Have Galway been found out?

[GalwayBayBoy]

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.

In fairness Bradshaw is the least of our problems. I wish we had a few more like him. Fiachra Breathnach is another thing altogether. Certainly though Sammon seems to have his favourites. Niall Coyne being another. Not that he's done badly but he always seems to get a game unlike Kieran Fitz or Gary Sice who usually warm the bench no matter what.

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.

I'm not sure if no attempt was made. Bergin and Cullinane usually played. Gary O'Donnell was tried. Mark Lydon was tried. We just seem to have a dearth of quality midfielders at the moment. Maybe Eddie Hoare would have got a chance except I think he's been nursing a back injury since the Intermediate All-Ireland final. Beyond that who can you try? Bradshaw and Conroy? Two very good young footballers but asking a lot of them to step into midfield so young but maybe it was worth a go earlier in the league. Too late now to experiment.

[mckieran]

Niall Coyne being another. Not that he's done badly but he always seems to get a game unlike Kieran Fitz or Gary Sice who usually warm the bench no matter what.

I dont think Coyne is a favorite. He had to play a lot of good matches before he established himself as a regular under Sammon. Gary Sice has had plenty of chances as well. He was brought straight into the team at number 5 after Corofin were knocked out, not really sure of your point here.

Agree about Fitzgerald though. Did he get any game time during the league?

[muppet]

to be fair Indiana
I think Kerry have 4 as have tyrone
coper, donaghy, walsh and declan osullivan - would only count sheehan from frees not from play
tyrone have
Stephen oneill, mccullagh, tommy mcguigan and
cavanagh (more of a forward running third midf imo - where he seems to get his scores and not as a FF)

I dont think that any team can have too many out and out scoring forwards in a balanced side (as mad as that sounds) you need work horses to win breaking ball (eg dooher and galvin - who can both score but its not their bread and butter role) and create scores/supply to ff line - that does the damage

Tommy McGuigan? I assume you mean Brian and only when he was at his best. He was average last year and Tommy is average full stop, he had a shocker against Mayo in last years qualifier and in no way could be classed a top forward. IMO Tyrone have Kavanagh and O'Neill as marquee forwards, McCullogh is nowhere near the Cooper/Meehan level. Tyrone's secret is spreading the scores and getting the likes of Dooher, McGinley, Davy Harte and even Gormley, from time to time, to chip in.

Tommy McGuigan was poor against Mayo for the very simple reason that he was being man-marked by one Keith Higgins. That tells you how high a threat he was seen to be by Johnno and also why he never got into the game.

Micheál Meehan can probably expect to be seeing Keith this summer at some stage allthough we might start Caff on him.

[GalwayBayBoy]

to be fair Indiana
I think Kerry have 4 as have tyrone
coper, donaghy, walsh and declan osullivan - would only count sheehan from frees not from play
tyrone have
Stephen oneill, mccullagh, tommy mcguigan and
cavanagh (more of a forward running third midf imo - where he seems to get his scores and not as a FF)

I dont think that any team can have too many out and out scoring forwards in a balanced side (as mad as that sounds) you need work horses to win breaking ball (eg dooher and galvin - who can both score but its not their bread and butter role) and create scores/supply to ff line - that does the damage

Tommy McGuigan? I assume you mean Brian and only when he was at his best. He was average last year and Tommy is average full stop, he had a shocker against Mayo in last years qualifier and in no way could be classed a top forward. IMO Tyrone have Kavanagh and O'Neill as marquee forwards, McCullogh is nowhere near the Cooper/Meehan level. Tyrone's secret is spreading the scores and getting the likes of Dooher, McGinley, Davy Harte and even Gormley, from time to time, to chip in.

Micheál Meehan can probably expect to be seeing Keith this summer at some stage allthough we might start Caff on him.

Sure we'll see. Higgins has done fairly well on Meehan in the past although Meehan has only started to really blosson in the last year as a top class intercounty forward. Plus most of their meetings have been in the corner and Meehan at full-forward is a different beast altogether which is why everyone wanted him out of the corner for years. Hopefully he can keep Higgins occupied for a while.

Like a lot of things if you get enough ball into Meehan he's pretty much unmarkable. Whether he gets enough ball is another matter entirely. Two lads have a nice little rivalry built up though. I have a feeling by July we might see a Meehan and PJ inside line for Galway.

[muppet]

Unfortunately we have only one Keith Higgins though.   

[mckieran]

Like a lot of things if you get enough ball into Meehan he's pretty much unmarkable. Whether he gets enough ball is another matter entirely. Two lads have a nice little rivalry built up though. I have a feeling by July we might see a Meehan and PJ inside line for Galway.

Ray Silke is suggesting the same in the Galway Advertiser but the question then is: Who plays centre forward? I think Joyce is our best (Our only?) realistic option there. I dont think Matt Clancy, Sean Armstrong, Cormac Bane etc. would make centre forwards at this level

Also, How would Meehan do if Joyce was playing inside beside him. There was a view held by many that when Meehan first came on the scene playing at no. 13 that he was hindered by playing beside Joyce.

[tyssam5]

Like a lot of things if you get enough ball into Meehan he's pretty much unmarkable. Whether he gets enough ball is another matter entirely. Two lads have a nice little rivalry built up though. I have a feeling by July we might see a Meehan and PJ inside line for Galway.

Ray Silke is suggesting the same in the Galway Advertiser but the question then is: Who plays centre forward? I think Joyce is our best (Our only?) realistic option there. I dont think Matt Clancy, Sean Armstrong, Cormac Bane etc. would make centre forwards at this level

Also, How would Meehan do if Joyce was playing inside beside him. There was a view held by many that when Meehan first came on the scene playing at no. 13 that he was hindered by playing beside Joyce.

You would think that would make sense. I've not seen a whole lot of Galway, but the match they lost to Kerry last year seemed to be in large part due to the fact that Kerry's HB line could attack at will, PJ is great but at his age (or ever) did he assume the defensive part of the game that any good modern HF needs?

[billy the kid]

The difference between kerry/tyrone and the rest is simple- they have half forwards who can score regularly.

Derry/Dublin/Monaghan/Armagh/Cork /Galway don't. They have guys who can do it on an inconsistent basis. But not with any regularity-hence the reason they don't win all-irelands.

I agree with what your saying to a certain degree but think that it is only one of the factors the other teams listed dont win All Irelands.  When all the factors are considered it basically boils down to "Nobody outside of Tyrone or Kerry have been able to win a recent All ireland as none of them are good enough" (or as good as those 2.) And I have seen nothing so far this year to make me think the gap will be closed, although I would have to say it is very early on and as a barometer for championship success, the league is about as accurate as an epileptic raver pissing in a milk bottle.

But it must also be remembered that we are talking about the 2 best teams of the last decade by quite some stretch.

IMO the above list plus Mayo are the only ones with any chance of breaking the recent duopoly of winners (and genuine contenders)