Sligo v. Galway - Connacht Final

[magpie seanie]

Lets kick this one off. After watching Galway and ourselves in the semi I think we need to beef up the FF line considerably. Having a couple of target men inside could bear fruit. Kelly had a good game last year too so I'd hold on to him. CHB needs changing too. I'd consider McNamara for an inside forward role instead.

Anyway, my XV to end the famine is:

Greene, Harrison, Maguire, Donovan, McGovern, Doohan, J. Davey, Quinn, O'Hara, Curran, Breheny, McPartland, Kelly, S. Davey, Sweeney/McNamara.

The fact that Sweeney works so well when introduced from the bench might actually mitigate against him getting a starting slot in my eyes. Doohan at CHB will doubtless raise a few eyebrows but I think it could be the final piece in the jigsaw.

[SLIGONIAN]

Everyone knows now gallagher marren not to start. That is obvious but will brehony cop on. McNamara is way too timid for CHB.. doohan is a fair call if fit but I would prefer martyn or egan.

The man we will miss most is  a fit dessie sloyan..all I remember is he is so strong and great under high ball. S Davey isnt great unde high ball but sweeney is. Sweeney is key player for us. Great under high ball aswell. I would put kelly on d meehan for a like to like battle.

I was at game sunday and fb line of Galway is weak as everyone seems to know but our ff line is our weakness. Mcgarty is big and strong but wasnt togged for ros game. We need a tall ff line with ball winners. If we are 2 pts down I would put o hara in and see what happens. They brought cullinane deep late to cover on sun.

We can definitly win this. Put donovan on meehan.

My starting 15

GREENE DONOVAN MCGUIRE HARRISON MCGOVERN MARTYN J DAVEY O HARA QUINN CURRAN BREHONY D KELLY SWEENEY S DAVEY MC PARTLAND

Scoreline SLIGO 2-11 GALWAY 1-13
Just remember I got winning margin right in ros game. Lets hope Im right again.

[MaroonAndWhite]

Maybe being a small bit harsh on the Galway full back line there lads. Its one of the rare off days they have had in the last couple of years and God knows, Maxwell will go away now and not show his face again til Leitrim plays Galway again!
I can see the merits of playing a big man inside from Sligo's point of view though but I dont see the Galway full back line playing that poorly again.
The backs are not major concern, the form of Meehan and to a lesser extent P Joyce would be. Id be more worried about Galways tendency to start lorrying ball in on top of Joyce and Meehan....while they are strong enough to win plenty of their own ball, the forwards seem more effective when the likes of Nicky Joyce or Savo are running off the shoulder of the man in posession. I see Bane out and Armstrong in the next day too.
Will be a close one......

[GY Joe]

Leitrim were quietly confident too.. Galway are not the finished article, but they have enough to beat Sligo...

Galway 2-13 Sligo 2-8

[SLIGONIAN]

I just have to say that everyone in Galway and pundits alike will expect a Galway victory. Maybe even some sunshine Sligo fans might doubt. But players and true sligonians have to believe we can win this and be prepared to be written off. Remember no one can predict the future so it counts for nothing. Its all on the day and we might just play the game of our lives and raise a few eyebrows and win. Sligeach abu.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I was at game sunday and fb line of Galway is weak as everyone seems to know

One relatively dodgy performance does not a weak full-back line make. As Ford himself said after the game our FB line has been out strongest line over the past two years. In league and championship over that time they've generally leaked an average of somewhere between 10 to 12 points a game. Which is fairly miserly. To be fair to him Declan Maxwell he is an exceptional player at full-forward. A big lump that's mobile and with a good touch. There's not too many Declan Maxwell's about in that position so I don't think the same results would be achieved by just sticking any old big fella up front. I think the Galway players realised too that they allowed Leitrim too much space and time in midfield to deliver ball into him.

As for the game itself I'd be tempted to try Meehan at his natural position at full forward. A change of scenery might do him good. Maybe move Padraig Joyce to centre-forward? Armstrong could be in line for a call-up too as he looked very sharp when he came on the last day. Niall Coyne might challenge Michael Comer. Overall though I don't expect many changes.

[Stagmeister]

Hard to us winning but I definitely think we have a chance albeit a very slight chance!!

