Galway GAA Discussion Thread #2

But they could be pulling out Roscommon and Louth for two mins and keep having to put them back in the bowl

I thought (stupidly) pull first team say Dublin then out pop Roscommon. They are then moved to team two in quarter final number two. Pulled Louth next they move to the third quarter final so on and so on.

Not that anyone is ever put back on just moved to another slot in the other quarter finals. I dunno. Maybe that can't work out correctly. Finding out at 8.40 you are in a 50/50 pot to meet Dublin did me no favours!

Galway BayFM have us to play Saturday evening at 6 on their X (Twitter ) feed.

Don't think there was any straightforward way of doing it, to avoid the repeat pairings. The die was cast for us once Louth (won yesterday and) drew Armagh first. The past 2 weekends, bar the Monaghan draw, have been hellish for us as regards results elsewhere.

PJ sounded rather fed-up with Walsh on the post-match GBFM interview. Mentioned another MRI scan early this week.

Does he stick or twist? Start or finish with his strongest line-up? Might be better go with the former and see how far it gets him.

The only path to victory I can see is if half the dublin squad opt to go the the Taylor Swift concert instead. Speaking of which, dublin will be chaos regardless of which day it is on.

I think Galway should leave Comer off. See how the basketball tactics go then bring him on late in the first half or early in the second half and lump a few long balls into him. Being such underdogs is more or less the only thing we have going for us.

Way I look at it (and maybe this is the case at latter stages of any Championships) but this game for me comes down to management.

That may not instill people with confidence but matchups and players positions are going to be huge, along with as you said are we starting strong or finishing strong.

Hope I have is 2022 final. Management got so much right on that day. Glynn to follow P. Clifford all over the park. Silke on O'Shea, isolating Shane Walsh one on one inside. Probably the biggest thing that didn't work was the one thing that no one was expecting was D. Clifford to do so well on Sean Kelly. The bench issue seems to be rectified although it worried me how little it was utilised against Monaghan (despite the high praise from Joyce for the bench)

I'd love to put my PJ hat on but I wonder will it be a case of go again and see how we go. Even with that a lot of matchups will be straight forward but I worry the big calls may not be made.

I wonder is this a game to recall John Daly for his kick passing ability, with Mulkerrins, we have a better defender but hasn't the vision or ability for the kick pass. Especially if comer is starting

How PJ times the substitutions will be critical

I think the starting team will be the same as against Monaghan except with Tierney in full forward, Heaney on the wing. Daly, Sweeney and Comer will surely be brought in, how soon depends on how well/badly things are going.

Joyce must surely look at man marking Fenton after the way in which Donncha MC hugh nullified his influence and amount of ball he got on the last day. Who can do that job I don't know unless they get Maher to tag him. Silke on Kilkenny mc grath on basquel as wouldn't have the size for Con and Sean fitz to take Con. There's huge amount of match ups to be done but Joyce has been pretty good with his match ups in big games to date.

If Kelly is playing midfield surely he's the one to take Fenton. His experience as a defender and also regularly playing midfield makes him the ideal candidate. Fitness is the only question.

Great post. Id love if Galway do exactly that, especially holding back Comer. I think we'll still be in a low scoring game at half time, provided others actually **** step up and take responsibility for shooting.

Your last line is the key. If we go with the same approach as every other game this year it'll be death by a thousand cuts.

I dont think we can go too daft on the matchups, otherwise you're spending your time worrying about them and not concentrating on our own game. Scully and Costello are not prolific enough to warrant a man marker. They're no more dangerous than the majority of forwards.

The only players I'd assign a marker to would be Fenton and O Callaghan. Then if McCaffery comes on put on someone fresh and with legs like Sweeney as you mentioned.

I've been trying to remember the last time Galway won a game when they were such big outsiders. I remember beating Mayo in 2016 in Castlebar when all the talk was over 50 players turning down an invitation to join the panel under Kevin Walsh at the time. After that we have to go back to the All-Ireland final in 2001 against Meath. However that was a much different team, previous All-Ireland champions and finalists the previous year. They had the inner belief that many of the outside didn't have.

I'm not sure the players have the belief they can do it. The only way I could see it is for them to get ahead and stay ahead. If they go behind, I can't see them making it up. Also they need at least 2 goals and not concede any. This year in most games apart from London and Derry (missing a player for 2/3s of the game) we get a maximum of 15 or 16 points. That would do it on Saturday, they need to add a couple of goals to it imo.

I think a win would completely change the narrative around this team, it would be like Leinster v Munster in Croke Park in 2009, but it's very hard to see it.

Ive never driven up but am going with small kids this Saturday. Are there many parking options near Croke Park? City centre would be a long trek for small legs at that hour of the evening so I don't mind being in traffic after the match. Would like the car to be handy enough to get to.

Also with other big events on is it best to turn off the motorway around maynooth and head northside?

They might do a 'Canavan' on it with Comer - start him, take him off near ht, spring him again with 12 minutes left.