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Galway Football thread

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Replying To rhudson:  "Great to see Galway win a Connacht title in Pearse Stadium
Some good perfromances i thought John Daly was outstanding
But im afraid we still have huge issues with this team
We will need to up our intensity big time
We were cleaned out in midfield The Rossies won a lot of breaking ball
This is an area that can be worked on otherwise we will pay dearly
Our defending still not up to scratch not tight or agressive enough
Roscommon ran thhrough us at times an old problen with Galway again
I like to see more blocking and better dicipline in the tackling from Galway
But theres plenty of time to get things right"
You're afraid?
Even I think that today was all about winning a title.
Dylan mc hugh, Finnerty, Walsh, Comer in spurts were excellent.
Our midfield were not cleaned out but battled hard.
Tierney doing a lot of off the ball work.
Let's tonight congratulate all involved..
King's of connacht and back to our rightful spot of the best sporting county in the West...

Belclare (Galway) - Posts: 904 - 29/05/2022 18:08:01    2420818

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Really excellent performance. Pity about the goals at the end because 3 points is not a fair reflection of the game.

Work ons after the game - a bit sloppy for the last 5 -10 minutes. Both in attack and defence.

Kick outs worry me. 2 over the line in the first half but at the same time I'd say we secured a reasonable high % of our own kicks today.

The move from which Shane scored a 45 would have been goal of the season if we finished it. Pure class movement of the ball. Probably one to many passes at the end.

This is a huge year in this teams development. The likes of Kelly and JMcG (stood beside him today ..... he's huge!) coming through. The last thing we need is to go back to the drawing board

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1928 - 29/05/2022 19:12:47    2420841

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Just back in from Salthill. Traffic was the worst I've encountered going to Salthill but that was to be expected. Huge Ros crowd but unfortunately very little to shout about. Well done Galway, they were excellent today. Extremely efficient in front of goal compared to us who had by my count 8 wides in the first half alone. The big turning point for me was when Enda was straight through on goal and somehow kicked it wide with Eddie Nolan to his right and an almost certain goal to be had. But Galway come right back down the field from the kick out and score their first goal. Our defense was an absolute mess again. I can't understand how we just let Galway waltz through time and again to score with barely a hand laid on them. I felt Galway couldn't put a foot wrong today whereas we couldn't get much right. A large chunk of good fortune for Galways second goal also but in truth we can't argue with the final result. Galway fully deserved their win and Comer, Walsh and Conroy were impressive again but I thought Cillian McDaid in particular was excellent for Galway. Harney was out standout player. What a powerful runner and some great fielding too. I thought to myself at one stage if we had 15 Ultan Harneys we would be hard stopped such was his determination, power and accuracy. Anyway I hope management will finally learn that the defense needs to be shored up big time and get numbers back to stop teams running straight through us. Hopefully a good draw in the qualifiers and we can get back to the quarter finals at least as I still believe we have huge potential in this team. We just need a few tweaks and get the confidence going again and I've no doubt we'll have a couple more great days out with this team. Ros Comain Abu

ComainRos (Roscommon) - Posts: 151 - 29/05/2022 20:02:35    2420868

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Replying To Mayonman:  "Really excellent performance. Pity about the goals at the end because 3 points is not a fair reflection of the game.

Work ons after the game - a bit sloppy for the last 5 -10 minutes. Both in attack and defence.

Kick outs worry me. 2 over the line in the first half but at the same time I'd say we secured a reasonable high % of our own kicks today.

The move from which Shane scored a 45 would have been goal of the season if we finished it. Pure class movement of the ball. Probably one to many passes at the end.

This is a huge year in this teams development. The likes of Kelly and JMcG (stood beside him today ..... he's huge!) coming through. The last thing we need is to go back to the drawing board"
I wouldn't say "we secured a reasonable high % of our own kicks today" - Roscommon must have won at least 70% of the long kicks to midfield by picking up the breaks etc. especially in the last quarter of the game. This is something that has been an issue for Galway teams over the 20 years or so i.e. winning at least 50% possession from kick-outs even against the so-called weaker teams. If we have our sights set on going further this needs to drastically improve along with the short kick-outs. Was disappointed by Matt Tierney again today as he seems to be a shadow of the player he was a couple of years ago especially when he was MOTM in most of Oughterard's displays in winning the Intermediate Club AI and must be now under pressure from the likes of Niall Daly for a starting place. Conroy was not his usual dominant self at midfield apart from his great point in the second half but he is entitled to a quiet game by his standards now and again!

