Mayo v Galway - Connacht Final 13/07/08 14:00 McHale Park, Castlebar

[MaroonAndWhite]

On the question of tradition, we draw from it and are proud of it - but tradition in terms of the type of football we try to play, not "arent we great for winning 3 in a row forty yrs ago". Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point......Galway's fortunes changed when we got a better class of player in the late 90's and a bit of belief from beating the likes of ye, the previous years AI Finalists but we had a bollix of a 15 years before that. We hit a purple patch in terms of player.....Joyce (x2), Donnellan, Divilly, Savage to add to Walsh, De Paor, Tomas Mannion, Ja.......I dont think with lads like that that we would have fallen too far but it would have been a fair setback to lose to ye three yrs in a row.

Cavan have not produced a top class young player since Dermot McCabe. Thats when tradition means fcuk all, when ya stop producing at underage. All comes down to the players ya have at the end of the day......we were just blessed with a few gems those few years. You'd get it hard to find a weak link in the 198-2001 teams.......you couldnt say that about the team now. But we are moving in the right direction I think. If only we had another Kevin Walsh  

[GaillimhIarthair]

I think we're actually on the same page moysider, I totally agree that the Barry Moran project should have been persevered with but for some reason it hasn't and I also wish Mac was still involved but unfortunately it's not the case. All I will say is that this is arguably the best management team we have had in quite some time (on paper at least!) so I'm going to reserve judgement on them for the time being.
I did notice one improvement in the style of play the last day and that was that McGarrity and Parsons were obviously instructed to let the ball in long and early. They did this with a certain amount of success even if they didn't do it often enough. Even Heaney kicked the ball in more often than he has in the past, which isn't saying alot but I think there are clear intructions to kick the ball more often rather than run it. The problem is this is going against the instincts of some players like Heaney but you can see work is being done on it.
So to say there isn't a gameplan is a bit harsh, I just think it is taking its sweet time getting the message across to all the players. Lads like Trevor and Heaney will always be inclined to hold on to the ball for too long a couple of times in a game, but they are amongst our best players so what do we do, drop them? that's not a great option obviously! We'll have to see what they come up with the next day, they will have to have a plan B for Austie because I think Hanley might do a good job on him, and for that reason alone it's a shame Barry Moran didn't get a while on the pitch the last day.

Is it not obvious to ye at this stage lads?  There is only one man for the 14 jersey on July 13th.  The bould Jimmy Burke  

[rosnarun]

Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point....

always amazes me that  game after a long time on the down castlebar was choc full of heron chokers. it was if the smelt blood or was it they just felt mayo were in bother after 2 AIF defeats but they knew something was up.

[moysider]

On the question of tradition, we draw from it and are proud of it - but tradition in terms of the type of football we try to play, not "arent we great for winning 3 in a row forty yrs ago". Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point......Galway's fortunes changed when we got a better class of player in the late 90's and a bit of belief from beating the likes of ye, the previous years AI Finalists but we had a bollix of a 15 years before that. We hit a purple patch in terms of player.....Joyce (x2), Donnellan, Divilly, Savage to add to Walsh, De Paor, Tomas Mannion, Ja.......I dont think with lads like that that we would have fallen too far but it would have been a fair setback to lose to ye three yrs in a row.

Cavan have not produced a top class young player since Dermot McCabe. Thats when tradition means fcuk all, when ya stop producing at underage. All comes down to the players ya have at the end of the day......we were just blessed with a few gems those few years. You'd get it hard to find a weak link in the 198-2001 teams.......you couldnt say that about the team now. But we are moving in the right direction I think. If only we had another Kevin Walsh 

Yeah. Thing is about Walsh is how O Mahoney kept him going way into his thirties though injury prone. His best years were in his thirties. Now the same manager is getting rid of a player on top of his game that is badly needed.... but hey I promised not to mention this individual for a while. You re right about the late 90 s team and to be honest the current team has a bit to go and PJ will leave a big void sooner than later. Savage was the man I always feared. More so than Donnellan ,PJ or Ja. We seemed to usually cope with those 3. But of course they were class on lots of big days in Croke Park. Now Matty Clancy is the one I would fear more than Meehan or Joyces or Armstrong. Always thought he was a handful and could nt understand how many Galway fans questioned his worth on the team. He s the man we need to pin down in this game. I would delegate Nallen to do the job myself.

