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Could Galway and Mayo play each other in the AI quarter final? Or are teams who played each other in the provincial final kept apart?

Have to say I am delighted with the win today. I didn't expect a Galway win to be honest. I thought home advantage would swing it for Mayo. Being honest we were lucky enough in the end to get the win as we fell apart for long stages of the second half.
We were wiped out around the middle of the field in the second half - Mayo made a lot of clean catches and also won an amount of breaking ball. In those circumstances we did well to get the win.
There's a serious amount of improvement needed for the quarter final now though and the fact that we'll be meeting a team with a few wins under their belts and recent match practice wouold be a big concern for me.
On the plus side Joe Bergin could well be back in contention for a place by then.
From a Galway point of view...the full back line were good today. Damien Burke as usual lived on the edge of a double yellow card  but overall I thought he did well on Mortimer.Mortimer was really quiet for most of the game though I think he did kick 2 good points from play. Hanley was outstanding at no.3 all through and didn't give O'Malley a sniff.He outplayed him in the league game in Castlebar earlier in the year as well. Bradshaw did really well when he moved out to the half back line after Fitzy came on. I think he got the TV3 man of the match? Blake and Sice were both troubled by their markers but did a lot of good things also. Cullinane had a good first half I thought but was fighting a lone furrow in the second half.Often he was the only Galway man competing for the ball up against 3 or 4 Mayo lads which should never happen. Up front PJ was the difference between the 2 sides. He took his goal brilliantly and kicked 3 great points from play.He is sheer class.Bane was also really good today.Meehan contributed sporadically as well though he is capable of much more than he has shown so far in the championship this year.Maybe Croke Park will be the stage he delivers on?
Matt Clancy was having a good game in teh first half and it was a massive blow to lose him at half time as he tends to win breaking ball and run hard at the opposition defence. Nicky won a lot of ball off Conroy early on but faded out of the game thereafter and picked up another groin injury I think.Breathnach again did very little.True he did score a goal but overall he had very little impact on the game and I really can't fathom how he keeps his place game after game.
Anyway there's lots of room for improvement in the team for Croke Park. If we lose our shape in the forward line like we did for long spells in the 2nd half then we won't be winning any games in Croker.

From a Mayo point of view - you have to give credit to them for the way they played in the second half against the wind and also in the last few mins of the first half after Galway's second goal. They really upped their performance and intensity and took the game to galway. It seemed that they went back to running at Galway from deep in the 2nd half which is the way they have always played against us and with much success it has to be said. They weren't doing this earlier in the game and when they started to do this there were alarming gaps appearing in our defence.
They were unlucky not to get something out of the game. As I had posted earlier in the week, I felt that Boyle and Conroy were both there for the taking and so it proved.They were not a bit comfortable in the fb line with quick ball coming in from out the field.
Gardiner and Higgins tightened the defence up a lot. Trevor Mortimer's injury was a big blow as he was seeing plenty of the ball at that stage.O'Malley and Moran did very little while Conor didn't do an awful lot either though he did kick 2 fine points from play. I was impressed with Harte today.He actually won a lot of kick-outs today which surprised me. Dillon was always a threat and kicked some good points.
Mayo can still do well in the backdoor if their attitude is right. They are well capable of beating most teams in the country.

For a stag I'm guessing ye want to be staying as close to the city centre as possible.
Jurys is about as good a location for a stag crew as there is -> it's just down at the end of Quay Street in the city centre. Has a nice beer garden as well which is rare in the city.
Alternatively the Harbour Hotel down near the docks is popular for stags/hens as well.
Other hotels that would be good location-wise are the Radisson, House hotel & Hotel Meyrick.
All of the above are within walking distance to everywhere in or around the city centre itself.
I have only stayed in the Radisson myself (it is lovely btw - the buffet breakfast is A1) as I live in Galway but I've been in all of the others and they seem to be nice places.

