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Finally Vinnie Maher was switched onto DJ and quietened him a bit. Galway playing into the breeze persisted with a 3-man FF line when it could be seen from Eyre Square that Joe Cooney should have been brought to midfield as a third man to close down that sector a bit and deliver quality ball. A youthful Eugene Cloonan's inability to get anything out of (Willie?) O Connor was more than matched by Kevin Borderick who was outstanding. Galway had a dream team of selectors that day including Steve Mahon and PJ Molloy and they still failed utterly to make a couple of simple changes that would have won a well-winnable game. I could have happily strangled Joe McDonagh and Phelim Murphy that day for voting for the back-door aka greed-is-good rule.

But as much as some Leinster type try to say so, Munster is still much better then the level of teams in Leinster, and I think the fact that Galway were moved in there says a lot.

we'll have to agree to disagree on this then. On the evidence of this year's munster championship its very difficult to put forward an argument backing this up.

And as for Galway, I think its no secret that a lot of the tweaking thats been done to the hurling championship since 1997 has been firmly with Galway in mind. They'd have been in Leinster long before now were it not for some resistance within the county. Leinster was the logical place for them to go. But it wasn't because of Leinster's problems. It just made sense all-round.

Jaaz, BT, the tweaking done in '97 most certainly didn't suit Galway above anyone; ourselves and Antrim were still not guaranteed 2 bites at the cherry back then. It suited KK down to a tee when they could regroup and beat us in Thurles that year. (Cyril totally losing the plot on the sideline didn't help either. )

It could get worse - it could be poor old Matt Clancy that comes in !! Nicky's axing is no great surprise to be honest, given that there was a bit of 'context' during and since the London game. Despite all his undoubted skill and ability he isn't a huge loss as he .. ahem.. wasn't the bravest and couldn't be relied on to win 50 - 50 / 40 - 60 ball. I'm struggling to think of a tight championship match, and there haven't been that many of them, where he's made a real difference to Galway to be honest. Injuries in fairness have mitigated against him also.

I'm amused to here "made footballer" being used as an insult. Both Kevin Walsh and Liam McHale got better every year they played. How is that not a good thing? 

No slight at all intended about being 'made', just that I would pick the 25 most talented, naturally gifted players, not the 25 most effective. Walsh was definitely not made, he was always a talented footballer, but his career was injury-interrupted.

In the 1920s Sligo were shafted out of a Connacht title after beating Galway, and beating Tipp in the AI semi, we were in our first AI senior football final, but had to replay the Connacht final as Galway objected due to a players name not spelt right, 2 letters wrong or something as trivial as that. Galway won the replayed match. So yes we are the only county to get to AI final and not get to play it. Sad but true

Mayo actually played and won an All-Ireland Final back then only for Galway to object. Mayo then had to play Galway in a Connacht final which Galway won and they were duly crowned All-Ireland Champs.

As for the comments by Mouview about McHale, he was the best I've seen in a Mayo jersey bar none. I started watching Mayo in the late 1970s and I am also familiar with Kevin Walsh's career having first seen him playing U-15 basketball for Ouchtarard. McHale, Padden, TJ and Pat Fallon represented a golden era of midfielders for us and I would rate all of them ahead of Walsh as footballers. I know that will be seen as heresy in Galway but I felt Walsh only really shone later in his career when those guys were gone and when he had a huge amount of experience which he used as wisely as any footballer I've seen. That for me is what won him 3 All-Stars.

As for Cake I knew a few players on both minor teams and the reason the Galway county board granted a replay for a match they had won was the infamous Tony Keady affair was happening and they wanted all the friends they could get for that fight. In the end they lost the minor replay and the Tony Keady appeal. 

Never realised that about the Minor replay (and still haven't forgiven Connacht neighbours for their abjection in that vote!)

Surely you jest about McHale? I don't deny he could be effective but, to repeat, I always maintain that he was a made footballer. (Did he play underage with Mayo?) Would he have been as effective had he been under 6 foot tall?

Not really partaking in this poll, but to include Liam McHale in any top 25 list for Connacht is surely taking the p***! A great fielder but a 'made' footballer whose soloing, kicking and passing skills were often atrocious. Surely even Mayo fans would rate TJ, Willie Joe, pat Fallon etc. as better players?

Surprised nobody has yet commented on the passing of this icon, perhaps the greatest sporting personage this country has ever produced. Conquered the jumps scene in the 50s with wins in the Grand National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champions Hurdle before turning his attention to the flat where he had multiple wins in the classics, including 6 (or 7?) Derby winners with some of the most famous horses of all time e.g. Nijinsky, Sir Ivor. His alliance with Roert Sangster and Lester Piggott was the most successful in horse racing and later he was instrumental in setting up the world-famous Coolmore stud with son-in-law John Magnier. O'Brien was one of the most reasons why Ireland now enjoys the reputation it does in horse racing.

Because he retired from training in 1994, younger readers on this board may not appreciate his greatness, but imagine Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson rolled into one - this was his stature and record of achievement. A collosus and a true legend.

Decent enough Galway team picked with Kavanagh and Lee in the central defensive positions probably the best available, though I would like to see them swapped around. Donnellan, Chunky and Callanan in the HF line have to nail down these positions as there won't be too many more chances to get a settled lineup. Good to see Kevin Hynes back after injury.

