Cavan v Galway (Sunday 3rd April 2016 2pm - Breffni Park)

[Maroon Manc]

A disappointing result but not a surprise given Cavan's form and our last 3 results. Congratulations to Cavan, they clearly deserve their promotion but let there's a lesson for those writing KW off that Hyland was similarly written off last year.

After we'd beaten Derry I expected Galway to get promoted and am surprised we've failed to win a game since. There were certainly signs of improvement last summer, we gave Mayo more of a test than we have in several years and could easily have beaten Donegal; I watched that game again recently and should have been 3 or 4 points clear going into the final 20 minutes, we missed 4 easy chances no more than 25 yards out whilst keeping Donegal to kicking some great points from distance, obviously we were opened up in the last 20 minutes but for the majority of the game we were in it. Lets see how we get on in this years championship before we assess KW properly although its thoroughly understandable that many are very frustrated.

[mrdeeds]

Happy to renew acquaintances with the Breiffne in the top flight next year. Suspect they'll last as long as this year's newbies Down.

(The Cavan 1st goal today was a cleverly disguised lift ball)

That's mean spirited Barbarino  and on a day when Monaghan's teeth skin was just marginally thicker than Cork's.
Just be grateful we didn't pass by Cavan on our way down to Div 2.

Moi, mean spirited a propos Cavan. Jamais. Feck of with your generosity of spirit ye lundy.

I just can't remember the last time Cavan were a problem for Monaghan.
2001?
Cavan have been in the shadows that long.

Monaghan only bet Cavan last two championship games by a point. Last year Monaghan had a bench, Cavan didn't. Cavan have a strong bench for the first time in years. Plus I'm pretty sure our recent league meetings have being tight too.

[seafoid]

A disappointing result but not a surprise given Cavan's form and our last 3 results. Congratulations to Cavan, they clearly deserve their promotion but let there's a lesson for those writing KW off that Hyland was similarly written off last year.

After we'd beaten Derry I expected Galway to get promoted and am surprised we've failed to win a game since. There were certainly signs of improvement last summer, we gave Mayo more of a test than we have in several years and could easily have beaten Donegal; I watched that game again recently and should have been 3 or 4 points clear going into the final 20 minutes, we missed 4 easy chances no more than 25 yards out whilst keeping Donegal to kicking some great points from distance, obviously we were opened up in the last 20 minutes but for the majority of the game we were in it. Lets see how we get on in this years championship before we assess KW properly although its thoroughly understandable that many are very frustrated.

most of the team are young and don'T have the cuteness yet. They have a tendency to switch off that has to be worked on. The more matches they get, the better. They are also missing a core of older players so they have to figure it out themselves. At least we have decent forwards. The defence has made progress and when they go forward they are exciting to watch. I wouldn't mind staying another year in D2 if it meant winning Sam in the next 5 years. I think that is possible.

There were 2.6 k in Pearse to see them v Tyrone and 8k in Pearse the following week to see the hurlers so the footballers are not yet viral.

Cavan have a very tough assignment in Ulster this year.

[mouview]

A disappointing result but not a surprise given Cavan's form and our last 3 results. Congratulations to Cavan, they clearly deserve their promotion but let there's a lesson for those writing KW off that Hyland was similarly written off last year.

After we'd beaten Derry I expected Galway to get promoted and am surprised we've failed to win a game since. There were certainly signs of improvement last summer, we gave Mayo more of a test than we have in several years and could easily have beaten Donegal; I watched that game again recently and should have been 3 or 4 points clear going into the final 20 minutes, we missed 4 easy chances no more than 25 yards out whilst keeping Donegal to kicking some great points from distance, obviously we were opened up in the last 20 minutes but for the majority of the game we were in it. Lets see how we get on in this years championship before we assess KW properly although its thoroughly understandable that many are very frustrated.

most of the team are young and don'T have the cuteness yet. They have a tendency to switch off that has to be worked on. The more matches they get, the better. They are also missing a core of older players so they have to figure it out themselves. At least we have decent forwards. The defence has made progress and when they go forward they are exciting to watch. I wouldn't mind staying another year in D2 if it meant winning Sam in the next 5 years. I think that is possible.

Can't share your optimism. Bar Shane Walsh and Comer (at a pinch, he needs improvement also) and maybe Brannigan who might yet be a good-un, the rest of our forwards (and team in general) are very average. At the risk of sounding like a parrot, the likes of Cummins, Hoare, Flynn, O'Curraoin, O'Donnell, Bradshaw, the Sweeneys etc. have all reached their limit as players, which is yesterday, around 3rd/4th in Div II. Sice is inconsistent, and while KW was right to try a new FB after Hanley's many struggles last year, Kyne doesn't appear to be the answer. Our goalie doesn't inspire confidence. Mayo were fairly comfortable against us in Pearse last year, while Donegal pulled away too easily when they upped a gear, (and they were well-beaten subsequently). And we were a far better outfit last year IMO. It would take a leap of confidence far greater than my imagination will allow to see most of these winning Sam at any time.

