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Now you said it BT7 - inconsistency is Galway hurling's middle name. You have a pool of lads like Forde, Kerins x 2, F Healy, Tierney, Murray, Hardiman - all individually good hurlers but seemingly incapable of stringing a few good games together. It's enough to drive any manager (weaker than Loughnane) silly.

Anyway, Gerlock gave a few hints last Sunday about his c'ship team. The FF line as started will be there IMHO. M Kerins is edging towards CHF, Tannian is starting to put his name forward for one wing forward slot, with Murray / Tierney / F Healy (my preference) for the other. Depending on next Sunday's performance midfield could be A Kerins and Hayes. Lee will be no. 6, probably flanked by Forde and D Collins - physically strong line but not too quick unfortunately. Full-back line is the big imponderable; D Joyce will be in one corner I think, other corner between Moore and Kennedy, D Cloonan has to get a chance at FB to see what he's like in it, otherwise it's Kavanagh or Regan (shudder). In goal will be A Ryan.  Hardi will have to be sub along with Farragher who realistically will only play if E Cloonan is unavailable. Nowlan Park will confirm or refute a lot of the above I believe.

Agree to all the above. Thought the Limerick corner-back Moloney was very unlucky - just returned from a year out through cruciate damage and had started very well against Hayes, hope his current injury isn't too serious. Loughnane certainly doesn't take prisoners, Tierney was hauled off before half-time with the other two at the interval. Farragher is no CHF anyway, going by Cloonan's current form the most he may hope for is a corner-forward slot. David Forde was dodgy for a long time but like the rest of them, finished well. Derek Hardi' surpassed Pete Finnerty's 1993 record of warming up before being brought on. On the debit side however, that's the second game in succession that midfield and half-forwards were changed completely, no-one still able to make a place their own yet. Is Kerril Wade still on the panel? Would like to see him getting a run. Unlike practically all other managers, Loughnane isn't afraid to talk up his chances or at least emphasise the positives, must be very refreshing to journo's.

Jeez, they're scraping the barrel a bit if Charlie is a Laochra Gael, n'est pa?

From a Galway perspective it wasn't a classic but was a necessary win nonetheless. The strong breeze was always going to make it a game of 2 halves and Armagh beat themselves when they didn't rack up more scores in the opener. Stevie in particular dropped a few short. At the other end poor finishing and a bit of bad luck kept Galway scoreless in the first half, though no amount of adverse breeze could disguise the lack of ball winning ability in the Galway forward line. In the 2nd half, once PJ got going Galway built up momentum and the introduction of Niall Coleman for the eternally-hamstrung Sean Armstrong just before half-time gave the winners a big boost after the break. Best for the home side were goalie Doherty who has yet to concede a goal in this league (though kick-outs could improve). Full-back line were generally ok though a bit loose in the 1st half, half-back line again good with Blake very strong, Comer undoes some good work with slack passing. Midfield were middling in the first half, not tracking back and Bergin's decision making on the ball was terrible, though he turned it around in the 2nd half in fairness. The half-forward line were so-so; Ja is still struggling to find his feet again, Sean Armstrong showed well until injured, while wing-forward didn't suit Savo. In the full, PJ was rusty but still has class in abundance, Nicky was good on the ball but his lack of bottle and courage mean he will be eaten in the c'ship, Cormac Bane was useless and why Ford left him there for the whole match is a mystery. The moderately sized Savo was replaced by the even smaller Frankie Burke who hadn't a look-in against Andy Mallon - why Ford didn't give a chance to a few of the bigger subs is another mystery as Galway were physically very light up front; as stated Niall Coleman made a big difference. Unless the tribesmen get some ball-winners in the forwards like M Meehan (soon) and Paul Clancy (doubtful) they're going to have a very short year.

Lot of Galway people in football circles worried about this one I'd say, not least the management themselves. Team has found no sort of form, is very low on confidence and is in dire straits at midfield. Bit by bit, the returning players should improve things but the Jekyll-and-Hyde tendencies that Galway footballers have shown pretty much since 2001 haven't gone away. This match should have been played in Tuam where they'd at least attract a larger home support.

