Galway v Leitrim 14/6/08

[45GoneShort]

Thought I'd set the ball rolling on this one. 

As far as I'm concerned this game will make or break this Leitrim team as they have been together knocking on the door for nearly six or seven years.  Was in Salthill yesterday and from what I saw of Galway from that game they are not a team to be feared.  The key to a Leitrim win will be the marshalling of Joyce and not giving away soft frees because Meehan will punish us.  I doubht Galway will play Clancy again in the same role as Leitrim will counter act this easily with Reynolds being given license to follow him out the field and try himself to link up with our own forwards.  I don't think Maxwell will have it all his own way like his last visit to Salthill - the Galway full back looked very comfortable yesterday. 

If they handed out cups for morale victories we'd be going for a five in a row, with div 4 looming next year I think many lads will see this as their last big push for a Connacht title.

P.s. nice double with pp Cavan at 5/2 nd Leitrim 8/1 to win there next games   

[SLIGONIAN]

I give leitrim a fair good chance. Absolutely right about this Galway. There nothing special and not to be feared. I know some of the leitrim players and yday will definitly give them alot more belief having watched that. Galway are there for the taking again. Leitrim also ran them very close in salthill last time so this is no certainty. 8/1 odds is generous and I might throw on a few bob.

Leitrim have a long range free taker and hes very accurate in emlyn mulligan. Hope continues that for championship. Alot of experience and with the effort and hunger in the squad this could be a good chance for leitrim.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Well it's a long way off yet but hopefully by then Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong will be back up to speed and Damien Burke should come back into corner-back.

Probably a usual Galway v Leitrim game. Tight enough for most of it with Galway pulling away in the final 10 to 15 minutes for a relatively comfortable win. I expect it will be a battle alright but Leitrim's chances of winning this fixture are greatly diminished outside of Carrick. Of course though Leitrim have a genuine chance but Galway still have more quality whatever way it's cut but it will be tough going.

[Tatler Jack]

Galway will be pleased enough with yesterdays game - a good win that helps confidence but at the same time enough flaws shown up for them to realise that there is work to be done. Leitrim will be much better prepared than Ros (if Ros had won yesterday every county board wolud be insisting on just 3 weeks preparation -imagine impact of that on Micko's income sorry expenses) and will not lose their shape the way Ros did. However they will struggle to get scores against what is a good Galway backline. Will be a lot closer than yesterday and Leitrim will remain in it longer but I will be surprised if they are not 7 or 8 points adrift at the end.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Well it's a long way off yet but hopefully by then Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong will be back up to speed and Damien Burke should come back into corner-back.

Probably a usual Galway v Leitrim game. Tight enough for most of it with Galway pulling away in the final 10 to 15 minutes for a relatively comfortable win. I expect it will be a battle alright but Leitrim's chances of winning this fixture are greatly diminished outside of Carrick. Of course though Leitrim have a genuine chance but Galway still have more quality whatever way it's cut but it will be tough going.

Blake and especially Mullaghy must be in the running to see action against Leitrim.  Mullaghy is a very solid half back that is well capable of driving forward and kicking the odd score and was a major surprise that he did not start the last day after his league performances.  Also would like to see Blake see some action the next day out.  He has a major job on his hands to get the 6 jersey right now but Coyne did leave a big hole in the centre of the defence on a few occassions last Sunday. He is in the same boat as Nicky coming back from a similar operation so hopefully the club championship games this weekend and a further 3 - 4 weeks training will sharpen them up for the Leitrim challenge.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Well it's a long way off yet but hopefully by then Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong will be back up to speed and Damien Burke should come back into corner-back.

Probably a usual Galway v Leitrim game. Tight enough for most of it with Galway pulling away in the final 10 to 15 minutes for a relatively comfortable win. I expect it will be a battle alright but Leitrim's chances of winning this fixture are greatly diminished outside of Carrick. Of course though Leitrim have a genuine chance but Galway still have more quality whatever way it's cut but it will be tough going.

Blake and especially Mullaghy must be in the running to see action against Leitrim.  Mullaghy is a very solid half back that is well capable of driving forward and kicking the odd score and was a major surprise that he did not start the last day after his league performances.  Also would like to see Blake see some action the next day out.  He has a major job on his hands to get the 6 jersey right now but Coyne did leave a big hole in the centre of the defence on a few occassions last Sunday. He is in the same boat as Nicky coming back from a similar operation so hopefully the club championship games this weekend and a further 3 - 4 weeks training will sharpen them up for the Leitrim challenge.

Don't think Blake will displace Coyne at this stage as I think Coyne has played fairly well so far. It would take a bad performance to dislodge him at this stage. I guess Blake could be tried at midfield although he suffers from the Niall Coleman problem of lack of size for a midfielder. Mullahy could certainly push for starting place next day out but at the expense of Deccie or Gary Sice? Damien Burke will come in for Bradshaw.

