Galway v Sligo - Connact SFC semi final 27th June

[paddypastit]

Lot of talk about the alleged O'Hara incident here.  Before people go off into black and white corners and start talking total b.s. - now I even see the 'never thought he was that great - better men than him' merchants popping out - lets's call it straight. Eamonn is no mammy's boy 'true gael'. He has been driven to win since he started playing football and was that way as a skinny cheeky 17 yr old when he joined the panel in 1994 -  I know because I was there. He has dedicated himself to being a footballer and doesn't apologise to anyone for the work that he has done or what he has achieved as a result.  That of course isn't popular in many places and he has many critics, the most vicious of which are within his own county - again I've heard and seen them first hand. To win, he has always played close to the wire and has always been physical to the limit - most of the best players do. The other side of that is that he has taken dogs abuse and worse and got on with it - he has never ever complained about being hit, on or off the ball and often when it was low, late and intentional - again I've seen that first hand so don't preach.  As a Sligo man there are days when you worry that his robustness will lead to a problem but those days are but a small fraction of the days when you thank god you have somebody like him and any county would do the same.

Frankly if what I thought I saw fleetingly happen was what did happen, if its on tape and this goes up the line, he's gone for three months, open and shut, and there is a precedent of very similar style ironically featuring an iconic figure from a smaller county so there won't be much room for maneuver. Again, if it was what I think it was, I can't honestly say "I hope it doesn't" because the offence is unacceptable.

For those that think that will be the end of Sligo this year... sorry, there is more to them than that now.  The best four in the country are Kerry, Cork, Tyrone and Monaghan.  The 'competition' now is to be in the next four. On results Meath are the best of the rest although I think they are not proven yet, Sligo are in there, Armagh are in there and it's between the rest to see who gets in - the qualifier draw will tell a lot.

[Jinxy]

What have Monaghan done to break into the top tier all of a sudden?

[Zulu]

Little enough I would have thought, they are still very much in with the rest of the chasing pack IMO.

[Redhand Santa]

O'Hara is a great player and gives his all for Sligo. Don't think he's overrated at all. Think I remember him standing up well to the Aussie's in internatonal rules as well. Was great to see Sligo win it and deserve to win title now. Will be hard to beat in last 8 to.

[bennydorano]

There are many lads in that Sligo team who do more than O'Hara, but never get the coverage he does.
I'd have much more time for true Sligo  greats from the recent past such as Paul Taylor, Paul Durkan, Dessie Sloyane to mention just a few.

Know little of Sligo football, but was Taylor not a bit of a sicknote?  Seems a churlish post.

[Jinxy]

I have my doubts about the O'Hara incident.
If you watch it again you can see his left leg is being held and the Galway player rolls over on it slightly.
The fact that he stood on him and fell at the same time would have me leaning towards a not guilty verdict in terms of there not being much intent there.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I have my doubts about the O'Hara incident.
If you watch it again you can see his left leg is being held and the Galway player rolls over on it slightly.
The fact that he stood on him and fell at the same time would have me leaning towards a not guilty verdict in terms of there not being much intent there.

I think he knew what he was at. I'll put it like that. Players in that position usually do from my experience.

[Duine Eile]

