Galway v New York..

[bottlethrower7]

Firstly I would not be overly worried about the result out in New York as this was a classic "no win" match for the overwhelming favourites, getting through to the Connacht Semi-Final was the objective and it was achieved. However, the performance was fairly poor and should be a cause for concern in certain aspects. I don't think anyone should be in any doubt that New York came very close to possibly the biggest shock in recent championship history last Sunday.

I think you're reading a bit too much into this to be fair. I was over at the game. It was a real holiday type atmosphere and it'd have been hard for the galway lads not to have detected that and for it to contribute to whatever complacency might have crept into their game.

But they were never in any danger of losing this game. It was always more comfortable for them than the scoreboard might have suggested. Yes, they didn't play all that well but they didn't really have to.

A couple of things to bear in mind. First, the game was played on an all-weather pitch. The synthetic grass type, with all sorts of lines going here there any everywhere (its a shared field with a local high school). It was fairly narrow too. Secondly, the heat was quite unbearable. Over 30 degrees all weekend over there. It was clearly more of a struggle for them than the locals.

The first lad that got sent off (Madden) should have walked long before that after an outrageous box into the jaw of one of the midfielders. He got a yellow for that and that pretty much ended any contribution by him from then til his inevitable dismissal. The second sending off was the far side from where I sat, but that lad didn't seem the sort to do anything rash. I'm not sure what it was for but most people in the ground seemed surprised when he got sent off.

Does anyone know did the Galway team make it back into the country? They'd have been stranded in NY on monday night with the rest of us. And if they were on the corresponding flight back last night, chances are that was cancelled too.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Being very harsh on Blake there - Declan O'Sullivan may have roasted him a few times in the past. But Declan O'Sullivan tends to do that against most of his opposition. He is still easily Galways best option at number 6.

I wouldn't say it's being very harsh, as I stated Blake is a good footballer and has undoubtedly done a job for Galway here in the past.
It's not just Declan O'Sullivan (I would accept that O'Sullivan does destroy most opposition, he might be the best "pound-for-pound" footballer in the county at the moment) though, it's happened in several other games, Cork and Dublin league games this year come to mind immediately. I just think that any opposition manager worth his salt will have seen his problem with pacey centre forwards and will target it, it would be no harm if we had a creditable alternative there in case. Perhaps the alternatives simply aren't there but either way I think it's a fair enough point.

Firstly I would not be overly worried about the result out in New York as this was a classic "no win" match for the overwhelming favourites, getting through to the Connacht Semi-Final was the objective and it was achieved. However, the performance was fairly poor and should be a cause for concern in certain aspects. I don't think anyone should be in any doubt that New York came very close to possibly the biggest shock in recent championship history last Sunday.

I think you're reading a bit too much into this to be fair. I was over at the game. It was a real holiday type atmosphere and it'd have been hard for the galway lads not to have detected that and for it to contribute to whatever complacency might have crept into their game.

Does anyone know did the Galway team make it back into the country? They'd have been stranded in NY on monday night with the rest of us. And if they were on the corresponding flight back last night, chances are that was cancelled too.

Probably reading too much into the NY performance alright, very hard to judge going on purely the radio commentary but it did sound bad enough while the game was still going.

Galway team flew to London and got the boat back along with the rest of the travelling support going by reports today, long trek back for them all.

[shaund10]

As far as I remember, its usually the back that marks the forward in football. If Blake comes against a pacy Declan O Sullivan type player, it is very easy to move say Bradshaw onto him at the beginning of the game and Blake onto someone else. Blake is fairly comfortable at wing back and is our second best player in the half back line at the moment.

[Seamus]

Galway's number 6 (O'Donnell?) was one of their best players. Their midfield was poor, Cullinane is way overweight for an intercounty player and the heat certainly affected him more than most. New York's midfield wasn't much better, Adrian O'Connor dropped 95% of the ball that came his way and Madden lost the head early in a clash with Bergin. He should have been taken off soon after his yellow card as it was inevitable that he would get sent off. How he was not sent off earlier is a mystery. NY would surely have won if they kept their discipline. On this display Galway would have no hope against either Mayo or Sligo but maybe the heat and complacency had more to do with this display than meets the eye. It was close to 90F and humid on the day and you can add another 20F with the heat from the artificial turf, something very new to the Galway players.

[unitedireland]

Is there video highlights anywhere??

[barelegs]

Is there video highlights anywhere??

There's video highlights here

http://www.youtube.com/user/gaabeo#p/search/1/MLGuWGKn2lg