Na Cait v Gaillimh, AIF 9 Sept

[Milltown Row2]

I think that McGrath should have blown for a free when Hayes was getting mauled on his way into the 21. When Donnellan picked up the ball I believe that McGrath give an easy free (clearly blew before the ball was struck) to make up for not blowing when Hayes was being raped. Club games, most referees would let the goal stand and there wouldn't be much fuss from the players, canny do that at Croke or even at a club county final.

A lot of things didn't go for Galway, thought big Joe was quiet, Galway give Kilkenny an early lead and tactically Galway were caught out, Wrong man on big Walsh and when they won possession they were wastefull in there shot selection or passing, big Hogan swept up a few of the long passes behind his fullback line. If Galway play that tactic then they should be popping the ball over the bar from distance, didn't happen. there should have been players available, Kilkenny knew that and closed those areas down with upping there tempo. Crucially it was the reaction of the Kilkenny lads after the 2 goals that won the match. During the furore of the goals Galway turned off for 10 minutes. Level smart heads should have calmed things down, slowed the game with some treatment to players and take the tempo out.

Midfield was different this time round and Kilkenny did far better, another reason for the Cats win. Plenty to work on for Galway, hopefully they will come back smarter for it next year, though Tipp haven't become a bad team over night and Cork won't be as naive next year. Limerick may up the pace and Clare have good under 21's coming through to senior. All good for the neutral

[north_antrim_hound]

You can nit pick through a whole game if you want. He should have blown the whistle and given a 21 yard free when TJ Reid was slapped in the head. Instead of a certain point for KK, Galway broke and got their second goal. Six of one, half a dozen...

You're right you can. Is that the way we should look at incidents then? Sure if they cancel each other out it's ok then? The old 'balance themselves out over the course of the season' argument?? How will refereeing standards ever improve if you take that view?

The awarding of that free was a crucial decision. It was blatantly wrong. I have said earlier as a Galway fan that I did not think we would have won the game had it stood.  However that is only an opinion I could be wrong. Arguably it indirectly contributed to the sending off. It's a point worth debating.

I understand your point about certain incidents and watched the TJ Reid incident there and it did look on tv like a slap on the head. Watching it live yesterday from the Davin Collins didnt make contact with Reid but Id see how that would be given from the angle the cameras picked it up. Reid was straight up again too which indicated no contact. That may have been the refs view too.

No, it's not, but you can't simply turn round with an attitude of "let's focus on our misfortune and ignore theirs". From a Galway point of view, the decision was crucial. Do you think Kilkenny conceding a second goal wasn't crucial to them?

It indirectly contributed to the sending off? Are you having a laugh? Donnellan was so incensed with the referee he decided to do a Benny and try and take JJ's head off?!

You're definitely kidding yourself if you think TJ wasn't slapped - Collins' flapped at him and it 100% made contact. I was sitting in the lower Hogan almost directly in line with it. It wasn't a flick of the wrist but a one-handed swing. Richie Hogan got sent-off (deservedly) for something similar earlier in the year against Limerick. It absolutely should have been a free.

He clearly swung the hurley across from looking at it here. I felt there was no contact yesterday and that TJ's reaction bore that out. If he got a blow to the head similar to the the strike Richie Hogan gave the Limerick player as you have suggested then you would imagine he would have been in a lot of distress?


No I am not having a laugh regarding Donnellan. He deserved a straight red no question. But are you realistically suggesting that frustration had no part to play?? And that the disallowed goal didn't contribute to this?? He was then pulled back chasing down a ball and lashed out wrongly. I think its a perfectly reasonable connection.

Put it this way had that goal stood I don't think Donnellan would have lashed out.

From a neutral stance I think Galway can feel aggrieved. The only negative thing about this Kilkenny team(so many positive's) are that referees don't treat them the same. Shefflin has been getting lippy for two years now and gets different reactions from refs than most players. I still cant believe the soft penalty they got v tipp in 09 when kirwan was letting worse things go for the whole match.I suppose kilkenny would argue that holding hurls, slapping fingers with the stick and so on is ok as long as the man in black doesn't see it. Benny Dunne reacted the same as Donnellan but know one said anything about Tommy rubbing the butt of his hurl in his ear just before he lashed out. Croke park and the media don't seem to perturbed about the whole thing even if other counties have issues with it. As for Cody and its a man's game stuff, the treatment of young Seamus Hickey by Tyrrell of the ball  in the 07 final v limerick was far from manly. All this made codys pre-final rant about micheal rice's treatment laughable,
they are bigger than the sport it seems in this regard. Still some team though, the best I ever seen

[mouview]

The Galway hurling civil war is finished.
I think the management of this team are light years ahead of what went before . They focus on organisation and process. I don't detect any nihilism from the fans either.
This team seems to have the right attitude. They are very positive and they emphasise the importance of learning.
If they win one all Ireland they'll win another.   

