Sam Maguire Group 2 - Galway, Armagh, Tyrone, Westmeath

[seafoid]

The fastest way from Cross to Galway is south to the M6 then west. Not across to Sligo via Carrick and then N17.
So the match should be played close to the best route.

[Cunny Funt]

Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada getting to host a repeat of last year's All Ireland Quarter final, It's also getting to host a double header of All Ireland minor quarter finals this weekend and hosted the U20 ALL Ireland final last year.  Looks like someone from Leitrim is involved when fixing the venue of these matches.

[seafoid]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZKACCy7OK8

[Manning18]

Disagree totally on Breffni, we may as well have had a toss for match to be there or the Hyde then, Breffni is unbelievably inconvenient for Galway support compared to Armagh.

You could hardly argue that Breffni was more inconvenient for Galway than Carrick is for Armagh?

Is this a joke? It's near the same distance for both.

You're saying above "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get". For starters I can think of 4 grounds.

But to play your game, in which possibly way would Hyde Park Roscommon for instance not be as fair or fairer than Breffini? Why shouldn't it be played there?

On CoS it looks like it's c1hr15mins from Tuam and Ballinasloe. No part of Armagh is remotely as close.  1hr50 from Galway city is still a bit shorter than any part of Armagh. But the number of towns that people travelling from any part of Armagh is going to drive match day travel time way up. There will be match day traffic coming from Galway as well and nobody is going to achieve satnav projected times but it looks way worse for armagh.

On Hyde vs Breffni. Again Hyde is 38 mins from Ballinasloe and 54 from Tuam. That's a bit long from even the nearest parts of Armagh.

But again none of the above takes in the context of the other matches.

Objectively all parts is Armagh to Roscommon is more difficult than any part of Galway other than the extreme west and the islands to Breffni. So no, not a joke.

Yawn. You disregard predominantly football parts of Galway like Knocknacarra, Bearna and Clifden that doesn't suit your argument but happy to include Ballinasloe, a mainly hurling town that does. Cavan is closer to the Athletic grounds than Pearse stadium is to Roscommon.

Note that no Galway person is saying the Hyde would be fair. All we've done is refute the suggestion that somehow Breffini is fair, or in your words "There isn't an absolutely ideal ground for this game but Breffni was as close as you could get.

Judging by what's gone on in the last 24 hours at the announcement of a perfectly fair venue in COS, then thank god it wasn't fixed for the Hyde. You'd almost let Armagh have home advantage to avoid the headache. I can't wait to see the new dual carriageways available to us for avoiding the likes of Castlerea and Frenchpark

[mouview]

Wuuld Markiewicz Park not have been more equitable?

[seafoid]

Slow roads to Sligo from Armagh

Mullingar or Tullamore

http://www.aandcdrivingschool.ie/images/motorways_in_ireland.jpg

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/06/08/read-all-about-it-at-last-the-tuam-stars-who-lit-up-football-in-the-1950s/

Read all about it, at last: the Tuam stars who lit up football in the 1950s
A new book chronicles the extraordinary careers of Seán Purcell and Frank Stockwell


Galway, All Ireland SFC champions in 1956

Ciarán Murphy
Thu Jun 8 2023 - 05:00

In Raymond Smith's 1984 book The Football Immortals, he describes the north Galway town of Tuam as a place "which throbs with a love of football as Thurles breathes the very spirit of hurling".

When I read that book as a 10-year-old, growing up in a village about seven miles outside the town, this made sense to me for only two reasons. There was Saint Jarlath's College, who then (and still do) lead the Hogan Cup roll of honour. And there was Seán Purcell.

Purcell was generally regarded as one of the finest players in the history of the game. In the time before the onset of the Kerry team of the 1970s and 1980s, arguments were often made about the relative merits of Mick O'Connell, well-known as the prince of midfielders, and Purcell, whose very versatility and brilliance were what elevated him.

It was hard for me to understand at the time. I couldn't remember any of the All-Ireland wins of that Kerry team of Spillane, Sheehy and O'Shea, and I had only fleeting memories of some of those players playing on bad Kerry teams being given the runaround by Larry Tompkins. But everyone seemed to agree that Christy Ring was the greatest hurler of all time. Why couldn't we come to a similar consensus about Gaelic football?


In that atmosphere, Purcell's name carried as much weight as any other. He played at midfield, at centre back. His greatest display was reportedly the Connacht semi-final of 1954 against Mayo, at full-back. But he was selected on both the GAA Team of the Century and the GAA Team of the Millennium at centre-forward.

His telepathic relationship with his clubmate Frank Stockwell was at its most devastating throughout 1956, when he won his only All-Ireland medal. In the final against Cork, Stockwell scored 2-5, all from play, a total which was never equalled in a 60-minute final, and a tally from play that has only been equalled once, by Eoin Liston in 1978.

