Na Cait v Gaillimh, AIF 9 Sept

[mouview]

North and south unite to support Galway's drive for hurling success


You could say the railway line has done us a favour – its neat division of East Galway has allowed us to be competitive at one code or the other in every decade since the 1920s.  And perhaps it's too dramatic to call it a dividing line. Maybe it's more like the household fence you chat to your neighbour over.

After all, come Sunday, fans from north and south will head along that line for Croke Park, and an All-Ireland final appearance we can all celebrate.

etc.

Not absolutely correct. Athenry is on the railway line; Turloughmore and Pearses are both North of it. A more exact geographical dividing line would be the N17 from Galway out to Loughgeorge, branch off on the N63, on out through Turlough', Abbey, Moylough, Mountbellew, Caltra, Agascragh and on to Ballinasloe.

Abbeyknockmoy is probably the most 'split' parish; if you were from Abbey, you went to school in Tuam and played football. If you were in Monivea, you went to Athenry and hurled. Of course, citizens claim dual nationality and can speak with authority on both codes.

Mike Coleman will be on the pitch on Sunday in a suit. I wish he was wearing a jersey . You could put the place on Galway if he was.

Big fan of Colemans back in the day as well, not to be messed with, but it always seemed that injuries hampered him.

Not always, he hurled until well into his thirties. Crucially however, he injured his shoulder in the closing stages of the '93 semi' v Tipp and was withdrawn, having provided his usual  power. (Tipp tried several markers on him without success). Straight from the throw-in in the final one of the KK midfielders pulled high across him, injuring him again, and affecting his performance for the rest of the match. (Wonder where they learnt that from). Similarly, in '97, he suffered injury v Offaly in the closing stages of the league and was unfit for the rest of the championship. Galway were going well that year and could have had a real go at Liam, only for his absence (and Cyril Farrell and the gang disintegrating in Thurles v KK, and the idiots in the hurling board who voted for the back door rule).

[homeofhurling8]

I somehow managed to lose the lengthy essay i had composed on the game somewhere in the ether so i will summarise as follows with this simple equation,

1.Skehill plus 3.Hynes = Kilkenny.

[seafoid]

I somehow managed to lose the lengthy essay i had composed on the game somewhere in the ether so i will summarise as follows with this simple equation,

1.Skehill plus 3.Hynes = Kilkenny.

wouldn't it be absolutely sickening in premierstan if Galway won an all Ireland against the cats at the first attempt ?

[homeofhurling8]

Certainly not in this house anyway, i would love to see Galway win Sunday and i would say i will be shouting myself hoarse in croker sunday for the heron chokers.

[Cyril Farrell fan]

Have ticket sorted and ready to travel. I haven't done a tap of work all day!

Hawn Galway!!!

[seafoid]

Certainly not in this house anyway, i would love to see Galway win Sunday and i would say i will be shouting myself hoarse in croker sunday for the heron chokers.

I think they are going to win an all Ireland in the next while but it would be great  to do it on Sunday.

[GalwayBayBoy]

The Galway team selected to play Kilkenny in this Sunday's All-Ireland Hurling Final is as follows:

James Skehill (Cappataggle)
David Collins (Liam Mellows)
Kevin Hynes (Sarsfields)
Fergal Moore (Turloughmore) Captain
Niall Donoghue (Kilbeacanty)
Tony Og Regan (Rahoon-Newcastle)
Johnny Coen (Loughrea)
Andy Smith (Portumna)
Iarlaith Tannian (Ardrahan)
David Burke (St. Thomas)
Niall Burke (Oranmore-Maree)
Cyril Donnellan (Padraig Pearses)
Damien Hayes (Portumna)
Joe Canning (Portumna)
James Regan (St. Thomas)

[GalwayBayBoy]

Kk team for Sunday: 1. D. Herity. 2. P. Murphy. 3. JJ Delaney. 4. J. Tyrrell. 5. T. Walsh. 6. B. Hogan. 7. K. Joyce. 8. M. Fennelly. 9. R. Hogan. 10. H. Shefflin. 11. TJ Reid. 12.E. Larkin. 13. C. Fennelly. 14. R. Power. 15. A. Fogarty.

[thejuice]

Come on Galway!

Hope they are up for a war because I think anything less and they will get a roasting.

[Croí na hÉireann]

TJ to midfield I suppose. Expect to see Shefflin in at full forward.

Galway for the cup, milk for the Cats.

[seafoid]

Come on Galway!

Hope they are up for a war because I think anything less and they will get a roasting.

I expect they are going to give it bhfaca tu. They have no shortage of motivational beatings at the hands of the cats.

The thousand yard KK stare after the Leinster Final was something else.

[homeofhurling8]

At the risk of being accused of being anti Galway,again ( really, a south Tipp man ?) I have reservations with numbers 1,3,6,9,12 and 15, I would love to be proven wrong but i cant have Skehill and Hynes in particular and Tannion, Donnelan and the horse either, please God I'm proven wrong.

[belleaqua]

Fair enough-my doubts would be similar. 3 is my big worry. Harsh on Donnellan-nailed on All Star had he played against Cork. Our best hurler this year and at last meeting his potential. One of the real reasons Galway have played so effectively this year. He is what the Bonner Maher is to Tipp and more except the media have yet to pick up on this yet so seems most people have to be told about it too. Named to play tomorrow but by all accounts not fully fit so I think he may struggle. Hopin Coen and Donoghue meet the demands of tomorrow-the occasion is what worries me. Let's wait and see....

