NFL Divsion 2 2017

[Jinxy]

Kildare seemed to get stuck doing these short, lateral hand-passes around the half-forward line an awful lot.
Lads practically at walking pace trudging over and back waiting for some sort of gap to open up.
Need to use runners from deep to punch through or go out wide.
Another downside to that is it pulls in too many of your own players so if you get turned over a pacy, direct team will be down within scoring range within two passes.
Niall Kelly was very good again.
Great little player.

[seafoid]

When is the last time Kildare beat Galway in Croke Park ?

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Kildare seemed to get stuck doing these short, lateral hand-passes around the half-forward line an awful lot.
Lads practically at walking pace trudging over and back waiting for some sort of gap to open up.
Need to use runners from deep to punch through or go out wide.
Another downside to that is it pulls in too many of your own players so if you get turned over a pacy, direct team will be down within scoring range within two passes.
Niall Kelly was very good again.
Great little player.

Good analysis, it has been a problem in their play going back a few years now. They were playing a better, more direct brad of football earlier in the league but have regressed over the past few weeks. Today was painful viewing, playing in the morgue doesn't help either as it is like a soccer game played behind closed doors.

Loads of work and improving to do before Laois/Longford which thankfully will be played in front of fans.

Hard to know what to make of Galway, some exceptional talent at their disposal but they were incredibly wasteful in front of goal and struggled defensively when Kildare played with a bit of tempo to their game.

[Donnellys Hollow]

Well done Galway, more strength in depth. Kildare missed the 2 Flynns and P Cribben wasn't right. A great league campaign for us but Galway are probably 2 years ahead of us in terms of development and that showed today. We should make a semi-final against Meath and hopefully it's anywhere but Croke Park.

What was the story with Paul Cribbin? It seemed like we intended to replace Moolick only for Paul to tell him to stay on as he went to the sideline himself. Without Cribbin only Fergal Conway consistently showed the ability to take men on and punch holes. Dan Flynn was also sorely missed in that regard. I don't think he has managed a full season for Kildare yet in his career.

Disappointing to lose having been three points up but I wouldn't dwell on it too much. The calibre of player Galway had on their bench was a lot superior to what we had in reserve. Kildare need to get five or six more players through from those Leinster minor winning teams and get Paddy Brophy back. Despite the second string only going down by a point last week, it's fairly obvious that there isn't great depth to this panel yet.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

Is there any hope of Paul Mescal ever wanting to play senior intercounty? Eoghan O'Flaherty would be a welcome recall before the the summer too, still should have 3 or 4 years left in him if he could commit. Hopefully Sean Hurley finds some form at club level and gets over his injury problems too.

[Donnellys Hollow]

It will be interesting to see if O'Neill adds a few more to the panel. There were changes to the panel between the league and championship last season IIRC. Morgan O'Flaherty was one anyway and he ended up starting in the championship.

[seafoid]

Galway were very impressive in the last 10 minutes. Daly is a great player to have as a sub. It has been quite mediocre for a number of years but they have the makings of a decent team now.

[thebackbar1]

Galway were very impressive in the last 10 minutes. Daly is a great player to have as a sub. It has been quite mediocre for a number of years but they have the makings of a decent team now.

I would imagine only for the u21s being on next weekend he would of started yesterday, too good to be a sub

[Rossfan]

"Would of "
Black card offence.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Thought Brolly was a bit harsh on the game last night. First half was pretty poor fare alright and if the game stayed like that I would have agreed with him but the second half was actually pretty entertaining with some great well worked scores, long range points and high fielding. It was almost like he had stopped watching the game at half-time and went to the bar instead.

[Syferus]

You could hardly have blamed him if he did, though. Galway have developed the black death defence more successfully under a member of the great 98-02 team than when they had Joe Kernan in charge, and yet there remains a massive question mark over its viability.

Interesting that twice in the last three years newly promoted teams from D3 have gone straight up to D1, while Cavan had a near miss their first year and went up the next - doesn't speak to the quality of D2 when compared to D3.

