Kerry the probable booby prize for some group winner now in the quarters. Presuming they get their act together after being so flat today.
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Show posts MenuQuoteShane Walsh was bedridden for two days with flu this week. Padraic Joyce didn't want to start a game without Paul Conroy and Walsh so played him. That's why he was the first player to come off.
QuoteThe brilliant Galway team that ended the county's 32-year wait for Sam Maguire glory in 1998 will be honoured at Sunday's Connacht SFC final in Castlebar.
Managed by John O'Mahony, the Tribesmen upset the odds by beating Mick O'Dwyer's Kildare 1-14 to 1-10 in the All-Ireland final. Current Galway manager Padraic Joyce scored the Galway goal in the second half, while Jarlath Fallon, Michael Donnellan, Kevin Walsh, Derek Savage, Tomas Mannion and Sean Óg de Paor were other stars of the success.
That Galway team went on to win a second All-Ireland in 2001 at Meath's expense after losing the 2000 decider to Kerry after a replay.
Quote from: Maroon Manc on April 24, 2023, 10:02:17 AM
Watched the game on Friday evening, it looks a decent Galway side but as we saw at this level last year Galway were beaten by 14 points by Mayo early on and still ended up winning an All Ireland but the ease at which Galway created goal chances and just ran through Roscommon would make that level of turnaround again seem unlikely.
The Galway full forward is some size for this age group, when he gets motoring he's hard to stop but Galway have it all to do against a very fancied Mayo team on Friday; A lot of chat about them.
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on April 24, 2023, 11:47:45 AMQuote from: Manning18 on April 24, 2023, 10:48:00 AMI don't necessarily disagree with any of that, he is hugely important but for me that's the problem in itself as I'm not sure that we can find a way to protect a player as you've outlined in a big match against a serious team, CP just seems to play different and anyone not up to the pitch of it gets left in the dust. We'll miss Conroy when he is gone out of the team and I don't see any natural replacement, which is the worry really.Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on April 24, 2023, 10:17:21 AMQuote from: Maroon Manc on April 24, 2023, 09:07:24 AMWhatever the succession plan for Conroy is needs to start kicking into gear I'm afraid. Conroy has had a great last few years since returning from the double leg break and has been an incredible servant but I'd worry over whether he is going to be able to stick the pace at this advanced stage of his career, ground and matches will both be playing quicker and harder from the group stages on. Last year he was on fire in the league and up to the Q final stage in championship before two really tame performances at the real business end, no coincidence that was when we hit CP and it will be hard to reverse that this year. He has had some good to great performances in the odd game this year as well, but the graph looks to be trending only one way.
Galway won 10 out of 39 kickouts but had 26 attempts compared to Roscommon's 18, shows stats aren't everything but Galway won't be winning any All Ireland unless the kickouts improve.
As been covered a shocking 5 minutes from Galway, think every score for Roscommon during the period come from really poor kick passes. I'm sure once they watch the video of the game they'll be disappointed they didn't score around 2-16, they were excellent goal chances for Comer & Kelly who are both normally excellent in front of goal. On a positive note Galway responded very well to going behind and were back 5 points clear within about 10 minutes.
That was a brilliantly worked goal from Roscommon but not sure how their tallest player from himself isolated on Galway's smallest player but even then Sweeney has to understand where the danger is and not vacate the space for an easy goal for Murtagh; Apart from that Sweeney & McGrath were excellent, looked very comfortable at this level.
Walsh's shooting was poor, must have had 3 or 4 wides from play and Conroy wasn't great either. Ian Burke did very well, clearly he was going well in training but you can see why he was picked against a team which is very well organised defensively.
Maher again was excellent with 2 points from play as well as keeping Enda Smith quiet, he's been a huge bonus for Galway. McHugh too had another great game whilst Comer was superb.
The problem is that Galway are very reliant on Conroy and Daly for setting up attacks and unlocking defences with kick passes, neither had their greatest games yesterday. Conroy handles the most ball of any Galway player in every match almost, I don't see any lad that can do the same job that's ready to step in unfortunately. I think this is going to be an issue unless Conroy can find one final Indian summer in him.
Conroy mixed sublime with appalling. His balls for 3 scores, to Heaney, Burke and Tierneys mark were exceptional. The Burke one in particular was outrageous. However, some of his old failings for kicking ball away needlessly is an issue and doesn't tally with games Galway are attempting to control. He had two shockers in the second half. The first in particular at a moment of pressure directly caused Conor Daly's goal chance which shouldve been taken. He really shouldve known better in that moment
However I think back to when our season looked in the doldrums in the second half of the Tyrone game, and Conroy seemingly taking the game over on his own. He's still an absolutely pivotal leadership figure imo and also still the one player id trust to play a ball to unlock a defence (think of the pass to Comer in the league final). That's ahead of John Daly even who himself can't be excused, he's given away a number of stupid balls in the last two games. With two runners now seemingly around him in Maher and McDaid (wherever he fits back in), we can surely find a way to protect his legs on fast pitches.
Incidentally, i'd also have also said Conroy's gets our most touches by far. However I now think its Peter Cooke. The lad is a magnet for the ball in slow play. Whether anything good is coming from that is up for debate
Quote from: Wildweasel74 on April 19, 2023, 08:58:43 PM
Some speed on that Sligo No 19 Walsh. Only seen the 2nd Half, Sligo looked a way better team baser on that. No. 13 fir, Sligo a good player.
Quote from: SLIGONIAN on April 14, 2023, 08:55:43 PM
Galway look a serious side. Someone needs to check no14 birth cert because he's a unit. Sligo did Incredibly well to hold galway to 4 pts. Some great last ditch blocks and saves to prevent Galway goals but i wouldnt agree it was that comfortable. The only thing I would say is the galway goal was very fortunate point chance that hit post and they had only 2 wides to our 8 so I wouldn't be waving the white flag yet from our perspective. If we had Eli Rooney inside we would be serious contenders. 4 or 5 of our lads looked very promising and all showed huge bravery at times. If we can finish 3rd in the group I'd be happy and give the semi final a good rattle.