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 29/05/2022 20:03:11    2420869

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well done to all today., couldn't make the game as i was at a wedding but ill certainly be there
for the q/f.
well done to all involved., players/managt/backroom and to both sets of supporters i must say.
with diesel.,food and ticket pricing all rising its very hard on people and as we all no salthill isent
the best of locations traffic wise so fair play everyone..

on the game itself i thought at times we played our best football since the derry league win..
in terms of work rate. intensity and genuine honesty of effort i thought it first class..

are we the finished article no., but we are deffo going in the right direction and we'll need
to improve again for 4 weeks time if we are to go further in the all ire series..

i thought from 1 -15 we where very solid with excellent displays from kelly's.,daly.,mchugh.,mcdaid.,
finnerty ( best display in a galway jersey ).,walsh and comer..i was so impressed with the spine of the team and i think if these lads really
start believing in themselves they could take croker by storm no matter who they play..

yes kickouts and winning our own 50/50 ball when we go long still needs some work.,plus
our tackle technique needs some work also., but apart from that we are in really good shape..

division 1 and connacht title secured., now lets prepare has best we can and give this
all ire series one hell of ago..
from what im seeing apart from dublin/kerry we have no reason to fear anyone and if
anything i think some teams may not want to play us at all..

a quick word on Roscommon who are a fine team themselves and i though harney was brilliant today.
they'll be disappointed this eve but no better then cunningham to get them up for a serious qualifier
game in two weeks and that extra week is very important unlike other years where you only got
one weeks break and if they perform there is no reason to think they cant make the final 8.

lets hope comer.,flaherty and dylan cannay are all fully fit in 4 weeks time and i also
seen james macloughlin and sean mulkerrins out on the pitch today which is great too see
and i wish them a speedy recovery..very important for this group to enjoy a few beers tonight
and enjoy the occasion..
i'll be seeing ye in 4 weeks time..
welldone lads
Gaillimh abu`..

gbay (Galway) - Posts: 275 - 29/05/2022 20:08:58    2420871

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Should have won by more as we managed to contain most of the Ros key men. Harney stood out for them but Cillian McDaid in the centre area was also very effective. Great that we don't have to totally depend on Paul Conroy in this area. The late scores disappointing after how having largely controlled the game until the 60th minute. Always things to work on but PJ somewhat vindicated after lots of unfair criticism over the last two years. The national media seem slow to warm to us as all the conversation is about Kerry, the Dubs are back and Derry (rightly so in their case after their long wait for a provincial title). But who cares. We just move on and keep going. Gaillimh Abu as always.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1992 - 29/05/2022 20:25:21    2420878

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Congratulations Galway on your win today. A very high proportion of your scores came from play and ye had very few wides. All the Rossies that I spoke to during and after the match felt that you fully deserved your win, and that the margin could well have been more than 3 points. To be honest I thought our (Roscommon) shot selection and accurate shooting was the strongest part of our game all year, but we did not do ourselves justice in that department today. I still think that there may well be a kick in our team depending on the draw. To get within three points of a very strong Galway team having left our kicking boots at home during the first half, suggests to me that all is not lost for the Rossies.
I presume if we win in round 2 of the qualifies in two weeks time we could well be drawn against Kerry, Dublin, Derry or Galway in the quarter final. Having now won Connacht, Galway now cannot be drawn against Kerry or Dublin until the final. (If ye win both your quarter final and semi final, which I personally think ye can aspire to with some degree of confidence)
Is it possible from Roscommon and Galway to meet again in the quarter final if we win our round 2 qualifier game in two weeks time? (The four qualifiers left after round 2, hopefully including Roscommon, to play the provincial winners in the quarter finals in four weeks time)
If so, will it be at a neutral venue or would Roscommon have home advantage?

letsgetgoing (Roscommon) - Posts: 772 - 29/05/2022 20:32:24    2420882

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Congratulations on a job well done. Galway the smarter team on the day. Obviously learned a lot from the league meeting. Roscommon reverted to their over passing game among the forwards and some loose defending among the backs. Bother teams need to improve if they are to be taken seriously for the remainder of the campaign

Rossieforever (Roscommon) - Posts: 104 - 29/05/2022 21:23:29    2420899

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Think defensively while we were very sticky at times - in terms of not putting in much tackles yeah maybe not but we're still not letting them shoot easily. Don't think we need to tackle that hard especially since some of them are good at winning frees and they've some really good freetakers to punish. Tackles in where it matters - at enda smith the full time, not letting him run thought was great. Molloy much better today than last couple of times, black card aside.