[Maroon Manc]

Thought Brolly was a bit harsh on the game last night. First half was pretty poor fare alright and if the game stayed like that I would have agreed with him but the second half was actually pretty entertaining with some great well worked scores, long range points and high fielding. It was almost like he has stopped watching the game at half-time and went to the bar instead.

He was some craic last night especially considering what his profession is, he made his opinion at HT and refused to budge on it. At least Whelan noted some of the changes in the 2nd half.

If we're going to play Flynn in that position then we've got to make more use of his height, I know a lot of ball came in his direction in the 2nd half although he had plenty of company in FOC but can only remember one clean catch from him and even then he lost the mark due him making a handpass albeit he was unlucky.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Sure if Galway went out and played everyone in their traditional positions and lost the game he would be going through them for a short cut for being hopelessly naive and not taking their football seriously.

The one thing they were doing wrong in the first half was their attacks were too slow and too lateral. The only two times they attacked with pace they scored 2 points from it from Brannigan and O'Donnell. Second half they moved the ball much quicker and used the foot pass a bit more.

[Syferus]

Sure if Galway went out and played everyone in their traditional positions and lost the game he would be going through them for a short cut for being hopelessly naive and not taking their football seriously.

The one thing they were doing wrong in the first half was their attacks were too slow and too lateral. The only two times they attacked with pace they scored 2 points from it from Brannigan and O'Donnell. Second half they moved the ball much quicker and used the foot pass a bit more.

Easy solution from experience - bring the bodies back but don't bother to defend. Then no one can complain.

The rules for football need to change to allow more space for forwards to operate. A good one-on-one contest is a joy to behold even if the defender wins it but banks upon banks of sweepers makes it all a bit of a cluster fúck.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Thought Brolly was a bit harsh on the game last night. First half was pretty poor fare alright and if the game stayed like that I would have agreed with him but the second half was actually pretty entertaining with some great well worked scores, long range points and high fielding. It was almost like he has stopped watching the game at half-time and went to the bar instead.

He was some craic last night especially considering what his profession is, he made his opinion at HT and refused to budge on it. At least Whelan noted some of the changes in the 2nd half.

If we're going to play Flynn in that position then we've got to make more use of his height, I know a lot of ball came in his direction in the 2nd half although he had plenty of company in FOC but can only remember one clean catch from him and even then he lost the mark due him making a handpass albeit he was unlucky.

Having been at the final I only watched the brief highlights on RTE Sunday night and flicked back to the golf as soon as the RTE coverage returned to the studio analysts.
Playing attention to the likes of Brolly is utterly pointless. All he does generally is spout opinions (often contrarian for the sake of it) to keep himself in the spotlight.
I remember him excoriating the Galway performance against Kerry in 2014 stating that the Galway players "don't take their football seriously". Now that we've had to adopt the modern style after years of being underprepared, undersized and overwhelmed by opponents due (partly at least, the lack of top notch players in Galway also a big factor) to the vast changes in how the game is played, which were totally alien to the traditional Galway style, it's not acceptable either.
No one more than me would love to see a return to a more traditional game but it's unfortunately gone, this is the reality until the GAA start to change the rules of the game to shape the type of game they want to be played.

With respect to Brolly's comments on Colm Cooper which I read, whatever case is there to be made for the over eulogising of Cooper (as one Kerry friend of mine said just after Fitzgerald's comment about the Gooch during his speech - "he's not dead"), Brolly is totally OTT and just looking for a reaction.
Cooper is one of the best to ever do it, hard to really hold him responsible on his own for Kerry's failures in certain matches when it's a 15 man game.
In addition to having to listen to the pain that is Brolly, RTE's league coverage is woeful bad anyway.
I've disregarded my own advice there by paying any attention to Brolly and his ilk, so enough of wasting keystrokes on that particular pundit and TV station.

