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Replying To Mayonman: "As we go into the last block of league games what are peoples opinions on where we are? For me on the plus side -I think we found a few defenders. E Kelly, Mulcahy & Mcgrath look up to it. -Cathal Sweeney has stepped up which after the last kick boo boo against Mayo took balls. -Cooke is a good addition -Finnerty keeps getting better -Avoided serious injuries -Rested Walsh & Comer (enforced but rested all the same) -Tierney stepping up a level -Forward line is exceptional when we have at least 2 of Walsh/Finnerty/Comer On the negative side -Was hoping Mulkerrins & McLoughlin would get some game time. 2 potentially huge additions to the squad. Might happen yet -Very little depth up front when it comes to scoring forwards -Our kick outs are better but only marginally Overall I am happy. I think PJ has knows a few lads probably are not up to it so while it is a negative, we won't be finding out in a Connacht Semi Final. Ian Burke being back is a positive but at the same time he has not really fired yet. I think he is worth persevering with....class is permanent. Our athleticism is huge and we seem to be starting to move it up a notch again as the league progresses. It wouldn't surprise me to see a flat performance in the next game as they could take the break between games as an opportunity for a hard block of training. Looking at the new structure it will be very hard NOT to make an AI Q/F so timing your training blocks etc is going to be crucial. Wouldn't it be lovely to pick up some silverware along the way. I think getting to a league final would be good for the group (we have a break before championship) and having a crack off Kerry in the last league game also. We don't beat them too often and I think it is important to start doing it more regularly and remove any mystique (outside of Clifford they are good but not supermen)" Conroy deserves a mention on the plus side. MOTM in a few of the games. Another one who's played most games and been excellent is Johnny Heaney, very underrated player on this forum smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 443 - 10/03/2023 11:29:37 2463146 Link
Replying To smallfrank: "Conroy deserves a mention on the plus side. MOTM in a few of the games. Another one who's played most games and been excellent is Johnny Heaney, very underrated player on this forum" Yes definitely Conroy and Heaney have stepped it up in the last couple of league games. I was critical of them as the most experienced members of the team not showing more leadership and drive in the earlier games. I would be fearful of Conroy not lasting the pace especially on the dryer sods and in the heat of the Summer - he was very poor / ineffective by his standards in the AI Final last year for example. tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 10/03/2023 12:10:28 2463164 Link
Replying To tommy k: "Yes definitely Conroy and Heaney have stepped it up in the last couple of league games. I was critical of them as the most experienced members of the team not showing more leadership and drive in the earlier games. I would be fearful of Conroy not lasting the pace especially on the dryer sods and in the heat of the Summer - he was very poor / ineffective by his standards in the AI Final last year for example." I agree 100%. There's still a role for him though. Good enough to still be starting as well and was very good at FF in the past albeit around 10 years ago at this stage. smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 443 - 10/03/2023 13:35:45 2463197 Link
Replying To tommy k: "Yes definitely Conroy and Heaney have stepped it up in the last couple of league games. I was critical of them as the most experienced members of the team not showing more leadership and drive in the earlier games. I would be fearful of Conroy not lasting the pace especially on the dryer sods and in the heat of the Summer - he was very poor / ineffective by his standards in the AI Final last year for example." back handed up to his old tricks!! cavan.galway (Galway) - Posts: 212 - 10/03/2023 13:35:59 2463198 Link
Replying To Dunmore10: "Its a conversation about goalies, i was answering about them. He is nt available so it was a non runner to say him, i meant nothing by it. I take it back if i caused offence, there was none ment" Some people talking about Conor's lofty kickouts. Well then maybe our middle eight should practice their jumping skills and get the lead out. Seamus Leydon or Michael Donnellan never complained about having to rise for them. Clifford wouldn't either... Really (Galway) - Posts: 622 - 10/03/2023 14:14:11 2463213 Link
All this talk about who's going to mark Aidan O'Shea when/if we play Mayo. Lads he wasn't good enough 5 years ago…. I doubt he's any better now!! ahsure. (Galway) - Posts: 1632 - 10/03/2023 15:03:41 2463224 Link
