Messages

Is Finian Hanley ok? Yeah i'd be inclined to start Kieran Fitz too. He's be up against one of the big Mayo forwards so will have the height. I would start Mullahy instead of Sice, just not inter-county standard IMO.

Cullinane looked really jaded when we came on the last day, I could see Coleman instead of him starting at midfield and maybe Nicky Joyce for Matthew Clancy too.

You can't beat experience and I would want Joyce on the ball in the last few minutes. Of course it all depends what kind of ball you are giving in to him.

The question is would you want to win the Connacht title. Last year provincial champions Galway, Dublin and Armagh were all beat in the QFs and Cork could have been caught only they meet a piss poor Kildare team. Would you sacrifice the Connacht title for a better crack at the All-Ireland?

Galway's half-forward line is poor except for Joyce so I'm sure Moran and Gardiner will be exposed, but will be against greater oppostion.

The plan for Galway at midfield at this stage is to flood the midfield, break ball and hopefully win the majority of the breaks. it won't be pretty but that's the way it goes. If they break anyways close to 50-50, then they have a good chance.

I think the Galway defence may handle the big men better than the small fast guys like Kelly last week. They coped well in last year's Connacht final with the long ball in. It's the small nippy guys they struggle to handle.

I know we can say Galway were tested but they didn't look good. They say the sign of a good team is if they play badly and win. Of course to look at it in another way, if you play badly, it may be you are a bad team. May be an exaggeration but you get my point!!!! 

So at least we know where Galway are now, no further on than last year and probably worse off!!!

Our midfield is still a disaster area and half forward line are disaster areas fofr us. I would exempt Conroy and Joyce here. They did a lot of work and it's expecting a lot for a 19/20 year old to be our main midfielder at this stage. We still keep coming back to the same guys, Barry Cullinane and Niall Coleman who aren't the answer but who is?
At least we tried to vary some of the kickouts but some ended out over the sideline. It's really hard to know what to do here. Tyrone have recycled some forwards here in midfield in recent years with some success -Enda McGinley, Ryan Mellon. Maybe we need to put guys here but have talents but are not ball winners and look to break everything in midfield. Bradshaw may be worth a punt here or Kieran Fitz??

Our half forward line is another disaster area, Joyce excluded. Bane is infuriating, offers nothing in general play but can score if given opportunities. Coleman, Matthew Clancy are same as ever, good but not good enough.
And how did Coyne stay on for 70 mins? He was being cleaned and looks short of confidence.
Unless we shape up soon, we'll lose to Mayo fairly comfortably and be cannon fodder for some team full of confidence after a run in the qualifiers!!!

Are you sure it wasn't the Mayo fans jeering McDonald? That's happened too. 

I know a player from Moycullen who said once he heard Sammon had the job that Bradshaw was a cert to play because he loved him at St. Mary's.

I still don't understand how we went the entire league and mif-field is still a major problem which it looks like we have made no attempt to resolve.

Maybe losing a minor final may spur youngsters on to greater things.

Galway minors lost to Kerry in the All-Ireland final in 1994.

Of that team, Richie Fahy, Tomas Meehan, Declan Meehan, John Divilly, Padraig Joyce,
Michael Donnellan, Derek Savage, Paul Clancy went on to win All-Irelands in 1998 and 2001.

That team was blended with some remaining minors that won the title in 1986!!!
Kevin Walsh and Tomas Mannion (if memory serves)

Looking towards the future I think Galway need to find some players in the mid-field and half forward areas. Hopefully Conroy who is only 19 will be able to fill in this mid-field areas once he bulks up his physique. Maybe some of the other minors will start to come through also, could do with one or two in defence also as 1-21 is a massive score to concede.

Also we need to find a goalie who can vary his kick-outs so we can take some short kick-outs, particularly if we are not competitive at mid-field.

Liverpool will not win anything if they persist is using players like Kuyt and Benyaoun (sp) in wide areas. These are not wide players and don't have the pace to beat defenders. Everyhting was so narrow last night with no width and the belgians know all they had to do was play deep deny Torres space and double team him every time the ball came to him.

Liverpool really need some wide players before the transfer window closes.

It's true, we were underdogs even with a full deck to choose from, I would say that would be the starting line-up for the forwards,
Lydon will be the only player to be brought on with any big match game time this year, who else would be on the subs bench.

Sice will probably keep his place with Declan Meehan doubtful too.

It's a very tall order now.

According to news reports this morning Bergin is out and both Declan Meehan and Armstrong are doubtful.

Anybody got the latest?

I hope so the expectation would be that Galway like to play football and don't resort to the rough tactics but
I think we'll need to revisit this policy this weekend.

I feel that this game is probably beyond Galway but we cannot forget that Kerry lost an eight point lead in the Munster
Final and can still be fragile but I think we would need two or three goals to win this game.

With Nicky Joyce out, who will gets his place? Would Lydon or Conroy get a start to try to bolster the midfield area?

Does that comment about Galway not having leaders still valid after Sunday. I mean when Mayo got ahead on Sunday Joyce was the only real leader when he helped steady the ship at that time. If Joyce does not provide the leadership do we have the required leaders?

Also I have a fear of our full back line in that they are used to playing against Mayo forwards such as Burke on Mortimer. How will they do on other forwards that they are not so familiar with, particularly if we are losing the battle at midfield?

Billy Fitzpatrick on MidWest made the same point on Sunday evening that Mayo do not have enough players at the sufficient level to win an All-Ireland. I don't think Galway have either.

And Finnegan was a excellent player, reliable free-taker and it should be remembered also in the reply against Roscommon in Hyde Park '98, Ros went two points up into the second half and we were looking for a leader, he stepped up with two points to level the game. And two points at the beginning of the second half of the All-Ireland final to help us on our way.

I agree mostly with that. I think Joyce brought that up being interviewed after the match that we haven't won there since
2001 so I think the lads will be focused on that.

I think Armstrong, Conroy and Lydon all did well when introduced the last day so maybe keeping them in reserve is the best option.