I hope Nicky Joyce comes in for Breatchnach. Conroy has played himself onto the team. Only other position up for grabs amongst the forwards is Dunleavy's. He played very well against Kerry but was strangely quiet against Roscommon.

[Galforever]

Blake and especially Mullaghy must be in the running to see action against Leitrim.  Mullaghy is a very solid half back that is well capable of driving forward and kicking the odd score and was a major surprise that he did not start the last day after his league performances.  Also would like to see Blake see some action the next day out.  He has a major job on his hands to get the 6 jersey right now but Coyne did leave a big hole in the centre of the defence on a few occassions last Sunday. He is in the same boat as Nicky coming back from a similar operation so hopefully the club championship games this weekend and a further 3 - 4 weeks training will sharpen them up for the Leitrim challenge.

After his league, Mullahy deserved a plcae last week than any other player. Sice was extremely average aginst Roscommon. So I would bring Mullahy in there. I dont think Blake will get on ahead of Coyne. However, he has been played at midfield before and he could be an option there. What a sub to have though! Club championship could tell a lot this weekend. Milltown game could be interesting to see Mullahy & Blake both hoping to impress.
Also, I think Niall Coleman could get in ahead of Dunleavy. Coleman had a decent league up to the Kerry game at No. 10.

[Death Valley]

Leitrims inability to score from play will cost them. Mulligan is an excellent freetaker, however they lack scoring forwards. Expect their defence & midfield to go well, however when you cant score from play you are limited against a team that can. Plenty of spirit will see them lose by no more than 6 points. The quicker games come back to the spiritual home of Galway football - Tuam - the better. That Sathill is the greatest b*tch of a place to get in & out of, & lacks character that Tuam,Carrick, Ros or Castlebar have on big match days. Expect a mute crowd of about 12k or so.

[45GoneShort]

The quicker games come back to the spiritual home of Galway football - Tuam - the better. That Sathill is the greatest b*tch of a place to get in & out of, & lacks character that Tuam,Carrick, Ros or Castlebar have on big match days. Expect a mute crowd of about 12k or so.

Have to agree with you on that one - Salthill has to have one of the worst atmospheres for championship football.  Bring back Tuam - I always loved heading to Tuam in the 90's.  I think that the pitch is so far from the city centre people kind of feel lost... and this is all without mentioning the traffic which would put anyone off heading to Salthill.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I'd love to go back to Tuam as it generated a fantastic atmosphere on match days. In the town itself as well as in the ground.

Unfortunately Tuam Stadium isn't fit for intercounty games anymore and until it's redeveloped there's not much more that can be said on the matter.

http://www.tuamstadium.com/ for those interested.

[Solo Run]

Not only that, if we turn up on the 15th, the day of the match, with all the lads in the van our chances are greatly enhanced

[pairc sean]

Galway Bay Boy - nice link. Brought back some happy memories. Tuam had the real "feel" of Connacht championship whenever you went to it; sure it wasn't the most comfortable stadium in the world and the facilities weren't a patch on Pearse stadium but Jaysus, it was dripping with history!! (and atmosphere). Plus. we beat ye twice there in the 90's!!

I think we'll be in with a shout of doing so again in June, but Galway will quite rightly be favourites. The New York trip will have banished many of the memories of a poor league campaign for Leitirm, but anyone that was at all the games will tell you it looked much worse than it actually was and ironically, I would argue Leitrim made some progress over the league. The midfield has continued to strenghten, we've found a few more backs (don't know how we manage to keep doing that!!) and what we hope is a reliable free taker in Emlyn Mulligan (I say "hope", cos you never know til the white heat of Championship). That said, the points re not scoring enough from play are well made, but I'd still predict if we can somehow scrape two goals, we might just win.

Big IF though.

[magpie seanie]

The sooner Tuan Stadium is back up and running the better.

[SLIGONIAN]

Tuam the only time I seen us win there was in fbd a few yrs ago, everything else was dark very dark times there for Sligo football so I am probably the only one who is glad it is gone and hope it stays that way. At least in pearse Galway cant really use the tradition card or do I feel like im going into the lions den like when i walk up to tuam. Pearse is a nightmare to get out of but I feel we have a better chance there, we have no recent history. I dont really go to Sligo matches to enjoy them or is it a day out, its we either win or we dont, and that dictates whether I enjoy them.

[Galforever]

Had a look at that link. Those foundations have been there a long time now. Is there a lack of money or something? Why knock the terrace & then just do that amount of work? surely knockin the terrace should have been done just before they could get the building underway properly