This Galway team look to be going nowhere. They played fairly well in the first half but in the 2nd half they lost all shape and form, we were 2 points up towards the end and should have been able to close out the game but didn't. They're a team of individuals, nobody goes to help the man in trouble, they don't play for one another at all, this Sligo team have a great team spirit. One thing which has enraged Galway followers since last week is the subs situation, what is the point of having a subs bench if we're not going to use it. Yet again yesterday the likes of Cormac Bane, Darren Mullahy, Tomas Fahy, Danny Cummins were all left sitting on the bench when changes were needed especially in the 2nd half. I'm not saying they're world beaters by any means but they couldn't have been any worse than some of the lads that were playing, the like of Gary O'Donnell for example. On another point, this was the type of game where it would have been ideal to send on Barry Cullinane to throw his weight around in the 2nd half but he's not on the panel. I'm no big fan of his by any means but unless they unearth some decent midfield talent he does have a place on the panel. I really don't hold out much hope for us next week against Wexford to be honest. The management team don't seem to have a clue what they're at either, not one of the Galway lads was able to make a proper tackle, between last week's game and yesterday we must have accumulated at least ten yellow cards. What kind of training have they been doing all year you'd wonder. When you see Padraic Joyce back defending his own goal you have to ask the question, where the hell are the backs and why aren't they marking their men.
Adrian Faherty is a complete liability in goal, how many balls did he kick over the sideline in both games? There was a desperate wind yesterday, why did he persist with kicking the ball out the wings when it was obvious the wind was going to carry it over the line, madness. He's worse than Alan Keane ever was. Eoin Ó Conghaile did a decent job during the league as did Paul Doherty when he was there before he was dropped. Either would be a better option  than Faherty at the moment.
Kieran Fitz didn't do too badly, needs to be careful though, picked up a yellow again yesterday I think. Hanley played well last week I thought, had a quiet enough first half and was off in the second, was he in jured or was he just subbed? Alan Burke was again given the runaround bu David Kelly, second week in a row and nothing was done to negate Kelly's influence.
Garreth Bradshaw, don't know what he was trying to achieve with that sideline but it'll give him nightmares for weeks, hero last week, villain this week. Blake was good last week but not as good yesterday, Gary O'Donnell should not be on that teram, either Alan Burke, Gary Sice, Mullahy or Tomas Fahy are far more capable than him.
Niall Coleman gave his all and was one of our better players, Joe Bergin, a calamity again. He is not able to stay standing for any length of time, he's constantly falling and giving the ball away.
Gary Sice is not a wing forward, he's wasted and the position of wing forward is wasted by playing him there. Sean Armstrong can do so much damage when he's on form, he was flying in the league until he got injured and hasn't seemed to get that spark back yet, he got a few vital scores though and wasn't out worst player by any means. Matthew Clancy had a fair enough first half, he has the most infuriating way of playing though, head down, stumbling forward all the time and his kicks can go anywhere. Mike Meehan should not have started, full stop. He wasn't able for a full game and would have been much more effective coming off the bench in the second half when the game was in the melting pot. As it was he had very little impact, got injured and spent most of the second half with his foot in a bucket of ice and is probably very doubtful for Saturday's game.
Padraic Joyce again kept us in this game, it'll be a very sad day for the county when he retires. Near the end of the 2nd half there were 3 Sligo defenders hanging off him but he still stuck the ball over the bar with his weaker foot. The man is pure class. Young Concannon is one bright light on this team, he's not afraid to tackle or take a score. He'll be feeling delicate enough after the stamp he got off O'Hara the p***k. It was a definite stamp, he knew what he was at. Paul Conroy did alright when he came on, he should never have been dropped anyway, there were plenty more that were worse than him last week. All in all this Galway team doesn't inspire any kind of confidence. I get the impression Joe, Sean and Tom haven't a clue what they're at. We haven't progressed at all, we've gone backwards if anything and I really don't think we'll beat Wexford eventhough we're at home.

[mckieran]

