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Galway Football thread

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Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "I think you're out of touch with the prevailing conditions in Salthill Festy, over there in Colorado and all. Did you see Monaghan's 2nd half efforts at scoring into that goal? Only their goalkeeper scored into that wind 2nd half. Would explain Galway's shot selection activity in the 1st half surely."
Fully agree with you. Thought we played well in the first half against a fairly strong breeze. You needed to be close in to score. We controlled the game more or less start to finish.

Mcgrath, Sweeney and Eoghan Kelly have the wheels for this level. I think we have definitely deepened the panel in this league.

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1894 - 05/03/2023 19:57:58    2462090

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With all due respect to Monaghan and Donegal but they are teams on the slide downwards...... Next two games away v Armagh and home v Kerry will be proper good tests to see how good we are.

katser (Galway) - Posts: 2481 - 05/03/2023 20:12:37    2462096

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Fully agree with you. Thought we played well in the first half against a fairly strong breeze. You needed to be close in to score. We controlled the game more or less start to finish.

Mcgrath, Sweeney and Eoghan Kelly have the wheels for this level. I think we have definitely deepened the panel in this league."
Agreed on this. Unfortunately I'm not sure we found any new scoring forwards though. We will be reliant on the usual suspects, which is fine BUT we will struggle to convert possession to scores if we get one or two injuries inside (as we have seen with Comer and Finnerty out over last few weeks)

ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1633 - 05/03/2023 20:12:42    2462097

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Replying To ahsure.:  "Agreed on this. Unfortunately I'm not sure we found any new scoring forwards though. We will be reliant on the usual suspects, which is fine BUT we will struggle to convert possession to scores if we get one or two injuries inside (as we have seen with Comer and Finnerty out over last few weeks)"
Definitely we could do with one or two more sharpshooters. Or forwards are more than good enough if we have Finnerty, Comer & Walsh but without then we are struggling for scores.

Darragh Silke was in the squad at various stages. It's he still involved?

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1894 - 05/03/2023 20:46:17    2462122

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Good win and character really shone through when went down to 14 men. The few here that was questioning the importance to the team that John Heaney is got their answer now.

With Armagh and Kerry to play and Shane Walsh back on the field why not push on to reach a league final?

Yondu (UK) - Posts: 845 - 05/03/2023 20:46:29    2462123

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Good performance. Thought we controlled the game from start to finish and the only time I had doubts was when Cooke was sent off.

Cookes red was infuriating. Yes he struck out but when are refs going to punish a guy for pinning a man to the ground with the forearm across the neck. Cooke needs to learn from it as well. He could have given him a dunt without striking. A red card would normally cost u the game.

We will be much better for this league. A lot of players got good amounts of game time.

Still a little tight at the bottom. The head to head rule should allow us to breath a bit easier"
Ref was very poor for Galway. Galways danger men were getting hit late. It was clear they were picked out for special treatment

brisbane (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 05/03/2023 21:00:05    2462133

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Definitely we could do with one or two more sharpshooters. Or forwards are more than good enough if we have Finnerty, Comer & Walsh but without then we are struggling for scores.

Darragh Silke was in the squad at various stages. It's he still involved?"
No

Belclare (Galway) - Posts: 904 - 05/03/2023 21:11:00    2462140

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Good performance. Thought we controlled the game from start to finish and the only time I had doubts was when Cooke was sent off.

Cookes red was infuriating. Yes he struck out but when are refs going to punish a guy for pinning a man to the ground with the forearm across the neck. Cooke needs to learn from it as well. He could have given him a dunt without striking. A red card would normally cost u the game.

We will be much better for this league. A lot of players got good amounts of game time.

Still a little tight at the bottom. The head to head rule should allow us to breath a bit easier"
Mayoman paints the best picture of what happened in Cooke sending off, yes referees must act before the victims are forced into a situation where they are deemed the aggressors then there would be no benefit in this pinning down off the ball.

backtooldwall (Galway) - Posts: 140 - 05/03/2023 21:32:20    2462152

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Replying To Yondu:  "Good win and character really shone through when went down to 14 men. The few here that was questioning the importance to the team that John Heaney is got their answer now.