Learn more

I still have my father's copy of Smith's book, updated for the Centenary of the GAA in 1984, but the sellotape keeping it together seems a fitting metaphor for the histories told within. Our hold on people like Purcell, or Mick Higgins of Cavan, or Tommy Murphy, the Boy Wonder from Laois, seems as tenuous as that.

My uncle, the broadcaster and journalist Jim Carney, was a child of the 1950s. He can't remember 1956, but he remembers Stockwell and Purcell playing for Tuam Stars when they cut a swathe through the Galway club championship. They were an exceptional club team, good enough to go head-to-head in exhibition games against St Vincent's of Dublin, matches which were seen as a precursor to the All-Ireland club championships.

Jim is well known to many as the first presenter of The Sunday Game, and as a commentator with RTÉ and the BBC for many years. Anyone who's ever heard him speak on radio or television, who's ever read a column of his in the Tuam Herald, has always known there was a book in him.


Frank Stockwell, whose tally for a 60-minute final was never matched
He has finally written that book, and it's about Purcell and Stockwell, and the town that created them. In the end, he couldn't not write it. The stock of people who can still remember Purcell and Stockwell in full flow is naturally growing smaller and smaller.

The question became less of whether he could write this book, but: if not now, when? And if not Jim, who? Because he was a great friend of Purcell, in particular. He spent many happy evenings driving Seán to and from functions, pitch openings and club gatherings – the sort of events that the greats get invited to, and still do.

I met Purcell a few times – formal introductions were hardly necessary, given he owned a newsagents just off the main square of Tuam. In a town perhaps best known in the early 1990s as the hometown of The Sawdoctors – purveyors of a very specific, homespun charm – Purcell was very much in keeping with that low-key, unassuming air.



An extraordinarily generous gift from the great Seán Purcell
His friendship with Jim allowed me to take the liberty of writing him a letter when I couldn't have been any more than nine or 10. He answered my questions in studied, deliberate, beautiful handwriting. Gerry O'Malley of Roscommon was his toughest opponent. His proudest moment was winning an All-Ireland medal. I should keep practising with my weaker foot.

And with the letter, there was a calendar, from 1957, which had a picture of the All-Ireland winning team of 1956, signed by each player. It was an extraordinarily generous gift, and it hangs in my house in Dublin today.

Tuam in the 1950s gave the country Tom Murphy, the greatest Irish playwright of the postwar era. It gave us the greatest footballer of that time. It gave us the top scorer from play in the history of All-Ireland finals. And now, the town and surrounding area, and the country at large, has a book chronicling that extraordinary decade.

Seán Purcell and Frank Stockwell – From a Childhood Friendship, To Gaelic Football Fame and Glory, will be launched this Saturday. Copies will be on sale in local bookshops, and all proceeds raised will go to Tuam Cancer Care

[Armaghtothebone]

Too young to have seen him play ( only in my 50s but my dad rated him alongside Sean O'Neill of Down.
To be in that company means he was very very special

[seafoid]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2023/0605/1387501-state-of-play-all-ireland-group-stage-permutations/

For all the hype, Kieran McGeeney's team have struggled to land a major championship victory in recent years. Aside, that is, from the qualifier wins over Tyrone and Donegal last year, two demoralised and out of form teams.

[seafoid]

https://www.rte.ie/sport/football/2023/0605/1387501-state-of-play-all-ireland-group-stage-permutations/

Permutations Key Points:

Galway will top group by avoiding defeat against Armagh. They also hold a score difference advantage (+10) over the Ulster duo (both -1) if a three-way tie on four points arises.
Armagh can still finish top by beating Galway, though will need Tyrone to slip up against Westmeath. Otherwise, they will need a score difference swing and have to win by six points against Galway to have any chance of top spot.
Tyrone can only finish top if Armagh beat Galway. Will need to make up a -11 score differential deficit against the westerners in the process.
Westmeath need to beat Tyrone to survive. Matters will simplify if Armagh avoid losing to Galway. Otherwise, it's down to their score difference (-9) against the Ulster teams.

[Rossfan]

Be some craic if Louth, Cork, Armagh and Westmeath win.
Totally unlikely but if thet did Kerry and Tyrone would be gone

[balladmaker]

Any word on Armagh/Galway tickets yet?

[An Fhairche Abu]

There's nothing available on general sale or for season ticket holders as of yet

[balladmaker]

There's nothing available on general sale or for season ticket holders as of yet

Must be some reason for the delay given the other matches are already on sale.

[Rossfan]

How many season ticket holders have Armagh and Galway?