Messages

The Stringer/Boss argument should be fairly straightforward......does Ireland was to play a tighter, more forward orientated type of game which would suit Boss better where he can suck in defenders around edge of ruck and maul or a more expansive game and use what strengths we have in the back-line and get the ball there quick from Stringer? The "standard Munster defence" of Stringer (as it was described earlier i think)about his quicker pass than Boss is no less valid because its the standard defence! He has the quicker pass, he can release one of the best backlines in the world quicker and just ask Biarritz if he can break  . He may not be the best in the world, but hes certainly the best we have.
Roll on the weekend......Edinburghs always a good city to go on the lash!

Cant believe it took Tuam so long to get a mention!!!
Crossmaglen.....while not necessarily a shithole has to be the most depression inducing town I have ever set foot in.......closely followed by gorgeous Granard!

You Are a Good Manager if................you're not Peter Ford!

By the way, that should have read 2 All Irelands, I got a bit over excited!!!!

There was never a chance that Joyce was going to quit. It said loads about both men that it took joyce to give out about cullinane to Forde for the most obvious move of the match to happen. Bane in for cullinane. Padraig is a cocky fecker when he gets going but he was so right. He came on and sorted out the half forward line in a way that Fallon just wasn't doing.

I'd still be looking for John Devane to get a run again(i'm not the biggest club football watcher). It was a joy to see Mikie Meehan hitting frees from 50 yards. 2 beauties at either end of the field. The threat from the 40 has to return to drag out the oppositions bulk defence.

Clarin Pearl, you obviously dont know PJ.....theres nothing cocky about him, he just knows what hes about unlike Forde. He captained Ireland to compromise rules titles, been a selector with Ireland, won 3 all Irelands, two county titles, a couple of All Stars, Player of the Year etc etc etc....entitled to some degree of confidence I suspect!!! And a definite Galway manager in the future.......hopefully a bit away yet though - we can get more out of him.
Did anyone else see Cullinanes kick pass early in first half.....a 20 yard kick pass and he wellies it over sideline. He has no interest in anything other than niggling players from the opposition that foul a Galway man. If he applied himself as well to getting the high ball at midfield as he did to that shite hed be better served. That said, Doherty kept hoofing it down the middle even when we were not winning any clean possession.
God willing we wont go back to the days of Tobin anyway....or bring in someone like Paidi or Permatan Maughan (sorry Rossies!). Id like to see an insider again for the simple reason that in all the club matches Ive gone to in last 3 years (and thats alot), there was never a sign of Forde so even if there was better options out there, he never knew about them.
Roll on 2008, theres no way it can be as bad as last two years!

Juice, it was 2-14 to 1-14. Shouldnt have been that close, we got a very dubious peno

So now we dont have to worry about washing the maroon jerseys for the rest of the year, when will we be gettin down the brass tacks?
I assume the draw for q-finals will be next week?

Theres a fierce element of the cute Kerry hoor about O'Cinneide but as ye say, hes the best there is at the minute. I wouldnt mind Tohill coming across as wooden....theres no shite out of him and id appreciate that much more than a gobshite like Brolly getting personal about players in his comments

I think theres the guts of a decent team there if they can get a bit more direction in their attacking play. Defensively we are relatively sound bar the calamitous five mins before half time when all and sundry fell asleep.
Midfield is still a major problem, no football in Cullinane at all. On another thread i heard him compared to O'Domhnaill which would be about right. He seems more concerned with niggling off the ball than anything else. Coleman is a wing forward....doesnt have aerial ability for midfield. Geraghty is not the answer either. I wonder has Kevin Walsh any sons???!
The forwards play as individuals and unfortunately, the ball going into them is terrible for this level of football. Hoofing aimless high ball in doesnt constitute quick ball. No support runners, and little teamwork by 10-15.
It should be a tempting job to an outside manager.....theres good players there but they need some structure, a game plan.......any plan really.
It would be a sad way for some lads to go out but its time to move on from 6 years ago......i think some of the lads havent. We're second tier now and the sooner we realise it the better 

Its been two bad years for us football followers down Wesht..........the post mortem is inevitable. Where do we go now? Who's for the chop? Who should have been in the senior panel that wasnt??

The Barnaderg boys haven't gone away ya know and would love a cut at the townies  Well done to Milltown.....big scalp last night...... if they can get a decentdraw for quarters they could go a long way

He should have gone last year. Changing the selectors and leaving Ford was a cop out by the County Board last autumn and now they are paying for it. He got Galway to the league final only by way of having played three half-middling games during Spring 06. Kerry pulled away from them at their will in the second half of that game. The championship was a shambles. Dire against Mayo in Castlebar and the less said about Westmeath the better.

This year has followed a similar trend again.

Im not saying the players are blameless.......alot of hunger and motivation must come from within the players themselves but anyone who has seen Ford on the sideline or being interviewed might agree that hes hardly motivational speaker quality. You'd not be inclined to go through walls for a lad that sounds like he couldnt give a toss himself would you? The quality of player is there to be doing alot better than we are. As i said in previous posts, he has given defence a steeliness that was not there before and stole the attacking fluency from a team that when it played well and to potential (a long time ago....cant actually remember when it last happened), only Kerry could touch.

Hes our version of Stan Staunton.......that in itself says alot.

Club championship games are going ahead this coming Sat & Sun. Lets hope they show a bit more for the clubs.......

Great stuff from Sligo yesterday, many congratulations.Its fitting that OHara gets his medal.....as good a footballer as there is and certainly the best footballer in Connacht to have not won a provincial medal (before yesterday, that is....). Theres a few on the galway team that could learn a thing or two from Sligo about guts and heart and prode in the jersey.

A few things struck me about yesterday from a Galway perspective - the lack of desire shown is mind-blowing. Maybe this team are hanging off the coat-tails of 98 & 01 teams? Think they are as good as those teams? Maybe they need reminding that theyve not reached the semi final of AI since 01 let alone have notions of themselves as AI contenders. Where was the half forward line when ball was breaking? Where did midfield go after 20 mins? Why did Forde pick a half forward line with not a defensive bone in their body who were all over the shop when Sligos wing backs drove on and when the dirty ball beeded to be won? Why did Forde put Nicky in the corner when he was doing ok in first half running at Sligo from no 12 and then put the most lethal finisher in the panel in Armstrong at wing forward doing the donkey work when they needed his finishing power inside? Why did he take Blake off? Why didnt Forde take PJ off.......it would have been a tough call and hes been a sterling servant of Galway football and owes nobody a thing but he clearly wasnt right yesterday and unusually for him didnt even contribute in general play.

Forde gave us a defence to be proud of and ripped any attacking fluency out of a forward line pack with fine players. He has turned what was total football once upon a time (a long time ago too) into puke football. Get it to half way and hoof the thing as long and as high as you can in on top of a full back line that was eating the Galway forwards alive.

I hope Sligo go on from here and do well. Galway fans can rest knowing that the management will be gone by end of the year................jesus I hope Ros keep Maughan or it would be like to clowns in the Co Board to go after him!

2pm at Hyde Park, Roscommon on Sunday week