Galway v Kerry. Super 8s Round 1. 15 July Croke Park.

[Maroon Manc]

Use of the bench and timing will be key on Sunday - Walsh has improved in this aspect so far in the championship so hopefully the lessons have been well learned from the league final!

Must have been after 60 minutes before he made hist first sub in the league final but lessons have been learnt from that although the depth of the panel is impressive in midfield and the forwards its certainly can't be said of the defence. Its a shame Cummins has got so many injuries in the last 18 months, his performances in 2016 were by far his best so far when he started to show far more composure in front of the pots.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Use of the bench and timing will be key on Sunday - Walsh has improved in this aspect so far in the championship so hopefully the lessons have been well learned from the league final!

Provided Galway are still in the game when the 45/50 minute arrives, this is a massive alright, Duggan is a big loss in terms of midfield depth but there will be some decent talent coming from the bench when called upon.
Hopefully the defence can have all personnel playing well Sunday, the cover there is very thin. An early black card for any of the Galway defenders (Sean Andy was very susceptible to them in the league) could be ruinous.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Use of the bench and timing will be key on Sunday - Walsh has improved in this aspect so far in the championship so hopefully the lessons have been well learned from the league final!

Provided Galway are still in the game when the 45/50 minute arrives, this is a massive alright, Duggan is a big loss in terms of midfield depth but there will be some decent talent coming from the bench when called upon.
Hopefully the defence can have all personnel playing well Sunday, the cover there is very thin. An early black card for any of the Galway defenders (Sean Andy was very susceptible to them in the league) could be ruinous.

Agreed.  Defensive cover from the bench has been our main concern YTD and I expect it will bite us eventually, whether its via injury or black/red cards remain to be seen......................

[Gael85]

Use of the bench and timing will be key on Sunday - Walsh has improved in this aspect so far in the championship so hopefully the lessons have been well learned from the league final!

Must have been after 60 minutes before he made hist first sub in the league final but lessons have been learnt from that although the depth of the panel is impressive in midfield and the forwards its certainly can't be said of the defence. Its a shame Cummins has got so many injuries in the last 18 months, his performances in 2016 were by far his best so far when he started to show far more composure in front of the pots.

Is Michael Daly still injured?

[blanketattack]

Kerry won 5 of the last 15 Sams all the same.

One in the last nine seasons is of a lot more relevance than the exploits of players from 2004 who haven't played in years..

Two in the last nine seasons actually. Not great but a lot of counties would take two All-Irelands out of every nine.

[galwayman]

Use of the bench and timing will be key on Sunday - Walsh has improved in this aspect so far in the championship so hopefully the lessons have been well learned from the league final!

Must have been after 60 minutes before he made hist first sub in the league final but lessons have been learnt from that although the depth of the panel is impressive in midfield and the forwards its certainly can't be said of the defence. Its a shame Cummins has got so many injuries in the last 18 months, his performances in 2016 were by far his best so far when he started to show far more composure in front of the pots.

Is Michael Daly still injured?

He played championship for his club the week after the Connacht final anyway & kicked 1-5.
Not sure if he has suffered any recurrence of the injury since or not.

[seafoid]

The Kerry franchise is worth a few points but is there any other team that introduced a lock of minors to replace non functioning players and integrated them seamlessly into an unbeatable outfit? I think there is a touch of magical thinking in the air.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2018/0710/977723-all-you-need-to-know-kerry-v-galway/

Kerry have looked imperious thus far as the new batch of minor All-Ireland winners are integrated into the set-up. Shane Murphy in goals, Jason White and Dr Crokes’ Gavin White have looked at home in defence, while the eye-catching performances of David Moran and Jack Barry in the middle of the park have meant a steady supply of ball for the attack.

[Ball Hopper]

The Kerry franchise is worth a few points but is there any other team that introduced a lock of minors to replace non functioning players and integrated them seamlessly into an unbeatable outfit? I think there is a touch of magical thinking in the air.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2018/0710/977723-all-you-need-to-know-kerry-v-galway/

Kerry have looked imperious thus far as the new batch of minor All-Ireland winners are integrated into the set-up. Shane Murphy in goals, Jason White and Dr Crokes’ Gavin White have looked at home in defence, while the eye-catching performances of David Moran and Jack Barry in the middle of the park have meant a steady supply of ball for the attack.

One of two errors in the original article (both corrected now)

[Maroon Manc]

Didn't realise Kerry had 5 of last years u21 teams who played against Galway start against Cork and thats without mentioning Clifford.

Interview with Comer here;

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/i-just-lost-interest-how-galway-star-comer-almost-slipped-through-the-intercounty-net-37112980.html

[galwayman]

Didn't realise Kerry had 5 of last years u21 teams who played against Galway start against Cork and thats without mentioning Clifford.