With Armagh and Kerry to play and Shane Walsh back on the field why not push on to reach a league final?"
not sure if management will want to be in a league final.think they may have a warm weather camp scheduled for the following week.

fairplay4ever (Galway) - Posts: 429 - 05/03/2023 21:41:59    2462157

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Definitely we could do with one or two more sharpshooters. Or forwards are more than good enough if we have Finnerty, Comer & Walsh but without then we are struggling for scores.

Darragh Silke was in the squad at various stages. It's he still involved?"
Darragh Silke is not good enough, Barry McHugh is needed, can win his own ball and score. I couldn't believe he was cut.

GDL (Galway) - Posts: 776 - 05/03/2023 22:00:10    2462163

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important win yesterday and great character showed by the lads in that sexond half. i see differing opinions but i thought it was a silly mistake by cooke, you cannot give referees any reason to send u off. that said i did think the ref was awful overall, if conoroy had not got up quickly from no.6 challenge in the second half, his name escapes me they would have also been down to 14 men. theres no incentive to be honest, feigning injury which i am aware kelly did later on in the match also.
not a game with a lot of standout performers but though finnerty in second half , cathal sweeney and conroy again were brilliant for different reasons, finnerty just needs to look at the posts and its over from both feet like he showed yesterday, sweeney getting on as much ball as possible breaking tackles and conroy for not even the scores, one especially great one but more so the amount of times he was fouled and took hard hits from monaghan and kept ploughing away.
armagh and kerry next and dont think either will be excited to face galway look solid defensively which is important, just to note a thing often criticised here the kickouts, were good yesterday and we caught a few balls around middle too. has to be noted when good and not just mentioned when bad.

cavan.galway (Galway) - Posts: 212 - 06/03/2023 08:55:26    2462175

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Replying To GDL:  "Darragh Silke is not good enough, Barry McHugh is needed, can win his own ball and score. I couldn't believe he was cut."
To be fair to the Galway management - McHugh was given two games in the FBD plus a few challenge games and he didn't do enough in those games.
He was poor in both games in the Dome.
Similar to his club mate Eoin Finnerty he is very good at club level but both lack pace for the top level of football.

galwayman2 (Galway) - Posts: 1291 - 06/03/2023 09:06:14    2462177

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Good performance. Thought we controlled the game from start to finish and the only time I had doubts was when Cooke was sent off.

Cookes red was infuriating. Yes he struck out but when are refs going to punish a guy for pinning a man to the ground with the forearm across the neck. Cooke needs to learn from it as well. He could have given him a dunt without striking. A red card would normally cost u the game.

We will be much better for this league. A lot of players got good amounts of game time.

Still a little tight at the bottom. The head to head rule should allow us to breath a bit easier"
Yes , it is very tight . And I honestly don't think that the head to head rule will come in to play this year. 7 points is definitely safe. But its increasingly likely a that at least 1 team on 6 points will suffer relegation. Now if that happens it will almost certainly be based on scoring difference as there would be more than 2 teams on 6.
20 division 1 games so far, 14 home wins , 3 draws and 3 away wins, Of the 6 games where home teams were non victorious 3 of them were inter Connacht derbies in which, traditionally, home advantage has had little significance over the years. So of the 17 non Connacht derbies there was 14 home wins , 2 draws and only 1 away win.
If this trend were to continue for last 2 rounds, lets assume all home wins the final table would be as follows
Mayo 10
Ros 8
Galway 8
Armagh 7
Kerry 6
Tyrone 6
Monaghan 6
Donegal 5

