Galway GAA Discussion Thread #2

I realise I'm on the Galway page here so I'll try to be honest and not have a dig after ye lost a final.

I believe Galway are currently a better team than Mayo.Further down the line in their development and more settled,bearing this in mind its got to be worrying when ye can't put a Mayo team (not playing well yesterday and missing a few players) to the sword.

I think Galway should have won the game yesterday, if ye have 5 goal chances you have to be converting 2 or 3 of them at least.Mayo had 4 goal chances in the 21 All Ireland final and coverted none of them,you'll rarely win a game doing that.

Ye can't control things like Colm Reaoe having his best game in a Mayo Jersey and pulling off wonder saves,sometimes things just work out for a player.

Things like PJ celebrating leagues wins on the sideline in February like ye have won Sam and having meltdowns in interviews ye can control.This sort of craic is a liability for ye and an advantage to opponents.Personally I love to see it but I think it does a disservice to yer team.

Also Galways record in Croker in fairly shocking, I wouldn't be confident it we meet ye in the Connaught semi in Salthill but would fully expect Mayo to beat Galway at the business end of the championship in Croker.

Wouldn't agree that our record in CP is shocking, we've won enough games there too in recent seasons. Our record in finals isn't great, right enough, but in finals you are generally meeting the best, toughest opposition you will have faced, and you won't win unless at or near your own best.

This season has again been transitional in a way for PJ and Galway, whether by accident or design. He's had to introduce a decent raft of new players, a few of whom, in particular McGrath and maybe Sean Fitz look as if they can they hold their own at this level. Last year they were shooting the lights out in division 2 but conceding hefty scores also. This year has been the exact opposite; very mean and tight defence but turgid for a lot of times in attack. I wouldn't get too excited about the management celebrating wins on the line, at least it shows passion and desire.

As for yesterday itself, to summarise, Galway lost because they gave away a few balls in attack in the first half which was punished by Mayo's score on the counter-attack, they conceded soft frees (whether merited or not) and didn't take their goal chances. The team should have enough experience to know not to foul O'Shea when playing Mayo. Just stand him up and he will eventually run out of road, he won't score. Sean Fitz gave away a silly, needless free right in front of the ref in the first half. Gleeson should have kept that last kickout of the first half short and let the backs run down the clock. Instead he kicked it long, it was overturned and Mayo earned another scoring free. Small things like that. Finnerty and Comer were scarcely match fit and Tierney and Conroy weren't in the game that much.

I wouldn't be greatly worried about meeting Mayo again as I feel there's more improvement to be found in Galway. However, I think they are cuter on the sideline and I always feared Rochford and Buckley getting back with them again as they're shrew operators I feel.

You're right, it should very well have been level at half time, but it was actually a 3 point gap!

I guess the good thing about the Rossies winning is that we get to keep our "Mayo League Final revenge" card until later in the year if necessary. A tough proposition in the Hyde but we have done it there before and, as good as they were today, Rossies aren't prolific scorers. I hope it won't be televised as I predict it will be a carbon copy of today's match.

Definitely gonna be a bad looking match in 2 weeks time bar maybe the last fifteen mins if it opens up out of tiredness. Some great Roscommon points today near the end.

Definitely gonna be very hard to win in the Hyde. Im not sure it's harder than Mayo in Salthill though.

Mayo didn't shoot from 30 yards out today. Galway would need to to get around that defensive wall.

Any idea when tickets are out?

You missed the League Final result then?

Jesus wept.

Moycullen are getting a bad name for themselves the last while. Are Owen Gallagher and Tom Clarke living anywhere near Moycullen, highly doubt it. It’s well documented that Don Connellan approached them both about joining Moycullen. Is this Offaly player the same lad that’s a cousin of the Tierney in Oughterard? I heard he was meant to be joining them but maybe it’s a different lad.

Oranmore have half the east of the City playing with them is a bit of an exaggeration. Can you name them. Mellows cover the whole City. Most of Castlegar has been swallowed up by other parishes.

Separate to your comment the importing of players from other parishes keeps local players off teams. Clubs like Claregalway were really bad but I think they don't accept permission to play applications anymore. I think Athenry did it too. The other thing is there are no boundaries in the city. Most the clubs agreed boundaries about 20 years ago for the city center and west but it was never signed off.

ACL injuries are ones you need to be more careful than most. Many players has picked up an 2nd ACL when rushed back.

Goalkeeper is interesting. During the week PJ was asked about the number one and his exact quote was:

We will sit down tonight and pick the squad,” explains Joyce, speaking at a media event ahead of their trip to Dr Hyde Park on Sunday.

“Both of them are going well. We are in a position that Bernie Power and Connor are training really well. James Keane has come back from injury, our third choice. We are down between the two of them, Bernie and Connor. We will make that decision tonight. It is not a tough decision for me, no.

“Any decision we ever make is for the betterment of Galway football. It is not a personal decision. I’ll have the best lads available to Galway on the pitch. Simple as that.” 

Seems like who was starting this game was a foregone conclusion (which I would of thought meant Gleeson) but it's Power.......

Team as strong as we have bar Cillian not starting. Lots of options off the bench. Be interesting to see how Ian Burke goes. Felt it was unfair on a lot of lads to pin our early scoring woes in the league on them when we were down so many key attackers. But with Shane and Damo beside him I think Burke can flourish. It's either now or never as you'd imagine Finnerty and Culhane are pushing hard to start.

i think rob finnerty omission is due to tactics moreso than ability. Let's face it, it's going to be dire dog of a game, very physical so they are hoping that maybe ian burke will pick the lock with a pass and bring on finnerty and culhane when roscommon tire in the second half.

It will be good to see what Power brings to it on Sunday. Best of luck to him.

I'm a bit unsure about the recent explanations by PJ around who's first choice. He said after the Kerry league match, when Power played well, that Gleeson was still number 1 and was rested. Gleeson played the league final. I can't remember any glaring mistakes in that match.

Obviously they have training matches and challenge matches to base things on.

But if the external messaging is also heard by the players, then to me its the kind of thing that could be confusing for a goalkeeper of all positions where a managers faith and confidence need to be felt by a goalkeeper over a long period of time. Not sure Joyce did himself, Gleeson or Power any favours by saying Gleeson was number 1 straight after the Kerry match. Better if he kept some things to himself.