Galway v Mayo, Preliminary Quarter-Final, Pearse Stadium 3pm Sunday

[Redhand Santa]

Won't get many more "real" and drama weekends in this championship than last weekend.   Mayo v Cork,Kildare v Roscommon,Donegal v Monaghan, Westmeath v Tyrone and Galway v Armagh producing unexpected results according by the bookie odds and their pundits.

Did any of the teams on the wrong side of each result, get knocked out of the Championship?

Did the winning teams have more to play for?

Do you consider that real championship?

They didn't get knocked out but in hindsight the Mayo and Galway games were huge at the weekend. Winnable games that should have saw them progress to the quarter finals.

Now they are faced with a really difficult knockout game and a tough quarter final the week after.  They've both significantly reduced their All Ireland chances.

There has been plenty of meaningless games during the year, the ones on Sunday were far from it.

[Maroon Manc]

Galway trained in pearse stadium last night Tuesday, was only looking through the gate but no sign of the injured players and Shane Walsh did not participate in the training but was on the sideline.😳

Everytime Galway have risked injured players its ended in tears, Galway won't Mayo without Kelly, McHugh & Comer but no point in playing either if their not fit. Its certainly not do or die for Joyce (although a huge opportunity will have been missed), apart from Conroy there is nobody else in danger of retiring.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Galway trained in pearse stadium last night Tuesday, was only looking through the gate but no sign of the injured players and Shane Walsh did not participate in the training but was on the sideline.😳

Would not be surprised to find out when Galway exit that there is something off injury wise with Walsh, not taking any frees/45s off the ground in warm ups or during games is a huge red flag at the minute.
I think it's unrealistic to expect miracle turnarounds on injuries giving that you are taking days and not weeks in this championship format, the consequence of not having the week break to better facilitate getting players back on the pitch for a knock out match is huge.
Personally I think it's highly unlikely that Galway will have enough to beat Mayo with those key players out and Walsh out of form, probably couldn't pick two lads it would be worse to be without than Kelly and Comer to be honest, but they will have to go with whoever is fit and it's up to them to take their chance and show that they can win a match for their county, if they aren't good enough then so be it but go down swinging at least.

Won't get many more "real" and drama weekends in this championship than last weekend.   Mayo v Cork,Kildare v Roscommon,Donegal v Monaghan, Westmeath v Tyrone and Galway v Armagh producing unexpected results according by the bookie odds and their pundits.

Did any of the teams on the wrong side of each result, get knocked out of the Championship?

Did the winning teams have more to play for?

Do you consider that real championship?

They didn't get knocked out but in hindsight the Mayo and Galway games were huge at the weekend. Winnable games that should have saw them progress to the quarter finals.

Now they are faced with a really difficult knockout game and a tough quarter final the week after.  They've both significantly reduced their All Ireland chances.

There has been plenty of meaningless games during the year, the ones on Sunday were far from it.

Agree completely with this, I was fuming leaving Carrick on Shannon Sunday, I felt that whatever chance Galway had of getting back to the final had been lost for the year.
The bar for both Galway and Mayo was making a semi-final this year and seeing where it might go from there. Both have made it far harder than it could, and should, have been. The ask has gone from winning one match against a team coming in for their 3rd week on week game (remember that they changed the Munster and Leinster hurling round robin structure to avoid any team having to play 3 weeks in a row because those teams were all underperforming and getting pasted in the 3rd game) to having to beat another Division 1 team that was in this year's league final and then beating a rested Derry, Dublin, Kerry or Armagh. Just to even get to the semi-final. Those games last weekend were huge.

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/
Darragh Ó Sé: Mayo have got themselves in a sticky mess and Galway can end their championship
I saw them beat Kerry in Killarney and thought they were major contenders, but they've lost their way since

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Mayo's Jordan Flynn celebrates after beating Kerry in the All-Ireland Senior Championship round one, at Fitzgerald Stadium, Kerry in May. Photograph:
Wed Jun 21 2023 - 06:00

Mayo have managed to get themselves into a sticky old mess, somehow. Even by their own standards of making life hard for themselves, this takes the biscuit. How do you go from being six points up in the 57th minute against Cork and cruising to an All-Ireland quarter-final to needing to beat Galway in Salthill to stay in the championship? That's just not a serious way to manage your affairs.