(As an aside, that total clod Gary Kelly called the goalie 'Callaghan' instead of 'Callanan' on the GBFM sports news this morning; not a major mistake in itself but it's just one more in a regular stream of errors he makes. The guy just has no feel or knowledge of sport whatsoever. Ralph O Gorman was an appalling presenter but at least he knows a bit about his subject.)

GALWAY (v Laois): C Callanan; D Joyce, S Kavanagh, O Canning; F Moore, J Lee, A Cullinane; K Hynes, A Smith; A Callanan, K Hayes, C Donnellan; D Hayes, J Canning, N Healy.

Probably the strongest team Galway could field, barring injury to Bergin (and perhaps to Mullahy - though as I've said here before, the nearer you get to championship the further from the team he seems to get); not sure if Big Barry is injured or not. The only downside is that there's no cover for the forwards on the bench; no offence to the poor devil, but Matt Clancy's demotion is a good thing.

Came from nowhere in that while some might have thought they had a decent chance of beating Mayo and thus Connacht I don't think they were spoken off as potential All-Ireland winners by anyone. Even after winning Connacht they were underdogs against an aging Derry team in the semis and underdogs again against Micko's Kildare in the final. While the young guys like PJ and Donnellan were considered talents at the beginning of 98 I don't think many people expected them to turn out to be as good as they actually were especially so soon. It's not like they had won a minor or U-21 All-Ireland because they hadn't.

I guess coming from nowhere means a team winning the AI that nobody realistically had down as genuine contenders at the start of the championship. I don't think that Galway team were considered potential AI winners early in the year. In hindsight it's easy to look back on the names on the teamsheet and say how could they not be contenders but I imagine they were well down the list in May 98.

This is not true. I remember many Galway people feeling that Galway could go all the way that year if they beat Mayo in the first round. Remember how Galway's support suddenly grew for that year compared with previous years. I just dont think they should be considered as a "come from nowhere team" when they were so close to
beating Mayo the previous year and some of the players who were involved in the 95 AI semi final were still involved. They also had a very impressive league in 98, losing to Offaly but as far as I remember, some of the forwards had a real bad day that day and we kicked the game away

To me , a "Come from nowehere" team would be one that has shown no form in the previous 4-5 years and then finds form in this champioship.

What bit is untrue? That they were underdogs in every game apart from the Roscommon ones? A couple of Galway people you knew that fancied their chances doesn't really provide an accurate reading of where they were at the beginning of that championship. I could probably find twice as many Galway people who thought they would lose up in Castlebar first day out. I was there that day and while there was a big Galway support there (due to the new look team) they were also up against a Mayo team who had contested the last two AI finals and the game was also on their home turf. Having given Mayo a decent game in 97 hardly made Galway genuine AI contenders in 98 because I can assure you virtually nobody had Galway down as AI winners that year apart from maybe a few optimistic Galway supporters. If that doesn't count as coming from nowhere then I don't know what does? Galway had shown very little form in the previous years in reality. They had only won one Connacht title in the previous 10 years at a time when Connacht teams were often getting hammered up in Dublin. In fairness the one title they did win in 1995 they managed to give Tyrone a decent game in the semis but they still lost.

The 98 team was a mixture of the left overs of that 95 team and a group of raw youngsters out of St Jarlath's but nobody realistically had them down to win the lot in early May 98.

Don't necessarily agree GBB. A lot of people within the county in '97 knew Galway were starting to build again, the terrific c'ship match with Mayo in Tuam confirmed that. We also had a good run in the league in '98 before going down to Offaly in the 1/4 final - a game notable for the absence of Ja Fallon and Tomas Mannion. When those two (and what a pair they were!) made themselves available for the c'ship it boosted Galway's chances no end. We (or at least I) travelled to Castlebar at the end of May in optimistic mood; thereafter a larger crowd started to row in behind the team, confirmed by the big attendance in Carrick where we demolished Leitrim. Perhaps the biggest surprise that year was our ordinary performance in Tuam v. a strong though limited enough Ros'; we were lucky to get a draw and had to work like hell in the replay but those 2 games really made the side that year. Derry and Kidare just didn't have the football to live with us after that. I've said it often before; that team was a wonderful confluence of a few of experienced players (Walsh, Mannion, McNamara), very good current ones (Fallon, De Paor, Finnegan) and would-be great newcomers (Joyce, Donnellan) - a perfect storm of Galway football!! In summary, '98 was brilliant but not a huge surprise to a lot of knowledgeable observers in Galway.

More surprising wins IMHO were Derry and in particular Donegal who won without having any great (important) tradition to lean on. This undoubtedly helped Down in '91 and '94.

In Connacht both Galway and Mayo have pretty strong club championships as witnessed by the fact that 5 different clubs have won the club All-Ireland since 1998. Corofin, Caltra and Salthill from Galway along with Ballina and Crossmolina from Mayo.

True, but the standard year in year out is pathetic I have to say; only slight bit of quality comes at the semi' stage - even last year's final was awful. Hurling couterpart is light years ahead of it where games are usually well-contested from 1/4 final stages onwards.

First player to win European Cup with 2 different clubs?

I've said it before and will again - Padraig Nally is a hero.

Well, based on the fact that they've already beaten Tyrone in this year's league campaign and have comfortably reached the final unbeaten.

Did Eamo just call Alex's free kick a pulitzer? Heard about throwing the book at it but this takes it to another level..