Leitrim v Galway

Started by 45GoneShort, June 13, 2007, 04:55:38 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

GalwayBayBoy

Quote from: Duine Eile on June 24, 2007, 08:21:20 PM
Rushing now so haven't time to comment but what did ye think of Padraic Joyce's goal that was disallowed? Didn't see anything wrong with it myself but then again I wouldn't would I!

Didn't think there was much in it myself. Similiar to Graham Geraghty's disallowed goal against Dublin the first day and I thought that one should have stood. If you have two players under a dropping ball both of them are going to shoving and pushing each other to get into position. However the goalie is sacred these days it seems.

GallBoss

What probably caught Joycer was the fact he just looked at the leitrim Goalie before the ball dropped

GaillimhIarthair

Quote from: GallBoss on June 25, 2007, 08:55:15 AM
What probably caught Joycer was the fact he just looked at the leitrim Goalie before the ball dropped
Yeah, it looked like a harsh enough decision at the time but in fairness the ref was absolutely brutal and this was consistent with alot of baffling decisions from him all day.  Armstrong also had a perfectly good point disallowed which didn't cover the umpire in glory either.

Galway did just enough to win and to be honest I'm glad they got a really tough game from Leitrim as it will help to get a few lads tuned in for the Sligo game based on some of their performances yesterday.  Fair play to Nicky Joyce, he was by far galways outstanding player yesterday and some of his point taking was top class.  It was good to see the subs have a very positive influence when called into the action.  I thought Armstrong, Coyne and even Big Bad Barry did very well when introduced and the former two will be very close to the first 15 for the Sligo game.

GalwaySham

QuoteThe bad points are I guess that Maxwell caused havoc amongst our f**k-back line which has been very solid over the past while. He either caught every high ball pumped into him or at least broke it to someone else and generally made a nuisance of himself

Whenever, I have seen Maxwell play, he always has a stormer on whoever is marking him. He is a class act.

Thought taking Hanley off was a bit foolish. Dropping Blake back to play as a sweeper in front of the full back line would have been a good idea (Like they did in the last years league final) against Kerry.

Surprisingly, I thought Bergin was very very quiet while Coleman did some good work. Cullinane is an excellent sub to bring in when you are struggling to win the kick outs.

Forwards were poor, Meehan & Bane and P.Joyce will not be happy with their displays. Nicky Joyce had a superb game though (but he should stay away from the backs, he always does something daft when hes down there, yesterday, he gave a suicide pass to Blake that resulted in a Leitirm point). I like the fact that he is running directly at his opponents now, something he didnt really do before. I thought Ja did well yesterday as well too, but he got very tired towards the end.

myball22

I think that's a fair analysis of this game. I don't think anyone thought this game would be a walk-over apart from certain lazy sections of the media. I thought Galway's attitude was reasonably good the forwards put a lot of pressure on the leitrim backs and made it difficult for them to come out with the ball.

We are still very suspect under the high ball, we seem a couple of times each game to half two of our backs jumping for the same ball leaving a free forward in front of goal. It happened in both Mayo games, in the leaue semifinal they got a goal, in the championship they hit the post. It needs to be sorted asap, one jumping and the other defending. I think Hanley as the full back needs to make the ball his.

We still struggling at mid-field though I thought Coleman did reasonably well particularly late in the second half when Bergin was anonymous and Cullinane did well when introduced. Ja doesn't have the legs for 70 minutes anymore and missed some chances near the end that could have been critical. We're still waiting for Meehan and Joyce to catch fire. Without them we won't win in Corke Park (if we get there!!) Nicky Joyce played very well and himself and Armstrong took up the scoring slack late in the second half
All in all a lot to do but the attitude looks right.

Just a word about the referee who had a nightmare of a game that shouldn't have been hard to ref. Ticks for everything and someone could have sent off for very little. Also is it too much to ask that the umpires used are not blind? The referee should be watching the play and make the call when his umpires have definitely made a mistake.
 




turk

That Cullinane lad looked like a good bit of stuff when he came on

magpie seanie

Cullinane is a huge man and ideal for the role of winning a few balls in the last 15. Wouldn't have the legs for the 70 minutes but a beat of a man.

Galway have that bit of class alright but like ourselves have plenty to work on. They'll be clear favourites for the Connacht final but I'm thinking we're well fit to give them a game of it. I rate our chances at 35 to 40% which some might think a little high but there you go. Armstrong concerns me. Looks a completely new and better player.

An Fhairche Abu

Quote from: GalwaySham on June 25, 2007, 10:21:52 AM
Thought taking Hanley off was a bit foolish. Dropping Blake back to play as a sweeper in front of the full back line would have been a good idea (Like they did in the last years league final) against Kerry.

Agree 100%, couldn't understand why someone wasn't detailed to do this after it became clear that all the Leitrim ball was being pump long into Maxwell.

To be fair I thought that Leitrim had every chance to win this match, the reasons they didn't are:
1.No reliable free taker. Leitrim had 2 or 3 scorable frees in the 2nd half that would have been put away by a top class free taker.
2.Missed goal chances. For a team that isn't going to score 14 or 15 points over the course of a game, Leitrim had to take every goal chance to give them a total that would win the match. They didn't.

QuoteWe are still very suspect under the high ball, we seem a couple of times each game to half two of our backs jumping for the same ball leaving a free forward in front of goal. It happened in both Mayo games, in the leaue semifinal they got a goal, in the championship they hit the post. It needs to be sorted asap, one jumping and the other defending. I think Hanley as the full back needs to make the ball his.

