Galway - Dublin, NFL Div1, Pearse Stadium, Feb 15th

An Fhairche Abu · February 10, 2009, 08:46:57 PM

Can't see any other thread on this yet so I may as well kick it off.

Galway are coming into the match off the back of a fairly medicore performance against Westmeath while the Dubs were part of a high standard of football game against Tyrone.
That was on a marquee night in Croke Park with fairly benign conditions and a pitch in great shape for this time of year however, it's safe to say that they will get neither in Salthill.

Cullinane is I assume suspended, the Corofin lads are still out along with Nicky Joyce missing through injury. Probably will see a similar enough team to the one that started against Westmeath.

Also can anyone tell me when was the last time Galway beat Dublin in the league? It's a long time ago but couldn't be any worse than 1934 - the last championship win against the jackeens!

heffo · February 10, 2009, 09:25:02 PM

Cullinane is still out afaik and Galway last beat Dublin in the league in 1981 (I think '81 anyway)..

GalwayBayBoy · February 10, 2009, 09:40:52 PM

Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on February 10, 2009, 08:46:57 PM
Galway are coming into the match off the back of a fairly medicore performance against Westmeath

I wouldn't say it was a mediocre performance to be honest. They did win in Mullingar by 5 points and with only 14 men for most of the second half. I think most counties would be fairly happy with that.

Need to win again on Sunday though. Hard to see many points available in away trips to Kerry, Tyrone and Derry. Our record against Dublin is abysmal though as these league results show. They are usually very close games but Dublin always seem to come out on top by a point or two. That league game in 2000 in Tuam being a case in point. We played them off the pitch for nearly the whole game and still lost to a couple of late points and a Ciaran Whelan (I think) goal with the last kick of the game. Have always been a bogey team for us.

1981 - Galway 0-9 Dublin 0-9
1986 - Dublin 0-12 Galway 0-10
1987 - Dublin 1-8 Galway 0-8
1991 - Galway 0-7 Dublin 1-5
1992 - Dublin 2-8 Galway 0-8
1993 - Dublin 0-13 Galway 1-6
1999 - Dublin 0-15 Galway 1-12
2000 - Galway 0-20 Dublin 2-15
2001 - Dublin 1-10 Galway 1-8
2002 - Galway 1-12 Dublin 1-12

Either way Cullinane suspended who is the main ball winner in midfield. What's the story with Nicky's injury anyway? Last I heard they were waiting for the scan results.

GalwayBayBoy · February 10, 2009, 09:41:34 PM

Quote from: heffo on February 10, 2009, 09:25:02 PM
Cullinane is still out afaik and Galway last beat Dublin in the league in 1981 (I think '81 anyway)..

I think it was actually the late 70's.

INDIANA · February 10, 2009, 10:51:49 PM

With the galway injuries I would be hopeful dublin would win by a couple of points. I think Galway will struggle with the Dublin midfield on sunday but the injuries and suspensions. We badly need a win on sunday.

GalwayBayBoy · February 11, 2009, 12:04:21 AM

Hard to judge really. With a full team out I would expect to beat Dublin at home but with the Corofin lads still out along with Barry Cullinane and Nicky Joyce and even Mattie Clancy and Niall Coleman unavailable for the league it certainly decreases our options and chances a fair bit. Cullinane is a big loss in midfield. Granted he'll never be the most aesthetically pleasing footballer but he's been playing very well so far this year and is a huge physical presence around the middle.

Presume we might field something like

Paul Doherty
Niall Coyne
Finian Hanley
David Reilly
Gareth Bradshaw
Diarmuid Blake
Darren Mullahy
Joe Bergin
Gary O'Donnell
Paul Conroy
Padraic Joyce
Cormac Bane
Sean Armstrong
Mike Meehan
Jonathan Ryan

Mark Lydon may be included in either midfield or the half-forward line if they are worried about midfield.

Hound · February 11, 2009, 08:09:39 AM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on February 10, 2009, 09:41:34 PM
Quote from: heffo on February 10, 2009, 09:25:02 PM
Cullinane is still out afaik and Galway last beat Dublin in the league in 1981 (I think '81 anyway)..

I think it was actually the late 70's.

29 years and 1 week (that's over 1500 weeks

)since Galway beat Dublin
4 February 1980 - Galway 1-6 Dublin 0-8

A run that's due to end, no doubt.

An Fhairche Abu · February 11, 2009, 07:53:37 PM

Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on February 10, 2009, 09:40:52 PM
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on February 10, 2009, 08:46:57 PM
Galway are coming into the match off the back of a fairly medicore performance against Westmeath

I wouldn't say it was a mediocre performance to be honest. They did win in Mullingar by 5 points and with only 14 men for most of the second half. I think most counties would be fairly happy with that.

Maybe I was a tad harsh to describe it as medicore but the performance up to middle of the second half was very patchy, a good win in the end but the goal by Ryan really changed the momentum of the game, the Westmeath heads dropped and they were a totally beaten docket after that.