Interview with Comer here;

https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/gaelic-football/i-just-lost-interest-how-galway-star-comer-almost-slipped-through-the-intercounty-net-37112980.html

I'm guessing the team will be released after training tonight.
As regards changes from the Connacht final starting team...
Eoin Kerin is a certainty to replace David Wynne.
Aside from that it's difficult to know. I think that will probably be the only change - Barry McHugh had a poor game last time out but with Duggan injured he will probably keep his place.
I'm sure they don't like the idea of dropping their main freetaker from left or central positions either and shifting all freetaking duties to Shane Walsh who can be hit and miss with them.

I think Duggan would have come in if fit and Conroy moved further forward possibly as he struggles with the pace of midfield in Croker.
With Duggan out though, I think Cooke might be held in reserve as otherwise we have no recognised midfielder on the bench to bring on & we will need fresh legs in that sector late on (Daly can play there but hasn't been used in that position at senior level yet).

That would leave Armie, Danny, Cooke, Varley, Daly as decent forward/mid options and GOD & Johnny Duane for the backs to come on.

If that team starts, 13 of them started the game in Tralee in Feb.
10 of the Kerry Munster final started that day also.

[Manning18]

I thought Duggan was a cert to come in for McHugh because we got so badly cleaned at midfield in this fixture last year. Big pity he's injured, strikes me as someone who'll ensure you're never completely beat at midfield. Personally I think there's a decent chance they'll start Cooke and play with 3 out there. Midfielders tend to matter less after the 55 minute mark or so when one team is often behind and short kickouts come that bit handier. If we're behind at that stage I think it's curtains for us regardless. He brought O'Currain into affairs late on last year and we finally won one or two but the horse had bolted at that stage. We'll see though

[galwayman]

I thought Duggan was a cert to come in for McHugh because we got so badly cleaned at midfield in this fixture last year. Big pity he's injured, strikes me as someone who'll ensure you're never completely beat at midfield. Personally I think there's a decent chance they'll start Cooke and play with 3 out there. Midfielders tend to matter less after the 55 minute mark or so when one team is often behind and short kickouts come that bit handier. If we're behind at that stage I think it's curtains for us regardless. He brought O'Currain into affairs late on last year and we finally won one or two but the horse had bolted at that stage. We'll see though

You could well be correct on that. I just think McHugh will be given another chance, purely on the basis that he is usually (and I stress the word usually) such an accurate freetaker.
He was extremely poor the last day both in general play & in terms of his freetaking.
But I think they'll go with him on the basis that he won't be as bad from frees again.
He kicked some nice ones against the Dubs in the league final.
He lacks pace and is obviously not as strong defensively and in the tackle as others, so we can't have a situation where he is isolated one on one with any Kerry defender within 30 metres of our goal.
The first goal in the Connacht final highlighted that.

I personally did not believe Duggan was good enough for county football, so I can't say I saw the performances he has put in this year coming at all. But he is now a massive loss for this game.

[GalwayBayBoy]

I was starting to build up my hopes for the game until I started going through some of the previews and the dark clouds of impending doom soon returned. Just listened to the GAA Hour there and Galway were pretty much written off completely. They actually gave a McBrearty less Donegal a much better chance against the Dubs. I guess recent visits to CP have made it hard to trust this Galway side until they actually do it.

[An Fhairche Abu]

I was starting to build up my hopes for the game until I started going through some of the previews and the dark clouds of impending doom soon returned. Just listened to the GAA Hour there and Galway were pretty much written off completely. They actually gave a McBrearty less Donegal a much better chance against the Dubs. I guess recent visits to CP have made it hard to trust this Galway side until they actually do it.

You should have a read of the sports sections of Kerry's Eye and The Kerryman, you'll be waiting at home and watching the World Cup final GBB! That said hopefully Éamonn Fitzmaurice is using the journalist that expected Connoy and Ó Curraoin to line out at midfield on Sunday for their advance scouting!!!
In all seriousness though until Galway put in a performance in Croke Park that's the way it'll be, you couldn't argue with it too much, it's up to the current Galway team to change that narrative.

[galwayman]

I was starting to build up my hopes for the game until I started going through some of the previews and the dark clouds of impending doom soon returned. Just listened to the GAA Hour there and Galway were pretty much written off completely. They actually gave a McBrearty less Donegal a much better chance against the Dubs. I guess recent visits to CP have made it hard to trust this Galway side until they actually do it.

You should have a read of the sports sections of Kerry's Eye and The Kerryman, you'll be waiting at home and watching the World Cup final GBB! That said hopefully Éamonn Fitzmaurice is using the journalist that expected Connoy and Ó Curraoin to line out at midfield on Sunday for their advance scouting!!!
In all seriousness though until Galway put in a performance in Croke Park that's the way it'll be, you couldn't argue with it too much, it's up to the current Galway team to change that narrative.

Spot on.