[seafoid]

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/0908/1224323739703.html

The Irish Times - Saturday, September 8, 2012
Kilkenny have plugged all the gaps since July
Kilkenny's Richie Power struggles to get in his block as Iarla Tannian of Galway shoots during July's Leinster senior hurling final upset. The unshakeable core consideration that militates against Galway repeating their success in tomorrow's All-Ireland final is that in the areas where they did most damage Kilkenny are stronger.

SEÁN MORAN, GAA Correspondent
ALL-IRELAND SENIOR HURLING FINAL Galway v Kilkenny: SEVEN WEEKS isn't that long a stretch but it feels like a lifetime. Never has a provincial final been so prominent in the deliberations of early September. Tomorrow's GAA All-Ireland hurling final reunites the Leinster finalists for the first time since 2000.
That wouldn't be a happy precedent for champions Kilkenny, who 12 years ago re-administered the spanking they had given Offaly in Leinster but this is a different world. For all of the talk that Galway had re-shaped the hurling landscape with their phenomenal coup against Kilkenny, the brave talk has faded to a whisper.
It's an indication of the dominance of Brian Cody's teams that amongst their eight All-Ireland titles, not one had to be won through the qualifiers.
Beating the same team twice in the one championship is difficult in either football or hurling for reasons that are obvious: motivation, familiarity with the opponent's game plan and the opportunity to address weaknesses in the team.
In this case there is more to it than just those dynamics. Under Cody, Kilkenny have never lost two successive matches to the same opposition, a thirst for vengeance or redress with which Galway are sadly familiar.
One observer in the county noted there was among some, "a sense of fear" at what might happen.
That's probably unduly alarmist. There are plenty of reasons to believe that under Anthony Cunningham's management Galway have been a mentally sturdier, less flaky collective.
Even the audacity of the Leinster final proved that they had strong self-belief.
They also have Joe Canning threatening to deliver his best season and crown it with an All-Ireland, an achievement that most would regard as inevitable at some stage.
But the speed, energy and disrespect for reputation that constituted the high-wire act in July is going to be difficult to repeat.
It's one of Galway hurling's most enduring narratives: the explosive opening, with goals going off and the opposition in a state of shock. But it always raises the question as to what happens when the earth doesn't move in the first 10 minutes.
Disregarding psychobabble and sundry motivations, Kilkenny simply bring an indisputably stronger hand to the table. JJ Delaney has known satisfying afternoons on Canning and he wasn't there to influence the Leinster final. Maybe he'll mark him tomorrow or Jackie Tyrrell will be given the opportunity to atone for last July. Either way, the options are already improved.
Hurler of the Year Michael Fennelly brings to centrefield exactly the strength, athleticism and combativeness that was missing the last day and up front Aidan Fogarty has run into terrific form in the All-Ireland series.
It's a decisive improvement but it doesn't doom Galway. The challengers don't have to demolish Kilkenny in the first quarter and don't need to win by 10 points but they will need to be in contention throughout, as no-one launches comebacks against the champions.
The defensive reservations will be under the spotlight, as the back six weren't tested to any serious degree seven weeks ago and still Kilkenny got in for two goals, which was sufficient to spook Galway supporters into going nowhere until the match was over.
Kilkenny's ability to get goals at the time that is most beneficial for them and most demoralising for the opposition is legendary.
A tight match can burst its elastic in the space of two minutes.
Galway would have preferred not to have lost the under-21 semi-final to Kilkenny given the prominence of the players in their senior panel but again it's not an infallible pointer. For whatever reason seniors still eligible for the under-age grades often don't perform to the best of their ability – anxiety, trying to do too much or simple lack of focus.
The gap between the teams in terms of experience and accomplishment is vast, as embodied in Henry Shefflin's bid to set a new record for senior All-Ireland medals but age brings its disadvantages too and if the match is open going into the last 10 minutes, Galway will fancy their chances.
It's been a strange year for Kilkenny unlike any other since 2004. Similarly to then, the team has stuttered from awesome displays of destruction to less impressive performances. Galway can take comfort from the fact they last met the champions after the shock and awe of the Leinster semi-final against Dublin, just as tomorrow Kilkenny are coming off the annihilation of their closest rivals in recent years, Tipperary.
All of these power plays take their toll and a subdued display can't be ruled out, either.
But the unshakeable core consideration that militates against Galway is that in the areas where they did most damage – centrefield, full forwards and half backs – Kilkenny are stronger and given the unlikelihood of another first-quarter blitzkrieg will Galway believe they can take this all the way?
A second ascent looks too steep.

[seafoid]

At the risk of being accused of being anti Galway,again ( really, a south Tipp man ?) I have reservations with numbers 1,3,6,9,12 and 15, I would love to be proven wrong but i cant have Skehill and Hynes in particular and Tannion, Donnelan and the horse either, please God I'm proven wrong.

Definitely doubts but the question is how they play as a collective. I was very impressed with the interview with Cunningham in the Irish Times earlier in the week. I think he is doing a job like Horan in Mayo or McGuinness in Donegal.

Galway have underachieved for so long and the management took a hatchet to last year's team and brought in 5 or 6 under 21s.   
Of course they don't have the experience of the cats but the  thing about sport is that great teams fade eventually. Is that where kilkenny are now or are they on for another 4 in a row ?