[MaroonAndWhite]

Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point....

always amazes me that  game after a long time on the down castlebar was choc full of heron chokers. it was if the smelt blood or was it they just felt mayo were in bother after 2 AIF defeats but they knew something was up.

That was the JOM factor....he came in huge reputation, good young players and the crowd followed. Plus Dympna Burke God rest her was a one woman band that year when it came to gettin the crowd back.

The JOM factor has waned slightly since im sensing 

[moysider]

Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point....

always amazes me that  game after a long time on the down castlebar was choc full of heron chokers. it was if the smelt blood or was it they just felt mayo were in bother after 2 AIF defeats but they knew something was up.

Often thought the same myself. Never seen a tension like it in the province before - or since. The sickening thing was all those instant fans were rewarded with success straight away and where are we still. Something similar befell us in Mark. Park in 2000 when Sligo fans were actually bullish and laughing about our warm up drills before the start. Guess what happened next? They must have known something. Some kind of telepathy was at work. Now if we we went off in that mood we d be lucky to see half time.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Walsh & Sean Og were right when they said that beating Mayo in 98 was a turning point....

always amazes me that  game after a long time on the down castlebar was choc full of heron chokers. it was if the smelt blood or was it they just felt mayo were in bother after 2 AIF defeats but they knew something was up.

I was there that day alright and there was a huge Galway crowd there for whatever reason. Maybe the freshness of new management and a raft of new young players attracted them along but certainly I doubt anybody had us down to win or even challenge for the All-Ireland that year.

While 98 was obviously important and all I would say that 95 was equally as important. Galway had gone 8 years without a Connacht title and went up to Dublin to play the Ulster champions Tyrone. Ulster teams of course having won the last 4 All-Ireland's on the trot. I think people at home felt we were going to get embarrassed such was the gulf between Connacht and Ulster football back then but Galway put in a very credible performance on the day and could well have won the game. I think that brought a little belief back into football west of the Shannon and Mayo of course went even closer themselves the following two years.

[spectator]

C'mon, with respect to macD you can't even begin to compare him with Joyce, an absolute consumate forward. Most of his passes are forward also! Always had a lot of respect for MacD, paritcularly at club level, but I feel his time is past now.

Aah, yes you can! but as M&W says we look at our own through rose tinted glasses and you will never get us to agree on which is better. The truth is they would compliment each other brillantly, Mac at 11 and PJ in his best position of 14.

PJ had a more discerning footballing brain, ice-cool temperament and relentless ability to dust himself down and put opponents to the sword, adversity didn't diminish him.

McD had great on-the-ball strength and eye-catching vision allied to a left foot which could catch the eyes of the Gods.

PJ would be my first choice at either CF or preferably FF. McD though picked out outrageous scores and passes at times and could battle with the toughest too, his skills will rightly live long in the memory of those who saw him play also. If PJ was picked at FF, I agree McD is well worthy of consideration at 11.

[moysider]

Yeah we went to 4 all Ireland finals since 1995 and lost all 4 [ last 5 if you include 89]. Galway won 2 out of 3 finals since 98. Is it no wonder some of us are bitter, twisted, paranoid and above all impatient. When I hear about rebuilding, transition, change of style its as good as tellling me to forget about it and take  up golf. Nothing to see here pal. Move along. While galway had their Ja s Joyces, Mannion , Donnellan, Walsh end up with 2 crosses all TJ, Willie Joe, Nallen, McHale, McDonald, Horan ended up with is condescension and the stigma of  losers.

[Barney]

The one thing never mentioned about 98 in these topics is the fact that McDonald had a goal disallowed which actually crossed the line.