I actually don't know if some of the aforementioned players are Senior or Intermediate in Galway because I'm not sure what the difference is any more and no-one seems to care. Going back 10 years or more, league games were a big thing, worthy of discussion in the pubs on weekend nights, especially when promotion/relegation to and from the Senior ranks was at stake. Intermediate clubs strove to go Senior via either league or c'ship; the 16 Senior clubs wore their status rather as a badge of honour, and tried to avoid being relegated by finishing outside the bottom 2 in 1B. (No relegation via the c'ship then.) If you went down, you felt you could be down there for a long, long time. Now, I doubt if there are many fans in the county who could name who the Senior clubs are and what league division they are in. I'm not saying a restoration of this system would transform our fortunes overnight, but I do think it would give a better structure and identity to the club scene.

At post-primary school in Tuam back in the 80s, football was religion, as much as hurling still is in Gort, Loughrea etc. now. While Jarlath's dominated, the CBS would only recognise this due to the fact they took in boarders from perfidious Mayo and beyond; they saw themselves as the true representatives of North Galway football. League and c'ship games between the 2 schools were often crackers and be the talk of the hinterland for days before and afterwards. Sligo or Roscommon schools were scarcely even a footnote. Now, the 2 have amalgamated, boarders no longer are taken, but for some reason they have become much less than the sum of their parts. Tuam is not a football town any more, the capital city of a rich region. There's a famine in the North with no end in sight.

Galway has often seen fallow periods, but even during the 70s, 80s and early 90s, finals were reached and semi-finals were at least competitive. Now, we haven't won at HQ since '01 and haven't looked like doing so since maybe the '05 1/4 final v Cork when a good HT lead was blown. We've slipped very badly and shouting 'Stop' isn't helping.

[Duine Eile]

I think there were 7 players from intermediate clubs starting for Galway yesterday, doesn't say a lot for our senior championship. I agree with your point about the club league mouview, if nothing else the league had meaning and it gave county management another chance to look at players, now it's only glorified challenge matches. Bad weekend all round for the county. The pressure is going to really be on Kevin now.

[Maroon Manc]

A disappointing result but not a surprise given Cavan's form and our last 3 results. Congratulations to Cavan, they clearly deserve their promotion but let there's a lesson for those writing KW off that Hyland was similarly written off last year.

After we'd beaten Derry I expected Galway to get promoted and am surprised we've failed to win a game since. There were certainly signs of improvement last summer, we gave Mayo more of a test than we have in several years and could easily have beaten Donegal; I watched that game again recently and should have been 3 or 4 points clear going into the final 20 minutes, we missed 4 easy chances no more than 25 yards out whilst keeping Donegal to kicking some great points from distance, obviously we were opened up in the last 20 minutes but for the majority of the game we were in it. Lets see how we get on in this years championship before we assess KW properly although its thoroughly understandable that many are very frustrated.

most of the team are young and don'T have the cuteness yet. They have a tendency to switch off that has to be worked on. The more matches they get, the better. They are also missing a core of older players so they have to figure it out themselves. At least we have decent forwards. The defence has made progress and when they go forward they are exciting to watch. I wouldn't mind staying another year in D2 if it meant winning Sam in the next 5 years. I think that is possible.

Can't share your optimism. Bar Shane Walsh and Comer (at a pinch, he needs improvement also) and maybe Brannigan who might yet be a good-un, the rest of our forwards (and team in general) are very average. At the risk of sounding like a parrot, the likes of Cummins, Hoare, Flynn, O'Curraoin, O'Donnell, Bradshaw, the Sweeneys etc. have all reached their limit as players, which is yesterday, around 3rd/4th in Div II. Sice is inconsistent, and while KW was right to try a new FB after Hanley's many struggles last year, Kyne doesn't appear to be the answer. Our goalie doesn't inspire confidence. Mayo were fairly comfortable against us in Pearse last year, while Donegal pulled away too easily when they upped a gear, (and they were well-beaten subsequently). And we were a far better outfit last year IMO. It would take a leap of confidence far greater than my imagination will allow to see most of these winning Sam at any time.

I actually don't know if some of the aforementioned players are Senior or Intermediate in Galway because I'm not sure what the difference is any more and no-one seems to care. Going back 10 years or more, league games were a big thing, worthy of discussion in the pubs on weekend nights, especially when promotion/relegation to and from the Senior ranks was at stake. Intermediate clubs strove to go Senior via either league or c'ship; the 16 Senior clubs wore their status rather as a badge of honour, and tried to avoid being relegated by finishing outside the bottom 2 in 1B. (No relegation via the c'ship then.) If you went down, you felt you could be down there for a long, long time. Now, I doubt if there are many fans in the county who could name who the Senior clubs are and what league division they are in. I'm not saying a restoration of this system would transform our fortunes overnight, but I do think it would give a better structure and identity to the club scene.

At post-primary school in Tuam back in the 80s, football was religion, as much as hurling still is in Gort, Loughrea etc. now. While Jarlath's dominated, the CBS would only recognise this due to the fact they took in boarders from perfidious Mayo and beyond; they saw themselves as the true representatives of North Galway football. League and c'ship games between the 2 schools were often crackers and be the talk of the hinterland for days before and afterwards. Sligo or Roscommon schools were scarcely even a footnote. Now, the 2 have amalgamated, boarders no longer are taken, but for some reason they have become much less than the sum of their parts. Tuam is not a football town any more, the capital city of a rich region. There's a famine in the North with no end in sight.

