Messages

The way I see it, it is speed (i.e. dangerous driving at high speeds and dangerous overtaking maneouvres etc at high speed) that kills people on our roads. People who speed and drive dangerously are naturally not going to do this in a driving test situation, so whether they pass or fail the test will not determine the speed they drive at once they leave the test centre imo.

To be honest, I am absolutely dumbfounded that Geordan Murphy has been excluded from the 22.
How anyone could put Gavin Duffy ahead of Murphy beggars belief. I have seen Duffy play quite a few times and he is a very limited player. Murphy on the other hand has talent to burn.His defence has at times been suspect but surely if you are looking for impact off the bench then he is the perfect player to have.

Andrew Trimble is another limited player.He is nowhere near as good as either Murphy or Hickie in my opinion.

I would agree with bringing Reddan into the team but again it goes to show the futility of having Boss on the bench in the first place. Surely if Reddan is your second choice scrum half then he should have been on the bench ahead of Boss all along?

I believe we have no chance on Friday.France will beat us with a bonus point which will effectively put us out of the competition before the Argy game. Depressing.

Christ Jodyb, so much for being gracious in defeat!!
The words "sore loser" definitely come to mind here. Take your beating.
We rode our luck a bit granted but overall we won the game fairly and squarely and based on our second half performance - which included the disallowing of a valid point which would cancel out the fact that Derry would have got a point from the free that was thrown up - I believe that we deserved the win.
Derry were the better side in the first half without doubt but we were by far the better team in the second half. Just because you hit the front late on in a game having trailed for the most part doesn't mean you don't deserve to win a game.

I honestly didn't think watching the game that the ref gave poor decisions for one team over the other.
From our point of view, you'd have to say Damien Reddington won the game for us. That was some goal to win an AI final.
I had been less than convinced about him having watched him in the Connacht games gainst Sligo and Roscommon where I felt he did very little but Croke Park really seemed to suit him and he used his pace to great effect as he was always well out in front of his man and kicked 2 fine points also.

Well done to all involved.

Graet result for our lads today. Thought it was a cracking game of football. Some of the point taking was unbelievable. i thought Kerry would never miss. They had a grand total of ONE wide in the entire game.Considering this, it was a super win for us.
For me, Anthony Griffin at midfield was our man of the match.He was outstanding. Our 2 corner backs were also very good though Colin Forde at full back had a nightmare game.
Conroy also did very well and kicked some nice points.Damien Reddington had a storming last 15 minutes while Conor Doherty was brilliant in the first half at wing back.
Jonathan Ryan had a poor game - he is so totally left-sided it is easy for the opposing defence to read him.Also, he was miles behind his man for most of the game when the ball was played into his corner first time.
Michael Martyn did quite well especially in the second half as did John O'Brien throughout.
Overall though, a good win and much room for improvement still.

Seanshunt, quote "The forwards can score but the ball needs to be quick accurate and low, Coleman can deliver this".

Are you serious with the above statement?? I don't think I have ever seen Niall Coleman give a low pass. Seriously, watch him when he gets the ball. Every single time he drives it long and high up in the air. Sometimes it works out (like Bane's first goal against Mayo) but much of the time it doesn't. There's no method to his kicks, he just drives them and hopes for the best.

Am finding this game very difficult to call. We are well capable of winning it but I wouldn't bet on it.
As I've said in a previous post, I believe this game is all about the individual motivation of the galway players. If they are well up for it then we will be hard beaten but if not then Meath will make us suffer

Imho Mullaghy doesn't have the pace for senior county football. He's been tried in the league in the past and been found out as his lack of pace has meant he's been roasted by county forwards.
Also, it has been proven time and again that Comer is not suited to corner back.He is not a tight enough marker or indeed does not possess the pace required for a corner back slot. When he has played there in the past for Galway he has also been roasted on numerous occasions. The one really good game he had at corner back was in the u-21 AI final in 2002 when he marked Alan Brogan out of the game.
A few months later the tables were turned at senior level though when Brogan absolutely roasted Comer in the league scoring 5 or 6 points from play off him.