This Galway team look to be going nowhere. They played fairly well in the first half but in the 2nd half they lost all shape and form, we were 2 points up towards the end and should have been able to close out the game but didn't. They're a team of individuals, nobody goes to help the man in trouble, they don't play for one another at all, this Sligo team have a great team spirit. One thing which has enraged Galway followers since last week is the subs situation, what is the point of having a subs bench if we're not going to use it. Yet again yesterday the likes of Cormac Bane, Darren Mullahy, Tomas Fahy, Danny Cummins were all left sitting on the bench when changes were needed especially in the 2nd half. I'm not saying they're world beaters by any means but they couldn't have been any worse than some of the lads that were playing, the like of Gary O'Donnell for example. On another point, this was the type of game where it would have been ideal to send on Barry Cullinane to throw his weight around in the 2nd half but he's not on the panel. I'm no big fan of his by any means but unless they unearth some decent midfield talent he does have a place on the panel. I really don't hold out much hope for us next week against Wexford to be honest. The management team don't seem to have a clue what they're at either, not one of the Galway lads was able to make a proper tackle, between last week's game and yesterday we must have accumulated at least ten yellow cards. What kind of training have they been doing all year you'd wonder. When you see Padraic Joyce back defending his own goal you have to ask the question, where the hell are the backs and why aren't they marking their men.
Adrian Faherty is a complete liability in goal, how many balls did he kick over the sideline in both games? There was a desperate wind yesterday, why did he persist with kicking the ball out the wings when it was obvious the wind was going to carry it over the line, madness. He's worse than Alan Keane ever was. Eoin Ó Conghaile did a decent job during the league as did Paul Doherty when he was there before he was dropped. Either would be a better option  than Faherty at the moment.
Kieran Fitz didn't do too badly, needs to be careful though, picked up a yellow again yesterday I think. Hanley played well last week I thought, had a quiet enough first half and was off in the second, was he in jured or was he just subbed? Alan Burke was again given the runaround bu David Kelly, second week in a row and nothing was done to negate Kelly's influence.
Garreth Bradshaw, don't know what he was trying to achieve with that sideline but it'll give him nightmares for weeks, hero last week, villain this week. Blake was good last week but not as good yesterday, Gary O'Donnell should not be on that teram, either Alan Burke, Gary Sice, Mullahy or Tomas Fahy are far more capable than him.
Niall Coleman gave his all and was one of our better players, Joe Bergin, a calamity again. He is not able to stay standing for any length of time, he's constantly falling and giving the ball away.
Gary Sice is not a wing forward, he's wasted and the position of wing forward is wasted by playing him there. Sean Armstrong can do so much damage when he's on form, he was flying in the league until he got injured and hasn't seemed to get that spark back yet, he got a few vital scores though and wasn't out worst player by any means. Matthew Clancy had a fair enough first half, he has the most infuriating way of playing though, head down, stumbling forward all the time and his kicks can go anywhere. Mike Meehan should not have started, full stop. He wasn't able for a full game and would have been much more effective coming off the bench in the second half when the game was in the melting pot. As it was he had very little impact, got injured and spent most of the second half with his foot in a bucket of ice and is probably very doubtful for Saturday's game.
Padraic Joyce again kept us in this game, it'll be a very sad day for the county when he retires. Near the end of the 2nd half there were 3 Sligo defenders hanging off him but he still stuck the ball over the bar with his weaker foot. The man is pure class. Young Concannon is one bright light on this team, he's not afraid to tackle or take a score. He'll be feeling delicate enough after the stamp he got off O'Hara the p***k. It was a definite stamp, he knew what he was at. Paul Conroy did alright when he came on, he should never have been dropped anyway, there were plenty more that were worse than him last week. All in all this Galway team doesn't inspire any kind of confidence. I get the impression Joe, Sean and Tom haven't a clue what they're at. We haven't progressed at all, we've gone backwards if anything and I really don't think we'll beat Wexford eventhough we're at home.

Very Very harsh with that summary I think. I actually thought Alan Burke did ok yesterday. A player like David Kelly will always play well but I thought Burke was much more dogged against him yesterday.

Blake was excellent in the drawn match but was very poor yesterday. He was picking up Breheny who always seems to do well on Blake. During Peter Ford's reign, Blake was tried at midfield; I suspect we might see something similiar happen next weekend. Something has to be done at midfield. And from what I can see, the only options in the current panel are: Coleman, Bergin, Conroy & Blake. The first three have shown they cannot do it there so I would be tempted to put Blake midfield and Mullahy no. 6. Bergin isnt offering anything at midfield at the moment; I'd be inclined to put him no.14 next week (If Meehan is out). These changes may seem extreme but this team needs to be shaken up.

