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What a goal by Cian Darcy, great legs from midfield. Delighted for him. Great call by management to bring him back in

Trucker1 (Galway) - Posts: 408 - 18/05/2024 22:01:42    2545490

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great performance from the team
Spearheaded by paul conroy what a servant he has been very deserving man of the match he also received man of match against tyrone similar time last year not bad for someone who is often left out of starting 15 on here you would nearly forget he played with pj himself

mcgrath very tight on mcguigan again yesterday, delighted for him on a personal level

cein darcy very good when he came on and gave us legs

thought comer and walsh were both quiet until things opened up at the end. don't want to criticise anyone after that game but late free from shane needs to be nailed going forward if your not ruthless in these games you will get caught.

Paraic joyce will be happy with that performance and need to make sure no complacency creeps into two weeks time.

cocopop (Roscommon) - Posts: 38 - 19/05/2024 10:04:43    2545501

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Replying To cocopop:  "great performance from the team
Spearheaded by paul conroy what a servant he has been very deserving man of the match he also received man of match against tyrone similar time last year not bad for someone who is often left out of starting 15 on here you would nearly forget he played with pj himself

mcgrath very tight on mcguigan again yesterday, delighted for him on a personal level

cein darcy very good when he came on and gave us legs

thought comer and walsh were both quiet until things opened up at the end. don't want to criticise anyone after that game but late free from shane needs to be nailed going forward if your not ruthless in these games you will get caught.

Paraic joyce will be happy with that performance and need to make sure no complacency creeps into two weeks time."
Very good display, and on a Saturday too, which will baffle PJ no end, I'm sure.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4006 - 19/05/2024 10:26:34    2545510

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Replying To Alwaysencourage:  "Awful tackle and absolutely no need for it.He should get more than just a game."
Absolutely that was pure thuggery and there were many other off the ball incidents by Derry players who definitely brought the Northern cynicism with them instead off just concentrating on football (the Armagh game will probably see more of the same). He definitely deserves more than 2 matches as it was a personal, cowardly assault and of course he knew Damien is probably Galway's most important player. Very disappointed with Mickey Harte's reaction afterwards giving the usual old cop-out statement that "he didn't see it" and he "never thought it was a free in the first place" - such ridiculous nonsense! At least Joe Brolly wrote that 'it was a shocking and outrageous act which made me ashamed to be a Derry man' which was very honest and forthright of him. Very good display overall and it was great to see Cillian McDaid back on the field. If we can get all our top players back fit and healthy and playing to their utmost potential, we shouldn't be too far off.

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 19/05/2024 10:52:33    2545519

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"Northern cynicism" is not a justifiable comment in fairness. All provinces have lads who make mad decisions. Derry are a great GAA county. They were rightly punished yesterday and must feel that it might be hard to even finish third in group.
Praying for Damo's quick recovery. What a warrior.
Congrats to PJ and the lads for playing with coolness and guts. Will need to focus on Westmeath now who are not too shabby.
Gaillimh Abu

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1713 - 19/05/2024 11:08:57    2545530

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Replying To Galway9801:  "Great stuff, delighted, hopefully mckinless takes a good look at himself,"
I must retract this post.
According to the bastion of integrity that is Mickey Harte there were theatrics involved, and it wasn't a foul to begin with.
My apologies to mckinless.

Galway9801 (Galway) - Posts: 1942 - 19/05/2024 11:55:34    2545539

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Replying To tommy k:  "Absolutely that was pure thuggery and there were many other off the ball incidents by Derry players who definitely brought the Northern cynicism with them instead off just concentrating on football (the Armagh game will probably see more of the same). He definitely deserves more than 2 matches as it was a personal, cowardly assault and of course he knew Damien is probably Galway's most important player. Very disappointed with Mickey Harte's reaction afterwards giving the usual old cop-out statement that "he didn't see it" and he "never thought it was a free in the first place" - such ridiculous nonsense! At least Joe Brolly wrote that 'it was a shocking and outrageous act which made me ashamed to be a Derry man' which was very honest and forthright of him. Very good display overall and it was great to see Cillian McDaid back on the field. If we can get all our top players back fit and healthy and playing to their utmost potential, we shouldn't be too far off."
McKinless's action has no place in any sport and he should face the maximum sanction allowed.
However in fairness to Harte, unless he spotted the stamp in real time, well then he would not have seen it.
The RTE radio commentary (including Martin McHugh) didn't see the incident and were shocked when the red card was produced. There was no reaction from Comer's team-mates so presumably they missed it also.
Luckily McKinless got his deserved marching orders because of a sharp sighted linesman.
By the way Ulster teams aren't alone when it comes to stamping, the most recent was a Roscommon player on Jason Foley and one of the more infamous was Meath's Martin O'Connell on a Tyrone player's head.