I don't think Fitzy did badly in the Connacht final - the full back line were certainly not to blame for that defeat. I thought they did alright considering that Galway were winning little or no possession and wave after wave of attack was coming at them.
For Galway it is all about the attitude of the players. If they go onto the pitch with the right attitude and requisite hunger then we will be a hard team to beat.
The trouble is, you never know from game to game what the attitude will be like and if the players will be motivated enough to put in a big performance.
Padraic Joyce for instance looks disinterested and totally unwilling to put his body on the line to win any hard ball.He has all the talent in the world but not the motivation or desire to match it this year I'm afraid.
I can't understand the attitude of the Galway team at times. Even the likes of Ja,Joyce and Savo who have 2 AI medals apiece - I mean the last of these was obtained fully 6 years ago. Surely they must be hungry for further success at this stage?Look at Kerry - they have won 4 of the last 10 All-Irelands and in the 6 seasons since the backdoor was introduced the worst they have done is reach the semi-final!! There's no problem with their hunger.Now I accept that Kerry would have more quality overall than us so it is not comparing like with like really but the argument I make is that they are still so hungry for success, whereas watching Galway over the last few years there just doesn't seem to be the same hunger or desire to win. It is obvious to see in the body language of certain players.

Any word on a time/venue for this game yet?
Also DE what was the score in the Dunmore/Killererin game?

That was a very good win for Galway considering the squad of players that are there at the moment.They are nowhere near as good as other Galway minor teams over the last few years - even last year's side were much better in my opinion.
I think it's good for Galway though that they'll play the Leinster runners up this year as I'd expect Laois to beat Carlow in the Leinster final and you would prefer to be playing Carlow than Kerry or Tyrone/Derry in a quarter final.
The midfield area once again was very poor for Galway as it was against Sligo and they need to serously work on this area or they won't go much further. Ros can still have a big say in the championship yet.

Does anyone know what day this game will be shown during the week on Setanta?

Congrats to Sligo. Ye were by far the better team on the day and should have beaten us by 5 or 6 points.
Ye'll need to sort out a right footed free taker if possible for the quarter final.

From a Galway point of view there are very few positives to take from the game I'm afraid. That was as depressing a Galway performance as I think I've ever seen. The most disappointing aspect of it is that some of the players just did not look motivated for the battle and were just going through the motions. Padraic Joyce is a case in point.He just doesn't look hungry anymore.His free taking was superb as always but he contributed absolutely nothing from general play.

I couldn't fathom our tactics (or lack of them) when in possession of the ball.The "plan" seemed to be to lorry the ball in any way at all.I lost count of the number of stupid high deliveries that went into the forwards - many of them delivered by players without even looking up to see what was on.
We had no shape at all in the second half.When Armstrong came on he spent most of his time in our half of the field.That is just pure stupidity. The guy is a lethal inside forward and that's where he needs to be played - not in our own half backline!!
Ditto with Michael Meehan. He had another stinker today.His position is full forward and that's where he should be played.
When he came into the team initially in 2003 he was positioned at number 13 - which was fair enough at the time as he was just out of minor and Padraig Joyce was possibly the best number 14 in the country at the time so he was not going to dislodge Padraic at that time.
Things are much different now though.Padraic is playing poorly.I don't think he has scored from play in any of the 3 championship games so far. Meehan must play at 14 the next day. The problem with Galway at the moment is that while changes need to be made in a big way - the back up players just aren't there.Simple as that.

I think it's probably a good call starting the same 15. Agreed that Army will be disappointed after his display off the bench in Carrick.
I'd be of the opinion though that he is the ideal man to come in off the bench. If one of the starting forwards is having an off day he could come on and do damage.Every time I've seen him come on as a sub for Galway he has done well and got a few scores.
I'm assuming the fact that he's a man that can make a big impact off the bench is a big factor in him not starting the next day - some of the other forwards would not make the same impact off the bench as Army invariably does in my opinion.