Dubs team for Sunday:

1 Stephen Cluxton (Parnells)
2 Paddy Andrews (St Brigid's)
3 Denis Bastick (Templeogue Synge St)
4 Alan Hubbard (Ballymun Kickhams)
5 Bryan Cullen (Skerries Harps)
6 Ger Brennan (St Vincent's)
7 Barry Cahill (St Brigid's)
8 Ciarán Whelan (Raheny)
9 Paul Flynn (Fingallians)
10 David Henry (Raheny)
11 Tiernan Diamond (St Vincent's)
12 James Brogan (St Oliver Plunkett's/ER)
13 Conal Keaney (Ballyboden St Enda's)
14 Jason Sherlock (St Oliver Plunketts/ER)
15 Bernard Brogan (St Oliver Plunkett's/ER)

Galway team:

1. Adrian Faherty
2. Niall Coyne
3. Finian Hanley
4. Declan Meehan
5. Garreth Bradshaw
6. Diarmuid Blake
7. Darren Mullahy
8. Joe Bergin
9. Gary O'Donnell
10. Sean Armstrong
11. Padraic Joyce (Capt)
12. Cormac Bane
13. Paul Conroy
14. Michael Meehan
15. Nicky Joyce

GalwayBayBoy · February 12, 2009, 10:14:00 PM

Galway team

Adrian Faherty
Niall Coyne
Finian Hanley
Declan Meehan
Garreth Bradshaw
Diarmuid Blake
Darren Mullahy
Joe Bergin
Gary O Donnell
Sean Armstrong
Padraig Joyce (Capt)
Cormac Bane
Paul Conroy
Michael Meehan
Nicky Joyce

Oops didn't notice you had the team up there AFA.

Duine Eile · February 12, 2009, 10:23:57 PM

The bould Nicky is fit then, good news for a change. Midfield looks a bit weak without Cullinane, I presume Bergin will be picking up Whelan. Deccie Meehan at corner back looks a bit dodgy, wasn't this tried last year or the year before and didn't work out the best? Armstrong gets his first start of the year, hopefully he can make the most of the oppertunity and make that position his own, on his game he can be brilliant, doesn't happen too often unfortunately. Hard to know how this will go, it'd be great to get a win over the Jackeens but it'll be tough going, we'll need everyone playing out of their skins to have any hope. Wouldn't be very confident to be honest.

INDIANA · February 12, 2009, 11:42:30 PM

Thats a very strong galway team. We've still a lot of green horns playing. Could be very tight. I'm going to the hurling so I'll have to make do with the deferred coverage.

Canalman · February 13, 2009, 05:08:01 PM

Will be in PP for the hurling. Salthill imo is a bitterly cold ground at the best of times.....so wrap up well.

Very big test for us. I rate Galway and Cork as massive threats for Sam this year. The loss of Alan B I think will swing it for Galway although this game has Draw written all over it.

GaillimhIarthair · February 15, 2009, 10:31:59 PM

Pat Gilroy watched his side lose for the second time in this season's Allianz NFL Division 1 as Galway outclassed Dublin at Pearse Stadium.

And while Dublin were unlucky to go down to Tyrone in the campaign opener, Liam Sammon's Galway were far too classy for a Dublin side that lacked invention.

The visitors started well with Ciaran Whelan opening the scoring in the fourth minute with a well-taken point.

And the game could have easily taken a very different direction had Dublin taken two early goal chances, with Barry Cahill unlucky to see his well-struck effort rebound off the crossbar.

In fact, it was ten minutes before Galway opened their account when Michael Meehan scored a point, before Cormac Bane gave them the lead a minute later.

And while Dublin hit back and took the lead after Bernard Brogan pointed a free and Whelan hit another fine score, the game changed in the 20th minute when referee Rory Hickey awarded the hosts a penalty, which was easily dispatched by Meehan.

From there, Galway stepped up a couple of gears and added four more points before the second goal arrived just after the half-hour mark when Sean Armstrong struck the ball home.

And things got worse for the Dubs just before the break after some sloppy defending gifted Galway another goal, this time Paul Conroy with the tidy finish.

The third goal gave Galway a healthy 3-07 to 0-05 lead at the interval.

Bernard Brogan tried his best to get Dublin back in the game in the second period, with the St Oliver Plunkett's/Eoghan Ruadh clubman finishing with a tally of seven points.

But for every Dublin score, Galway hit back and stayed well clear for the remainer of the game and ran out easy winners by eight points at the final whistle.

INDIANA · February 15, 2009, 10:52:30 PM

Glad I went to parnell.
Congrats to Galway looked the better side bar the opening 15mins. A really good forward line and the abcks have been shored up no end. We were awful in the first half and marginally improved in the second. We're not really sure what we are doing and we're still trying out a lot of players. But we need to start getting a bit of shape on the team. If anything happens to the Brogans, Cahill or Whelan our goose is cooked. We have to beat Donegal or we could be heading down. NOt what I envisaged. We're putting all our eggs into the championship basket once again. I would have liked a good league run to build momentum.

galwayman · February 15, 2009, 11:10:29 PM

Excellent performance by our lads today - first half especially. Midfield was a problem - as usual - for us at certain times but overall you'd have to be well pleased with that!
Bradshaw was absolutely outstanding today - I haven't seen an awful lot of him in person to date but I was very impressed today.He defended really well and burst forward all the time at pace. He will be a huge player for us this year at wing back.
Also it was great to see Army playing so well. He's been in and out of the team so much since his debut year and he has all the potential in the world it was great to see his display today.Not just his scoretaking either as he won a mountain of ball and used it intelligently.
Also Faherty in goal looked quite impressive today - his kickouts were absolutely huge. Far longer than Doherty's.He wasn't tested that much in terms of shot stopping or high balls dropping around the square but what he had to do, he did well.
On the negative side - Deccie is in no way,shape or form a corner back.If Dublin had got more ball into Brogan he would have caused serious damage.It's unlikely Dec will make the championship team this year.
What do ye reckon will be our championship team this year?
Here's my stab at this early stage.
Faherty
Fitzy
Hanley
Coyne/Burke
Bradshaw
Blake
Mullaghy/Sice
Bergin
Cullinane
Armstrong
PJ
Bane
Conroy
Mike Meehan
Nicky