Maybe mcquillan was a bit soft on Galway today re the potential penalty - but the trip on comer was a clear black card

systematic (Galway) - Posts: 226 - 30/05/2022 07:25:19    2420912

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Replying To tommy k:  "I wouldn't say "we secured a reasonable high % of our own kicks today" - Roscommon must have won at least 70% of the long kicks to midfield by picking up the breaks etc. especially in the last quarter of the game. This is something that has been an issue for Galway teams over the 20 years or so i.e. winning at least 50% possession from kick-outs even against the so-called weaker teams. If we have our sights set on going further this needs to drastically improve along with the short kick-outs. Was disappointed by Matt Tierney again today as he seems to be a shadow of the player he was a couple of years ago especially when he was MOTM in most of Oughterard's displays in winning the Intermediate Club AI and must be now under pressure from the likes of Niall Daly for a starting place. Conroy was not his usual dominant self at midfield apart from his great point in the second half but he is entitled to a quiet game by his standards now and again!"
Kick outs Galway 27, won 17 and lost 10. Kick outs Roscommon 24, won 22 and lost 2. There is still an awful lot of work to be done here.
As for Tierney, I can't agree with you, after he went off yesterday and against Mayo the last day, the opposition looked dangerous running from midfield. He does an awful lot of unseen work.

EDH (Galway) - Posts: 375 - 30/05/2022 07:52:10    2420915

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Replying To letsgetgoing:  "Congratulations Galway on your win today. A very high proportion of your scores came from play and ye had very few wides. All the Rossies that I spoke to during and after the match felt that you fully deserved your win, and that the margin could well have been more than 3 points. To be honest I thought our (Roscommon) shot selection and accurate shooting was the strongest part of our game all year, but we did not do ourselves justice in that department today. I still think that there may well be a kick in our team depending on the draw. To get within three points of a very strong Galway team having left our kicking boots at home during the first half, suggests to me that all is not lost for the Rossies.
I presume if we win in round 2 of the qualifies in two weeks time we could well be drawn against Kerry, Dublin, Derry or Galway in the quarter final. Having now won Connacht, Galway now cannot be drawn against Kerry or Dublin until the final. (If ye win both your quarter final and semi final, which I personally think ye can aspire to with some degree of confidence)
Is it possible from Roscommon and Galway to meet again in the quarter final if we win our round 2 qualifier game in two weeks time? (The four qualifiers left after round 2, hopefully including Roscommon, to play the provincial winners in the quarter finals in four weeks time)
If so, will it be at a neutral venue or would Roscommon have home advantage?"
Some good questions around the qualifiers / quarter finals. Maybe someone can enlighten. I cant seem to find it documented anywhere. My understanding is that repeats of provincial finals will be avoided in the QF , but other repeats are allowed, but I could be wrong. Also I think the QFs are set for CP, but again , I dont see this documented.

anotheralias (Galway) - Posts: 997 - 30/05/2022 09:31:41    2420945

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Anyone who is questioning some of the decisions could do worse than read Brian Gavin's (former all ireland ref) weekly piece in the Monday examiner in terms of the key incidents from the weekends matches. He notes the rule change on the footblock so a marginal one and would have been harsh on us given the rule change. Kieran Molloy unfortunately for us had to go on black but Brian Stack was lucky with his drag down on Damo when the latter was one on one with the goal. On the match very little noted on the two goal chances we butchered and we will need to convert those on other days. Enda Smith's first half miss was key as he often converts those and this has naturally being highlighted. Ros I think will get more out of our forward line the next day but maybe just maybe the pressure they were under should be credited to our backs as typically they will do damage with space etc.

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1992 - 30/05/2022 09:45:06    2420949

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Replying To EDH:  "Kick outs Galway 27, won 17 and lost 10. Kick outs Roscommon 24, won 22 and lost 2. There is still an awful lot of work to be done here.
As for Tierney, I can't agree with you, after he went off yesterday and against Mayo the last day, the opposition looked dangerous running from midfield. He does an awful lot of unseen work."
We agree on the kick-outs and perhaps the cameras don't pick up enough of the unseen work by Tierney but I would still say he is not looking like a scoring threat now as he did a couple of years ago and I don't see him making too many tackles on opposition players.

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3470 - 30/05/2022 10:33:56    2420970

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Agree on Tierney. Huge amount of tracking and running, ran himself into the ground against Mayo and again yesterday.

Comer, Walsh and Finnerty will get the headlines but we have a good few honest workers out the pitch.
McDaid is a great foil for Conroy, the more attention Conroy gets the more influence McDaid will have.

I believe 5, 6 and 7 are our launch pad however.
McHugh manages the transition brilliantly and has it between the ears.
Daly is exceptional at anticipating the play and covering space and Molloy had Smith in toast.
Even the black card was a clever foul where we lost it high up the pitch. Those 3 are serious footballers who will give us a chance as the year goes on

smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 543 - 30/05/2022 11:54:15    2421021

