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Limerick have a similar dose to the Galway footballers with key injuries and a loss of form

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/gaelic-games/2023/06/26/denis-walsh-everyone-left-in-the-hurling-championship-is-racing-against-time/?

Sean Finn is out for the rest of the season, Cian Lynch hasn't been himself for well over a year and Declan Hannon has already been ruled out of the All-Ireland semi-final

Of all of these, I think Galway have the least amount of injury worries as the semis approach, and they also have arguably the strongest bench of the lot - a good few players to call on to make a difference when brought in IMO. (Hurling wise of course)

Wuuld Markiewicz Park not have been more equitable?

Pressure is on Galway , lots of write ups over the last few weeks about them , the latest being Peter canavan saying if they met Mayo in a final they'd beat them . All or nothing now for Padraigeen and his band of fancy dans .

First time we were called that was 1998.

Cork need to build around Ben Cunningham when he progresses. Proven free taker for St Finbarr's and Cork U20's, and a big strapping lad. Their biggest problem the last few years has been forwards not winning their own ball, and not working hard enough. Get this lad in and build around him with the pace of Robbie O'Flynn and Shane Kingston. I expect Limerick to win comfortably enough this weekend, but there has been some decent signs this year for Cork going forward.

Is he not being lost to Munster rugby? Maybe someone else I'm thinking of....

[you could see the blind panic in Kinnerks face in the closing minutes of that Tipp game]

Camera panned around to the sideline and you could see the blind panic in Kinnerks face in the closing minutes of that Tipp game. It'll only take one of those 'underperforming' limerick stars to have a good game to pull them through, saying that Cork have surprised me this year so far so will be a cracking game.

Wonder why if true though? Limerick weren't out even if they lost, they would still have to beat Cork regardless. Which I think they will do. Cork can't seem to settle on a properly-firing forward division and have played only in fits and starts v Tipp and Clare to date. Just don't think they have it in them to get a result on Sunday.

[looks like I touched a nerve]

Galway hurling was in a bad way from the mid 50s until the early 70s. The Republic Of Ireland soccer team went through a similar experience during some of that time and didn't win a match for several years. Galway had an awful time in Munster. They probably wouldn't have been Joe McDonagh standard at the time.

Galway still massively under performing at senior level in relation to their juvenile success.

So has everyone since 2017.
The context is very different for Galway compared to the 60s.

Since Galway won the Senior All Ireland in 1988

They have been in a total of 37 Minor and u20/21 All Ireland finals

Winning 13 Minor All Irelands and 9 u20/21 All Ireland Titles

They have managed from that to win 1 Senior all Ireland

So Yeah by any metric they have underperformed

Obviously. Next thing you'll declare that Mayo's all Ireland productivity is suboptimal.
The question is what happens from here, especially if Limerick are operating at a lower level compared to recent years.
There should be a few all Irelands available. Tipp could win one in every 2. What is the problem with doing back to back ?

looks like I touched a nerve

Heres the reality for ye Galway Boys

Ye cant turn minor and u20/21 All Ireland winning Hurlers into Senior All Ireland Winning Hurlers

Until Ye figure that one out,Ye will be continue winning 1 in a rows every 30 Years.

Looks like you set out to also. It's always one from Tipp that does.

[Hard to see Galway play so badly again.]

Burns was definately a red.
Morgan black was a strange one, would love to know the reason for it. If it was for backchatting the ref, surely that's a yellow.

Galway were flat, perhaps the conditions didnt suit them.
If Tyrone had watched the discipline they could have turned Galway over.
Hard to see Galway play so badly again.
Credit to Tyrone, certainly did improve from the last time out. Tyrone v Armagh is mouth watering now because up until this game I fully expected Armagh to win comfortably.

Have watched 5 or 6 Galway games this year against Div 1 opposition each one of them a pure war of attrition, It's not so much playing badly but playing a way for them to win arm wrestles and character building wins if you like.

The swashbuckling style of last and previous years hasn't been seen much in 2023, maybe that will change come the business end of this championship but thus far the change of style seems to be a direct response to the big scores Galway was conceding last year against the likes of Cork,Offaly,Roscommon 3 times and Armagh.