sligo joe (Dublin) - Posts: 854 - 19/05/2024 12:43:47    2545549

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One thing there we'd want to watch, we got 2 yellow cards near the end, Tierney should have stayed well out of that one, played into Derry hands... Gleeson didn't put a foot wrong Imv, seems to be growing in confidence

Knocknadrough (Galway) - Posts: 30 - 19/05/2024 12:51:18    2545552

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Great to get the win yesterday, red card clearly made it easier for us to break them down but thought we were starting to show good incision at times even before the sending off. Tierney in particular made some good runs breaking the lines, good to see him back for the full 70 minutes and the cameo from McDaid was a welcome sight.

Can't see them risking Comer or Finnerty against Westmeath unless fully back 100%. It'll be interesting to see whether Westmeath can challenge Armagh, they were tough to beat last year but lost tamely enough in Leinster this year albeit one week after a league final.

LárBáire (Galway) - Posts: 43 - 19/05/2024 14:46:08    2545584

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Replying To tommy k:  "Absolutely that was pure thuggery and there were many other off the ball incidents by Derry players who definitely brought the Northern cynicism with them instead off just concentrating on football (the Armagh game will probably see more of the same). He definitely deserves more than 2 matches as it was a personal, cowardly assault and of course he knew Damien is probably Galway's most important player. Very disappointed with Mickey Harte's reaction afterwards giving the usual old cop-out statement that "he didn't see it" and he "never thought it was a free in the first place" - such ridiculous nonsense! At least Joe Brolly wrote that 'it was a shocking and outrageous act which made me ashamed to be a Derry man' which was very honest and forthright of him. Very good display overall and it was great to see Cillian McDaid back on the field. If we can get all our top players back fit and healthy and playing to their utmost potential, we shouldn't be too far off."
Poor Sean has a scar above his eye on his forward from a meeting with Derry in div 2 a few years ago, same man that time too. I'm still disappointed in a particular forward rubbing lads heads in Connacht final and throwing a ball at another lads back yesterday after a Galway score focus on the game and never mind that bs

Sportsfanatic90 (Westmeath) - Posts: 227 - 19/05/2024 15:06:57    2545586

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Replying To Sportsfanatic90:  "Poor Sean has a scar above his eye on his forward from a meeting with Derry in div 2 a few years ago, same man that time too. I'm still disappointed in a particular forward rubbing lads heads in Connacht final and throwing a ball at another lads back yesterday after a Galway score focus on the game and never mind that bs"
Yes but the "rubbing lad's heads" was because Finnerty (that is the man you are referring to!) was being sledged and taunted off the ball. There is a big difference between that and a dirty, cowardly stamp on the blindside of the ref in the hope he wouldn't be seen and of course "coincidentally" it was on Galway's best forward. The best forwards are always targeted by these thugs (because that is what they are) - even in the hurling Conor Whelan got a dirty belt into the head where he had to be blood-subbed and that was not "by accident".

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 20/05/2024 09:35:01    2545751

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Replying To tommy k:  "Yes but the "rubbing lad's heads" was because Finnerty (that is the man you are referring to!) was being sledged and taunted off the ball. There is a big difference between that and a dirty, cowardly stamp on the blindside of the ref in the hope he wouldn't be seen and of course "coincidentally" it was on Galway's best forward. The best forwards are always targeted by these thugs (because that is what they are) - even in the hurling Conor Whelan got a dirty belt into the head where he had to be blood-subbed and that was not "by accident"."
Love that from Finnerty. He was getting plenty off the ball against Mayo as well and made sure the Mayo corner back knew about it every time he scored. He is having a great year.

galway19 (Galway) - Posts: 828 - 20/05/2024 10:02:00    2545760

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A bit of sledging, hard hitting, even sly digs in the back/stomach, frontal charges etc not ideal in a game but generally other than knocking the wind out of someone, ******* them off or intimating them it isn't the end of the world.

