Sligos New Manager - Kevin Walsh - O Hara hails "Dream Team"

[baoithe]

does it really matter, are the sligo players capable much even with a proven manager?

I know you're just trying to provoke the ire of the likes of Sligonian but I'd like to make it clear that, unlike your kinsfolk, Sligo people are under no illusions as to the quality of player that are available to the county team. However, what we do expect is that the county board and the management that the county board put in place ensure that the team that take the field in any given game are as best prepared as they possibly can be.

In this regard neither of these criteria were satisfied last year.

[dodo]

would wish Kevin walsh good luck.  A nice chap - prob his last successful couple of years as a Galway midfielder coloured the opinion of most towards him being better than he was, certainly in his early and mid career with galway he was not outstanding - steady though. Prob only realised how best to play when his legs went in latter days.

How he fares as a manager will be interesting.
Looks like county boards are going and looking for the 'jason ryan' younger man type thing. Whether Kevin is that or not is another matter.

That does not add up. He was either very good in his latter years or he wasn't ? As he was then he cannot then be said to be misjudged as a top footballer. Walsh in his earlier years suffered greatly from injuries and found it very difficult to get a run of injury free time. He never had the physique to be running mad around the place so his game was based on good hands and intelligent play.

[SLIGONIAN]

Sligonian go easy on yourself. Go for a drink or take a pill 'cos if you're that upset now, good help you if and when we lose a match.  The mischief maker in me thinks that your anger is more to do with being blindsided on your intelligence about who would be next manager than anything else...

I'd have a few thoughts

Surprise choice and definitely a risk. Surprising too in that he has a large and youing family and it's a fair commute three odd days a wek.

The choice of selectors is more of an eyebrow raiser in my view. I know them all well and have seen them operate up close over many years in good times and bad. They are certainly close to the current panel members but I would be more concerned about their capability in the role and about the fact that because they have all played together in the same era with the same setups, that there isn't enough variety among them - I think that a good group of selectors should see each individual bring something different to the table.  Of the three I'd be most reassured by the presence of Taylor. In my experience he has a very good football head and will be an asset. He is also, despite being one of the lads, a good judge of the human character who has his own mind and knows what needs to be done.  His downside is that he is far too nice a guy to take the rod and make the rules happen off the pitch. Dessie was always quiet so was harder to read.  He was a very clever, cute footballer though who specialised in efficiency and never looked like he was about to do anything but nearly always did. Very unproven in this context though and again a lad that liked to sit in the pack within the set-up.  Was Durcan managing Curry this year?  You guys would have a better feel for his management capability in that context than I but on the basis of my experience I wouldn't be convinced.

All that said though, we have to give them a chance - whatever one might think abouit their currently known or proven capabilities, those three Sligo lads were always very proud and committed performers for the county (cue some serious wailing in that regard from your friends in FoSF) and from what I know Walsh was always very highly thought of as both a person and a footballer by his Galway colleagues. At least let them pick a panel, train them a few times, pick a team and play a game before dismissing them - after all that is waht we should judge them by - not anything that they did or didn't do before this.

... and one point of consolation... what all had Sean Boylan managed before he took over Meath??  Did he not turn them into winners from nothing and then go and build another team to win a furthe AI making him on of the top managers of the past 40 years.

And finally, and as an aside, can I endorse completely moysider's analysis of Ford, Mayo, Galway and the challenge beyond Connacht.

Jees Paddy your way off the mark with that first comment and it is insulting. I was told kevin walsh a few days ago but refused to belive it, if you go to the local pages you'll see i said his name before the announcement, i'll be expecting an apology. Have I not a right to be pissed off that a junior club manager has got Sligo senior job.

My phone has been hopping last night and this morning with EX intercounty players from various counties dismayed and shocked at this appointment. The word joke was used alot. Some actually know him well, one man said to me hes a fierce nice fella but Sligo footballers need a kick up the arse not a belly rubber. Hes right.

[GalwayBayBoy]

would wish Kevin walsh good luck.  A nice chap - prob his last successful couple of years as a Galway midfielder coloured the opinion of most towards him being better than he was, certainly in his early and mid career with galway he was not outstanding - steady though. Prob only realised how best to play when his legs went in latter days.

How he fares as a manager will be interesting.
Looks like county boards are going and looking for the 'jason ryan' younger man type thing. Whether Kevin is that or not is another matter.