That incident yesterday in the 2nd half was really concerning, it's happened every single game for the past few, surely it's past time to try and cut it out?

Bergin who had a great game against Mayo didn't perform at all yesterday and in fairness to Niall Coleman he was good for us around the middle of the park when it was badly needed. Meehan, PJ, Bane were well held by the excellent backs of Leitrim, although 17 (should have been 18 if the umpire wasn't blind) points is still a good score to put up.
Nicky Joyce was excellent and the obvious MOTM, continuing on from his good performance against Mayo he's certainly making a difference to the forwards this year. Armstrong looked very sharp when sprung from the bench, good to see.

I think that yesterday's game showed a more realistic view of Galway's standing in the overall scheme of All Ireland contenders; we'd beat most counties but are way off the current level of the likes of Kerry and Tyrone. Bottom line is that if we play like yesterday again this year in a match we will lose, be it a Connacht final, Q-final or qualifier.

SuperMac

Not taking away from Leitrim, but are Galway capable of upping it ? Put some money on Sligo yesterday, 7/2 for Conn. Champs. Reckon Sligo have to get the lucky break sooner or later.

GalwayBayBoy

Quote from: SuperMac on June 25, 2007, 07:34:16 PM
Not taking away from Leitrim, but are Galway capable of upping it ?

They're definitely capable of playing a lot better. They did against Mayo. To be fair to them it was Galway's first competitive game for 5 weeks. I expect them to be sharper for the Connacht final after yesterday's tough battle.

AhFeckRef

#55
 :(

Oh mother a God, I'm so sick of these what might have been stories with Leitrim! At least it wasn't another 1 point defeat!

At the end of the day it's down to one thing. We simply didn't take our scores from frees.  We owned the ball for a long period in the middle of the second half and only managed to get one point from it. In the same time we missed at least 1-3!

Any mistake or poor pass was punished by Galway. A few times, division 2 style football could be seen in Leitrims approach play and Galway frustrated Leitrims attempts to get quick ball into the forwards.

Ciaran Duignan disappointed. Thought he should have been switched long before he was or at least switched from free taker. He got some nice points from play but missed far too many posibilities from frees. He fluffed his first or second free and didn't seem to be on form for the rest of the game. We really needed to be converting every free we got.

Maxwell was amazing. Every ball that came near him caused major panic in the Galway defence. Class act and appears to be getting better every year.

Donal Brennan had possibly his best championship game ever.

Center field held their own against Bergan et al. Great goal from McCluskey. Thought we could have been more alert for breaking ball in the first half.
Great goal from McCluskey. I really thought it was game on when that went in, however we gave away the lead very softly.

Full back line was their usual outstanding selves. Yet again another top class forward line failed to deliver when marshelled by them. McKeon, Reynolds and McGuinness are a class act.

Half back line was our weakness. Didn't think Barry Prior had a great game. Probably the only line on the field where Galway had the upper hand for the full game. Shane Foley played well.   Thought Ciaran Kennedy should have been introduced earlier in order to strengthen this up.  We still managed to allow then to score 17 points even though Meehan and Bane were kept very quiet!

Not too sure why Guckian was brought in ahead of Canning at center field. Don't think he did to much when he came on. Perhaps it coincide  with the Galway switch also but they got the upper hand around the middle when Duignan was taken off for Guckian.

The Ref!! What can I say.... He made some strange decisions that affected both teams. How in the hell could he stop the game when Leitirm were breaking from defence.... to fix his bloody ear piece :-\ ???  Surely it could have f**king waited till the next break in play. Resulting hop ball gifter Galway a score and allowed them to stretch their lead at a point when Leitrim was eating away at their lead. But I guess them is the breaks.

Fintan McBrian could have done better with the last goal chance but was probably too little too late at that stage.

Sometimes the amount off handpassing out of defence was terrible. Time and time again we ended right back where we started after 6 or 7 hand passes with some of them only just getting to the intended player. This may have been down to the preasure being exerted by the Galway half forwards but it was awful frustrating to watch some times.

All in all a disappointing result from the Leitrm perspective. Really believe that Galway were there for the taking yesterday but we let them off the hook  with poor free taking and shooting!

It's Donegal in the qualifiers.. Another luck break for Leitrim on the quallifer root :-\
If we play with the same passion and work rate the we showed yesterday and tighten up the half back line and be more economical with frees etc then I see no reason that we cant take them in Carrick. Are they really much better than Galway??

We're due a break soon... After all the nearly stories maybe this is the big one!

"BELIEVE"


GalwayBayBoy

QuoteAre they really much better than Galway??

I don't think they are but much like many wondered would Galway be as up for the Leitrim game as much as they were for Mayo (they weren't) I'd wonder if Leitrim will be able to raise themselves for Donegal. If they can they could be in business but I'm not sure.

pairc sean

Still gutted since Sunday, but rather than post an Opus, I'll just say Hear Hear to AhFeckRef's comments and leave it more or less at that. I would add well done to Galway - a fair team and a footballing team; it was a game played in a great spirit. I would also say that Barry Cullinane had a massive influence in steadying the ship for Galway, as did Armstrong.

Hope it's a really good Connacht final and the Galway's will forgive us I'm sure when they hear we're all rooting for the Yeatsmen!