Roscommon v Galway - Connacht SFC Final 2017 [Wind Tunnel, 9/7/17]

[Syferus]

David Gough is the referee. Great news. Best ref in the game by a distance. Because we're not playing Mayo Prenty spared us from Marty..

[Rossfan]

It's all coming together.
Galway beware!!

[cornetto]

Our good friends on the mayo blog still emotionally bothered after the defeat to galway.

"In Pearse Stadium earlier this month we had a moderate Galway team – let's be honest here and acknowledge that they were nothing other than this – under the hammer and we failed to beat them, showing an alarming lack of composure in the closing stages".

That's what makes it more enjoyable,they should have won but didn't against a "moderate" team. Roscommon could well prove this to be true,to be honest it wouldnt feel as bad!!

[Syferus]

Ink sticks. People will remember who was the Connacht champion in 2017, not how good or bad they were beforehand.

[Rossfan]

Will this be the smallest Connacht Final attendance for years?

[macdanger2]

Our good friends on the mayo blog still emotionally bothered after the defeat to galway.

"In Pearse Stadium earlier this month we had a moderate Galway team – let's be honest here and acknowledge that they were nothing other than this – under the hammer and we failed to beat them, showing an alarming lack of composure in the closing stages".

That's what makes it more enjoyable,they should have won but didn't against a "moderate" team. Roscommon could well prove this to be true,to be honest it wouldnt feel as bad!!

Moderate eh?? Serious motivation there for the Galway boys, I'd say Walsh will have that plastered all over the dressing room walls.   

Between this bit of sleuthing and your exposé about the secret players meeting, I get the impression you've a bit of a hangup about Mayo? Did the Mort swipe your girlfriend or something?

[cornetto]

 

[Rossfan]

Connacht Final is between Ros and Galway.
Why are we talking about some other team?

[An Fhairche Abu]

Our good friends on the mayo blog still emotionally bothered after the defeat to galway.

"In Pearse Stadium earlier this month we had a moderate Galway team – let's be honest here and acknowledge that they were nothing other than this – under the hammer and we failed to beat them, showing an alarming lack of composure in the closing stages".

That's what makes it more enjoyable,they should have won but didn't against a "moderate" team. Roscommon could well prove this to be true,to be honest it wouldnt feel as bad!!

I think that type of talk on the mayogaablog is to be expected, there's no respect at all for this Galway team within Mayo, perhaps rightly so given the horrendous beatings Galway have taken over the past decade and to be honest that lack of respect is probably one of the reasons why they lost last year due to complacency and thinking that they only had to show up on the day to win.
Not sure that complacency was a factor at all this year and I'd be cautious enough if I was a Mayo man, even accepting being down to 14 men as a valid excuse it'd be a bit worrying not to beat Galway with a superior panel and vastly more experienced team, especially when I wouldn't consider Galway's overall performance against Mayo on June 11th good enough at all to win the upcoming Connacht final.

All that said, Galway have to plough their own furrow, disregard outside opinions which are of no actual value anyway and get as far as they can this year with the squad available, any talk about Mayo should be parked now and the sole focus moved to the Rossies, Mayo aren't in either of the matches on Sunday week and are an irrelevance in the context of the 2017 Connacht finals.

There's improvements to be made across the board for Galway from the semi-final performance, in mitigation it was their first competitive performance in 10 weeks so a bit of rust would only be expected.
Roscommon are coming in very much under the radar despite beating Leitrim out the gate and there is no way that they could be as bad as last year's replayed final again. It'll be interesting to see how they line out in comparison to 12 months ago given the retirements, panel drop offs and injuries Roscommon have currently.
I'd guess we can expect much the same from Galway in terms of the first 15, there should be a couple of changes in my view but Walsh might decide to go again with similar lineup to the Mayo match.

[Maroon Manc]

I've listened to a few podcasts and this Willie Joe character has a very high opinion of himself but at the end of the day its Mayo fans website so there's bound to be a fair bit of biasedness just as there would if it was a Galway fans website. I wouldn't take much notice of him and he only sees everything from a Mayo point of view which is understandable to a degree.

Kevin Walsh will be disappointed with Galway from 60 minutes on in the Mayo game and probably many aspects of the first half but mainly those last 17 minutes including injury time.  Galway went 4 points up against Mayo and were comfortable and Mayo were really struggling and were restricted to kicking 3 great points but Galway aren't used to play games at this level and it really showed. Galway went 8 minutes without having any possession in Mayo's 45, kickouts were a huge problem and Galway just couldn't get out. I'd put this down to tiredness and a lack of experience which is understandable given this teams lack of games against the 6 established Div 1 sides. Galway defenders had started to get caught in possession which hadn't happened all game.

This Mayo team have so much experience and are one of the best if not the best at putting pressure on oppositions kickouts so its not all doom and gloom, COC is the best forward in the game at turning over ball.

The majority of Galway posters are well aware of the limitations there are in that defence, I'd imagine its at least 2/3 players short of moving onto the next level as a serious contender but there's no reason they won't improve with the more games they play against top opposition hence why promotion was so important this year. Improving the short kickouts will certainly help with our defensive problems so I'd imagine a lot of work will have gone into this.

There's enough talent in that forward line to cause anyone problems individually and collectively its just whether they see enough ball.

[manfromdelmonte]

Roscommon drew in the wind tunnel last year first day out. this year they seem to be going in much fresher
this game is going to be close
smart money is on the draw

[Rossfan]

Freshness both mental and physical is a big factor in the Championship.
I'd settle for a draw and replay in the Hyde.

[DJGaliv]

Roscommon drew in the wind tunnel last year first day out. this year they seem to be going in much fresher
this game is going to be close
smart money is on the draw

That's a good point. I think a lot of people are forgetting the first day out last year, and just focus their preview on the big win in the replay.

I do think that an injury or sending off will decide this one, as Galway's panel can stretch that bit further than Roscommon's. Fifteen on fifteen it will be close. I imagine Galway had been preparing for the Mayo game for most of the time between league final and first round.
The Leitrim game will have brought on Roscommon's confidence a lot. Galway after being bitten by Tipp last year should stick to their goal of consistency and staying games even when not playing well.

I imagine Brannigan will come back in, with Daly maybe dropping out.
Anyone think Farragher might get a return to centre back if Ros are dropping back sweepers on Comer?

[Syferus]

Freshness both mental and physical is a big factor in the Championship.
I'd settle for a draw and replay in the Hyde.

We settled for a draw the last time. Win the damn thing.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Will this be the smallest Connacht Final attendance for years?

There was just under 25,000 there last year and that was on one of the worst days of the year.