Now look at the most likely options for home defeats
1. Kerry beat Galway ... In that case Kerry and Galway toggled in table above...still 3 teams on 6
2. Mayo beat Donegal ... No impact to table still 3 teams on 6
3. Tyrone beat Monaghan ...This would be good for us as it could see Monaghan and Tyrone relegated


Of course they above 3 scenarios are predicated on all other games following the home victory trend, which may get bucked a little bit in the last 2 rounds as teams place varying levels of focus on the league with an eye on championship. Mayo have the potential to really hurt us were they to lose to Monaghan and Donegal. I don't think its likely but with safety secured and no desire for a league final on their behalf, you never know.

anotheralias (Galway) - Posts: 960 - 06/03/2023 09:12:07    2462178

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Cooke was being pulled around a good bit first half but he should have been smarter about standing up for himself. Lowering a knee, as soft as it was, was brainless and 100% deserving of a red. Just glad it didn't cost us in the end.

Diabhal (Galway) - Posts: 182 - 06/03/2023 09:35:39    2462182

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Another great character building test for the lads yesterday to go down to 14 men and still drive on for the win. They stood up really well yesterday, there's much more steel in this team than we probably give them credit for. Good management / backroom performance too. Gleeson has improved considerably, to be fair to him, hoping he and the GK coach can continue to push him on another level. His booming drives are going to cause havoc if we can consistently get fielders challenging and breakers under them. John Daly excellent. Conroy, Heaney, Finnerty, Sweeney, Tierney, S Kelly, McGrath all impressive. Great to see Shane back. He'll be hungry for football and rearing to go after his time away.

togoutlads (Galway) - Posts: 982 - 06/03/2023 09:44:19    2462187

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Replying To GDL:  "Darragh Silke is not good enough, Barry McHugh is needed, can win his own ball and score. I couldn't believe he was cut."
Even though Barry McHugh was awful in the FBD ?

Dermot_Desmond_96 (Galway) - Posts: 40 - 06/03/2023 09:49:06    2462188

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Replying To GDL:  "Darragh Silke is not good enough, Barry McHugh is needed, can win his own ball and score. I couldn't believe he was cut."
i didn't see any club football but his scoring rate was crazy good (i can't spell pheonenominalalal)

Saw him in the Dome and he didn't play well at all. Granted it is not the place to judge a player however PJ had him previously and dropped him, brought him back and had him in for a couple of months before xmas and dropped him again. Maybe he is not showing enough in training or maybe he didn't commit. Dessie and Eoin Finnerty have not shot the lights out (at this stage I don't expect them to) and i can only presume they are showing more in training.

The last night in the Dome there was a lot of lads strutting around (i'm a Galway footballer type of thing) and not enough hard work or lads bursting themselves. I'd say PJ wants rid of any of that type of stuff. Thats what had us in the doldrums for 20 years post 2001. Not saying it was Mchugh as such, but he may have been a victim of PJ's purge of the panel.

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1894 - 06/03/2023 10:06:05    2462195

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Solid second half there, congrats lads. I agree that Barry Mc Hugh could be a good man to bring back, not necessarily at
any specific players expense. PJ doing a massive job with some new talent.

suckvalleypaddy (Galway) - Posts: 1706 - 06/03/2023 10:47:48    2462208

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Replying To GDL:  "Darragh Silke is not good enough, Barry McHugh is needed, can win his own ball and score. I couldn't believe he was cut."
I do think McHugh could have been given more a chance. He got a couple of half games in the dome in the FBD, which isn't the most natural setting to assess a player.
I actually think he'd be very suited to league football and the slightly heavier pitches. He's not the quickest but is a strong ball winner and is a very accurate kicker. His club championship form has been excellent for the past few years.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2223 - 06/03/2023 11:16:31    2462216

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Replying To fairplay4ever:  "not sure if management will want to be in a league final.think they may have a warm weather camp scheduled for the following week."
Galway need silverware. They need to be winning cups in my view. So the league is a priority.

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2585 - 06/03/2023 11:21:31    2462217

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