Connacht SFC 2020

[Rossfan]

https://www.gaa.ie/football/connacht-gaa-football-senior-championship/fixtures

We thought it wouldn't happen.....
Of course it still mightn't .
Mayowestros and Galway will no doubt beat Letirim and Sligo respectively.
The other 2 games will be 50/50.

[Farrandeelin]

Roscommon will probably win it out if they've any defensive structure in place, which I'm sure Anthony Cunningham undoubtedly will.

[larryin89]

Find it very hard to call , only thing I will say is it's an advantage to our bucks to have all games away from Castlebar . Roscommon have a lot going for them and are the only Connacht team on an upward curve , Galway have had setbacks last two games with weakness exposed in both defence and around the middle . We are what we are under Horan and he doesn't look like changing high press up the field and hope for the best the opposition don't expose the holes at the back , ros could score around 2-12 against us minimum, can we score more .

We need more from Diarmuid , Ruane . I'd love to see us play a sweeper system but I just can't see jh going that route at this stage . There were times yesterday I thought oh fook you cannot be serious one on one again , cox exposed it last year in championship too .

Smart money is on Galway , value bet is Roscommon at 11/2 . Mayo to lift Nestor . Lol

[Owenmoresider]

Saturday week in Salthill could be seriously embarrassing for us. Much more likely to emulate 1990 than 2012.

[Blowitupref]

Connacht outright odds.

Galway 8/11
Mayo 15/8
Roscommon 8/1
Sligo 66/1
Leitrim 125/1

The long odds on Roscommon who won 2 of the last 3 Connacht titles is a surprise but it seems punters don't fancy them to beat both Mayo, Galway.

Going on those odds if Mayo beat Roscommon they will be favourites to win the final.

Match odds for this weekend.

Mayo 1/33
Leitrim 14/1

Mayo by 16 points or more at 2/1 is what punters expect the winning margin will be.

[An Fhairche Abu]

The COVID-19 break was not good for Galway, the squad is certainly not in good form at the moment, we are down too many key players and have too many lads that while decent players to a certain degree are not going to win an All Ireland for you. Played well in the spring but there was a bit too much over hype due to the PJ factor, could have easily lost or drew the Monaghan, Donegal and Meath matches on another day.
I'd expect Galway to beat Sligo (no offence intended, that's just the way it looks) but after that I don't know, could they win a Connacht final playing like this? Certainly on the day they might pull out a performance and improve, but it's only three weeks away and if the Rossies or Mayo turn up playing well and Galway continue in this vein of form they are in serious bother.
Would they have any chance against Kerry in a semi-final if they made through Connacht? I would say no.

Positives for Galway is that Sean Kelly is turning into a really fine player, that Conroy in the form of his life and that our most important player Shane Walsh is on the recovery trail and will be available for the Championship. Outside of that though...
Lightweight in too many areas of the pitch, some players are not IC county standard. Goalkeeping issue remains a problem, kickouts remain a huge problem, midfield is weak, not enough heavy scorers up front outside of Walsh (and Conroy at the minute to give him his due).
Too many lads unavailable like Cooke, John Daly and Comer that would be up there as the best players on that Galway team if they were fit and playing. Other players that were sometimes unfairly maligned like Cathal Sweeney and Declan Kyne that have left the panel of their own volition at least had good championship performances for Galway in their locker, some of the Corofin players who have bestrode the Galway and All Ireland club championships have never, ever done it in a Senior Galway jersey, reputations not earned at Senior IC level are not applicable at that level. There's a valid reason that a "good club player" is the biggest backhanded compliment that any IC squad player could get.
Gary O'Donnell and Paul Conroy performed best in the two final league games, they are very much the old guard of the team and while it is a credit to both of them - particularly Conroy who has come back from a double leg break at 29 that would have finished a lot of players to play some of the best football of his life in 2020 between the club and county - realistically you'd want to see other lads putting the hand up. Heaney who has been a stalwart player for Galway is not in good form.