Replying To tommy k: "Yes definitely Conroy and Heaney have stepped it up in the last couple of league games. I was critical of them as the most experienced members of the team not showing more leadership and drive in the earlier games. I would be fearful of Conroy not lasting the pace especially on the dryer sods and in the heat of the Summer - he was very poor / ineffective by his standards in the AI Final last year for example." I was surprised they didn't move Conroy into ff and Comer out. Conroy might have caught a few marks and Comer wasn't getting into the game there. I agree re Conroy and the 70 minutes, when to bring him on and for how long is the question. baire (Galway) - Posts: 1849 - 10/03/2023 15:28:56 2463236 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "All this talk about who's going to mark Aidan O'Shea when/if we play Mayo. Lads he wasn't good enough 5 years ago…. I doubt he's any better now!!" 100%, and he'll get to decide next year and the year after whether he wants to come back or not!!!, but based on the evidence of the last 10 years and all the other players he most certainly won't be dropped smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 443 - 10/03/2023 15:40:23 2463239 Link
Replying To MayoDan: "Cillian isn't a guaranteed starter now because ROD and Conroy are fit. That wasn't the case last summer. Do you think someone else should have started ahead of Cillian last year?" A forward who was fully fit. He's played before when Ryan and Tommy played. McStay is giving more forwards a run trying them out thankfully so it's pushing Cillian on to another level. Which is what we need and not lads complacent about being started every game. GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 7703 - 10/03/2023 15:43:31 2463240 Link
Replying To Really: "Some people talking about Conor's lofty kickouts. Well then maybe our middle eight should practice their jumping skills and get the lead out. Seamus Leydon or Michael Donnellan never complained about having to rise for them. Clifford wouldn't either..." Agreed 100%. It"s the responsibility of the outfield players to contest the ball and win the kickouts. The goalkeeper cannot be expected to hand it on a plate for them by special delivery. This was always what the midfielders were supposed to do. Prior to this new "possession game" when men were men, the goalkeeper or indeed sometimes one of the fullback line (eg right-full Enda Colleran), just lashed the kickout as far as it would go and expected their midfielders to do their own job and secure possession. There is too much blaming of the goalkeeper for the failure of the outfield players. The great Pat Donnellan played midfield for Galway in the 3-in-row era and he was only 5'7". FatLadySinging (Galway) - Posts: 91 - 10/03/2023 15:43:37 2463241 Link
We have a young super goalie from cortoon coming up, kyle gilmore. If he wants it he ll be the man for years Dunmore10 (Galway) - Posts: 148 - 10/03/2023 15:49:05 2463243 Link
Replying To Really: "Some people talking about Conor's lofty kickouts. Well then maybe our middle eight should practice their jumping skills and get the lead out. Seamus Leydon or Michael Donnellan never complained about having to rise for them. Clifford wouldn't either..." That was the icing on the cake that was Donnellan's genius for me. On top of all of his extravagant speed and footballing skillset, when you put him into the intercounty midfield area, he actually looked like an intercounty midfielder, despite being slight enough of build relative to peers for that position. Had tremendous flair to compete in the high ball contest, which rounded him off beautifully as a once in a lifetime type player. Ja Fallon ticked a lot of the same boxes too. It struck me at last year's final that Kerry had an edge on us through the field competing for the high ball. It's not a strong suit of this current Galway panel imo. Most teams are launching garryowens in our penalty box at some stage or other these days, following last year's late qfinal carnage v Armagh. Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3908 - 10/03/2023 15:49:42 2463245 Link
Replying To smallfrank: "Conroy deserves a mention on the plus side. MOTM in a few of the games. Another one who's played most games and been excellent is Johnny Heaney, very underrated player on this forum" Didn't mention them as they're form is no surprise to me. I rate both highly although u do worry about Conroy's pace in the summer. Definitely still a big role for him. I forgot about Culhane. His injury was at the wrong time but he's back now so hopefully he will get game time. Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1893 - 10/03/2023 16:11:51 2463251 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "All this talk about who's going to mark Aidan O'Shea when/if we play Mayo. Lads he wasn't good enough 5 years ago…. I doubt he's any better now!!" McStay looks to be playing to his strengths a bit better.. Early days yet tho.. When the ground hardens up the same issues with his mobility will still be there unclegerry (Mayo) - Posts: 1223 - 10/03/2023 16:49:31 2463258 Link
Replying To Really: "Some people talking about Conor's lofty kickouts. Well then maybe our middle eight should practice their jumping skills and get the lead out. Seamus Leydon or Michael Donnellan never complained about having to rise for them. Clifford wouldn't either..." Midfield today contains a bunch of 8 to 10 players contesting a kickout. It's not the one-on-one battle it was in Seamus Leydon's day. The slower and loftier the kickout, the bigger the crowd of players under it. Clifford contests a high ball against one or two (or sometimes no opposition as he did in the All-Ireland final). It's a different kettle of fish out in midfield under a slow hanging kickout. WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2210 - 10/03/2023 18:42:09 2463274 Link