Management seem to complement each other nicely and continuing the c'ship through the summer would certainly seem to be a plus. Cunningham and co. now have to take it to the next level though; more variety in tactics and unearth a couple of better forwards is also required. Additionally, they really need to work with the players they have, e.g. Tannian and Donnellan have to be taught how to use possession much more wisely instead of hitting it away aimlessly.

[seafoid]

The Galway hurling civil war is finished.
I think the management of this team are light years ahead of what went before . They focus on organisation and process. I don't detect any nihilism from the fans either.
This team seems to have the right attitude. They are very positive and they emphasise the importance of learning.
If they win one all Ireland they'll win another.   

Management seem to complement each other nicely and continuing the c'ship through the summer would certainly seem to be a plus. Cunningham and co. now have to take it to the next level though; more variety in tactics and unearth a couple of better forwards is also required. Additionally, they really need to work with the players they have, e.g. Tannian and Donnellan have to be taught how to use possession much more wisely instead of hitting it away aimlessly.

I wonder if they'll pick a few older forwards in the next trawl for the panel of 30 or whatever it is. It would presumably be easier to get fellas to buy into the programme this time around on the evidence of the progress made to date. There is no shortage of hurlers either.  A bit of competition for places would be no harm either.

I was looking at a report from the 2005 under 21 final just now . Galway beat the cats  by a point . There were 4 or 5 of those cats  playing yesterday. Kilkenny had a system that those players could join. Galway didn't.  There was no continuity. 

A couple of years of this new approach should be very interesting. 

[gallsman]

What was with the soccer-style security operation on the Hill?

[Syferus]

What was with the soccer-style security operation on the Hill?

I hope the rock you were living under was comfy.

[gallsman]

What was with the soccer-style security operation on the Hill?

I hope the rock you were living under was comfy.

Perhaps instead of being snide you could just answer the question? There didn't appear to be any segregation or anything amongst the majority of the Hill.

[FTJC]

Have a look at the 5 minute spell from Donnelans goal to his sending off. The game was decided during this period by an erratic ref. It's a shame that poor decision making has left Galway wondering "what might have been..."

Donnelan has his "goal" blown back by a referee that wouldn't give them a free all day instead choosing to give advantage sometimes where there was none...in this case he decided to blow...just as Donnelan was winding for a shot!
A few minutes later Michael Fennelly(yellow carded on 30 mins) timbers Donnelan off the ball as Joe Canning blazes his shot off the bottom of the post.
This incident is clearly caught on camera...how would the game have transpired if it was 15 Galway vs 14 Kilkenny for the remaining 25 minutes???
Donnelans swing back was pure frustration at these incidents that happened him in the previous minutes. When JJ grabbed his hurl he swung back in frustration to release it. He did not intend to catch him on the head. It was pure frustration and poor refereeing led to that frustration

[Asal Mor]

I thought the ref made a few mistakes both ways and I think we have to acknowledge that Kilkenny were the better team by a long way. We hung in there well though and if some of those incidents had gone our way, Kilkenny would have been under huge pressure going into the last 20.

Galway didn't play well. Our forwards were really struggling to win any ball in the first 30 minutes and were getting beaten in the air every time but Johnathon Glynn brought a big improvement in this department.

We got caught in possession a lot and this was leading to Kilkenny scores. Our shooting was poor too when we did manage to create chances. And yet for all that if the goal had stood we'd have been in for a tight finish.

So well done Kilkenny and on to next year. Galway have a lot to be positive about but next year is huge. We got to finals in '93, '01 and '05  with newish teams but followed them up with disastrous performances the year after. I'd agree with seafoid that this management is different and I think the talent is there in the squad with another year of hard work. Outside of any young lads who might come through I would say Shane Kavanagh will have to be considered again. He's certainly good enough. Someone mentioned Ger Farragher but that won't happen.

We've found some excellent young players and hopefully they will keep developing. Coen and Glynn look like future greats to me. Well Coen just has to keep doing what he's doing and Glynn looks like a man who can lead the attack in years to come. We can aim puckouts at him and he'll win most of them - a huge asset. Conor Cooney and James Regan weren't quite ready this year but hopefully they will be next year. And of course we have Joe.

