Division one 2021

[Blowitupref]

Challenge matches permitted from Monday May 10th. Not sure why they aren't permitted from this Friday?

Challenges now allowed from tonight May 5th. They must have realised it made no sense to wait until May 10th.

[Captain Obvious]

It's hard to see the League happening this year.

Why don't we sit back and follow it and see who is right ?

Round 1 this weekend

Saturday

Kerry v Galway, Austin Stack Park, 3pm
Tyrone v Donegal, Healy Park, 5pm

Sunday

Roscommon v Dublin, Dr Hyde Park, 1:45pm
Monaghan V Armagh, Brewster Park, 3pm

[Rossfan]

Kerry
Tyrone
Draw 
Monaghan

[An Fhairche Abu]

No idea how Galway will fare in this truncated league, it's a difficult set of fixtures with no "guaranteed" win from any of the three matches - would be doing extremly well to avoid a relegation playoff. Kerry will be gunning for teams this year, the Dubs are the Dubs and Rossies certainly have no fear of playing Galway.

At least we've got a published squad to see who is involved, if Peter Cooke comes back in the same form he left then he's a big addition but who knows where he'll be after his year break away from football altogether. Galway handled the COVID-19 interruption poorly last year, but you'd hope the lessons learned from that have been applied during the January to May period this time around.

Galway Senior Football League Panel 2021:
1 Bernie Power (GK), 2 Conor Gleeson (GK), 3 Jack Glynn, 4 Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin, 5 Liam Silke, 6 Gary O'Donnell, 7 Dylan McHugh, 8 Johnny Heaney, 9 Johnny Duane, 10 Cathal Sweeney, 11 Seán Kelly, 12 Kieran Molloy, 13 Ciarán Potter, 14 James Foley, 15 Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh 16 Peter Cooke, 17 Paul Conroy, 18 Maitias Ó Bairéid , 19 Ronan Steede, 20 Cein D'Arcy, 21 Matthew Tierney, 22 Paul Kelly, 23 Eamonn Brannigan, 24 Shane Walsh (C), 25 Damien Comer, 26 Dessie Conneely, 27 Robert Finnerty¸28 Finnian Ó Laoi, 29 Rory Cunningham, 30 Tomo Culhane, 31 Pádraig Costello, 32 Liam Costello

Current injured players (as per Irish Times): 33 Darragh Silke, 34 Jack Keady, 35 John Daly, 36 Tom Flynn, 37 Conor Campbell, 38 Ronan Ó Beoláin (GK).

Feeder Squad:
1 Oran Burke (GK), 2 Cormac McWalter, 3 Cian Monaghan, 4 Evan Murphy, 5 Patrick Kelly, 6 Liam Boyle, 7 Sean Fitzgerald, 8 Colin Ryan, 9 Antaine Ó Laoi, 10 Mike Farragher

2020 players who have left:
Ian Burke, Fiontán Ó Curraoin, Gareth Bradshaw, Cillian McDaid, John Maher, Jason Leonard, Gary Sice, Michael Daly, Adrian Varley.

Bradshaw was a great servant who owed the jersey nothing, no surprise he's retired, he will want to knock some more years out of it with Moycullen as they will be contesting for the Frank Fox for the foreseeable given the team they have and the players coming through.
Cillian McDaid unfortunately looks like another hugely promising Gaelic footballer who went out to Australia and came back with a body that can't hold up anymore, he was the standout player on that 2017 Galway U21 team but just cannot keep himself fit.
I see pieces where Ian Burke not being able to play in 2021 is made out as a big loss for Galway, all I can say is that those people were not closely watching Galway games in 2019 or 2020.
Daly never kicked on at Senior level really outside of flashes here and there. I'd prefer to have him in there all the same, was still one of the top performers in the Senior club championship last year. Varley not being available really hurts squad depth, he was a decent option.

[Louther]

What's a feeder squad? Another set of players used for training?

Serious now that county panels carry 38 players plus 10 additional. And we wonder why they spending money hand over fist.

[An Fhairche Abu]

Is there a limit of 38 on the "offical" panel? That is my assumption and those other ten are the rest of the players in for training at the moment.
It is definitely not purely a development squad anyway as the likes of Mike Farragher are knocking around for years at this stage.

[mouview]

Is there a limit of 38 on the "offical" panel? That is my assumption and those other ten are the rest of the players in for training at the moment.
It is definitely not purely a development squad anyway as the likes of Mike Farragher are knocking around for years at this stage.

PJ not getting a lot of breaks as regards player injuries or pandemic disruptions. I fear it could be another truncated season for the squad unless he can come up with a strong and settled lineout fairly quickly. Indeed, it could be the next manager that fully reaps the benefit of some better, younger players starting to emerge.