What Mckenlis did was pure ****bag stuff. Potential to seriously injure Comer or even end his season if he does his ligaments. I would class eye gouging in the same category.

Back to the game......
*Tierney looks in great shape.
*D'arcy made big impact, powerful direct running, Using his size to break tackles.
*For D'arcys goal Mcdaid made lung bursting sprint to support the play. That was great to see.
*Shane worked hard and showed his class at times while still being slightly on the edge of the game.
*Lots of other good performances, Conroy class, defense solid
*Slight worry, if Glynn & Mcgrath are isolated we are susceptible to the high ball. Excellent defenders but lack a bit of height. They seem to be smart enough to be aware of this and rarely get exposed

If we can keep the best players on the pitch we could do something special this year. But that is a big if

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1915 - 20/05/2024 10:06:50    2545762

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Couple of other thing I noticed.

When me move the ball back and over across the pitch looking for openings (being patient I think they call it!), we are doing it a lot quicker, more zip to it meaning it is harder for the defenses to just shuffle across. In the league we were doing this at a snails pace.

We are putting some great attacking plays together. Intricate moves, fast hands, kick passes and a directness once we go for it. Finnertys point in the first half was a great example, another was Comer catching the kick out, quick kick pass to Tierney who turned his man inside out and clipped a lovely point. Again, we showed nothing of this in the league. Lucky to hit 10 points in league games.

Hopefully lads that went off will be fine even if they have to skip Westmeath game, that gives them 4 weeks to recover before Armagh game.

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1915 - 20/05/2024 10:18:30    2545770

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Replying To Mayonman:  "A bit of sledging, hard hitting, even sly digs in the back/stomach, frontal charges etc not ideal in a game but generally other than knocking the wind out of someone, ******* them off or intimating them it isn't the end of the world.

What Mckenlis did was pure ****bag stuff. Potential to seriously injure Comer or even end his season if he does his ligaments. I would class eye gouging in the same category.

Back to the game......
*Tierney looks in great shape.
*D'arcy made big impact, powerful direct running, Using his size to break tackles.
*For D'arcys goal Mcdaid made lung bursting sprint to support the play. That was great to see.
*Shane worked hard and showed his class at times while still being slightly on the edge of the game.
*Lots of other good performances, Conroy class, defense solid
*Slight worry, if Glynn & Mcgrath are isolated we are susceptible to the high ball. Excellent defenders but lack a bit of height. They seem to be smart enough to be aware of this and rarely get exposed

If we can keep the best players on the pitch we could do something special this year. But that is a big if"
We have the players but ultimately the line will cost us.

Between our restarts and ponderous attack, it's just too much to overcome IMO.

We are very frustrating to watch attack, we go into the corner and switch it and go back out and around the other side without any real substance to what we're trying to achieve.
Surely if you go into the corner the aim is to have runners bunched in the middle who will break through and you're hitting them laterally, but we don't have any runners so the ball just goes out.

It's all well and good when you're ahead in a game or it's close but once you fall behind, that becomes a huge problem.

We're also kicking too many restarts to contests and not getting enough easy ones away, I can't understand why our wing forwards don't make runs down the sideline into the space, often the space is there but they just hold position for the long one.
Similarly we press teams but we just aren't committing enough to it, I know we got a goal but that was more to a bad kick than a good press.
An example of how to press was the one where Gleeson came out against Mayo... You need to overcommit, worry about your defence when the ball is kicked long.

Generally teams are able to hit a player in 20 yards of space from our press which speaks volumes.

I think we'll come undone due to the above when we play a 50/50 game and the percentages become more important but I'd be confident we could push on with a more astute management team next year and win it.

