Alan Mulholland has been appointed as the new Galway football manager.

[GalwayBayBoy]

In other words is Mulholland prepared to go down the Jim McGuinness road to be a top team and will the board and public stand for it.

Well his underage teams never played like that although underage tends to be a lot more open anyway so it remains to be seen if he realises that senior is a different kettle of bananas altogether. He's no fool though so I'm sure he knows that himself. Would find it difficult to believe he would go as far as McGuinness though in setting out a team. On Newstalk tonight he emphasised the need for patience and that he was only going to be putting down the foundations and that it might not even be until the next manager comes along until Galway reap the benefits. Seems sensible to play things down anyway although I'm sure he hopes to improve the team even by the time next year comes along. Did laugh when the lads asked him was he prepared for all the work and long hours that was ahead of him (considering he's a busy man as it is) and he said "absolutely....not".

[Zulu]

In other words is Mulholland prepared to go down the Jim McGuinness road to be a top team and will the board and public stand for it. In neighbouring Mayo James Horan is getting plenty of grassroots criticism for being too negative, when it is patently obvious that he isn t nearly negative enough if Mayo are to go to another level.
I expect Mayo to play more like Kildare/Dublin/Donegal next year. Are Galway going to do the same? We ll have to wait and see.

I don't think Kildare or Dublin play anything like Donegal and I wouldn't classify either Leinster team as negative. Teams, including Mayo, don't need to go down the Donegal route to win the All Ireland. Teams who want to win the all Ireland need to find a few top forwards not fill up their back line with 14 players. None of the last 3 All Ireland winners are overly defensive.

[moysider]

In other words is Mulholland prepared to go down the Jim McGuinness road to be a top team and will the board and public stand for it. In neighbouring Mayo James Horan is getting plenty of grassroots criticism for being too negative, when it is patently obvious that he isn t nearly negative enough if Mayo are to go to another level.
I expect Mayo to play more like Kildare/Dublin/Donegal next year. Are Galway going to do the same? We ll have to wait and see.

I don't think Kildare or Dublin play anything like Donegal and I wouldn't classify either Leinster team as negative. Teams, including Mayo, don't need to go down the Donegal route to win the All Ireland. Teams who want to win the all Ireland need to find a few top forwards not fill up their back line with 14 players. None of the last 3 All Ireland winners are overly defensive.

Of course they are negative. Dub were 4 points down in end game v Kerry and still kept cover back. McMen broke through against the head, but it doesn t make them positive. Kildare are a counter-attacking defensive team. The only difference between Kildare/Dublin and Donegal is extent and the fact that McGeeney and Gilroy have had more time to finetune their methods. They ve skipped a few steps ahead on the evolution of the system, thats all.

There are no top forwards to be found in any counties, that we dont know of already. You cant hang around hoping for them to come along. Hopefully likes of Mayo have copped on. An odd big scalp won by playing fast and loose followed by humiliation by a tactically astute team is no good. The game has been going defensive for a decade and soon most teams will be playing that way.

[sans pessimism]

In other words is Mulholland prepared to go down the Jim McGuinness road to be a top team and will the board and public stand for it. In neighbouring Mayo James Horan is getting plenty of grassroots criticism for being too negative, when it is patently obvious that he isn t nearly negative enough if Mayo are to go to another level.
I expect Mayo to play more like Kildare/Dublin/Donegal next year. Are Galway going to do the same? We ll have to wait and see.

I don't think Kildare or Dublin play anything like Donegal and I wouldn't classify either Leinster team as negative. Teams, including Mayo, don't need to go down the Donegal route to win the All Ireland. Teams who want to win the all Ireland need to find a few top forwards not fill up their back line with 14 players. None of the last 3 All Ireland winners are overly defensive.

Mayo need to lead, not follow anyone,and I think Jamsie thinks that way

[seafoid]

This was in the indo during the summer

http://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-football/tribesmens-crisis-of-identity-2806121.html

