't be a bad idea to have an occasional ML game in Dubarrry Park I think to keep interest around the province rising. Heineken cup this year should be amazing. Hopefully sneak one win and a couple of bonus points and improve on our ML points total again.

not going to happen anytime soon. season tickets did stellar business this year on the fact the games will be played in The Sportsground. Imagine telling all those people that some of the games have been moved to Dubarry Park.

I go to all the County Hurling and football championship games and to be honest the following especially in football is gone to the dogs. The turnout for the games against Sligo and Wexford last year were a disgrace, and two were home games. I know things are not great but its sad to see such a poor following.

Admittedly I dont get to see many league matches but as Im not living in Galway at the moment I cant afford to travel to matches all year round as even home games mean travelling up from Cork.

I remember back to 1998 and 2001 and the big crowds that were at matches which included a number of trips to croke park with the qualifiers in 2001 but people wont even go as far as pearse stadium now.

Head The Wall

Malice wrote: »

Apologies in advance for dragging this off-topic but I've reread the above post a few times and I am still no closer to figuring it out. Can anyone help?

It's an internet meme!