Gilberto_Eire (Galway) - Posts: 80 - 20/05/2024 10:40:00    2545782

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The attack against a mass defense becomes slow and ponderous because Fitzgerald, Glynn and to a lesser extent McGrath are all uncomfortable in the attacking 45 so they hang back outside it. Then you have Conroy and Daly hanging back playing the quarterback role (which they're very good at). But it leads to essentially 9 attackers against 14 defenders and there's just not many options and it leads to endless recycling

This does have benefits, as they're much less likely to concede bar turnover goals. But it probably will become an issue when they're behind in a game, and a switch could have to be made there moving Kelly or Silke back and taking one of Glynn or Fitz off for an attack minded player. For the moment its working though and won't be changed from the start

While the kickout strategy drives me mad also and they lived off scraps possession wise against Mayo, they are dangerous off a long one especially with Tierney, Comer and Darcy (when on) as advanced options. A good example of that was Tierneys catch that led to the comer foul and sending off. A quick kick by Gleeson and a one v one at midfield with the kick to Tierneys advantage. That works great. The problems arise when Gleeson is slow and the opposition have the middle bunched and there's no 1 v 1's on. Its at those times our movement should be much better and we should be trying to get them off short. The only players with good movement from kickouts are McHugh, O'Flaherty and at times Silke. The rest are very static

PressureKick (UK) - Posts: 256 - 20/05/2024 12:27:59    2545842

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where is kick it out????

candlewax (Galway) - Posts: 292 - 20/05/2024 12:46:08    2545845

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Replying To candlewax:  "where is kick it out????"
Probably still giving out bout connor glesson somewhere!!!

Dunmore10 (Galway) - Posts: 153 - 20/05/2024 13:35:09    2545864

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Replying To Gilberto_Eire:  "We have the players but ultimately the line will cost us.

Between our restarts and ponderous attack, it's just too much to overcome IMO.

We are very frustrating to watch attack, we go into the corner and switch it and go back out and around the other side without any real substance to what we're trying to achieve.
Surely if you go into the corner the aim is to have runners bunched in the middle who will break through and you're hitting them laterally, but we don't have any runners so the ball just goes out.

It's all well and good when you're ahead in a game or it's close but once you fall behind, that becomes a huge problem.

We're also kicking too many restarts to contests and not getting enough easy ones away, I can't understand why our wing forwards don't make runs down the sideline into the space, often the space is there but they just hold position for the long one.
Similarly we press teams but we just aren't committing enough to it, I know we got a goal but that was more to a bad kick than a good press.
An example of how to press was the one where Gleeson came out against Mayo... You need to overcommit, worry about your defence when the ball is kicked long.

Generally teams are able to hit a player in 20 yards of space from our press which speaks volumes.

I think we'll come undone due to the above when we play a 50/50 game and the percentages become more important but I'd be confident we could push on with a more astute management team next year and win it."
Agreed but I am also not too happy about the press on opposition forwards. I still think they are getting shots away too handily or unopposed and this will cost us in the long run. Its was too easy to run through or around our halfback line / midfield as they seem a bit slow and ponderous to get tackles in or at least make it more difficult to score. Anyone else agree?

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 20/05/2024 14:13:53    2545873

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Replying To tommy k:  "Agreed but I am also not too happy about the press on opposition forwards. I still think they are getting shots away too handily or unopposed and this will cost us in the long run. Its was too easy to run through or around our halfback line / midfield as they seem a bit slow and ponderous to get tackles in or at least make it more difficult to score. Anyone else agree?"
Totally agree against Derry. First 15 minutes especially. Galway had the ball on a good few occasions for 2+ minutes, turnover, up the field easy score for Derry

Almost felt we had our "press arc" a few yards too deep. Management will probably be happy enough as after those early scores Galway pushed out slighty and Derry dropped a lot short into Gleesons hand so maybe they had it right in the end.

Thought Gleesons kickouts were very good. One poor one where Rodgers went up unchallenged. The one to Comer (led to Tierney point) and then Tierney (led to Finnerty free and the sending off) were very measured kicks and just "lumps down the field". Obviously after 20 minutes the stats on kickouts become a bit irrelevant as Derry gave them up due to the sending off. But late in the second half they attempted to press again and Gleeson still found his man (one to McGrath under the stand was a pressure one and had to be right)

All in all still a lot of improvements to be made. Great thing is the subs are putting starters under immense pressure so it forces everyone to up there game.

SamandLiamSoon (Galway) - Posts: 623 - 20/05/2024 14:47:38    2545883

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