"Look, all counties experience highs and lows," says Alan Mulholland who manages the county's under 21s. "It's not anybody's fault in particular. The fact is we haven't been competitive since 2001 in the way we'd like. We have to hold our hands up and say we haven't done well. We've failed."
Given that Mulholland guided the Galway minors to an All-Ireland title in 2007 and followed it with an under 21 All-Ireland this year, it is hard to square that success with the perception that Galway have failed to develop a production line of talent in line with other successful counties. Yet he is enough of a pragmatist to know that winning sporadic underage titles brings no guarantee of future senior success.
It encourages Mulholland that three of his All-Ireland winning under 21 team -- Colin Forde, John Duane and Mark Hehir -- will feature against Mayo today. And Paul Conroy, who lines out alongside Joyce at full-forward, was a star of the 2007 minor team. It represents progress, he thinks, although there is still room for much more.
"We can produce underage talent but it's something we've got to do year in year out. It's not much good producing a great minor team one year and then having nothing for years afterwards. Each year has to be competitive. And I think we've had decent underage teams consistently for a few years now so I wouldn't share the doom and gloom about the future."
Since 2001 their struggles have been most pronounced at midfield. Losing the likes of Michael Donnellan, Ja Fallon and Tomás Mannion was always going to leave a void, but the retirement of Kevin Walsh left the biggest vacuum of all.
Bergin won his 2001 All-Ireland medal wearing No 10 but, long term, they saw him as a leader and natural successor to Walsh. That evolution never happened, though. That he is restored to midfield today, alongside Finian Hanley, is seen as a major gamble by Tomás ó Flatharta.
Again Mulholland sees hope for the future. This year's under 21 pairing of Tomás Flynn and Fionntan ó Curraoin offered signs that the physical, imposing presence offered by Walsh might some day be replicated. There was a mini-clamour for Flynn to be ushered through but because he was sitting his Leaving Certificate, ó Flatharta resisted the temptation to call on his services. For all their needs, they still had to do the right thing.
In a way the situation with Flynn is a microcosm of their problems as a whole. Doing the right thing for Galway football has always entailed following a tradition that harks back to greats like Seán Purcell and Frank Stockwell who played the game in a certain way. O'Mahony's team adhered rigidly to the blueprint and won many admirers for the purity of their football and ability to kick passes and long-range scores.
A decade without success and they begin to wonder now. When they lost a high-scoring, entertaining game to Kerry in the 2008 All-Ireland quarter-final, some credited manager Liam Sammon for the quality of Galway's football while others questioned an approach that saw them go toe to toe with a superior team. With the tactical revolution of the noughties, they argued, Galway with their dreamy notions of a purer age were being left behind. Tactically outdated and naive.
In that light it is possible to view the curious experiment with Joe Kernan and last year's appointment of ó Flatharta as Galway's attempt to move with the times, seeking to blend their traditional style with a new defensive-minded toughness. But it has seemed too half-hearted, feeding a chronic identity crisis where Galway end up being neither one thing nor the other. Hanley neatly condensed the debate during the week, pointing out the strength of feeling for the old ways while offering the important qualifier that football today is increasingly a "results business".
"It's complicated," says Mulholland. "Everyone involved in Galway football is conscious of it. There's a brand of Galway football and people are very wary about compromising it. We're Galway football. Is it acceptable to compromise? 1966, 1998, 2001. Ten years on and we're still trying to play Galway football. It's nice to have that but two All-Irelands in 40-odd years? Would people prefer to win All-Irelands?"

[Zulu]

That's complete nonsense Moysider. I'm surprised that anyone thinks of teams like Kildare and Dublin as defensive, both are amongst the country's top scorers. Yes they get bodies behind the ball when they don't have it and yes they keep a defensive structure when defending but do you know what that is called? It's called defending!! When they have the ball they attack in numbers as evidenced by Bolton, James McCarthy etc.

Nobody really plays a 15 v 15 game anymore, in fact they haven't in over 30 years. The difference now is there's more organisation and structure to defending than before. Donegal aren't on some path to a fuller style of play and neither Dublin nor Kildare ever did what Donegal did this year.

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

By the way, I see Cian O'Neill is now onboard as football coach and he's philosophy is not uber defensive so I doubt he'd join up if Mayo are going down that route.

[AZOffaly]

That's complete nonsense Moysider. I'm surprised that anyone thinks of teams like Kildare and Dublin as defensive, both are amongst the country's top scorers. Yes they get bodies behind the ball when they don't have it and yes they keep a defensive structure when defending but do you know what that is called? It's called defending!! When they have the ball they attack in numbers as evidenced by Bolton, James McCarthy etc.

Nobody really plays a 15 v 15 game anymore, in fact they haven't in over 30 years. The difference now is there's more organisation and structure to defending than before. Donegal aren't on some path to a fuller style of play and neither Dublin nor Kildare ever did what Donegal did this year.

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

By the way, I see Cian O'Neill is now onboard as football coach and he's philosophy is not uber defensive so I doubt he'd join up if Mayo are going down that route.

Zulu, I know Cian was coaching Tipp hurlers as well, but was that as a fitness coach? I know he's from Kildare so I assume his background is more football. What was he at in UL?

[Donnellys Hollow]

That's complete nonsense Moysider. I'm surprised that anyone thinks of teams like Kildare and Dublin as defensive, both are amongst the country's top scorers. Yes they get bodies behind the ball when they don't have it and yes they keep a defensive structure when defending but do you know what that is called? It's called defending!! When they have the ball they attack in numbers as evidenced by Bolton, James McCarthy etc.

Nobody really plays a 15 v 15 game anymore, in fact they haven't in over 30 years. The difference now is there's more organisation and structure to defending than before. Donegal aren't on some path to a fuller style of play and neither Dublin nor Kildare ever did what Donegal did this year.

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

By the way, I see Cian O'Neill is now onboard as football coach and he's philosophy is not uber defensive so I doubt he'd join up if Mayo are going down that route.

Zulu, I know Cian was coaching Tipp hurlers as well, but was that as a fitness coach? I know he's from Kildare so I assume his background is more football. What was he at in UL?

He's a Moorefield man - scored a goal in the 2000 County Final which they won. His father played for Kildare and he played minor himself in the late nineties. He would have been on the fringes of the Kildare senior panel but for a car crash about ten years ago.

He was also involved with the Kildare minors for the last two years.