That does not add up. He was either very good in his latter years or he wasn't ? As he was then he cannot then be said to be misjudged as a top footballer. Walsh in his earlier years suffered greatly from injuries and found it very difficult to get a run of injury free time. He never had the physique to be running mad around the place so his game was based on good hands and intelligent play.

What you said.

Kevin Walsh was a top class midfielder and I can safely say Galway would not have won those All-Ireland's without him. Indeed if we had him fully fit against Kerry in 2000 (along with Ja) we might have won that one too. As it was he played the game hobbling around on one leg and still pretty much dragged us back into that game the first day.

[lynchbhoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.

I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

[Maximus Marillius]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.
I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

so similair to Mc gilligan in that his last years were his best as a footballer. It only in 992 onwards rthat he was able to foot pass really well

[GalwayBayBoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.

As dodo already said.

Walsh in his earlier years suffered greatly from injuries and found it very difficult to get a run of injury free time.

Not to mention the fact that in the early part of his intercounty career, Galway were not a very good football team. In fact they were downright bad. They went 8 years without even a Connacht title which is almost unheard of for Galway.

He played very well against Tyrone in an All-Ireland semi-final in 1995 and even up to 2003 he was probably Galway's best player that year when he was just about the only player who performed against Donegal both days so that's an 8 year stretch which is not bad by a modern midfielders standard. Especially one who had a bad back his entire career.

[lynchbhoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.
I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

so similair to Mc gilligan in that his last years were his best as a footballer. It only in 992 onwards rthat he was able to foot pass really well

yes , thats true.
Apart from the fact that I dont think he was ever that good at footpassing in his latter years. McGilligan wasnt on the field for his finesse though.
As we all know.

Its odd however, that I recall a young (u21) mcgilligan playing a challenge match down in offaly at CHF for Dungiven , and he stood out from the rest on the pitch because he was an extremely skillful footballer (and a red curly head that made him look like a skinny 6' 4" bosco).


I have to disagree yet with the sentiment that walsh was anything more than decent (on a consistent basis rather than a game a season) before his last two or three years. If thats down to inj, then so be it.
Certainly my galway friends didnt think so.

[MacDanger]

I ll tell ya I d swap our management team for yours in a shot but I d doubt you d want to swap. At least Walsh and co have potential unlike ours who have a great future behind them. I think Walsh will do well for Sligo.

FFS Moysider, did JOM steal your pint some night or what??

[GalwayBayBoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.
I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

so similair to Mc gilligan in that his last years were his best as a footballer. It only in 992 onwards rthat he was able to foot pass really well

yes , thats true.
Apart from the fact that I dont think he was ever that good at footpassing in his latter years. McGilligan wasnt on the field for his finesse though.
As we all know.

Its odd however, that I recall a young (u21) mcgilligan playing a challenge match down in offaly at CHF for Dungiven , and he stood out from the rest on the pitch because he was an extremely skillful footballer (and a red curly head that made him look like a skinny 6' 4" bosco).


I have to disagree yet with the sentiment that walsh was anything more than decent (on a consistent basis rather than a game a season) before his last two or three years. If thats down to inj, then so be it.
Certainly my galway friends didnt think so.

Well your Galway friend is talking through his backside then.

I can safely say than any Galway fan that knows his arse from his elbow would probably take a young Kevin Walsh back ahead of nearly anyone else that was on the All-Ireland winning teams apart from maybe a young Michael Donnellan or Ja. And many would probably still pick Walsh as he still hasn't been replaced.

[lynchbhoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.
I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

so similair to Mc gilligan in that his last years were his best as a footballer. It only in 992 onwards rthat he was able to foot pass really well

yes , thats true.
Apart from the fact that I dont think he was ever that good at footpassing in his latter years. McGilligan wasnt on the field for his finesse though.
As we all know.

Its odd however, that I recall a young (u21) mcgilligan playing a challenge match down in offaly at CHF for Dungiven , and he stood out from the rest on the pitch because he was an extremely skillful footballer (and a red curly head that made him look like a skinny 6' 4" bosco).

I have to disagree yet with the sentiment that walsh was anything more than decent (on a consistent basis rather than a game a season) before his last two or three years. If thats down to inj, then so be it.
Certainly my galway friends didnt think so.