Regarding the match Sunday while it was no classic and first half wasn't great, it did improve in the second half and 12 first half scores versus 22 in the second tells the tale. Disappointing Galway crowd in attendance but that's par for the course these days I'm sorry to say.
Galway should have been going in at least about 3 points up at half time, a combination of some very poor shot selections (Shane Walsh the biggest culprit), bad wides from what were actually decent shooting positions (Farragher's terrible miss straight in front of the posts, Brannigan inexplicably hitting the post when it was easier to kick the point) and a reluctance to move the required amount of players forward in sufficient numbers and at a pace to trouble the Kildare blanket.

Mercifully the game opened up more in the 2nd half and there was some good scoring on show from both teams. I thought Galway were the better team on the day and deserving of the win; the impact of the Galway substitutes was certainly greater than the Kildare bench options that were introduced.

With regards to the Galway players, Sweeney had a decent first 15 minutes and a couple of good interceptions/pass breakups towards the finish but he got the run around for a large part of that match, being easily turned and left for dead numerous times. He hasn't got back to the heights of his 2015 campaign for Galway by any stretch at this point. Who is there to come in place of him though at the minute?
Kyne was the best of the FB line, wasn't on a power of ball but a good first half block down and a number of decent interceptions.

Not been hugely convinced by the Farragher experiment at CHB, some good aspects but there hasn't been anything leaping out either to suggest that he's the answer there. The entire HB line is in the main good going forward in fairness and I can see the logic in persisting with HB line players who are willing to sally up the pitch at speed, breaking onto hand passes from inside forwards and able a kick a point at the end of the move. The scores that O'Donnell and Heaney (one of Galway's more impressive performers on Sunday) have been consistently getting in every league match from these types of plays are the proof.
Getting turned and having to go back towards their own goal while defending though is a different matter and the FB line are still being put in difficult positions where the HB line isn't able to either track the runner on an attacking move or stop the attack with a dispossession out the field. Galway are still too reliant on turnovers from players being caught by the mass defence instead of individual tacklers gaining the dispossession further out the field from the Galway goal area.
Bradshaw had a massive impact on the match when introduced with intelligent passing, direct movement forward at pace and good support play breaking off the shoulder of the possession holder.
Like the rest of the half backs he is far too loose in general when having to defend though. Mightn't be the worst idea ever to keep him in an impact sub role for when the game gets stretched in the final 15 minutes although I'm sure the player himself would want be on from the start, given that Farragher hasn't nailed down the 6 jersey this could be the case.

Conroy had a good game at centrefield, needed to perform in Croke Park after his very poor outing against Tipperary last year at the same venue. O'Curraoin looks a good deal more physically powerful then a few years ago and he also has a big advantage this year compared to his previous Galway seasons in that the introduction of the mark rule is tailor made for a man of his statue and catching ability. It certainly mitigates against the negatives in terms of his limited pace.

Tom Flynn performed well in both of the Kildare matches in open play; it would be good to see him become more of a consistent aerial threat from kick outs then he is at the moment, he is a very tall man and is much faster with the ball in hand than either Conroy or O'Curraoin.
It's been evident in several league games that if a midfielder can take a mark from the opposition kick out, they can straight away quickly move at pace unimpeded into opposition territory prior to any defensive system being set, which can give a platform for easier scores. Kildare scored a point in the second half off a move like this from a Galway kick out where they were back into the scoring zone within 5-10 seconds of the restart.

The forwards had a bit of an off day given the amount of possession and attacking opportunities that were created. Shane Walsh ended up with 3 points from play but wasn't as effective as he was against Kildare a week earlier, definitely snatched at some chances where the ball should have either been recycled or taken forward into a more advantageous position for the shot.
Armstrong had his best performance of the league (that I saw) in the final, much more effective than some of the other games where, based on what was on show, I would have written him off as a factor at this level.
If Brannigan could sort out his shot selection and accuracy even a small bit he would be one of the very best current players for Galway. He consistently displays a massive work rate up and down the pitch. I don't know the possession stats but he must get on the ball more than any other outfield Galway player, he is always popping up around the pitch. Well able to take on and drive past players when the opportunity arises as well which Walsh and Daly aside (Tom Flynn also on the days he is going well) we don't see enough of from Galway.

