Messages

[The real problem is the team have no functioning system of attack apart from everyone playing as individuals, no kick out strategy, a passive defence]

The real problem is the team have no functioning system of attack apart from everyone playing as individuals, no kick out strategy, a passive defence where everyone retreats inside the 45 and doesn't engage the opposition, no desire to get the ball forward quickly as possible, far too much lateral slow build up, nobody showing for the ball, nobody making runs off the shoulder, etc, etc, etc. The best period Galway had against Mayo the last day is when they finally were forced to push up on them because they were so far behind. They pressured kickouts, turned over the ball higher up the field and scored 0-5 without reply. And missed a penalty on top of it. But it only happened because they were forced into it.

I agree with this. Our attacking and kickout strategy are either non-existent or too complicated that some players are using it as a useful shield to hide behind.

We have to first get this right - this calling for half of Corofin to start has to be rooted in some common sense. I don't care who plays for Galway so long as it's the best player. I think half the county is obsessed about what club the player is from.

Goalkeepers:
The issue we have had with goalkeepers is not purely Kevin Walsh's fault - it's down to none of them grabbing the jersey. Lavelle was doing alright if you ask me - not fantastic but not too badly. Power didn't convince me any more than Lavelle when he started or had started. Same with Breathnach or Ó Beoláin. Plan here should be pick one and stick with him.

Full back line
Is there more to it than just individual players being in form/out of form. Kerin is a superstar last year when we were ultra-defensive. Then this year he has less protection and he's "out of form" and needs to learn to "cop on". There are a few more variables at play than saying a lad is just out of form.

Injuries
What happened Comer needs to be looked at - how is it that lads are misdiagnosed and an ankle fracture at Christmas doesn't have a lad back playing until July? Walsh can quite rightly quote injury luck, but it shouldn't be luck. It's far more a science now - with training load monitoring etc. to be getting done that badly I'd worry. As Horan says contact injuries happen, but other injuries are the ones that you should be able to do something about

I wonder does this mean Connacht Rugby might look again at Pearse Stadium.
Crazy really how long these stadiums stay empty for through the year.

I would love to see Liam Silke, Kieran Molly and even Cillian McDaid back on the panel for next year. I think we struggle in the half-back line and the increased options with lads who have pace would be massive for this team. In a game of transitions pace is king. Bringing someone like McDaid on instead of GOD would have made more of an impact. Hopefully, in the next few years he'll be home.

In midfield, Tom Flynn has been a colossus. We do miss Conroy's leadership, but having Flynn and Duggan with Cooke to come on isn't too bad.

Up front we are going well, however, we need a free-taker. Would McHugh have kicked all his frees and penalty yesterday? Hopefully we can build the team around Burke, Comer, Walsh and Daly - with Brannigan and Kelly still 22/23

It all boils down for me to when you are playing Dublin you have to take your chances. We didn't.
Very hard to take as I did think we could compete with them and maybe a bit of luck we could see what happens in the last 15 if we were staying close




You know you're back in the serious end of the championship when other counties are groaning on within our match thread. Absolute clowns saying Mayo of 2017 would have put up more of a fight yesterday. That has as much relevance as us saying the galway 98 team would have beaten Dublin yesterday. Will have to work out this ignore version.

Just ignore lads not talking about the game.

At least we won't be hyped coming into this game. What have we to lose really? Put up a decent show against the Dubs and everyone will be happy. Pressure is off in one sense. Also usually on the back of a non-performance we are back home thinking of next season. At least this time we get to have another crack and hopefully learn how poor we look when we aren't at the right level of intensity! We just can't afford that.

I'd say Heaney will come back in for GOD, Duggan might get in for Cooke, and would be huge if Michael Daly was back as I think we need to leave Walsh up the field. Hopefully, Kerin and Kelly are fit too.

The loss of Conroy's experience is massive really, but hope that having Cooke's legs off the bench would be very helpful with Duggan now back.

What in God's name are we supposed to think after that?

Positives - I thought Tom Flynn was excellent again. He's really pushed on this season, and is now one of our most important and influential players.
Declan Kyne surprisingly did well on Conor McManus.
And...eh....the weather was decent.

Negatives - We were passive in defence, no real old head or leader back there. I felt we missed Heaney's pace on the counter-attack. GOD just doesn't offer the same "break the line" speed that is required for our set up.
Varley is a great impact man, but having him there meant Shane Walsh was moved out the field where his tendency to drift really made the forward line unbalanced. We left three up, but I'd rather see Walsh up there as a link man on their 45 and with Burke and Comer inside.
Our panel is taking a hitting now and I'd worry about our impact off the bench against the Dubs. Watching Sweeney and Cummins come on didn't fill me with confidence.

I think we are a tad unfair on Galway and KW. Easy to say we should have rested a heap of lads and then be thrashed but KW and Galway would have been killed by everyone saying they had disrespected the competition and Kerry. Was it worth that hassle?
The issue was we half did everything. We picked the best team but then didn't really come to fight for it and so left empty handed.
I thought Monaghan were the best team we came up against in the league this year bar Dublin so not overly surprised to lose to them.

Also a word to the travelling Monaghan fans - fair play to ye and well done.

Out of interest does anybody know how many assists Ian burke got the last day?