Continuing the theme,

Over-rated in Galway, sad to say;
Joe Bergin - good engine,  honest player but very basic skills, kicking particularly poor
Nicky Joyce - when he's not on county panel it's "Bring back Nicky", when he's playing it's "Take him off to f*ck!"
Tony Og Regan - but do any supporters in Galway actually rate him that highly?

Under-rated
Perhaps Fergal Healy - suffers a bit in the physicality stakes but very skilful

Archie, I am just providing counter-evidence (and one example)  to a point made earlier that 'no-one ever took O'Hailpin to the cleaners' - read the posts man.

Syd, now you're the one talking about U-21 matches. He lost the '94 final to a Galway side didn't he? To repeat myself, I saw him getting cleaned by Daragh Coen (himself hardly world-class) in the '96 AI semi-final on a wet evening in Ennis, he was FB that day. I'm not deriding him as a person, on the contrary I think he's an admirable sportsman and an excellent role model, just an average hurler. Neither am I speaking on behalf of anyone in Galway, so stay on-message a little bit, there's a good fellow.

Syd, Syd, Syd, I don't know you from Adam, but I guess that you're a young person, quite easily influenced by what you read on the newspapers and by what you hear from M'O'M's commentaries on the radio. For all Sean Og's litany of greatness he didn't actually get an All-Star until 2003. If it weren't for the fact that he was a member of a very good Cork defensive unit, I seriously doubt if his 'standards' would be quite so high. Next time he's playing, watch him closely, and try not to be misled by the media instead, good lad.

As for the Tribesmen, under-rated - dunno, under-achievers - yes, definitely.

Syd, they actually broke even, (I know, they were in front of me in the first half. And Big Dan is no world beater himself anyway). Sean Og gave away a point that day with a loose sideline cut. Daragh Coen destroyed him at U-21 level when O'Hailpin was full-back for Cork. Jamsie O'Connor could always get the better of him when Clare were in the ascendancy. He had a poor season last year if you look back on it, not even nominated for an All-Star. My point remains, for all the ballyhoo about him, he remains an excellent athlete but an extremely moderate hurler.

Over-rated; Sean Og O'Hailpin
Under-rated; Kevin Broderick

Not entirely true to state that Moore didn't play under Hayes, he did until '04, then opted out. Biggest surprise IMHO is the non-inclusion of Diarmuid Cloonan at FB, when you consider that Loughnane is trying to steel up the Galway squad. On the other hand he has included both Broderick (hopefully a Galway manager will at last recognise his ability) and Hayes in the FF line. Will be a lot of interest in seeing how Lee plays at CHB, while Eoin Lynch gets a chance to translate good club form into county appearances. The bench is starting to look strong now as well with guys like Greg Kennedy, Tony Og (might be best place for him), Ger Mahon (needs to improve), John Culkin, Alan Kerins, Niall Healy, Ger Farragher and Kerril Wade on standby. A large crowd will surely be in Salthill on Sunday to see the glorious dawning of a new era in Galway hurling!

They mightn't have trained collectively this week but what were they doing for the past few months? I know one daffodil doesn't make a Spring but Jeez we were wretched yesterday. Doherty's kick-outs were middling but he deserves and will get a chance. Darren Mullahy got such a chasing from 5 minutes in and was never switched or subbed. Hanley was also uncomfortable but is still good enough to put it behind him. Half-back line was the best of a bad lot but carried the play too far up the field, compressing the room for the forwards. Midfield sub-par and Cullinane should have been taken off, he wasn't lucky he wasn't sent off. Half-forward line hot an cold, Ja's jinks don't fool too many at the moment and Bergin's kicking once again let him down. Matt Clancy was ok until injured but very one-sided. Full-forward line tried hard on limited possession but never threatened a goal. Bad enough though the performances were the tactical set-up was worse; to repeat, with the half-back line coming too far upfield the room for the forwards was just crowded out. Forde needs to sort out that aspect and quick. Regretfully, we are in the Intermediate ranks at County level now and there's damn all coming through to get us out of that rut at the moment.

Condolences to a very genuine and decent GAA family, totally unspoilt by success or talent.

No offence intended, but are you sure of this passing? There had been false rumours earlier in the week...

Real shame IF Ollie calls it a day. Undoubtedly the best defender in hurling over the past decade. Even though it looked as if he had lost a bit of pace over the past year or two it would be a real pity if Galway won an AI and he not to be part of it.