Have to stick with Ó Maoilchiaráin at FB and let him take the lumps that might come although he has played ok to date, SAOC is certainly not the answer. Not to sound like a broken record about this but John Daly is a colossal loss, far and away the best player that Galway have in that line, you can't train the football smarts that lad has, he's going to do the right thing 9 times out of 10 even when the severe pressure is on. If you look at the shot maps (@colintrainor on Twitter has a nice breakdown on these) for Dublin and Mayo against Galway they are all tap overs, defence structure isn't working to put sufficient pressure on opposition.
Midfield is all over the shop, Steede is good for a couple of scores and has good passing vision but needs a serious athlete beside him, he's unavailable as it is as well. Flynn coming off injured yesterday is another headache you could do without. Would it be worth sticking the likes of McDaid in MF? D'Arcy is game enough but up against the likes of Fenton or other top midfielders it's a total mismatch for Galway.
Ian Burke on crutches after the game yesterday but he's not a massive loss on current form either which tells it's own tale. If PJ is looking at players who are in good club form get Conneely in there against Sligo and see what he's made of, we need another big scorer in the FF line and who are the other candidates? I mean I thought Con O'Callaghan didn't get a kick for most of the game yesterday to be honest and he still got 1-2, that's the type of player you need to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Finnerty might have the odd day or two but would wonder about consistency, he's certainly worth a start at the moment though.
Comer hasn't been fit in an eternity and his last good game for Galway was two years ago but he'd make everyone else look better just by the attention he'd draw, Galway don't have the squad of players to be without the likes of him unfortunately which is the problem in itself. Shane Walsh if he returns to spring form would give you a punchers chance against most teams but Galway needs other players to get up to their top level along with him.

Realistically Dublin were in second gear - at most - yesterday and were comfortable enough for a finish, Mayo mauled Galway only 8 days ago. What can you think after watching those matches. At least the effort levels were up yesterday but outside of Conroy who looked in great form a couple of weeks before the championship throw in against Sligo? Not enough unfortunately.

Given the time of year, a bad windy day in the Connacht final (whether it's in Pearse or the Hyde) might be the kind of leveller that will make it a slog for all concerned and more of a lottery but Mayo will remain favourites for the title, Rossies are going well and have a great recent record against Galway.
Galway might have a big Connacht final in them but a massive improvement in current form will be needed, you'd love to see it but realistically you have to take it as it is, some nice performances in the Spring but good fortune with injuries and overall form of players has deserted Galway at the worst possible time in 2020.

[MayoBuck]

I think we'll probably stick with O'Shea at 14. That's where he was playing all summer for Breaffy and apparently Ciaran McDonald was doing some coaching with them.

Hopefully Keegan is moved back to centre half back with Durcan and Eoghan McLaughlin either side of him. Everyone talking about sweepers after yesterday but it's really down to the half back line to not be dragged out of position and leave us exposed.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I'm not very hopeful anyway. Any momentum we had in the Spring is well and truly gone between a combination of injury, absences for other reasons and the long break in between. While everyone was fit and firing in the Spring it now feels like PJ is trying to cobble together a team in jig time and I don't think he knows his best side at the moment. With due respect to Sligo I think Galway will likely beat them no matter what so they'll be in a Connacht final but just impossible to predict what kind of side will rock up on the day. There are just too many questions over them now and likely a few players will be struggling to even get back fit in time for a Connacht final. Especially badly hit around the middle three lines of the field where all of Comer, Cooke, Steede, Flynn and J Daly are all either gone or potentially gone. You could argue all five would be in a first choice team if everyone were available.

On the other side of the ledger the injury situation has cleared up a little for both Mayo and Roscommon compared to the Spring so you'd be hard pushed to look beyond whoever wins that semi-final.

[weareros]

This will be a poor mouthing thread, if you ever saw one. That said whoever wins Connacht won't be within 10 points of Kerry.

[Cunny Funt]

This will be a poor mouthing thread, if you ever saw one. That said whoever wins Connacht won't be within 10 points of Kerry.