A Lundy of 2014 performance vintage would be a huge addition for Galway but the current incarnation isn't at the races at all. The only memorable contribution the last day was taking the ball into 3 Kildare players and getting called for over carrying at a time when Galway just needed to retain the ball and see out the clock. His league performances I saw were poor, I really hope he gets back to showing his best football but he shouldn't be near the team at the moment.
Comer and Cummins were the best forwards for Galway last year, neither played much in the league this year at all really; this at least bodes well for options in the summer in terms of replacing guys who aren't performing on the day and the contrast in the number of options up front to the backs is glaring.
Comer particularly is a real game changer compared to the other Galway forwards in terms of the very different style and ability he brings to the table. Comer was also one of a couple to escape Croke Park with his reputation intact last year so you know he can perform even when the rest team isn't going well.
Daly is going to be a great bit of stuff altogether from what I've seen so far this year, will be a massive impact player off the bench for Galway if that's his role, but I can't see how he won't be in the first 15, he already looks too good not to start IMO.
He hasn't had much of an opportunity to stake a place this year but again on Sunday I couldn't believe how undersized Ian Burke appeared compared to the rest of the Galway and Kildare players. You can't build height in the gym but physically he looks miles off for the IC game.

Whatever issues one might have with Kevin Walsh, he is slowly but surely ticking off the list of things that needed to be achieved from a Galway football perspective and you'd be very harsh to say that progress isn't being made.
I don't really think that there is a wealth of players in the county that might make a difference, who haven't already been tried out either.
I know consistency is Kevin Walsh's buzzword (aside from "lookit") but there definitely still needs to be a greater consistency of performance within matches, Galway were a very frustrating watch at times during the 5 league games I attended in terms of this. Very good in patches, piss poor in others, sometimes they moved between the two states within the same half of football.

The difference in the quality and pace of play between Division 2 and Division 1 will be a massive challenge for both promoted teams next year but certainly from a Galway perspective there is nothing else left to be learned in Division 2. If we go up and get horsed out of it every match next year so be it, the jump had to be made, it's time to see what players will flourish in the most challenging environment in the game and who will remain in the flatter to deceive category.
If either Galway or Kildare can just stay up next year and get somewhat to the pitch of Division 1 there is the opportunity to build on that. Perhaps only then could you look to move into a similar position as Monaghan who went up in 2014 and are looking more and more like Division 1 perennials each season they have remained up. Roscommon regressing in their second season up obviously provide an alternative scenario which no one wants to emulate.

Casting a glance towards the championship and whether the current squad is good enough to make any decent impact on it – it's hard to know. Galway are not overflowing with options defensively and after the Tipp game/debacle last year, frankly until they do it in a big knockout match in August people will rightly be sceptical of how highly this set of players can be ranked nationally.

It's a long gap until the June 11th semi-final in Salthill, you'd have to assume that Mayo will be the opposition at this point unless Sligo pull off a bigger shock than Galway did in Connacht last year.
With reference to that shock Galway win last year, and the pre match build-up during which some people including James "The gap is widening" Horan wondered if they'd ever see Mayo lose to Galway again, I think it's fair to say that Mayo won't be caught on the hop twice by taking the Galway team lightly again.
Given that, Mayo will quite rightly be Connacht semi-final favourites but I think they'll get a good game from Galway at the least. Last year, even on the night of the Galway win, I felt sure that Mayo would progress further than Galway in the championship. I'm not sure if I would say the same this year were Mayo to lose out and have to face the qualifier route again given what I've seen of Mayo so far this year, particularly in terms of looking for newer players in the forwards who will lay down a serious marker come the championship.
I suppose Harrison and Durcan really only blossomed as IC footballers towards the end of the championship last year so maybe it could be a similar case for other newer players that Mayo have brought into the team/squad during this league campaign.

As for Galway if we show up with a 75 minute performance in June we'll have a chance at getting a result, all the players will have to perform at a level above what we have seen from them in the league matches so far to do that. They were able to do it last year and hopefully this will be the case again in 2017.

TLDR: Hup Galway!