All being said we were Dead Man Walking that year, but it did line us up nicely for a serious Connacht Final in 99.

Moysider, you say Mayo teams never have the anger to take on Galway. I think part of our problem on the bigger stage is that we have focussed too much on Galway being the end game. If we win, we lose the heads; if we lose, we're down in the dumps and virtually throw the Qualifiers.

Whoever wins on 13th July it is going to bring them on a huge amount, and set them up as the leading light in Connacht for the next generation - neither will dominate, but both teams have a major sprinking of youth which needs a boost.

[Galforever]

The one thing never mentioned about 98 in these topics is the fact that McDonald had a goal disallowed which actually crossed the line.

From what I remember, TV replays were not conclusive. Also, Seanog DePaor has always insisted afterwards that it did not cross the line.

While 98 was obviously important and all I would say that 95 was equally as important. Galway had gone 8 years without a Connacht title and went up to Dublin to play the Ulster champions Tyrone. Ulster teams of course having won the last 4 All-Ireland's on the trot. I think people at home felt we were going to get embarrassed such was the gulf between Connacht and Ulster football back then but Galway put in a very credible performance on the day and could well have won the game. I think that brought a little belief back into football west of the Shannon and Mayo of course went even closer themselves the following two years.

95 was the key year for Galway & Connacht football. They went to Croke Park being written off by everybody but played some great stuff that day and could have won. Coming off the backs of Leitrims & Mayos two previous all-ireland semi finals, its was a huge hughe improvement. This game served Mayo just as much as Galway as when Mayo beat us in 96, they had the belief that they could get to an all-ireland final (something that was badly missing in 93).


To say that we did not have weak links in the 98 team is untrue. We had plenty of weak links. Tomas Meehan was never a tight corner back, Ray Silke & John Divilly were both very loose in the half-back line (but made up for a lot of it by sending good ball out of the defence) and we never found a settled player in the third half forward line position (after Paul Clancy went off injured in the Leitrim game, we tried somebody new there for every game including the all-ireland final).

Also, people have mentioned Walsh, De Paor, Tomas Mannion, Ja etc. but nobody has mentioned Finnegan. He was equally as important if not more so than all those players in 98 (and that era).  Actually Finnegan was probably our most consistent player in the mid - late 90's.

[the Deel Rover]

Also, people have mentioned Walsh, De Paor, Tomas Mannion, Ja etc. but nobody has mentioned Finnegan. He was equally as important if not more so than all those players in 98 (and that era).  Actually Finnegan was probably our most consistent player in the mid - late 90's.

Ye your right there Galforever finnegan barely gets recognition for his contribution if memory serves me right he was excellent in the Ai final did he take the frees as well?

[corran ard]

Of course, Finnegan scored that huge free in injury time in Tuam to draw the Connacht final against Ros. No good winning in Castlebar if you follow up with defeat to Ros.
Going back to that 95 team, the Connacht final in Tuam that year was one of the most one sided finals in memory. Mayo were woeful that that. Who was Mayo's manager that year? Jack O'Shea?
That match was preceeded with a great minor final that witnessed the emergence of Donnellan and Savage; although I don't recall PJ playing that day.

[the Deel Rover]

I thought jack o was manager in 1993 when we lost the final to Leitrim , i think anthony egan was manager in 1995 in Tuam with mc stay as trainer

[OirthearMhaigheo]

I thought jack o was manager in 1993 when we lost the final to Leitrim , i think anthony egan was manager in 1995 in Tuam with mc stay as trainer

That's the one! that was one dreary day, Padgraig Brogan played his last game in the green and red (and lots of white for some reason) that day I think, we were absolutely shocking. The minor game was one of the best games I have ever seen though, we had Sean Roughneen from Swinford at midfield who was a great minor footballer and Karl O'Boyle at fullforward. For Galway the most impressuve player was a young Derek Reilly from Corofin, he was a class underage player, whatever happend to him?