I wouldn't mind but they had done the hard bit. I was in Killarney when they beat Kerry a month ago and like everybody else, I was impressed with them that day. There was a marked improvement on what they had been like over the past few years. They were full of running and physicality, which you would expect of any Mayo team. But it was the small technical improvements that really stood out to me.

For example, their shooting had come on leaps and bounds. A big part of that was their shot selection. I often think that when you see a report that says a team kicked 16 wides, your first question has to be: how many of them shouldn't have been shots in the first place? That doesn't just mean shots from bad positions or angles – it means shots taken by players who haven't set themselves properly.

Go back to the All-Ireland final they lost against Tyrone in 2021. Think of all the wides they kicked in the second half. None of them were potshots from distance or hero efforts from out on the wings. They were all shots from the places you're supposed to shoot from. But how many times were they shooting a bit off-balance? How many times were they hurrying their shot to get it away before a block came in? Too many.

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Darragh Ó Sé: Mayo have got themselves in a sticky mess and Galway can end their championship
Darragh Ó Sé: Mayo have got themselves in a sticky mess and Galway can end their championship
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'It's do or die now': Matthew Tierney knows Galway have to bring their best against Mayo
GAA fixtures, TV details and team news ahead of the weekend
GAA fixtures, TV details and team news ahead of the weekend
The Mayo team I saw in Killarney did very little of that. They missed a good share of goal chances, fair enough. But they scored 1-19 and only had seven wides. Better again, they had 11 different scorers. The likes of Ryan O'Donoghue, James Carr and Jordan Flynn were steadying themselves before shooting. They weren't snapping at chances. If a shot wasn't on, they moved it around until it was.

So I came away from that game thinking they were serious contenders. I know it was early yet – you don't win the Grand National in February – but they hit all the marks you'd be looking for. They bullied Kerry and could have won by seven or eight in the end. They finished with their best team on the pitch, on top of it all. Paddy Durcan, Eoghan McLaughlin and Enda Hession all came off the bench. That's some firepower to throw in to see out any game.

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Mayo needed to put manners on the Cork comeback last week. They didn't and now look where it's got them

Now, in my defence, I presume I wasn't the only one who got fooled. The big thing about this format of the championship is that it's very hard for any team to stand out from the others. You can't really get definitive formlines because you're talking about teams from Division One and Two, who all fancy a crack off the next crowd they come into contact with.

So Mayo beat Kerry and Kerry beat Cork and Cork beat Mayo. Galway beat Tyrone and Tyrone beat Armagh and Armagh beat Galway. Kildare could only draw with Sligo the day Roscommon drew with Dublin but when they eventually met, Kildare were the better team. Donegal got well beaten by Derry who drew with Monaghan, who lost to Donegal.

This is maybe an aspect to the new championship that has sort of snuck up on everybody. Nothing is set in stone. There are landmines waiting around the corner for all the teams. Mayo were 15 minutes away from doing a clean sweep of their group games and now they're fighting for their lives.


Cork's Tommy Walsh in action against Mayo's Aidan O'Shea at TUS Gaelic Grounds, Limerick. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho
What has changed? That's the problem they need to work out. They haven't had any big injuries. The weather conditions are the same now as they were then. Their marquee players haven't suddenly lost their form – the likes of Aidan O'Shea, Mattie Ruane, Diarmuid O'Connor and O'Donoghue have all played reasonably well in the last two games. So what is it that has gone wrong?

A couple of things jump out at me. The first is that even when they were playing well and winning games, they still had a habit of giving the opposition a chance coming down the stretch. Even go back to the league final, they were pretty well on top for most of that game but Galway got it back to a point late on before Mayo saw it out.