Well your Galway friend is talking through his backside then.

thats possible - playing midfield for your county doesnt always qualify you to be a good analyst (eg brolly)
but I wouldnt be to far off that opinion myself - but sure I am known to be freq wrong.

[GalwayBayBoy]

sorry if my post was confusing
Kevin walsh was very good in his last few years as an intercounty player
however before that he was adequate or average at best.
I recall seeing walsh play and was watching him from when he first set out - as a good friend of mine was a buddy of his (my friend was a promising galway midfelder that decided not to take up val's request for him to come into the panel he had played midfield in the u21 AIF for galway).
Walsh did his job well , catch and kick with a lot of decent passing thrown in - but beforehand - when not inj, he was just not as dynamic as the players he played against and was usually outshone.
I suppose there were a lot of better midfielders around when he was at the start and middle of his career.
Mayo and Ros both had better midfielders for example - and thats just connacht.
So maybe the standard of midfielder went down rather than Kevin getting that much better ?

so similair to Mc gilligan in that his last years were his best as a footballer. It only in 992 onwards rthat he was able to foot pass really well

yes , thats true.
Apart from the fact that I dont think he was ever that good at footpassing in his latter years. McGilligan wasnt on the field for his finesse though.
As we all know.

Its odd however, that I recall a young (u21) mcgilligan playing a challenge match down in offaly at CHF for Dungiven , and he stood out from the rest on the pitch because he was an extremely skillful footballer (and a red curly head that made him look like a skinny 6' 4" bosco).

I have to disagree yet with the sentiment that walsh was anything more than decent (on a consistent basis rather than a game a season) before his last two or three years. If thats down to inj, then so be it.
Certainly my galway friends didnt think so.

Well your Galway friend is talking through his backside then.

thats possible - playing midfield for your county doesnt always qualify you to be a good analyst (eg brolly)
but I wouldnt be to far off that opinion myself - but sure I am known to be freq wrong.

Intercounty players might have made good footballers but that doesn't mean they know what they are talking about. They are as prone to grudges and bias as anyone else.

Sure I know a guy who played underage all the way through with Galway and played FBD but never got any further. A very good player all the same but not dedicated enough. He swore blind to me for years that Gary Fahy was the worst full-back in Galway. Even when he lifted Sam as captain in 2001 he still thought he was a terrible full-back who got lucky. We used to laugh at him and he was dead serious. Sometimes people just talk nonsense. Even players.

[lynchbhoy]

Intercounty players might have made good footballers but that doesn't mean they know what they are talking about. They are as prone to grudges and bias as anyone else.

Sure I know a guy who played underage all the way through with Galway and played FBD but never got any further. A very good player all the same but not dedicated enough. He swore blind to me for years that Gary Fahy was the worst full-back in Galway. Even when he lifted Sam as captain in 2001 he still thought he was a terrible full-back who got lucky. We used to laugh at him and he was dead serious. Sometimes people just talk nonsense. Even players.

I dont disagree with that point. I said similar at the start of my last post.

[stevo-08]

From a sligo point of view, we have to give Walsh a chance. Ok, he doesnt have intercounty management experience but there's no point shooting him before he's taken one training session or made any decision. Actually my main concern is with Sloyne, Taylor & Durkan - as has been alluded to earlier, some of these guys were involved in the county panel until very recently so will they be able to detach themselves and make the important decisions when it comes to the crunch??? Time will tell.

As for Walsh, it's important that he can stand up to some of the egos built up in the sligo team over the last number of years - because at times it seems like the senior members of the panel were calling the shots. Kevin Walsh cant let that happen. And from what I hear from players who played with him in Galway, he had one of the strongest personalities on that successful galway team so hopefully he can dictate from the start.

Anyway, I wish Kevin & his backroom staff all the best for '09. We just have to get out of division 4.

[the Deel Rover]

i can see where your coming from sligonian with respect to Walshes lack of management experience but in fairness he has been involved in the game at the top level done it all as a player and surely has his ideas as to how to play the game i'm sure there were people saying the same thing when John Maughan got the clare job in 1992 and looked what happened there he had huge success wherever he went bar roscommon  You will have to wait and see how he gets on if i recall you were full of optimsm when   TommyJordan got the job last year so maybe the reverse will happen and walsh will be successfull give him a chance and see what happens  it can't be any worse than this year for year so imo ye have nothing to loose .