Galway v Tyrone Pearse Stadium 20/5/23 at 5:15pm

[Fuzzman]

Strong looking team.
Home advantage.
Tyrone huge underdogs.
When have Galway last lost at home?
Derry for Sam 😉

[Blowitupref]

Strong looking team.
Home advantage.
Tyrone huge underdogs.
When have Galway last lost at home?
Derry for Sam 😉

Lost to Roscommon in February. Last championship defeat in Salthill was to Mayo the 2020 Connacht final, last time they lost with a crowd in attendance was the year before against Roscommon in another Connacht final. 

[ONeill]

2021 shows you can never write Tyrone off.

But there's a gaping hole right down the middle of the Tyrone defence that you can't ignore.

[clarshack]

No chance we are beating that Galway team.

[Fuzzman]

Who would have thought five or six years ago that we would be more wide open than Galway were.

Who could we bring in to improve develop our defensive system? 🤔

[time ticking away]

Galway are overrated. Usually shite the nest in Croke Park and don't have quality forwards outside of Walsh/Comer. How many of the other forwards would make current mayo team.

I'm guessing you are joking here.
Tierney, Finnarty Burke and Cooke are super players.
Heaney too

[Mario]

I'm not sure were this Tyrone optimism is coming from. 1 championship win in 2 years. Beat by Monaghan who Derry strolled past. Galway by 5

[trueblue1234]

I'm not sure were this Tyrone optimism is coming from. 1 championship win in 2 years. Beat by Monaghan who Derry strolled past. Galway by 5

Because we've been there or there abouts consistently for an over a decade. Strong players coming into the team from a strong U20 team. Only 2 years away from our last AI with. That's no guarantee that we are going to do well. We were poor last year and poor against Monaghan. But stayed up while teams like Armagh went down.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/05/19/conor-meyler-and-tyrone-raring-to-go-again-as-all-ireland-group-stages-get-under-way/

Conor Meyler and Tyrone raring to go again as All-Ireland group stages get under way
Ulster side head to Salthill on Saturday to take on Galway in the opening round of matches


Ian O'Riordan
Thu May 18 2023 - 15:00

It wouldn't be a proper round-robin knock-out competition without some sort of group of death, and as the senior football championship enters that new ground this weekend, the honour is generally perceived to have fallen to Group Two.

Featuring Connacht champions Galway, beaten Ulster finalists Armagh, 2021 All-Ireland winners Tyrone, plus last year's Tailteann Cup winners Westmeath, there is unquestionably some hard football to be played, even if in the end only one of the four will end up being given their last rites.

Tyrone forward Conor Meyler isn't so sure, however, pointing to Group One, which features Kerry and Mayo, both leading All-Ireland contenders, and at least they've avoided Dublin.

"The fact the top team goes straight through [to the quarter-finals] is a huge incentive," he said. "To try to win the group, rather than wait until the last day, trying to get a result against Westmeath. You wouldn't want to leave it that close."

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First up is Saturday's trip to Salthill to face Galway, a team Tyrone haven't beaten in their last three league meetings, before Armagh come to Omagh, having knocked Tyrone out in their first-round qualifier last year.

"It'll be interesting to see how it pans out now, especially in regards to next year," Meyler added. "Is there a benefit of going the whole way and winning the Ulster Championship?

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"Potentially, yes. I'd love another Ulster Championship medal but when you look at the route you have to go, for the likes of Derry or Armagh, they've had some really tough games and have to come down, reset and go again.

"That's going to be a challenge. At the same time, they are fairly battle-hardened then, they know their squad and know who to rely on in the big games. There is no question winning games and building momentum will stand to you as well. We'll soon see who it stands to and who gets it right."

Five weeks on from their surprise Ulster quarter-final loss to Monaghan, Tyrone set off again as so-called backdoor specialists, winning two of their All-Ireland titles through the qualifier route (2005 and 2008). After Ulster championship exits in 2013, 2015 and 2019, they also reached All-Ireland semi-finals, and the final in 2018.

What is at least certain for Meyler is that Tyrone are aiming to go a lot better than last year, their All-Ireland defence quickly unravelled after an Ulster quarter-final loss to Derry, then that qualifier loss to Armagh.

"First of all I've a lot of admiration for teams that do go back-to-back, it's a seriously impressive feat to be able to do that. We struggled, I think when you look back now, with a lot of small things, rather than one big thing.

