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Connacht U20 final on tomorrow night at 730 in Tuam. No Youtube coverage for this final unlike the U17 final by the looks of it?

Two teams named

Galway: Oran Burke, Ross Mahon, Seán Mulkerrin, Eoghan McFadden, Liam Boyle, Ciarán Potter, Jack Kirrane, Matthias Barrett, Michael Collins, Matthew Tierney, Gavin Burke, Ben O'Connell, Darragh Silke, Padraig Costello, Rory Cunningham

Mayo: Jamie McNicholas, Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Oisín Mullin, Aaron McDonnell, Conor Beirne, Eoghan McLaughlin, Evan O'Brien, Gavin Durcan, John Gallagher, Paul Towey, Paddy Goldrick, Aidan Orme, Stephen McGreal, Tommy Conroy

Galway have been really hyped up due to the results in the John Kerins competiton, Galway never seems to wear the favourites tag well.

I only saw this bunch once at minor level against Cavan and they were poor, lets hope they live up to the expectation.

They hammered this Mayo team by 13 points at minor in 2017 albeit Evan Murphy is a substantial loss since then but Matthew Tierney was only a sub that day and has really blossomed since. A lot of positional changes on the Mayo side since 2017 so it'll be a lot tighter tonight I imagine.

What happened to Evan Murphy's try out with Galway United, was it cut short due to injury? both have 8 same starters by my count from that minor match.  Daniel Kenny who i recall was big physical lad scored two goals in that match is he still playing football?  I think Tierney was starter Galway U17 team that year.

As far as i know he was playing some games with Galway Utd (Centre back i believe)  and missed some of the club championship around this time last year,  then came back for the quarterfinal and very unfortunately picked up a bad injury.

Connacht U20 final on tomorrow night at 730 in Tuam. No Youtube coverage for this final unlike the U17 final by the looks of it?

Two teams named

Galway: Oran Burke, Ross Mahon, Seán Mulkerrin, Eoghan McFadden, Liam Boyle, Ciarán Potter, Jack Kirrane, Matthias Barrett, Michael Collins, Matthew Tierney, Gavin Burke, Ben O'Connell, Darragh Silke, Padraig Costello, Rory Cunningham

Mayo: Jamie McNicholas, Jack Coyne, Rory Brickenden, Oisín Mullin, Aaron McDonnell, Conor Beirne, Eoghan McLaughlin, Evan O'Brien, Gavin Durcan, John Gallagher, Paul Towey, Paddy Goldrick, Aidan Orme, Stephen McGreal, Tommy Conroy

Galway have been really hyped up due to the results in the John Kerins competiton, Galway never seems to wear the favourites tag well.

I only saw this bunch once at minor level against Cavan and they were poor, lets hope they live up to the expectation.

Their best player by far at minor (2017)  was Evan Murphy who is out with a long term injury , but 2 years is a long time at that age i suppose. Tonight is the test,  the pre-season stuff they won a lot of games in doesn't prove much.

[Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.]

Imo

           Power
Silke OCeallaigh Kerin
McDaid   Daly   Molloy
      Flynn Conroy
Walsh Cooke Brannigan
  Burke Comer OLaoi

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
That Full Back line has been proven to be not up to scratch, Galway will win nothing against good teams with it based on what we've seen so far. Silke looks a HB or nothing based on inter county form to date.
You're going the right direction with the HB line, nothing to say that it will work at all but worth a try.

Silke is a hb imo but went for Molloy instead, need better options to step forward forst

We are fairly goosed at corner back.  We probably have 6-8 lads who could possibly do a good job at wing back but no cornerbacks. Very bare cupboard. By their nature county cornerbacks tend to be centre backs or wing backs for their clubs (Kerin is a 6 for Annaghdown, Kyne i assume is a 3 or 6 for Clonbur)  but not sure Silke is the answer either.

[Top Level nailed on starters when fit and healthy]

I didn't see FOC as an U21 apparently he was very good and hugely athletic beside Tom Flynn.  I've seen enough of him since his injuries to say he is not at this point close to being an intercounty level midfield athlete and at 26, 27  i can't see that changing.

I would view the current Galway squad in  tiers

Top Level nailed on starters when fit and healthy

Shane Walsh
Damien Comer
Ian Burke

All 3 on their day with some service are All Star level players.

Very promising lads who can reach the Top level hopefully in next year or two

Molloy
Michael Daly
John Daly
McDaid
Cooke (Possibly needs to be put either in at 11 or 8 and left there)

Solid Reliable lads who won't let anybody down and are still good intercounty starter level

Tom Flynn
Bradshaw
Conroy
Declan Kyne (At corner back not full)

Need to work on some serious consistency/get back to where they were

Sean Andy
Johnny Heaney
Eoin Kerin
Rúairí Lavelle
Eamon Branigan

Jury is Out/Need to see more
Liam Silke
Martin Farragher
Robert Finnerty
Antaine O'Laoi (Needs some bulk but i like him)
Sean Kelly (Can he be more than just "legs"?)

On the bubble for next years pane due to age/lack of playing time etcl
O'Donnell
G. Armstrong
Varley
Power
Cummins
Duane
FOC

The way the league used to be used to  blood players  ideally the manager would take the winter now to blood the likes of Mulkerrins at fullback to see if there is an alternative to/competition for  SAOC, and give the likes of Farragher,  Rob Finnerty, Cein Darcy a proper run of games to see are they strong contenders for places next summer.  However, the way the league is gone and how much pressure there is to stay in Div 1 managers other than Dublin can't really do that any more.  We ended up  last Saturday due to being very unlucky with injuries and lack of availability of Corofin players with questions all over the pitch

- The Keeper situtation was in flux.
- Hadn't seen enough of Liam Silke at corner back as opposed to wing back and he got roasted.
- Kyne brought in out of the cold to play full back tho he did do well.
- McDaid thrown in at midfield for the first time ever outside of a club game. Again did well.
- Branigan starting first game for Galway in ages.
- Full forward was practically on debut
- Cooke playing midfield again despite playing centre forward most of the league

That's a hell of a lot of question marks and hoping things work out  for a crucial knockout game against your biggest rivals. In fairness to Walsh he was dealt as bad a hand as Horan was with injuries though it received much less of the publicity than "crisis hit" Mayo did. Contrast to last year where i think any of us could have named 13 of the starting 15 in our sleep.

Whether he stays on or goes ultimately will come down to the players.  If he hasn't lost the dressing room and they all are happy to commit again next year for him he'll stay. If the senior players think another  way of doing things will kick them on to another level he'll probably go.