this is an unusual connacht final mayo supporters not knowing what to expect not feeling too confident and from reading the galway posters here ye have yer own doubts about yer team or are ye just been cagey

I think you've hit the nail on the head there Deel. Both sets of supporters would have doubts about their respective teams. I think we are a fairly lightweight team and our forwards can go missing against a tight marking defence. Our defence (fb line in particular) is there for the taking. I think Hanley will be okay but I'm having nightmares about our corner backs. I don't think either is up to it and Kieran Fitz should be in there. He had been playing quite well up to his injury a while back and has generally done well against Mayo. In fairness so has Burke but he is having an absolute nightmare of a season - even at club level his form has been poor. He also gives away so many frees he can be a liability and is never far away from a double-yellow card situation - not unlike Coleman. I think ye could make serious inroads in our full back line this time around.

The only thing that gives me hope is that I believe only one of ye're full back line is really a good man marker - that being Keith Higgins who is a super player.
Conroy & Boyle are both more comfortable further out the field and if we had 2 decent corner forwards in there we could do damage. The problem for us of course is that Galway play a 2 man full forward line with Matt Clancy going deep. This will play into Mayo's hands I think as it means one of Boyle/Conroy will be taken away from the goal area and their weakness won't be properly exploited. A fully fit Armstrong and Nicky Joyce in the 2 corners would test these 2 lads to the limit. I am assuming here that Higgins will be brought over on Meehan. I hope not from a Galway point of view, as I think Meehan could take Conroy to the cleaners.

Jesus highorlow - we might be poor enough at the moment but I don't think we're in for a 13 point hiding alll the same!!

I'd be very disappointed with Fitzy not getting back into the team. He is the only corner back we have who is up to scratch.Burke is having a terrible year(though he actually did well on Mortimer in the league this year and also last year in the championship) while Bradshaw is totally untested at this level and has never really played any football at corner back at any level that I recall anyway.
To be honest I'm not convinced by Bradshaw at all.He has a big reputation going back to underage football with Mary's but anytime I have watched him at county minor or under 21 level I haven't been impressed at all.He is also very small for county football and God knows we have enough small lads on the panel as it is.
Blake coming back in is good news for us while I wouldn't have any problem with Coyne coming back in, though it was a toss up whether it would be for Sice or Mullaghy. Mullaghy was our best back in the league and is unlucky enough to be dropped.
Cullinane had to come in at midfield - Lydon isn't up to it full stop.
Bane deserves his place up front also.
Unless Breathnach is going to play a deep lying role, I can't understand his selection at all. He CANNOT play in the full forward line cos he won't score. He'll work hard in there but deliver no end product.It'll have to be Meehan and Bane or Nicky Joyce in a 2 man full forward line. Clancy will roam out the field - I'm sure Johnno will have a plan for that. Heaney will take Joyce, Higgins will move in on Meehan and Conroy will probably either follow Clancy or stay put as an extra defender in the full back line to cut off space for Meehan and Bane/Nicky.
A problem for Mayo is that only Higgins is a real man marker & comfortable playing in the full back line. Both Conroy & Boyle are more comfortable playig further out the field. When Howley is fully fit he will probably come into the reckoning for a full back line spot?

Hi guys,
With the current ecomic situation in Ireland there seems to be a lot of conflicting theories out there with regards to buying/building houses at the moment.
Some people believe that it's better to hold off for a while while others say that now is the time to buy or build a house.
What does everyone on here think? I have been considering buying or building a house for a while now but am undecided as to what to do really.

On another point - not being particularly au fait with mortgages and the like -  does anyone know what repayments I could expect to be making on a €315,000 mortgage over the various repayment periods (25yrs,30yrs,35yrs)? (I do know that it is difficult to give an accurate figure, I am just looking for an idea of roughly what kind of repayments we'd be talking about)

While I'm a big Galway supporter, I would choose club every time. My own club are not likely to ever win the senior championship mind you - we are far away from even competing at that level at the moment I'm afraid. I'd choose the club winning the championship this year over Galway winning the All Ireland definitely.
It would probably have been much closer pre-1998 I will admit!!

