Galway GAA Discussion Thread #2

Not up to IC standards at all

On the stadium, it needs to be in/around the city for so many reasons but agree that Salthill is a dire location.

On the match, don't have too many complaints. They had chances in 2nd half but they picked the pass option when a shot was on. It's too conservative at times.

While a great talent, I've always been of the opinion that Shane Walsh is just not a reliable enough for someone with his skillset. Peter Cooke another who flatters to deceive. Add injury prone Cormer to the list and that's half a forward line that it's impossible to depend on.

PJ deserves another year, but has lots of work to do

I'm sorry but gleeson has to go. They is a mistake in him every game. Mayo got there goal from a wayward kick out to paddy Duncan and there wasn't a galway man within 20 yards and made a poor effort to save it If Joyce is staying on, he needs to get ruthless, like for me McDaid is the first choice midfielder and shouldn't be moved around to accommodate other lads. Healey had a poor championship and still started him, some of his team selections were a bit daft and transition from defence to attack was allot slower ponderous than past year for whatever reason.

Should DB go back on Gillane and revert GMC to 6? DB did relatively well there last year

I think I've calmed down enough to comment now :)

The first thing to say that of course we shouldn't have been in this position and should be looking forward to a quarter final this weekend. Going from beaten finalists to not even making the quarters is serious regression. One which would not be tolerated in Kerry and Dublin. Also the injury to Kelly cost us big time and a fit Kelly may have been the difference yesterday.

Deciding to play against the breeze in the first half was madness. The game was always going to start off helter-shelker and taking 15-20 minutes to settle down. You were making it difficult to rack up a lead in the first half to defend. Mayo are always good at chasing down a lead and building momentum that way. After their collapse the previous week, we should have put the pressure on their attack to score straight away.

Persisting with Gleeson was always going to cost us. Even though his kick outs improved, it led to a goal and he dived the wrong way for the goal. I don't understand gaelic goalies who do that. The guy coming through was a full back. Stand tall and make him score.

Too many passengers on the team when the going got tough again. Fair play to the youngsters like McGrath and Glynn that took the fight to them. Getting nothing out of senior players like Walsh and Heaney, etc., we were up against it. The time has come to stop comparing Walsh like Clifford, etc. He had one fantastic day out in the last 2 seasons, it just happened to be on All Ireland final day. Can't be relied upon to turn up. And Comer cannot be relied to stay fit. Need a couple of forwards, and a forwards coach too. 12 points in 70 minutes with a gale for one half is piss poor.

Think Joyce has taken us as far as he can. 3 poor seasons out of 4, 3 final loses in Croke Park in the last year. Not able to get the team over the line in tight games. Not sure who could take over but at least the question should be asked now.

Salthill is an absolute disaster for Galway in both hurling and football, I doubt any other county has a county ground which doesn't give them some sort of an advantage. At best it's like a neutral ground, neither the football or hurling fraternity feel any real connection to it, plus it's location is so inaccessible compared to most other county grounds, most supporters would find it more convenient to go to Croke Part than to Pearse Stadium and a lot avoid going to Pearse Stadium altogether due to the chronic traffic jams. On top of that the locals don't know or care whose playing. Galway City must be one of the worst towns/cities in the country for supporting any type of sport, seems to be very little interest in any sports whatsoever in the city.

Instead of redeveloping Pearse Stadium in the first place, if they wanted a Stadium in the City, a new stadium on the East of the City close to the motorway would have been a better option. Too late now, we're stuck with it now for the foreseeable, as there's no other ground near capable of hosting big championship games. Even had they redeveloped Tuam properly 20 years ago and used it for both hurling and football it would have been a better option, wouldn't have been ideal for the hurling, but, I think better than Pearse Stadium.

Tough luck to Galway yesterday. Injuries and a few players out of form caught up in the end. Think both teams can give anyone a battle on their day. The wind played a serious role in the game.

Just on the venue and the atmosphere.

While these may be small things they make a difference. They didn't seem to put much effort into creating an occasion at the venue. No one to sing the national anthem, no pre match, half time or final whistle music or entertainment etc. Lack of stalls/food on the terrace side etc.

Getting the pearse is a nightmare as all know but really shouldn't be. Simply not enough public transport going that direction on match days. Waiting fo buses heading to salthill that didn't arrive, ones that did were full, a farce for an event whose attendance was well known in advance. Is there a traffic plan associated with the venue?

Not much point bringing small kids either based on home much they can see from the terraces but this is an issue in any venue.

Edit: to add, Galway GAA simply don't have the resources for building a new stadium anywhere and to be fair it's only a handful of times in the year it is full, however they badly need to improve the facility and access to it.

There'd be plenty if funds if they sold Salthill. The site is worth a fortune. We don't need a 30k stadium either. There's never close to that at Galway games. 20k would be far better and a pitch to croke Park standard.

No developer would take that site on.

The locals wouldn't even allow floodlights never mind the 300 extra houses that would be needed to viable. It would be held up for years.

Is FB the right place for Sean Kelly? As an outsider, it seems a bit odd to play one of the best players in the country in there. There must be a half decent FB in Galway that could be played there instead and release him out the field

I'd say Mulkerrin would've been at fullback if he didn't get that horrific injury. Eoghan Kelly was looking like the potential fullback before he got injured in the League and hasn't even benched since IIRC. I think even Davoren had a look in.

I think come FBD time they'll be trying out replacements and we'll see Kelly further outfield. I'd also like to see him given a break. He's been playing a relentless amount of games for club, county and college for the last few years.

Totally agree.

Athenry & Tuam.

Build 1 to 25k and the other to 15k and we'd be laughing.

You're right in that at best Pearse Stadium is a neutral venue, thing is you'd probably get the guts of the two new stadium's above built from selling it.

Realistically that's not going to happen, Pearse Stadium it is for the foreseeable future. The decision to develop Pearse Stadium was the wrong one, I can see why they went with it, trying to get the GAA to grow in the city, but, Galway city is a really poor city for supporting sport, look at Galway United, very low attendances, Connacht the same, most rugby followers would be from outside the city. Compared to the likes of Limerick and Cork who show great support for their teams for a number of sports.

Tuam really was the pitch to develop instead of Pearse Stadium, they could have got it to around the 25,000 mark and would do both the hurling and football, probably not ideal for the hurling, but, with the motorway it's fairly easy to get to from the hurling heartlands in the south of the county and even from other counties. Pearse Stadium could have been redeveloped into a 10,000 capacity and play a few league games in there. Too late now, can't really abandon Pearse Stadium now and can't afford to redevelop any other pitch to get to a reasonable capacity of say 15,000. We are stuck with Pearse Stadium whether we like it or not.

Now the footballers are out you would hope the hurlers get lots of support against limerick.

@Girly Gal, I'd be inclined to stick with PJ though it's a close call, but the backroom team needs a major shake up, there's at least one lad there who brings very little to the table imv a forwards coach to compliment Cian would be a start, sideline has been far too slow to make changes in-game, too much whispering in the ear, too much consultation,too many cooks, oftentimes it's too late when the changes are made and the game is going away from us... Also S&C needs a look at, it's all too cosy and cliqueish on the bench... Start from there imv and start now not in November 🇱🇻