"Our club season ran on until the middle of December, which in hindsight, meant you didn't really get a pre-season, and there was no real switch off after the All-Ireland period. We sort of went straight from the All-Ireland, I remember playing a club game the week after. It was full-on at it, and no period of reflection, or being able to enjoy it, to come down again.


"We finished up with the club season, went on a team holiday, came back on the Tuesday, maybe played a McKenna Cup on the Wednesday. So I'd say from the get-go we were maybe chasing our tail, which was tough.

"We'd done enough to stay in Division One, which was brilliant, then obviously had a tough draw in the championship. Still I feel if we had got any sort of luck there, had progressed a bit further, we would have picked up a bit of momentum and maybe things wouldn't have been as doom and gloom as people perceived. Because we were on an upward trajectory, just came across Armagh when they were going well. So all that probably sums up last year, for me."

Given how easily Monaghan were taken out by Derry, before Derry went on to win last Sunday's Ulster final after a penalty shoot-out, Tyrone might appear to some to be even further behind in the Ulster rankings. Again Meyler is not so sure.

"To be honest. I still think this year, more than any year, the All-Ireland is so open. Most teams will be looking at that and thinking teams can beat each other.

"We had what we had with Dublin, a number of years ago, where they were dominant and there was a fear factor with them as well. They were that standout team. At the moment, I don't think we have that, although Derry are on an upward trajectory and I'm really impressed by them. If we were to draw them down the line, I wouldn't be fearful either.

"You learn to move on and I'd like to think we're going to get more chances with the new format. I don't know how it's going to go, but I'm excited by it. We were going out to win the Ulster championship, on reflection maybe the couple of weeks there has stood to us, a really hard training bank, so trying to take positives anyway."

[An Fhairche Abu]

Galway are overrated. Usually shite the nest in Croke Park and don't have quality forwards outside of Walsh/Comer. How many of the other forwards would make current mayo team.

I'm guessing you are joking here.
Tierney, Finnarty Burke and Cooke are super players.
Heaney too

Don't remember of them scoring heavily in croke Park in championship.  Mayo forwards more proven.

Galway forwards have a hell of a lot to prove on the biggest days yet, absolutely no disagreement there. The lack of scoring support outside of Walsh and McDaid cost Galway an All Ireland last July.
Outside of Cillian O'Connor and O'Donoghue not sure there are any proven heavy scorers in Mayo though, Conroy is still just potential for the moment no more than some of the Galway forwards. Who am I forgetting here?

[Maroon Manc]

Tyrone have no fear of Galway and will turn up expecting to win, Tyrone thrive on been written off.

Huge game for Galway but this is the one group where the team who comes out on top could lose a game, clearly no guarantee the winner of tomorrow will beat Armagh.

Not convinced by the balance of the team picked with McDaid at wing back, lets see if that team materialises.

Looking forward to the game, just hope we get a performance out of Galway.

[tbrick18]

I think you can only judge this game on form this year, and on form Galway will win by 5/6 I feel.
There is always that doubt about Tyrone putting in a big shift, such as KErry in the league. If they pull a performance like that together, it's anyones game.

So it's an exciting prospect in that regard.

That looks like a strong Galway side.

[seafoid]

2021 shows you can never write Tyrone off.

But there's a gaping hole right down the middle of the Tyrone defence that you can't ignore.

2021 was the culmination of a long period of Tyrone knocking at the door. There is no jeopardy so the next day doesn't matter.
I expect Tyrone to  be there for the endgame.

[Blowitupref]

Tyrone have no fear of Galway and will turn up expecting to win, Tyrone thrive on been written off.

Huge game for Galway but this is the one group where the team who comes out on top could lose a game, clearly no guarantee the winner of tomorrow will beat Armagh.

Not convinced by the balance of the team picked with McDaid at wing back, lets see if that team materialises.

Looking forward to the game, just hope we get a performance out of Galway.

Isn't that his natural position?

Tyrone with one change from the 2-17 to 1-18 loss to Monaghan.  Kieran McGeary  going out and Joe Oguz coming in.


Niall Morgan
Michael McKernan
Ronan McNamee
Pádraig Hampsey
Conor Meyler;
Cormac Quinn
Peter Harte
Brian Kennedy
Conn Kilpatrick;
Frank Burns
Michael O'Neill
Joe Oguz
Darren McCurry
Mattie Donnelly
Darragh Canavan

[rrhf]

In God (and his kin) we trust...