Messages

Just finished "A secret life"  - an account of Rychard Kuklinski, a high-ranking Polish army officer who passed Warsaw Pact secrets to the CIA at the height of the Cold War in the hope that it would help prevent invasion and annihilation of his country and possibly WWIII in Europe. His ideals were noble but many former colleagues thought him a traitor, something which hurt him in later years.

In 1995 Derry lost to Westmeath in the All Ireland Minor Final.  Maybe Derry were a bit unlucky in that game, but Westmeath had a good team and won their first Minor All Ireland.

I stand corrected. Both Galway minor teams in '95 were seriously talented but thanks to sideline mismanagement and bad luck they both lost at the semi' stage.

Colin Moran

Definitely agree at intercounty level, but when you watch club football you can see why successive Dublin managements almost seem to manufacture positions for him.

Someone mentioned Tommy Carr? Was a stalwart during a lot of barren years for Dublin, not sure he overachieved.

Trevor Giles? You are having a giraffe. One of the best foot passers of a ball I've ever had the pleasure to watch, and was a vital cog in a top Meath team, and thats coming from a Westmeath man!

Giles was a moderate talent whose importance seemed to far outweigh his ability. (Also missed 2 penos in AI finals). BTW, a Westmeath player agrees with me!

Derek O'Reilly of Corofin and John Concannon of Milltown were both tremendous players at underage level but never followed through properly

Yeah, they were really good players. That Galway '94 minor team was laced with talent. Jayo and the Dubs beat them the day Laythrum got tonked if memory serves.

No, 'twas the other way around. Galway beat Dublin but lost to Kerry. It was worse the following year, they conceded a late goal to Derry who lost narrowly (and unluckily if memory serves) to Laois in the final. One that might have got away for Galway IMHO.

Sean Og De Paor  & Roberto Carlos

Dan Shanahan & former Romanian international Adrian Ilie

Football? Hmm... a lot of the Armagh team in '02 were limited enough; only for Kerry fell off the bike in the latter stages... (Don't get me wrong, I was there and was ecstatic that the Orchard county won). Also Dara O'Cinneide, Trevor Giles.

Hurling? A shame that Cork and KK have had no real, concerted opposition in recent years, allowing them to pick up AI's after playing only 1 or 2 tough games - not their fault the opposition was so poor in fairness. Clare made the most of their limited ability and their core of quality players 95 - 97. Individually, Sean O'Hailpin.

That Galway have only won 9 All-irelands from 42 Provincial titles may be as much an indictment of the poverty of the challenge from the other counties in Connacht that they haven;t been able to test them better rather than any of their own shortcomings. (Though I'll admit Galway have been a major 'charity' county when it comes to allowing other counties win AI's.)

Anyway, in terms of underachievement in Galway, Derek O'Reilly of Corofin and John Concannon of Milltown were both tremendous players at underage level but never followed through properly. You could possibly include a large swathe of the Galway hurlers also but the fact is that they have only underachieved at Senior c'ship level (due as much to their reluctance to participate in the other Provincial championships), i.e. many of them have Minor, U-21, club, league medals etc. Does this count?

Won't particularly comment on individual matches, but Caltra (3rd. favourites) may struggle in the unfortunate absence of Noel Meehan against a Menlough side who won the Inter. c'ship in style last year. Salthill and Corofin are the 2 favourites, perhaps rightfully, but Corofin will still have the same failing of being unable to run up big scores against the better teams; Salthill will have much the same problem as they may be over reliant on Armstrong and Mikey D. Killererin should be even more solid this year and are good value at 10/1, (should gladden Duine's heart!). A good dark horse bet are Cortoon who have a nice mix of experience and some good young players coming through, at 20/1 an e.w. wager wouldn't go astray. Tuam Stars could also be worth a look as they seem to be on the up again after a long time in the doldrums.

In the Intermediate grade Moycullen appear to be the form team with Kilconly, St. James and Monivea/Abbey (hopefully) in with a shout.

On the hurling side, Portumna are favourites and will be going all out for the title. It's hard to see who might stop them; reigning champs Loughrea are off-form and injury-hit, Athenry struggle in E. Cloonan's absence for scores, Craughwell are handy but light, Mullagh solid but no scoring machines either. Clarinbridge are on-form at the moment and they or quite possibly Gort may be in the shake-up.

jaaz, Duine, why didn't you leave in time? Leaving at 1.50 is asking for trouble the day of a big match in Pearse!!!

Anyway, in reply to a point raised above, my understanding is that Provincial finals can only be played on a home-and-away basis if both counties have grounds capable of hosting such a match. Thus should a Galway-Sligo final come to pass, it would be played in Castlebar (remember the wet day in '02?) or more possibly Hyde Park, the designated Provincial HQ ground, as Markiewicz park in Sligo isn't large enough to host a Connacht final. So, for selfish reasons, I'm sure most Galwegians are hoping for a Galway / Ros' final which would be played in Pearse stadium (no chance of Tuam being ready unfortunately.)