Replying To ahsure.: "All this talk about who's going to mark Aidan O'Shea when/if we play Mayo. Lads he wasn't good enough 5 years ago…. I doubt he's any better now!!" Yes All Irelands not won in February and all that. Mayo will beat Ros but Galway will beat Mayo. Galway will want to back in Croker in July. endgame (Roscommon) - Posts: 2302 - 10/03/2023 21:22:38 2463283 Link
Replying To WanPintWin: "Midfield today contains a bunch of 8 to 10 players contesting a kickout. It's not the one-on-one battle it was in Seamus Leydon's day. The slower and loftier the kickout, the bigger the crowd of players under it. Clifford contests a high ball against one or two (or sometimes no opposition as he did in the All-Ireland final). It's a different kettle of fish out in midfield under a slow hanging kickout." Yes high fielding at midfield is a dying art but the problem with Galway teams for many years now is that the breaking ball is not being picked up either as at least 8 times out of 10 the opposition midfield diamond players gain possession and possession is nine tenths of the law these days especially for teams with any aspirations of winning an AI. tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 11/03/2023 10:08:04 2463306 Link
Replying To endgame: "Yes All Irelands not won in February and all that. Mayo will beat Ros but Galway will beat Mayo. Galway will want to back in Croker in July." I know ya can't judge things this early in the year but there are a few things different about Mayo this time around. Firstly, I don't think Mayo have ever had the strength in depth that they have now, despite losing Keegan and Mullin. Secondly, going back to their hay day, outside of Andy Moran and COC, Mayo's forwards put very little towards the score board and were far too reliant on their half backs for scores. They have more quality forwards now between Conroy, O'Donoghue, COC, Jack Carney starting to really improve and James Carr also improving. Jordan Flynn very capable of getting a score. This is an area McStay will know how to improve further as well. Add to that O'Shea finally being played in a position that suits him. McStay also has a great record against Galway teams. That Connacht semi, if Mayo beat us, will be mouth watering and will tell us exactly how much Mayo have improved under McStay. Will Carney and Carr be championship players? How will young McBrien fair out againt a Comer, Walsh or Finnerty? You can be sure Donie Buckley will be working on a way to keep Galways scorers quiet. I think Mayo even have a bit of an advantage having to play us first and get right test under their belts. MachaireConnacht (Roscommon) - Posts: 1000 - 11/03/2023 11:30:22 2463326 Link
For all the chat about the kick out, which is not wrong, we are doing pretty well overall. I honestly believe that if we had a Cluxton we would win multiple AI's. But we don't and know one else does either. It is an area we can make huge gains and it would transform us. I have noticed improvement this year. Marginal but definite improvement. If teams commit to the full press it is always going to be scary. I think we need to have an option over the top of the press in this instances and he definitely has the distance. Problem is sometimes he balloons it and it doesn't clear the press. It is an issue but also a huge opportunity Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1893 - 11/03/2023 11:39:28 2463329 Link
Replying To MachaireConnacht: "I know ya can't judge things this early in the year but there are a few things different about Mayo this time around. Firstly, I don't think Mayo have ever had the strength in depth that they have now, despite losing Keegan and Mullin. Secondly, going back to their hay day, outside of Andy Moran and COC, Mayo's forwards put very little towards the score board and were far too reliant on their half backs for scores. They have more quality forwards now between Conroy, O'Donoghue, COC, Jack Carney starting to really improve and James Carr also improving. Jordan Flynn very capable of getting a score. This is an area McStay will know how to improve further as well. Add to that O'Shea finally being played in a position that suits him. McStay also has a great record against Galway teams. That Connacht semi, if Mayo beat us, will be mouth watering and will tell us exactly how much Mayo have improved under McStay. Will Carney and Carr be championship players? How will young McBrien fair out againt a Comer, Walsh or Finnerty? You can be sure Donie Buckley will be working on a way to keep Galways scorers quiet. I think Mayo even have a bit of an advantage having to play us first and get right test under their belts." You're on here, puffing them up, hoping it'll help catch them on the hop in 4 weeks time Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3908 - 11/03/2023 15:01:16 2463368 Link