At the moment I think their two main threats will be Nicky Joyce and Sean Armstrong but we all know what Michael Meehan is capable of if he hits form as well, to be honest I wouldnt be too worried about P Joyce or Savage at this stage of their careers or based on form + Fallon wouldnt really worry me at all. The game last wkend showed that Sligo should be able to gain enough possesion to win the game + I think with a midfield of O'Hara and Quinn along with Curran and Davey pitching in Sligo should get their hands on a lot of ball. However I just dont see where the scores are going to come from. We just dont have enough quality in the forward line. Last wkend Leitrim had a serious amt of the ball in the 1st half yet still went in two pts down - I can see the same thing happening qith us in the final.

My starting 15 would be pretty much the same, most of the team picks itself:

GREENE DONOVAN MCGUIRE HARRISON MCGOVERN MARTYN J DAVEY O HARA QUINN CURRAN S DAVEY MC PARTLAND D KELLY M BREHENY SWEENEY

[GalwayBayBoy]

to be honest I wouldnt be too worried about P Joyce or Savage at this stage of their careers or based on form + Fallon wouldnt really worry me at all.

To be fair to them they are still getting a couple of points each per game although Savage was taken off without scoring off the last day after taking a few knocks. Joyce also set up a lot of scores on Sunday.

[GalwaySham]

to be honest I wouldnt be too worried about P Joyce or Savage at this stage of their careers or based on form + Fallon wouldnt really worry me at all.

Lets hope that the Sligo camp are thinking along those lines as well

[myball22]

I think you write Joyce off at your peril. I know his form is patchy at present but you know what they say about form being temporary.... Also he has come up against two very good players in McKeon and Heaney. I think Savage is having his best year in years, getting on the scoreboard and putting in the work aswell. People said that we played poorly on Sunday which we did but they still closed 0-17 (1-1 disallowed disputedly also). Most scores came form play and all six forwards (seven including Armstrong) scored so the scorin potential is there. Sligo conceded a least one soft goal to Roscommon so they're there to be got. I think there's enough forwards there at present that one or you are stepping up to the plate when others are struggling Bane against Mayo, Nicky Joyce against leitrim.

I agree that even playing poorly the full back line still only gave up 1-10 (few goal chances aside) and you would hope that the problems shown up on Sunday will be resolved to some extent the next day. The best way of doing this is by stopping the supply. Interestingly there have been no comments of hard Galway hitting from Sunday which may indicate that Galway need to get refocused and remotivated for the next day.

I only saw highlights of Sligo and Roscommon so I cannot make any sort of analysis of how they will do. I think as always a lot will depend on how O'hara will do. I think certainly this game is there for the taking for Sligo. This is not the team that won two All-Irelands which previous Sligo teams ran into. However the team seems to be coming along nicely and I would expect that they win by a similiar margin that they did the last day.

[magpie seanie]

Lets hope that the Sligo camp are thinking along those lines as well

I can assure you they won't.

[Mano]

GREENE DONOVAN MCGUIRE HARRISON MCGOVERN MARTYN J DAVEY O HARA QUINN CURRAN BREHONY D KELLY SWEENEY S DAVEY MC PARTLAND

Kelly will definately not be playing wing forward. He is not strong enough to win breaking ball and he will not be chasing back in defense the wing back. Let rules that out. He is a threat as a corner forward because he is fast, nippy and has a good turn and can win frees.

One relatively dodgy performance does not a weak full-back line make. As Ford himself said after the game our FB line has been out

Your right it was a one-off this year but Maxwell has done this before to Galway. Maybe more teams should play the route one against this Galway full back line. Mayo played low ball into Mortimer and the Roscommon fella (his name escapes me) Fitzgerald and especially Burke had great games. So maybe we need to vary it a little-put a big man on the edge of square along with Kelly and maybe Egan, Sweeney. Blake will not be letting us run through the middle like the Ross defenders did.

Galway still have a lot of class in the forwards if one or 2 are having off days there is always someone else there to pull the strings (Nicky Joyce on Sunday).

[AhFeckRef]

One fear that I would have for Sligo is will your corner backs be able to patrol Galway's corner forwards to the same extent that Reynolds and McGuinness did for Leitrim last Sunday. Galway still managed to score 17 points with these guys having relatively quiet days.  Does Sligo have the fire power to get about 2-14 or so?

[SLIGONIAN]

I named him in there but I presume theyll bring meehan back to mark him like last year at CF. Dont know about who to play hf either mcpartland or davey instead...

[Msgr. Horan]

Much as I'd like to see a good close game, I'm afraid Galway will have way too much for Sligo and will win by 7 or 8 pulling up.
I still think Galway peaked against Mayo, thats not bitterness, I think Galway were head and shoulders above mayo on the day.