It's important the older guys like Hayes and Tannian stay around and I'd be amazed if they don't. So next year is a huge one. I wouldn't say we have to win the All-Ireland but we have to keep the momentum and the improvement going and get back into the semis at the very least. Tipp will be back next year. Clare, Cork and Limerick are improving too and Kilkenny won't go away (more's the pity). Cunningham will ensure that everything is done right and I'd say if those young lads like Cooney, Regan, Glynn , Burke and O'Donoghue find a little improvement 2013 could well be our year.

[gallsman]

Is Farragher completely done? Is he 30 yet? Remember he was quite young in '05.

[seafoid]

Shekill admits he wasn't fit

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/1002/1224324725913.html


Skehill was still devastated yesterday by his inability to influence proceedings as he would if fully fit. "To be honest, I'm kicking myself an awful lot, in the sense that you'd even be questioning your faith as to why these things happen.
"But it's the life of a sportsman, isn't it?"
The surgeon has recommended operations on both shoulders and a winter of rehabilitation but these procedures may be postponed due to club championship commitments.

Despite the disappointment of losing an All-Ireland final, Skehill believes the year as a whole can already be looked upon with a degree of satisfaction.
"We often hear of the '87 and '88 teams and we feel like we're in their shadows a bit and we're trying to make our own history and our own future. I think we restored the pride in the jersey."
The young goalkeeper's support for the Cunningham management also remains unwavering.
"And my heart does go out to Anthony in the sense that he's lost two finals after replays but he's a lion of a man and he's got a massive heart. And I guarantee you, as sure as I'm sitting here, we'll be back next year. That's the God's honest truth."

[Asal Mor]

Is Farragher completely done? Is he 30 yet? Remember he was quite young in '05.

He's still hurling well with Castlegar by all accounts and he wouldn't be that old. It's just that he's not enough of an athlete to play the high intensity, hard-tackling game that Cunningham has them playing now. He's still talked about and plenty of people in Galway feel he should be on the panel but I'd be surprised if Cunningham brought him back.

[mouview]

Have a look at the 5 minute spell from Donnelans goal to his sending off. The game was decided during this period by an erratic ref. It's a shame that poor decision making has left Galway wondering "what might have been..."

Donnelan has his "goal" blown back by a referee that wouldn't give them a free all day instead choosing to give advantage sometimes where there was none...in this case he decided to blow...just as Donnelan was winding for a shot!
A few minutes later Michael Fennelly(yellow carded on 30 mins) timbers Donnelan off the ball as Joe Canning blazes his shot off the bottom of the post.
This incident is clearly caught on camera...how would the game have transpired if it was 15 Galway vs 14 Kilkenny for the remaining 25 minutes???
Donnelans swing back was pure frustration at these incidents that happened him in the previous minutes. When JJ grabbed his hurl he swung back in frustration to release it. He did not intend to catch him on the head. It was pure frustration and poor refereeing led to that frustration

Agree with all of that except that I thought the game was lost after Galway's second goal. They really had to stay ahead at that stage and hopefully bring more of the forwards into play. They had opened up KK twice in quick succession and they (KK) were bound to be jittery and nervous then. Instead KK responded with scores of thir own, as we did  in the LF.

[Bord na Mona man]

Is Farragher completely done? Is he 30 yet? Remember he was quite young in '05.

He's still hurling well with Castlegar by all accounts and he wouldn't be that old. It's just that he's not enough of an athlete to play the high intensity, hard-tackling game that Cunningham has them playing now. He's still talked about and plenty of people in Galway feel he should be on the panel but I'd be surprised if Cunningham brought him back.

He mightn't have the work rate of the others, but he'd at least be able to stick it over from distance.
Too many of the Galway forwards' first instinct is to try and go on a solo run when they get the ball. After a while they become easy to predict. The back can stand off, watch the angle of the run and then cut the player off.
Having a couple of gun-players means that they need to be marked tightly all the time.

[Asal Mor]

Yeah he'd have taken a few of the chances that were missed in the two games against Kilkenny and he's worth having another look at after the failure of our forwards to score a point from play unitl the 71st minute. I would guess that Cunningham feels he'd offer nothing defensively and in terms of winning 50/50 balls but his striking is immaculate and if he gets a chance from anywhere he'll usually put it over. It's a pity lads like himself and Cha are surplus to requirements now. IMO they'd have been superstars 20 or 30 years ago when the game was a little less intense. You don't see any lads built like John Troy or Joe Cooney at the top-level anymore either, though I think they'd both be class against  a packed defence.