While Kerry should win i think you'll be pleasantly surprised at how competitive that semi final will likely be.

Leitrim v Mayo live on RTÉ News Now this Sunday. Its a good while since Leitrim had a championship game live on TV. Awful shame supporters aren't allowed to attend these games but it is what it is now.

The last time there was a knock out Connacht championship was in 2000 Galway won it and ended up losing to Kerry history to repeat itself?

[Duine Eile]

Other players that were sometimes unfairly maligned like Cathal Sweeney and Declan Kyne that have left the panel of their own volition at least had good championship performances for Galway in their locker, some of the Corofin players who have bestrode the Galway and All Ireland club championships have never, ever done it in a Senior Galway jersey, reputations not earned at Senior IC level are not applicable at that level. There's a valid reason that a "good club player" is the biggest backhanded compliment that any IC squad player could get.

Bit harsh on the Corofin lads there? I can't think of any Corofin players who ever got on the panel in recent years without earning their place, if anything they've had to work harder when they've joined the panel late on the year. The goalkeeping position is a few problems rolled into one, Power was an improvement yesterday and is a better option than Gleeson in my opinion, Gleeson's kick outs are shocking but the problem is the lack of movement out the field, for Corofin Power generally goes short but he didn't have that option yesterday and our midfield was non existent when Flynn went off.  As mentioned already I think the biggest loss we have is John Daly this year, he was rock solid at 6. I could see Bradshaw coming back in there, he showed well yesterday when he came on and he's had a good year with Moycullen. Gary O'D another option for there, it'll probably be between the 2 of them for that jersey.

[Hound]

Mayo by 16 points or more at 2/1 is what punters expect the winning margin will be.

If it's 2/1 against, that means punters generally don't expect that margin to be met. You been taking punting lessons from seafoid?

[Blowitupref]

Mayo by 16 points or more at 2/1 is what punters expect the winning margin will be.

If it's 2/1 against, that means punters generally don't expect that margin to be met. You been taking punting lessons from seafoid?

It's the shortest odds on the winning margin (where the money is going) . Betting the correct score is difficult and rarely has shorter than 2/1 for any margin.

[larryin89]

Yes but the barometer you'd use is the handicap line which is 12 with pp and 13 with bet 365  both in and around even money . So Mayo to win by 13 points or more is what the bookies expect .

[An Fhairche Abu]

Other players that were sometimes unfairly maligned like Cathal Sweeney and Declan Kyne that have left the panel of their own volition at least had good championship performances for Galway in their locker, some of the Corofin players who have bestrode the Galway and All Ireland club championships have never, ever done it in a Senior Galway jersey, reputations not earned at Senior IC level are not applicable at that level. There's a valid reason that a "good club player" is the biggest backhanded compliment that any IC squad player could get.

Bit harsh on the Corofin lads there? I can't think of any Corofin players who ever got on the panel in recent years without earning their place, if anything they've had to work harder when they've joined the panel late on the year. The goalkeeping position is a few problems rolled into one, Power was an improvement yesterday and is a better option than Gleeson in my opinion, Gleeson's kick outs are shocking but the problem is the lack of movement out the field, for Corofin Power generally goes short but he didn't have that option yesterday and our midfield was non existent when Flynn went off.  As mentioned already I think the biggest loss we have is John Daly this year, he was rock solid at 6. I could see Bradshaw coming back in there, he showed well yesterday when he came on and he's had a good year with Moycullen. Gary O'D another option for there, it'll probably be between the 2 of them for that jersey.

No issue with the number of Corofin players in the squad at any point, maybe their club exploits have made it impractical and difficult for them to have the same impact at county level, but it's difficult to listen to talk that "xyz Corofin player will make a huge difference for Galway" versus what's actually happened on the pitch, Ian Burke had a great 2018, outside of that which of them have been tearing it up for Galway lately? Sice was a good player for Galway going back into the previous decade in fairness and he is not the type of player I would have in mind here.
I'd only love the Corofin players to have the same level of success with Galway as they've had at club level but it is what it is.