I was thinking about this too and was wondering was it that he doesn't really kick the lights out in games that he gets overlooked.
He won't come off with 2-8 in a club game or anything like that because he's such an unselfish player. If Shane Walsh had Burke's footballing brain it'd be something else
I love watching Burke, he's now fundamental to our attack.
Will teams start doubling up on him now?

I would have to wonder do lads even like Gaelic football the way they speak of the games.
Did people really think that this was going to be a free-flowing game of attacking football?
Are people not interested in how teams try and work each other out? Why can't we get some analysis of Galway's game bar they had X amount of players in their own half. I saw Ros and Tyrone the day before and they had every lad back too, but still was great to see how Tyrone could fashion chances, or how Ros got their goal but we hear nothing about it.

I was really looking forward to this game, and was delighted with the result. The atmosphere was flat as shocking day, world cup final and the super 8s meaning it's like you're playing three times as many quarter-finals - I'd wonder how many can afford attendance at all of them.

Back to the game, Galway looked like they had a plan. Kerry reminded me of how Galway used to play a defensive system pre-Tally. Not really getting it. Shows you the quality of Clifford that he still kicked as much as he did.

You couldn't say that any Galway lad played above himself, but we still managed to win relatively comfortably. That's a great sign that we are going well.

Galway- Mayo games - all that matters is getting over the line and into the next round. All this nonsense and worry about playing styles and performances seems to be a relatively new phenomenon.

Great to get the win today as I think Galway needed that after all that was said about them in the build up.

Interesting about both teams keeping lads in reserve to finish the game out with likes of Brannigan and COC. I'd have thought if lads are injury risks you might start them and lose one substitution rather than bring them on and potentially lose two subs.

Ian Burke is just a class act. He adds so much more to us in attack. His movement and link play is as good as I've seen in a Galway jersey in a long time. He's a must to start the next day.

Well done Galway and fair play Heaney for the finish today.
A lot to work on but it was all about a battle and getting through to the next round.

All the best to Parsons. And Conroy too.

Eamonn fitzmaurice had a similar thing about how good galway are today.
The funny thing is when they are speaking about counties they actually do fear they never tend to pump them up. It's always like "we respect them but we won't worry about them and their players. We'll just worry about ourselves".


Sounds like Kerry are working hard trying to convince themselves to take Galway seriously. Maybe a truer reflection of Kerry mindset going in to this game.

Yer avatar picture has been fecked over by PhotoBucket's new ToS, DJ.

Cheers have changed it now.

Do lads think that randomly Galway happen to be cursed with bad corner and full backs?
I've seen Sean Andy up against some of our subs as he hasn't done too well.

Kyne, Kerin, sweeney - whoever you put in there are being hung out to dry. We've a hugely attack minded half back line providing no protection to the lads inside. It can't be much of a coincidence that over the last few seasons it's our full back line to blame no matter who plays there.

It's unfair on the three lads to see all the criticism of these guys yet our nice natural non defensively minded half backs leave acres of space in front of them.

Our system is set up to leave these guys fight their own battle and it's rare any other county's full back line sees as much space ahead of them to kick ball into -  as do our full back line.

I do agree though if we are going for a bit of this kamikaze full back line play we need more pace. Maybe Mc Daid is the answer, possibly.

Anyone know when the venues for round 4 will be decided?

Wooly's an eejit! An average player at the time he gets access because he's a bit of a character and used to play for Laois.

Brolly wiped the floor with him the other evening and Wooly is not immune to grandstanding himself when he feels like it. Comparing himself to Diarmuid Connolly was one of the funniest things I've heard in a while!

He compared himself to Connolly as in they're both a bit hot headed and can be eejits at times. Absolutely no comparison football talent related.

I like Wooly, think he brings a nice bit of fresh analysis from the footballers perspective. You'd think with all the newly retired footballers in the media that lifting the lid on what it's like in a county panel wouldn't be unique but it really is.

I do think he got it wrong with the doping story and was arguing over a total different thing and very protectionist rather than accepting no sport is immune.

But he really is good for gaa. Too many Canice Pilkingtons pretending to give us insight out there. Wooly isn't everyone's cup of tea but that's what makes him unafraid to offend. And unlike brolly he doesn't offend people for othe spectacle of it he actually would believe it. Also when he gets things wrong he readily admits he may have lost the run of himself.

They're some interesting points DJ. One of the things that really gets on my wick about Brolly is that a man of his intellect and ability should be above the sort of trolling he does. Instead, it seems to be his guiding star, and there's something tragic about that. That said, saying someone is good because they admit being wrong and losing the run of themselves makes me wonder what a show would be like presented by someone more insightful, and less inclined to lose the run of him- or herself?

You're right on Brolly, but that's the nature of being a barrister. You become the master of creating arguments for both sides of a story. There's nothing worse than listening to a guy argue cogently on something he himself doesn't even agree with. An intelligent man, but I wouldn't waste my time listening to him.

Re: Wooly, if lads listened to the podcast rather than hearing second hand Parkinson did not compare himself talent wise to Connolly. He just said Connolly like me can be guilty of being an amadán at times.
The other lads in studio would have ripped into him if he tried to compare the talent.
Maybe the Dubs aren't fond of him ever since he did that interview saying Dublin were overrated bar Alan Brogan.