Does anyone have the minor team for Sunday?

I was at the Galway v Sligo minor game on Sunday and after seeing how our lads performed I'm convinced Ros will beat us in the final. To say we were lucky to win in the end would be an understatement.
Mulholland doesn't convince me as a manager. Similar to games last year,Galway completely lost their shape in the 2nd half on Sunday.At certain times there wasn't a single Galway forward inside the Sligo 40 metre line. That meant that every time a back or midfielder got the ball he would look up and have no target to aim at,so we ended up with a series of aimless passes which invariably ended up with posession being surrendered to Sligo.
It was all so different in the first 20 minutes, as we raced 7-1 up.Galway were playing really well at that stage and some of the moves leading to these scores were a joy to watch.They could have tagged a few goals onto this score as well.
The 2nd half was completely one way traffic though. Sligo got on top and the Galway midfield collapsed completely.If Ros have a strong midfield pairing then Galway are doomed. They won virtually no possession from kick-outs in the entire second half.O'Griofa from Lettermore came on towards the end at midfield and made a big difference to us. It's hard to believe also that Danny Cummins from Claregalway who was Jarlaths top scorer from play this year, can't even make the panel not to mind the starting 15.

I'd advise people to get down to the bookies and get on Ros for the final. As a Galway supporter it gives me no pleasure to say that but I honestly believe that it is a poor Galway team - one of the poorest Galway minor teams in a long time and I've seen them all over the past 15 years or so - and they will be found out on Sunday week.
That was some win for Ros on Saturday.Any day you can outscore Mayo by 12 scores to 6 in minor championship is a good days work.

This is turning into a club v county debate and not gaa vs soccer.
Personally on the first point, while I'd also be a huge Galway fan and rarely miss a game for the footballers, my local club would definitely come first. I've played football for my local club for the last 20 years and nothing would mean more to me personally than to win something with my club - I've won very little over the years, the last being an u-21 B title 8 or 9 years ago. I've also been involved in coaching/managing a few underage teams in the club a few years ago so I would be hugely loyal to the club and support all teams from under 10 upwards in their games.

On the second point - soccer is pretty popular where I come (rural Galway) from but gaelic football is still more popular and there would be a lot more players/mentors involved in the gaa club than the soccer club.
I personally am a member of the soccer club as well and play both sports still,as I find soccer a very enjotable to sport to play and it keeps me fit over the winter. I would also probably consider myself to be a better soccer player than gaelic player.
I wouldn't watch a local junior soccer game in a fit though if I wasn't playing.It can be very boring to watch whereas I'd watch gaelic football any day of the week at any level.

I reckon as some previous poster said, soccer is probaly more popular in urban centres whereas gaa is more popular in rural areas.

Paul Clancy has been playing for his club since the start of the season (around mid-March).
As far as I know he's retired from county football now.
This is a big pity as he has a lot to offer Galway in the half forward line. Last year against Westmeath was not the real Clancy - he should not have been playing that day as he was not fit.

As for Sunday - Galway should win. We have better players and would expect to win against a side like Leitrim. They will undoubtedly put it up to us but it would be a big shock if we were to lose this one.
They gave us a very good game in Pearse Stadium 2 years ago where we went into a decent lead but almost got pegged back towards the end. Declan Maxwell was very impressive at full forward that day if memory serves me correctly.

In fairness that Green & Red Of Mayo SawDoctors song is quality. Fairly inspiring I'd say.
Anyway, will be heading off to Salthill in a while myself and I don't think I've looked forward to a game as much in a long long time.
Am hoping Gaillimh can do the business but am more hopeful than confident.
Come on the Tribesmen!!

I heard on gbfm that the new Galway football jersey is being launched in the Claregalway hotel tonight. Anyone have a pic of it?
Also, does anyone know if they can be bought tonight at the venue? Someone told me a few days ago that it won't be on sale in the shops for a few weeks.