An Iarmhí v Gaillimh

Duine Eile · January 27, 2009, 12:16:39 AM

Well lads, how will this one go? It'll be interesting to see what kind of team Liam and the boys will name, a lot of experimentation carried out during the FBD. The only definites would probably be Hanley, Bergin, Cullinane, Padraic, Nicky, Mikey Meehan and maybe Mullahy. Hopefully we'll carry the prominse we showed last year into this season. Think we'll have enough for Westmeath, they're not an easy team to beat especially in Mullingar but think we just have that more up front and that should shade it for us. Have we played them since that disaster in Salthill 2 years ago? Feck that was a bad evening.

GalwayBayBoy · January 27, 2009, 12:58:54 AM

Hopefully the extra time against Ross might stand to us. Still without the Corofin contingent though. Would be fairly confident of a win at home but expect a very tight one in Mullingar. A win first game out would be great as we have a tough set of fixtures this year with four away games.

GAA_Punter · January 27, 2009, 09:45:13 AM

Did Westmeath play any challenge last weekend

GaillimhIarthair · January 27, 2009, 09:56:03 AM

Based on what I have seen so far in the FBD, I think the starting 15 for Sunday in Mullingar will be along the following lines -

P Doherty;
N Coyne, F Hanley, D Meehan;
G Bradshaw, D Blake, D Mullahy;
B Cullinane, J Bergin;
N Joyce, P Joyce, P Conroy;
E Concannon, M Meehan, C Bane

Some tight calls there in the defence but in the absence of the Corofin contingent it will be a case of horses for courses over the next few weeks. Its notoriously difficut to get away wins in the league over the past few years but hopefully we have enough fire power to get us the 2 points on Sunday.

Croí na hÉireann · January 27, 2009, 10:15:22 AM

Being pernikity here but can u change the title to reflect who's at home DE, it's true what they say about the leopard http://gaaboard.com/board/index.php?topic=2124.msg60908#msg60908

Also it's Iarmhí, not Iar Mhi...

Will have to wait unil the teams are announced but I would expect Galway to win this as we just have too many injuries at the minute. They had a fairly strong team together in the FBD league wheras we had the young lads out in the O'Byrne Cups... However we really need to win this as we have only 3 games in Mullingar again this year and we would need to be winning them if we're going anywhere, tough ask though...

mouview · January 27, 2009, 03:23:38 PM

In fairness to Sammon, he's given a good run to fringe lads in the FBD. Only 2 lads at most, Fitzie and Damien Burke, missing from Corofin contingent and they're not always first choice anyway. Would prefer to see a settled team starting to grow from now on, something you-know-who patently failed to do.

GalwayBayBoy · January 27, 2009, 03:34:35 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on January 27, 2009, 03:23:38 PM
Would be nice to keep the likes of Nicky, Bergin and Armstrong fit this year. One or two of them every year always seem to pick up and injury just before or during the championship.

I should have kept my mouth shut. Any news on Nicky's injury yet anyway? I'd nearly settle on him missing the rest of the league and being fit for the championship after getting stretchered off like that.

AN other · January 27, 2009, 08:46:14 PM

Need to hit the ground running. With all the injuries I expect to see a couple of debuts and will be interesting to see how they get on.

Duine Eile · January 29, 2009, 09:35:16 PM

Galway team for Sunday:

1. Paul Doherty
2. Niall Coyne
3. Finian Hanley
4. David Reilly
5. Gareth Bradshaw
6. Diarmuid Blake
7. Darren Mullahy
8. Barry Cullinane
9. Gary O'Donnell
10.Paul Conroy
11.Padraic Joyce (Capt.)
12.Joe Bergin
13.Cormac Bane
14.Mike Meehan
15.Nicky Joyce

Joe Bergin at wing forward is a bit surprising, would have thought himself and Barry would be in the middle. Anybody see Gary O'Donnell at midfield during the FBD? Any good? Niall Coyne at no.2 is a bit out of position but not too much of a shock, we're short a few regular backs with the Corofin lads out. Fiachra Breathnach not named on the first 15, no harm, hopefully that's the end of that particular experiment.

GalwayBayBoy · January 29, 2009, 10:07:03 PM

No major surprises although I thought Bergin would start in midfield. Defence missing Damien Burke, Fitzy and Sice obviously. Interesting to see how Bradshaw gets on at wing-back. Think he'll probably be starting there come the Summer. O'Donnell played in at least one of the FBD games but not sure how he got on. This year's Mark Lydon?

What's the story with Mattie Clancy these days? Don't think he played in the FBD. Is he injured? They should stick the replacements up on the website as well as the starting team.

Big scoring potential in the full-forward line if they get the service. Just noticed too that that is quite a big team along middle three lines of the field. Bradshaw, Cullinane, O'Donnell, Conroy and Bergin all big men and PJ and Blake aren't exactly small either.

Duine Eile · January 29, 2009, 10:21:01 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on January 29, 2009, 10:07:03 PM

What's the story with Mattie Clancy these days? Don't think he played in the FBD. Is he injured? They should stick the replacements up on the website as well as the starting team.

He has a back injury I think, must be serious enough, it's kept him out of all the FBD games. Anybody hear any rumours about Gary O'Donnell transferring to Tuam Stars? I know he's JA Fallon's cousin but it'd be a big move from Gort to Tuam.

GaillimhIarthair · January 30, 2009, 10:27:39 AM

Gary O'Donnell in at MF is a bt of a surprise. He must be showing up well at training. I was really expecting Sammon to go with Joe and Barry in the middle with either Nicky or Banjo on the 40 and possibly Concannon in the corner. Still in all, its a fairly strong team that should be well capable of getting something of Mullingar on Sunday. Delighted to see Bradshaw out of the corner, he is way too good a footballer to be wasted back there. Anyway we have plenty of options for the CB spots for later in the year.

Mattie Clancy is still recovering from an operation to sort out his back troubles AFAIK.

GalwayBayBoy · February 01, 2009, 04:11:44 PM

Westmeath 0-11 Galway 2-10

Great win in the circumstances. Meehan blasted a penalty against the crossbar in the first half. Finian Hanley and David Reilly off with yellow cards early in the second half. Joined there quickly by Barry Cullinane who was red carded. Nicky Joyce stretchered off injured as well. Subs did very well apparently especially Jonathan Ryan, Armstrong and Finnegan.

Bad news is Barry Cullinane will have to serve a suspension and Nicky's injury. Hopefully it's not too serious.

Tatler Jack · February 01, 2009, 04:19:24 PM

QuoteGreat win in the circumstances

Especially after a week on the tiles celebrating the FBD win!!!

AN other · February 01, 2009, 06:24:25 PM

These are the type of games we need to be winning if we are going to survive in this division. We should really have been further behind at half time but probably didn't deserve to loose by 5 in the end. Galway seemed that bit fitter and had a little extra in the last 10 minutes.
Some positives to be taken from this one though, McDaniel showed well again, had the beating of his man most of the time and got a couple of points, seems to be a scoring threat which is what we really need. He's obviously a bit raw but certainly looks like he'll add another dimension to the attack.
Doran Harte was my MOTM, definitely for Westmeath. Cleaned up some amount of ball and covered some amount of ground. I hope Tomás persists with Dolan inside.