[sans pessimism]

That's complete nonsense Moysider. I'm surprised that anyone thinks of teams like Kildare and Dublin as defensive, both are amongst the country's top scorers. Yes they get bodies behind the ball when they don't have it and yes they keep a defensive structure when defending but do you know what that is called? It's called defending!! When they have the ball they attack in numbers as evidenced by Bolton, James McCarthy etc.

Nobody really plays a 15 v 15 game anymore, in fact they haven't in over 30 years. The difference now is there's more organisation and structure to defending than before. Donegal aren't on some path to a fuller style of play and neither Dublin nor Kildare ever did what Donegal did this year.

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

By the way, I see Cian O'Neill is now onboard as football coach and he's philosophy is not uber defensive so I doubt he'd join up if Mayo are going down that route.

Zulu, I know Cian was coaching Tipp hurlers as well, but was that as a fitness coach? I know he's from Kildare so I assume his background is more football. What was he at in UL?

cant figure out where all the 'defensive' talk in relation to Mayo is coming from-anyone watch the QF v Cork?

[moysider]

That's complete nonsense Moysider. I'm surprised that anyone thinks of teams like Kildare and Dublin as defensive, both are amongst the country's top scorers. Yes they get bodies behind the ball when they don't have it and yes they keep a defensive structure when defending but do you know what that is called? It's called defending!! When they have the ball they attack in numbers as evidenced by Bolton, James McCarthy etc.

Nobody really plays a 15 v 15 game anymore, in fact they haven't in over 30 years. The difference now is there's more organisation and structure to defending than before. Donegal aren't on some path to a fuller style of play and neither Dublin nor Kildare ever did what Donegal did this year.

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

By the way, I see Cian O'Neill is now onboard as football coach and he's philosophy is not uber defensive so I doubt he'd join up if Mayo are going down that route.

If that was the case Galway would have won more games in Croke Park since 01. Every year we had to listen about great Galway forwards. Joyce and Donnellan, Meehan and Paul Clancy still there. Then along comes Nicky, Meehan and Army. Still with pedigree forwards they were well short after Tyrone/ Armagh emerged and Jack O Connor took over in Kerry.

The death-rattle for traditional game was Liam Sammon's 'failure' in Galway.

Ok, so you don t like the word defensive or negative applied to some teams. Fair enough. The point is that these teams don t play like Galway did a decade ago. Maybe it would be nice if we could retain different styles in the game. No offence to likes of Donegal, Dublin or Kildare but I would prefer if all teams don t play that way. And for the purpose of this discussion I will lump them together.  And really for teams to be competitive they have to go that  road to some extent anyway. I expect even that Kerry will be much more practical next year too'

[Zulu]

AZ, Cian was the coach of the Sigerson teams and Limerick seniors too. He is very much a football man and I know he's a pretty attack minded coach though a practical one at that.

Moysider, Kildare and Dublin are far closer to kerry in style of play than Donegal and Kerry have already adapted the modern games defensive structures. Every teams job is to keep your opponents score down and score as much as you can yourself. Most teams do this and are therefore well balanced, Donegal didn't and can justifiably be termed defensive. I throughly enjoy the way Kildare and Dublin play and would consider them attack minded if anything. Defensive teams don't shred Tyrone like Dublin did.

[GalwayBayBoy]

IMO football is getting to a point where all the players are pretty much interchangable all-rounders. There is less emphasis on a certain individual skill that someone might excel at such as being a tight marker or a high fielder. Some backs can kick scores better than forwards these days and some forwards are better tacklers than backs. The move is inexorably towards putting out 15 athletes on the field who can all do a bit of everything rather than being brilliant at one or two things. This is where Aussie Rules has already gone and rugby league went a long time ago and while Aussie Rules still have specialists like tall ruckmen even they are not nearly as influential as they were 20 or 30 odd years ago. I know people will say this is just the way the game has evolved but it certainly does rob the sport of some individuality and character IMO. Notwithstanding there will always be a place for exceptional talents such as Colm Cooper but more often than not they will be surrounded by athletic drones.

[Zulu]

I don't accept that modern players are 'athletic drones' just because lads are better conditioned now doesn't mean they are poorer footballers than previous generations. The modern player is generally better conditioned, skilled and organised than previous players. All we need to do is focus a bit more on what we do when we have the ball as well as when we don't. The movement, positioning and awareness of most IC players is very poor and this is leading to some poor attacking play.

[Blowitupref]

My point about forwards is that All Ireland champions usually have at least one or two of the top forwards in the country, if you don't have them them winning an All Ireland becomes very difficult.

In the past one needed 4 or 5 good scoring forwards to compete for All Ireland honours, nowadays you only seem to need two good scoring forwards & a goalkeeper that can take frees.

[Zulu]

Maybe I'm missing something but outside of the great Kerry team I don't recall too many all Ireland winners with 4 or 5 genuine top class scoring forwards. There have been some very good all Ireland winning forward lines, Galway 1998 springs to mind, but most all ireland winning teams had two or three scoring forwards at most. In fact I would suggest that a balanced forward line with players of different skill sets is better than a forward line with plenty of scorers.