There was a bit of that against Louth a couple of weeks ago too – that late goal was total carelessness. So you could say the signs were there and Cork would have had it in their heads that if they were able to get within touching distance in the closing stages, they'd be in with a shout. You can be guaranteed John Cleary and the rest of the Cork management were drilling that into them.


The second thing feeds into the first thing. There seems to be a lack of leadership in the Mayo ranks. When games are in the melting pot, they haven't had enough players standing up and going, "Wait a minute here, fellas. This thing is slipping. Give me the ball and let's take a hold of the situation." They needed to put manners on the Cork comeback last week. They didn't and now look where it's got them.

They have a huge task on their hands going to Salthill. A lot will depend on Galway's injury situation. If Seán Kelly can't play, that's a major blow for Pádraic Joyce. He's been their best player in this championship and their biggest leader. If Damien Comer is out too, that's a lot for Galway to do without.

Ultimately though, Galway have fewer doubts in their head than Mayo do. They're at home, they're settled and they'll be delighted to have a local derby. When I heard the draw, I thought of being on the Kerry bus coming out of Tullamore after a poor performance against Antrim in 2009. We were cranky with ourselves, our season was limping along. Then we heard we'd been drawn against Dublin and let a big cheer out of us. Now it's on, lads. Now it's championship. I can see Galway getting over their Armagh defeat the same way.

The only thing for sure is that the happiest men in Ireland are Jack O'Connor and Dessie Farrell. Not only do their two closest rivals in the All-Ireland betting have to play an extra game, they have to play it against each other. And only one of them will be still going after Sunday.

Whoever wins, the big winners are Kerry and Dublin.

[seafoid]

Galway trained in pearse stadium last night Tuesday, was only looking through the gate but no sign of the injured players and Shane Walsh did not participate in the training but was on the sideline.😳

Would not be surprised to find out when Galway exit that there is something off injury wise with Walsh, not taking any frees/45s off the ground in warm ups or during games is a huge red flag at the minute.
I think it's unrealistic to expect miracle turnarounds on injuries giving that you are taking days and not weeks in this championship format, the consequence of not having the week break to better facilitate getting players back on the pitch for a knock out match is huge.
Personally I think it's highly unlikely that Galway will have enough to beat Mayo with those key players out and Walsh out of form, probably couldn't pick two lads it would be worse to be without than Kelly and Comer to be honest, but they will have to go with whoever is fit and it's up to them to take their chance and show that they can win a match for their county, if they aren't good enough then so be it but go down swinging at least.

Won't get many more "real" and drama weekends in this championship than last weekend.   Mayo v Cork,Kildare v Roscommon,Donegal v Monaghan, Westmeath v Tyrone and Galway v Armagh producing unexpected results according by the bookie odds and their pundits.

Did any of the teams on the wrong side of each result, get knocked out of the Championship?

Did the winning teams have more to play for?

Do you consider that real championship?

They didn't get knocked out but in hindsight the Mayo and Galway games were huge at the weekend. Winnable games that should have saw them progress to the quarter finals.

Now they are faced with a really difficult knockout game and a tough quarter final the week after.  They've both significantly reduced their All Ireland chances.

There has been plenty of meaningless games during the year, the ones on Sunday were far from it.

Agree completely with this, I was fuming leaving Carrick on Shannon Sunday, I felt that whatever chance Galway had of getting back to the final had been lost for the year.
The bar for both Galway and Mayo was making a semi-final this year and seeing where it might go from there. Both have made it far harder than it could, and should, have been. The ask has gone from winning one match against a team coming in for their 3rd week on week game (remember that they changed the Munster and Leinster hurling round robin structure to avoid any team having to play 3 weeks in a row because those teams were all underperforming and getting pasted in the 3rd game) to having to beat another Division 1 team that was in this year's league final and then beating a rested Derry, Dublin, Kerry or Armagh. Just to even get to the semi-final. Those games last weekend were huge.