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Connacht Champions and getting ready for the big road trip! Happy days. A great day out in sunny Salthill yesterday. Delighted for all the panel and management - well deserved.
Finnerty came of age and truly delivered yesterday. That left boot of his is lethal and looks effortless. Comer hit a couple of powerful purple patches and worked hard all day. The down on him prevented a gilt edged goal chance. Shane Walsh - what can we say? I hope he drives on and takes his game to even loftier heights. That goal, taking out two Ross men and driving it past two more plus the keeper was an outrageous piece of skill and determination to hit the onion bag! Patrick Kelly's lightning quick presence of mind to drop kick rather than kick from the hand made his shot unblockable - this lad is really impressing. Tierney worked seriously hard and did a lot of the unseen heavy lifting - I hope he can bring his brilliant shooting skills out of the locker in the QF. Heaney worked tirelessly again and always worth a score or two - his powerful running and eye for goal will be needed in the AI series. McDaid has announced himself as a big time player - close up, his powerful running and accuracy from range massively troubled Roscommon and he's only getting better. Conroy by his amazing standards was relatively quiet but still did the job. Daly, McHugh and Molloy are gelling into a top class half back line. The defending was impressive for 90% of the match. Sean Kelly is a great leader from the back and Silke and Glynn did their job against some serious, now Div 1 inside forwards. Gleeson's booming kick outs were at time's hugely accurate and cut clean through lines of the Roscommon press on the restart. The short ones still clearly need many hours of work on the training ground or we'll undoubtedly be massively exposed and punished for such mistakes in the QF or beyond. Can't be faulted for the goals which were late in the game and the foot was off the pedal a bit at that stage. All in all, a great win and can't wait to see the maroon and white on the road in June!

togoutlads (Galway) - Posts: 1086 - 30/05/2022 12:00:58    2421025

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Replying To kiloughter:  "Anyone who is questioning some of the decisions could do worse than read Brian Gavin's (former all ireland ref) weekly piece in the Monday examiner in terms of the key incidents from the weekends matches. He notes the rule change on the footblock so a marginal one and would have been harsh on us given the rule change. Kieran Molloy unfortunately for us had to go on black but Brian Stack was lucky with his drag down on Damo when the latter was one on one with the goal. On the match very little noted on the two goal chances we butchered and we will need to convert those on other days. Enda Smith's first half miss was key as he often converts those and this has naturally being highlighted. Ros I think will get more out of our forward line the next day but maybe just maybe the pressure they were under should be credited to our backs as typically they will do damage with space etc."
Taught it was a foot block myself. There was a yard at most between it. We got a decision go against us a few years ago when the "Block" was at least 8 yards away. Any similar incident i have seen in the last few years have always been penalties. That said it made F all of a difference. Galway were much better side and we score a goal in the next few mins anyway that may not have happened had the Penalty been given. On the stack pull back i taught he pulled Comer back and comer went to ground but i didn't see a pulling down action which it needs to be for a black.
Galway will take beaten and much more in Conroy who was for once dominated yesterday. Finnerty always produces against us in fairness to him.

sourmilk93 (Roscommon) - Posts: 1216 - 30/05/2022 12:23:00    2421032

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Replying To tommy k:  "We agree on the kick-outs and perhaps the cameras don't pick up enough of the unseen work by Tierney but I would still say he is not looking like a scoring threat now as he did a couple of years ago and I don't see him making too many tackles on opposition players."
Congrats tp PJ and his team and the players for a very good display yesterday. I think, no that they are out on Connacht they could improve again. Super decision in not having Shane involved in the game all the time, which meant there wasn't 2 defenders marking him. Ross are a very good side but do seem to save their best for Connacht, if they can put this behind them they can progress. I thought again though that Ultan got away with lots and no card.

giveitlong (Galway) - Posts: 1289 - 30/05/2022 12:32:25    2421034

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Congratulations to our great footballers on a job well done. I really hope this is the year we get over the hump! Galway Abu.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2584 - 30/05/2022 12:44:14    2421042

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Replying To Belclare:  "You're afraid?
Even I think that today was all about winning a title.
Dylan mc hugh, Finnerty, Walsh, Comer in spurts were excellent.
Our midfield were not cleaned out but battled hard.
Tierney doing a lot of off the ball work.
Let's tonight congratulate all involved..
King's of connacht and back to our rightful spot of the best sporting county in the West..."
Midfield stats were not great let's be honest. 51 kick outs yesterday. Roscommon won 32 of them Galway 19. The Rossies also had more shots on goal and scored 3-16.

Up next could be Tyrone, Donegal or Mayo in Croke Park where Galway have a dreadful record in since 2001. Connacht title won but lots to work on for PJ and his management over the next 4 weeks.

Yondu (UK) - Posts: 845 - 30/05/2022 13:46:45    2421084

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Replying To Yondu:  "Midfield stats were not great let's be honest. 51 kick outs yesterday. Roscommon won 32 of them Galway 19. The Rossies also had more shots on goal and scored 3-16.

Up next could be Tyrone, Donegal or Mayo in Croke Park where Galway have a dreadful record in since 2001. Connacht title won but lots to work on for PJ and his management over the next 4 weeks."
2 16.
1 1 in the last seconds.

Belclare (Galway) - Posts: 904 - 30/05/2022 14:49:55    2421121

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