SWOT analysis from Galway's win on Sunday;

Strengths; They played with a spirit not seen to date and were really up for it on the day.
There were good displays from the maligned (by me admittedly) Bane, N Joyce (to a lesser extent), Bergin and Coleman (in terms of passing).
Backs were once again very good, though Blake steadied things more then Coyne upon his introduction.
They won despite their 2 top forwards, PJ and M Meehan, only scoring a free each.

Weaknesses; Any analysis of the match must take into context how bad Mayo really were – they were dreadful. (It's evident that the Mayo squad as it now stands is finished; Bradys, Nallen, BJP, even McD regardless of fitness are not going to do it. Why was Kilcoyne good enough to play in last year's semi and final but not on Sunday? And even as a Galway man I do have a pro-Mayo/Connacht agenda.) Galway are in a very dangerous position at the moment if they allow themselves to get carried away with last Sunday's result.
Forwards still need sharpening up; Meehan needs to find better form and Bane is better at the finish of a move rather than the start, he was bottled up a few times in the second half when running with the ball.
Other teams will have noted how Galway and Coleman and Ja in particular got stuck in on Sunday and may target / bait them.

Opportunities; Galway should be good enough to overcome Leitrim in Carrick and home advantage could be a big factor against probably Ros' in the Connacht final. After that, a ¼ final in Croker backons where their experience of the league semi-final should stand to the newer players.
The squad still has a few options to come in, Armstrong, Sice, Alan Burke though P Clancy and Mikey D remain long shots.

Threats; Is Ford a good enough manager to bring them all the way? Realistically a semi-final is the absolute limit of their ambitions IMHO.
Galway will certainly meet much better opposition than Mayo along the way with Kerry, Tyrone, Dublin and Donegal being the usual main dangers.
Complacency and over-confidence.
Forwards still need to find a better blend, in ball winners particularly.

Have to totally disagree with u there DJ Galiv, Coleman is one of our best and natural footballers, people keep identifying him as a midfield ball winner yet his height counts against him, he is an exquisite passer and delivers quality ball, thats why i reckon he can play anywhere between 5 and 12.

Jeez, belle, a good passer is exactly what Coleman is not, unfortunately. His delivery is regularly very wayward.

Disappointed Meehan is left corner forward where the dogs on the street know he wont deliver, im a believer in Peter Forde but his faith in Ja is misplaced, Ja comin on is a lot more inspirational than him coming off.

Do you mean Meehan or Bane? Meehan will be fine, don't worry at all about him. Even when's he off-form he takes watching. Bane and N Joyce now have the platform, they need to deliver. There can't be too many more chances for them.

Anyway, Blake's absence is a loss but Coyne has had a good league campaign, so Comer is the only major worry in the defence, (he's been replaced in the last 2 c'ship games v Mayo I think). No worries at all about Hanley who's turning into a no. 3 of real quality.

Galway city here is windy at the moment - if this persists til Sunday it will be a game of 2 halves even more so than usual in Pearse. Home side to scrape home in a dull and moderate-quality match.

Possible team for Sunday (based on rumour and hearsay)

Doherty (though King may step in if Doherty's injury hasn't cleared up)

Fitz
Hanley
D Burke

D Meehan
N Coyne (Blake very doubtful from what I hear)
M Comer (though Sice, my preference, may get the nod)

Bergin
Cullinane

N Coleman
F Breathnach
N Joyce
(Ja to be sprung; very bad half-forward line)

Savo
P Joyce
C Bane

Again rumour has it that Bane will be picked ahead of M Meehan on training form, though how anyone with any sense or knowledge of Galway football could think Bane is somehow better than Meehan baffles belief.

So there you have it; backs not bad, particularly if a fit Blake could start with Coyne moving sideways. Midfield very dodgy, though if they could distribute the ball as soon as they win possession the weaknesses could be off-set somewhat. Forwards so bad they could actually mither the opposition to defeat. N Joyce, Breathnach, Bane (and Coleman to an extent) have yet to show they have what it takes in c'ship fare.

Bergin and Cullinane midfield - God bless Cullinane, he has the best of intentions when attempting to solo the ball but when he tried it yesterday it nearly ended up in Clonsilla village! Seems absurd to say about a county footballer but if he caught it and just laid it off we'd all have less grey hairs!

Is this Cullinane or Bergin you're talking about? If it's the former then that makes two of them unfortunately.

Bravest / most foolhardy hurler possibly Brendan Lynskey (+ honourable mention to Mike Coleman )

Playing Matt Clancy would give me something to think about too, like will he score, will he pass it to a teammate, will he look up when he goes on a run with the ball etc. (Sorry, but, you know...)