Is it just a coincidence that the "Big 2", Galway and Mayo have home advantage in the semi finals?.  Maybe there are home and away agreements.

The home and away agreements would have come into effect in the quarter finals (thus Galway were away to Sligo as they last played them in a non-neutral ground at home).
The home and away agreement does NOT apply in the semi-finals as the 2 quarter final winners have home advantage in the semi-final.

It's hard to know how Galway will get on on Saturday. I wasn't at the Sligo game but from what I heard we seem to lack a freetaker. According to the live GBFM commentary we missed countless scoreable frees. That would be costly on another day. NO team - at any level, club or county -  can afford to go into a game without a reliable freetaker.

I was at the Galway-Leitrim minor league game earlier in the year - Galway didn't get too many scoreable frees so I didn't really notice this at the time though Oisin O'Brien kicked a few frees that day off his hands alright and also buried a penalty (which he missed against Sligo).
I was impressed with Galway that day though as they hammered Leitrim and still had a few players to come back in (Tom Fahy, Colin Forde, David Shallow, Conor Doherty etc.).
Should be a good game against Ros on saturday anyway

I thought it was a reasonable performance by our lads today. I couldn't believe Ros were so bad though. Absolutely awful.
I don't think anyone will be getting carried away with today's result. Leitrim shouldn't trouble Galway in the semi final at Pearse but I don't think we'll come away from Castlebar with a win in the Connacht final.
Galway-Mayo games in the championship in recent years always seem to be won by the home teams.

Today's result shouldn't hide the fact that there are problems in this Galway team. As predicted before the game Fiachra Breathnach offered no threat whatsoever in the full forward line - granted he gave a great pass to Clancy for the first goal but he never looked likely to kick a score.As a previous poster stated he offers little but hard work. That's all well and good in the half forward line but you need scorers in the inside line.
Midfield were wiped out today as well. Mark Lydon is not county standard full stop. I don't remember him catching a ball all day.

As regards us against the top counties - we definitely aren't good enough to beat Kerry and I believe Dublin would give us a good hiding in Croke Park in a championship game. On our day we are probably capable of beating the rest of the teams around like Derry, Tyrone, Armagh etc. but they are just as capable of brushing us aside on their day as well.

Positives from today's game would be the performance of Matt Clancy who has been absolutely outstanding all year so far. Also Paul Conroy had a really good second half and PJ was good also. Mike Meehan was well held in general play though he did draw a few frees and kicked some fantastic long range frees himself. He has a monster strike of a dead ball.

The backs were solid overall though they did give up 4 or 5 goal chances to Ros.

There's plenty of room for improvement for the next day out and we need to get midfield sorted out.

I'd have to agree with the concerns expressed by other Galway posters over the Galway team.
We have exactly 2 players that consistently score on that team - Meehan and Joyce. That's it. And PJ is playing a deeper role this year so won't be as prolific as he used to be at no.14.
Having watched most of our lkeague games I can't understand how Breathnach is retaining his place in the ff line. He did very little in any game in the league. He is more of a half forward anyway where he would work hard and could be a useful player for us. He doesn't have the scoring ability for the ff line though. Nicky or Armstrong would be much better bets though Armstrong is injured as usual at the moment I think.

I also can't understand how Mullaghy isn't in the team. He was outstanding for us in the league. While Sice had a very good league campaign I thought Mullaghy was just as good if not better. Both of them played better than Deccie Meehan actually.

I think we'll beat Ros on Sunday but we'll be in trouble further down the line I'm sure. Just not enough scoring forwards on that team.