Par for the course, AFA. Imagine Statler and Waldorf in maroon jerseys  transported to Pearse Stadium. At least you are consistent.
This is a huge challenge for Galway but if they get over it the path is clear. I wouldn't write them off on the basis of last Sunday. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpYEJx7PkWE

[An Fhairche Abu]

Galway trained in pearse stadium last night Tuesday, was only looking through the gate but no sign of the injured players and Shane Walsh did not participate in the training but was on the sideline.😳

Would not be surprised to find out when Galway exit that there is something off injury wise with Walsh, not taking any frees/45s off the ground in warm ups or during games is a huge red flag at the minute.
I think it's unrealistic to expect miracle turnarounds on injuries giving that you are taking days and not weeks in this championship format, the consequence of not having the week break to better facilitate getting players back on the pitch for a knock out match is huge.
Personally I think it's highly unlikely that Galway will have enough to beat Mayo with those key players out and Walsh out of form, probably couldn't pick two lads it would be worse to be without than Kelly and Comer to be honest, but they will have to go with whoever is fit and it's up to them to take their chance and show that they can win a match for their county, if they aren't good enough then so be it but go down swinging at least.

Won't get many more "real" and drama weekends in this championship than last weekend.   Mayo v Cork,Kildare v Roscommon,Donegal v Monaghan, Westmeath v Tyrone and Galway v Armagh producing unexpected results according by the bookie odds and their pundits.

Did any of the teams on the wrong side of each result, get knocked out of the Championship?

Did the winning teams have more to play for?

Do you consider that real championship?

They didn't get knocked out but in hindsight the Mayo and Galway games were huge at the weekend. Winnable games that should have saw them progress to the quarter finals.

Now they are faced with a really difficult knockout game and a tough quarter final the week after.  They've both significantly reduced their All Ireland chances.

There has been plenty of meaningless games during the year, the ones on Sunday were far from it.

Agree completely with this, I was fuming leaving Carrick on Shannon Sunday, I felt that whatever chance Galway had of getting back to the final had been lost for the year.
The bar for both Galway and Mayo was making a semi-final this year and seeing where it might go from there. Both have made it far harder than it could, and should, have been. The ask has gone from winning one match against a team coming in for their 3rd week on week game (remember that they changed the Munster and Leinster hurling round robin structure to avoid any team having to play 3 weeks in a row because those teams were all underperforming and getting pasted in the 3rd game) to having to beat another Division 1 team that was in this year's league final and then beating a rested Derry, Dublin, Kerry or Armagh. Just to even get to the semi-final. Those games last weekend were huge.

Par for the course, AFA. Imagine Statler and Waldorf in maroon jerseys  transported to Pearse Stadium. At least you are consistent.
This is a huge challenge for Galway but if they get over it the path is clear. I wouldn't write them off on the basis of last Sunday. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpYEJx7PkWE

I'm old enough to get that reference at least. Sure we'll see, hopefully you're right.

[seafoid]

In terms of where Galway are likely to be at, I would take the base as the 2014 Connacht final where in the preview Maughan and Casey were plamasing Galway and Mayo subsequently hammered them. Most of that great Mayo team has since retired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9In3bD0D4n8
Kevin Walsh pointed out a lot of the aspects that Galway were missing, especially intensity and low turnovers.  It has been a long road but Galway eventually became a football team. Most of the improvements will still be there at the weekend, Comer notwithstanding. So they have a decent chance.

[larryin89]

It's a sellout ?

[seafoid]

Galway trained in pearse stadium last night Tuesday, was only looking through the gate but no sign of the injured players and Shane Walsh did not participate in the training but was on the sideline.😳

Would not be surprised to find out when Galway exit that there is something off injury wise with Walsh, not taking any frees/45s off the ground in warm ups or during games is a huge red flag at the minute.
I think it's unrealistic to expect miracle turnarounds on injuries giving that you are taking days and not weeks in this championship format, the consequence of not having the week break to better facilitate getting players back on the pitch for a knock out match is huge.
Personally I think it's highly unlikely that Galway will have enough to beat Mayo with those key players out and Walsh out of form, probably couldn't pick two lads it would be worse to be without than Kelly and Comer to be honest, but they will have to go with whoever is fit and it's up to them to take their chance and show that they can win a match for their county, if they aren't good enough then so be it but go down swinging at least.