Exactly. On more balanced reflection of the match, don't think Galway were that flat, some of their scores were very well-worked indeed. It's just that they laboured a bit more up front at times, moving laterally rather than going for a quicker 'kill' . Shane Walsh was better on the evening but still seems reluctant to take on opponents (plural) flat out and beat them with pace. It's these searing breaks that open up the room for other forwards to exploit also. I'd also like to see Rob Finnerty bring more of his club form to the table. Ian Burke is a craftier player but Finnerty will score more. Surely both could be accommodated? Galway's defence is still a model of miserliness, though they would be concerned that Tyrone's response scores in the second half were more easily yielded than normal. With both Glynn and McHugh being withdrawn through injury, they can't afford to start losing any more backs either.

I have a bad feeling about this game.

Me not so much.

Amazing rivalry in a Connacht sense. In an All Ireland sense, which is about 25 times more important, it's utterly lopsided.

Is there a bit of dispute over what the current Connacht score is? Colm Keys had it as 49 now for Galway and 48 for Mayo. Someone said to me it was 48 each now however

There might be some ambiguity over it alright I think. I've seen some tallies where Galway were one behind prior to last Sunday. Bit of confusion over the 1926 AI winners too I think. Mayo won whatever final was played, without the Connacht final having yet taken place. When it was subsequently played later in the year, Galway won it, and were hence declared the proper AI champions by central council. Something like that anyway.

Why does Markievicz "hold a lot more than 10k"? Because you say so?
Considering how health and safety have absolutely slashed grounds with non bucket seating/standing all over the country, I see nothing in Markievicz to think it would be allowed to hold 'a lot more' than 10k. McHale Park for instance was 42k in the noughties and is now 25k max. There would've been a larger demand had one team been at home also. All a moot point anyway, as you can't change agreements with days notice, it's unfair on whichever team would have to travel to the others home ground

Im sure Prenty did think there was far more coming than realistic. As any amount of history has shown us, this is hardly the most competent individual we're dealing with. I'd agree that Hyde Park was probably a better option, but he's nothing if not consistent and did another twist for his own

I've no great gra for Prenty but in fairness, McHale park is closer to more of the Galway football strongholds than the Hyde, plus it has a few more roads in than in Roscommon.

Lord Prenty declared at an early stage the Final was fixed for McHale.
Helping his favourite County pay off their debts.
Sod Sligo or capacity or how many might turn up, look after his own.

It's a long-standing rule though that the final must be played at a neutral venue if (one of the) participating counties, i.e. Sligo or Leitrim, haven't a ground big enough to host final and its expected crowd. Pre-match estimates said that there would be > 15k at the game on Sunday; even as it was, Markiewicz Park would have been well full with Sunday's attendance. There's no point in saying that it could have been held in Sligo, no-one knew in advance what crowd would turn up.

6 steps for the 2nd goal. Tierney best player in country in current form!

If you'd said Sean Kelly I'd go along with it. Absolute machine for Galway currently.

Would prefer and I think we need to see McDaid play further forward to be honest. Our HF line can be static and lack penetration a bit; McDaid is very good at bursting through at pace and getting defenders turned, which opens up opportunities for supporting attackers coming off the shoulder.

The 2 provinces are imbalanced. There are 4/5 decent teams in Munster and currently only 2 in Leinster.
Leinster has Antrim, Westmeath and Dublin who would all be at a lower level than Waterford.
Ger Gilroy on OTB suggested knockout provincials followed by round robins of the top 8/10 to find the top 4/6.

If Wexford smarten up a bit, there's no guarantee Kilkenny will reach the Leinster final. If Wexford beat Dublin this weekend, their home game with Kilkenny is winner-take-all. For all the criticism of Galway, Kilkenny are in no way convincing either. Lot of hold-and-cold hurlers in their squad and TJ Reid is not near fit as yet.

There has been a Covid-like outbreak of wideitis in Galway this past Spring, affecting both Seniors and U20s. If the Seniors brush up on this, and their use of possession, (I counted at least 5 KK scores last Sunday that came from situations where Galway had the ball), they'll improve a good bit. The team balance still isn't perfect; Whelan is obviously carrying an injury and Conor Cooney's shocking inconsistency shows no sign of abating. Fintan Burke's return should allow Joe Cooney to return to the HF line, giving that area a badly needed boost. Having been a Minor winner in 2015, it's just now that Evan Niland is finally nailing down a spot on the team. (Marty Morrissey told us that 22-year old Jack Grealish was also on that team!).

Anyone any idea what's the most amount of reds a player has potted in a frame and still lost?