Galway has often seen fallow periods, but even during the 70s, 80s and early 90s, finals were reached and semi-finals were at least competitive. Now, we haven't won at HQ since '01 and haven't looked like doing so since maybe the '05 1/4 final v Cork when a good HT lead was blown. We've slipped very badly and shouting 'Stop' isn't helping.

I think you're been too negative Mouview although its difficult to share Seafoid's optimism. You're been very harsh on Cathal Sweeney, he was excellent on Cillian O'Connor, Jamie Clarke & McBreaty last summer although I don't think his brother is good enough.

It did look far too easy for Cavan to get scores yesterday, our fullback line looked way too exposed yesterday which has been a problem for years. It sounds like we struggled with breaking ball yesterday and winning the kick outs, this needs fixing urgently and it was our biggest problem against Mayo last year and really struggled the last 20 minutes against Donegal in this area. I've lost count of the amount of soft goals we've conceded. The goal conceded yesterday looked very soft whilst the 2 we conceded against Derry and the goal against Tyrone we're extremely poor to concede. If both these aspects of our game were fixed we'd certainly have better results and would likely have been promoted. KW will be under pressure if this still a problem come the end of this years championship 2 years is enough time to sort out the basics of the game.


It does take time though, we'd been completely left behind in recent years as the gap between ourselves the top teams was gigantic. I know in AM's last year we got closer to Mayo and got within a few points of Kerry at one stage in the second half but both opponents didn't need to operate at their best to beat us, I will say we don't look as physically weak as we did 2 years ago.

I don't think the players are as bad as your making out though Mouview but we do look short of a bit of quality in certain areas, I'm not convinced about Kyne yet although we'll know more about it him come championship and our GK is an issue too. We're probably short of a scoring forward too but most counties have that problem. We don't have the quality of players we had in 98-01 but I do think we've got enough to get promoted to Div 1 and be competitive. Lets see what the championship brings

[mouview]

I'll give you a bit of leeway on C Sweeney, MM, even if I thought he overachieved a lot last year. Conceding goals, while maybe preventable, is just another sign of bad defending, and Galway were under pressure anyway v Meath, (despite letting in a soft one), and v Fermanagh, where they conceded none. When you have good players, imposing tactics or playing systems isn't such a big deal; when you have bad players, no amount of tweaking or coaching seems to get results.

I don't want to be harsh on amateurs who're giving so much of their time for our entertainment, but sadly, I really do think our players are that ordinary. From what I've seen from the league, our only indispensable players would be Walsh and Comer, with Conroy, Sice, Silke and Wynne (not too bad a debut season in fairness) being the next up. Beating Mayo in June at this remove is unthinkable, and because it is a semi-final would mean that we would be playing a 'warmer' team in our first qualifier round. Unfortunately I just think 2016 is already probably gone.

[Itchy]

Cavan have a rare day of success and before the sun sets the witch comes to claim Cavan's first child. The witch's name is Monaghan.

Good old Seafood. Did you liberate the nipples yet?

[Duine Eile]

Galway Footballers Homepage on Facebook have listed the clubs and players used throughout this league (not official page by the way, it's run by supporters)
The following is a breakdown of the clubs represented in the 2016 NFL

17 clubs, 29 players

- Killannin: 4 players
(Cathal & Patrick Sweeney, Johnny Heaney, Ruairi Greene)

- St. Michael's: 3 players
(Eddie Hoare, Eamonn Brannigan, David Cunnane)

- Maigh Cuilinn: 3 players
(David Wynne, Gareth Bradshaw & Peter Cooke)

- Mícheál Breathnach: 2 players
(Fiontain Ó Curraoin & Sean Denvir)

- Clonbur: 2 players
(Alan & Declan Kyne)

- Corofin: 2 players
(Liam Silke & Gary Sice)

- Annaghdown: 2 players
(Damien Comer & Eoghan Kerin)

- Athenry: 2 players
(Tom Flynn & Thomas Dolan)

- Kilkerrin/Clonberne: 1 player
(Shane Walsh)

- Cortoon Shamrocks: 1 player
(Adrian Varley)

- Oughterard: 1 player
(Enda Tierney)

- Claregalway: 1 player
(Danny Cummins)

- Salthill/Knocknacarra: 1 player
(Finian Hanley)

- St. James': 1 player
(Paul Conroy)

- Tuam Stars: 1 player
(Gary O'Donnell)

- An Spidéal: 1 player
(Manus Breathnach)

- Kilconly: 1 player
(Paul Mannion)

not one representative from the likes of Milltown, Mountbellew/Moylough, Caltra, Killererin (in fairness, we have nobody good enough at the minute), Dunmore, Monivea, you'd have to wonder is it that the talent isn't there? Will they not play under the current regime? Is the standard in the north of the county gone downhill that much?