I am a little uncertain about Armstrong at no.11. Maybe a switch with Matt Clancy. I always think Armstrong plays better in the full forward line.

I totally agree with Duine Eiles take on the goalkeeping situation. Faherty has never really inspired confidence in me. God, Alan Keane would walk onto the team at the moment. As far as I am aware, neither Faherty & Doherty play in goal for their clubs which makes it all the more bizarre that they have been the main two goalkeepers for Galway in the last couple of years. Eoin O'Conghaile did well in the games I have seen him play; He could be the future perhaps. There seems to be very few top quality keepers around in Galway at the moment.

[Duine Eile]

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh mckieran but I'm just so disgusted with the way they threw it away, I'm not taking away from Sligo's win in any shape or form but Galway threw this game away with stupid mistakes which Sligo were well able to punish. The more I see the replay of that goal the more I'm wondering what the hell was Bradshaw thinking!

[paddypastit]

Jinnxy. Agree that the camera evidence nleaves it open to interpretation. Let's leave it to the powers that are.

Benny - agree with you about the chrurlish nature of the original post but it is worth saying that Paul Taylor was an exceptional footballer of a quality only seen rarely. He got that innflamation of the pelvic bone around '99 and it took a yard off him.  Pace was never his thing -- he was all about positioning, ball skills and absolute dead eye dick in front of goal - so losing some just left him too far off the pace long before he got out of his 20s. For my money, he still had greater ability than any of the lads we are watching now.

[stephenite]

I think Brady summed up the O'Hara incident perfectly - 'accidentally on purpose' - it's impossible to be conclusive.

[magpie seanie]

Would the people who have abused O'Hara on here by calling him a p***k etc like to also comment on some of the other incidents in the match? Like Coleman's (or was it Bradshaw?) clear punch to O'Hara's face early on (O'Hara made nothing of it but that's what I'd expect of him, as Paddypastit said he gets on with it). Like the kick in the head Keelan Cawley got (he was targetted all day) and then got booked for defending himself? Like Alan Burke's classy (and I would suggest premediatated) "welcome" for David Kelly? All these things happened so to single out the O'Hara incident is completely unfair and it's just because its Eamonn O'Hara. For what its worth I think he deserves to benefit of the doubt given the conditions and someone holding his leg. I think Jinxy has called it spot on.

We knew this team would not lie down and that if it took a war to win it so be it. Everyone said Galway would improve from the last day and they did but we did also. You couldn't but improve from playing in that wind tunnel.

Will get a better chance to give my analysis on the rest of the game later.

Talk of last 4 etc is not of concern to me. We simply have to beat Roscommon in the next match and that is all that matters now.

[highorlow]

I think Brady summed up the O'Hara incident perfectly - 'accidentally on purpose' - it's impossible to be conclusive

You got there ahead of me stephenite.

Brady is spot on. I think the Galway lad could have avoided his foot also. O'Hara was obviously off balance and it was more an accident than on purpose.

[mckieran]

I think the Galway lad could have avoided his foot also.

God, were we watching the same incident??? How on earth could Concannon have avoided O'Hara's foot??? Also, brady's "accidentally on purpose" comment meant that O'Hara did it on purpose whilst trying to me it look like an accident. That was my take on it. There is no doubt in my mind that O'Hara could have avoided stamping on Concannon.

Like Alan Burke's classy (and I would suggest premediatated) "welcome" for David Kelly?

Couldnt believe they were highlighting this on the sunday game; I was involved in far worse than this kind of going on when I was playing U-12! There was absolutely nothing to it. Backs often give their direct opponent a bit of a shoulder when they meet them. It happens in every game.

For what its worth I think he deserves to benefit of the doubt given the conditions

What have the conditions to do with this specific incident??? Absolutely nothing.

I have always liked O'Hara as a footballer and have great time for him. However, what he did on Saturday was just unacceptable. And as I said in my previous posts, if Galvin was involved in a similar incident on Saturday, Do you really think he would get away with it? That is what maddens me about incidents ike this.