Won't get many more "real" and drama weekends in this championship than last weekend.   Mayo v Cork,Kildare v Roscommon,Donegal v Monaghan, Westmeath v Tyrone and Galway v Armagh producing unexpected results according by the bookie odds and their pundits.

Did any of the teams on the wrong side of each result, get knocked out of the Championship?

Did the winning teams have more to play for?

Do you consider that real championship?

They didn't get knocked out but in hindsight the Mayo and Galway games were huge at the weekend. Winnable games that should have saw them progress to the quarter finals.

Now they are faced with a really difficult knockout game and a tough quarter final the week after.  They've both significantly reduced their All Ireland chances.

There has been plenty of meaningless games during the year, the ones on Sunday were far from it.

Agree completely with this, I was fuming leaving Carrick on Shannon Sunday, I felt that whatever chance Galway had of getting back to the final had been lost for the year.
The bar for both Galway and Mayo was making a semi-final this year and seeing where it might go from there. Both have made it far harder than it could, and should, have been. The ask has gone from winning one match against a team coming in for their 3rd week on week game (remember that they changed the Munster and Leinster hurling round robin structure to avoid any team having to play 3 weeks in a row because those teams were all underperforming and getting pasted in the 3rd game) to having to beat another Division 1 team that was in this year's league final and then beating a rested Derry, Dublin, Kerry or Armagh. Just to even get to the semi-final. Those games last weekend were huge.

There is definitely something going on.

[lenny]

It's a sellout ?

Is this the first real knockout game between Galway and Mayo since the back door qualifiers were introduced?

[orchardarmy02]

It’s a sellout ?

Is this the first real knockout game between Galway and Mayo since the back door qualifiers were introduced?

There was the COVID years 20 and 21 where Mayo knocked Galway out on both occasions plus a qualifier in 2019

[larryin89]

It's a sellout ?

Is this the first real knockout game between Galway and Mayo since the back door qualifiers were introduced?

Not a sellout as ticketmaster have put them on sale again . Odd balls

I think it's the first knockout game in Connacht where supporters could go since Ciaran Mac come on in tuam 99 , never forget that roar when he sailed one over , there were people on top of the roofs of houses lookin in . Glorious days of a very special fixture .

[statto]

Is Finnerty struggling with injury?  Comer certainly a miss, but a forward line of Cooke, Heaney, Tierney, Burke, Finnerty, Walsh is still full of quality.  That added to Mayo's troubles with the beating the packed defence I would still give a hesitant nod to Galway with home advantage.  Wouldn't rule out ET/penos in this one. 

[joemamas]

It's a sellout ?

Is this the first real knockout game between Galway and Mayo since the back door qualifiers were introduced?

Not a sellout as ticketmaster have put them on sale again . Odd balls

I think it's the first knockout game in Connacht where supporters could go since Ciaran Mac come on in tuam 99 , never forget that roar when he sailed one over , there were people on top of the roofs of houses lookin in . Glorious days of a very special fixture .

Larry,

I was there, that was the only glorious thing about the day, as it absolutley pissed rain from the early am.
Place was jammed. The path between sitting and the terrace across from the stand side was unnegotiable, there were puddles of water 4-6 inches that people had to walk thru to get to a place on the terrace.
crazy stuff, if memory serves me right, there was such a backlash that it ended Tuam stadiums days as a connacht final venue.
it was a great win, David Nestor goal in first half the decisive score in the end.

[Cunny Funt]

Is Finnerty struggling with injury?  Comer certainly a miss, but a forward line of Cooke, Heaney, Tierney, Burke, Finnerty, Walsh is still full of quality.  That added to Mayo's troubles with the beating the packed defence I would still give a hesitant nod to Galway with home advantage.  Wouldn't rule out ET/penos in this one.

This is one fixture whereby playing at home hasn't been much of advantage in recent years. Last ten years Mayo have beaten Galway in Pearse Stadium in the championship 3 times and in the same time period Galway have beaten Mayo 4 times in MacHale Park.