Poor performance by our lads yesterday. Kerry outclassed us all over the field.
Dara O Se dominated midfield which meant the backs were under severe pressure all day.
Marc O Se had Meehan in his pocket all day.Mikey could win the ball but never work a yard of space to get his shot off.
Yesterday just proved that we don't have enough scoring forwards. Meehan and PJ were tightly marked yet nobody else stood up to the plate. Breathnach is not a corner forward and never will be. He could do a good job as a wing forward with his pace but there's no point playing him in the corner as he is not going to get you many scores. At least Armstrong or Nicky Joyce have the potential to get scores on the board from the corner - Fiachra doesn't.
He was left on almost for the whole game which I couldn't believe as he did nothing at all after scoring an early point. Meehan is the only one of the full forward line to consistently threaten the opposition. Clancy is a fine player but more suited to a deeper lying role.
We won't do damage in the championship with only 1 threat in the inside forward line. we need to find some scorimg forwards and quick. Armstrong needs to sort his hamstring injury out once and for all as well.

P.S. Joyce, Deccie Meehan and Paul Doherty are the 3 players who weren't involved in the u-21 AI wins. Doherty certainly didn't start anyway in 2005 but may have been involved with the panel I'm not 100% sure.

Does anyone know if this game is on Setanta or TG4 this week sometime?
Can't believe they didn't show any action from this game on Sunday Sport last night. They showed a bit of Fermanagh v Wexford for Gods sake!!

Good win for our lads today.I actually thought we just about deserved the win. We hit the woodwork a few times and I thought looked the more threatening of the 2 teams up front.
I have to say though that the referee was atrocious. Talk about inconsistency in decisions. There were times in the first half in particular when backs were being mauled coming out with the ball and got penalised for over carrying while at other times in the second half the slightest contact resulted in a free being given.
Maybe I'm showing a bias here but i thought he was particularly hard on Galway on a few occasions and some of those poor decisions led directly to Mayo points.

Anyway back to the real action. Cullinane did well overall at midfield though Galway by no means won the midfield battle.Mayo possibly shaded it here overall.Meehan had the beating of Conroy all day and forced Mayo to move Higgins over on him early in the second half. There were a few occasions where he was away from Conroy in the first half only to spill the ball and the chance was lost. Clancy roasted Colm Boyle also. Damien Dunleavy did well also.Breathnach was ok - took his goal well but tends to put the head down and run into traffic. The backs did well. Deccie Meehan's distribution is awful though. He gives the ball away far too often with poor passes. The full back line were solid while Sice & Mullaghy were outstanding once again. Mullaghy has been our best player in the league so far and once again was very good today.

Mike Meehan didn't score too much from play today but he won almost every single ball that came his way. Gave a beautiful pass to Breathnach for the 1st goal and was also heavily involved in the 2nd goal.
On a bad note, a few people were saying in Castlebar that they had heard that Bergin has a suspected broken ankle.
This would be terrible news for Joe himself and for Galway as it would put him out of the championship. We're not exactly flush with midfielders as it is. Paul Conroy had a supoer second half today. He got on a lot of ball and used it well.

You would have to compliment both teams for such an entertaining game in atrocious conditions. There were frequent showers of sleet and hail for most of the second half and the ball would have been like a bar of soap.

That forward line looks a bit short of scoring power apart from Meehan and maybe Joyce.
Hoare,Clancy and Breathnach are more workers than scorers while Dec Meeehan is a defender and will probably play a deep lying role.
We badly need to find a few more scorers. Nicky Joyce will improve this when he comes back but apart from him we've on-one else to come in and get scores from play. Armstrong could possibly provide this if he can ever get his hamstrings sorted out for the summer. That's a big "if" though considering the number of times he has pulled/torn them over the last 2 years.

Also, midfield doesn't look to strong for Saturday. We need Bergin back in there. Coleman is a good player but Geraghty just isn't up to county standard as has been proven time and again.
Cullinane has his limitations but he's far better than Geraghty.
It'll be very difficult to come out of Ballybofey with a result. I can't see us getting anything out of it to be honest.