[galwayman]

For sure it's hard to know what to expect from our lads.
Of the lads that aren't there from last year - Ian Burke is only a loss on his 2018 form, certainly no loss based on his displays in the 2 years since then.
Daly and Varley most certainly are losses though. Both would be borderline for starting berths but they would be great options to introduce off the bench in a game. Varley especially has had plenty of impact off the bench in the past and was very good for Cortoon last year.
A fully fit and firing McDaid is also a loss, but we haven't seen that yet since he returned from Oz.

I think Pj may try and get all 3 of Steede, Flynn and Cooke on the pitch at the same time. Add Conroy to that and we should be competitive around the middle area. You would just wonder about our firepower outside of Walsh. Comer hasn't looked to be properly fit since 2018 - even in the early stages of the league last year he didn't look to be moving too well to my eye anyway. Seemed sluggish. We badly need him to regain form and chip in with scores because outside of him, Walsh and Conroy the rest of the forwards named don't look like shooters at this level (Tomo will be I imagine but probably too early for him yet he is just out of u18).
I was hoping Conor Flaherty would be brought in - his kicking has looked very good any time I have seen him play (albeit only a handful of occasions).
The lack of challenge games is a shame as that would be invaluable to try and blood a few of the u20s like Sweeney, Glynn, Culhane.
Instead it's straight into Kerry away, quickly followed by two other very tough games.

[seafoid]

Is there a limit of 38 on the "offical" panel? That is my assumption and those other ten are the rest of the players in for training at the moment.
It is definitely not purely a development squad anyway as the likes of Mike Farragher are knocking around for years at this stage.

PJ not getting a lot of breaks as regards player injuries or pandemic disruptions. I fear it could be another truncated season for the squad unless he can come up with a strong and settled lineout fairly quickly. Indeed, it could be the next manager that fully reaps the benefit of some better, younger players starting to emerge.

As long as that Dublin setup is there no Galway momentum will lead to anything,

[An Fhairche Abu]

Outside of 2018, the presence or otherwise of Dublin over the last ten years made no difference to how Galway went in the league and championship, we have a long way to go to be competitive with the teams below Dublin, aim for that first anyway, we haven't been in an All Ireland final in 20 years!!!

[seafoid]

Outside of 2018, the presence or otherwise of Dublin over the last ten years made no difference to how Galway went in the league and championship, we have a long way to go to be competitive with the teams below Dublin, aim for that first anyway, we haven't been in an All Ireland final in 20 years!!!

Obviously , but even if we had a good team we wouldn't win the All Ireland. Same goes for Meath, Cork , Down, Tyrone . It has to influence motivation levels.

[Blowitupref]

What’s a feeder squad? Another set of players used for training?

Serious now that county panels carry 38 players plus 10 additional. And we wonder why they spending money hand over fist.

Usually its a development panel and they'll only be part of the 30 plus senior panel if they get a glut of injuries.


Galways strongest 15/championship team?

             Bernard Power
Liam Silke, Sean Kelly, Johnny Duane;
Kieran Molloy, John Daly, Johnny Heaney;
Ronan Steede; Peter Cooke
Paul Kelly, Paul Conroy, Tom Flynn;
Dessie Conneely,Damien Comer Shane Walsh

Though the likes of Cathal Sweeney, Tomo Culhane, Matthew Tierney could be starters if they perform well in this NFL.

[galwayman]

What's a feeder squad? Another set of players used for training?

Serious now that county panels carry 38 players plus 10 additional. And we wonder why they spending money hand over fist.

Usually its a development panel and they'll only be part of the 30 plus senior panel if they get a glut of injuries.


Galways strongest 15/championship team?

             Bernard Power
Liam Silke, Sean Kelly, Johnny Duane;
Kieran Molloy, John Daly, Johnny Heaney;
Ronan Steede; Peter Cooke
Paul Kelly, Paul Conroy, Tom Flynn;
Dessie Conneely,Damien Comer Shane Walsh

Though the likes of Cathal Sweeney, Tomo Culhane, Matthew Tierney could be starters if they perform well in this NFL.

You are probably not far off there I would say.
I don't see Johnny Duane making the team though. If he does then certainly not in the corner. Lacks the pace to play there.

[An Fhairche Abu]

What's a feeder squad? Another set of players used for training?

Serious now that county panels carry 38 players plus 10 additional. And we wonder why they spending money hand over fist.

Usually its a development panel and they'll only be part of the 30 plus senior panel if they get a glut of injuries.


Galways strongest 15/championship team?

             Bernard Power
Liam Silke, Sean Kelly, Johnny Duane;
Kieran Molloy, John Daly, Johnny Heaney;
Ronan Steede; Peter Cooke
Paul Kelly, Paul Conroy, Tom Flynn;
Dessie Conneely,Damien Comer Shane Walsh

Though the likes of Cathal Sweeney, Tomo Culhane, Matthew Tierney could be starters if they perform well in this NFL.

If that FB line starts at any point this year I'd fear for Galway. Duane in either corner is a problem waiting to happen, he was in there for 20 minutes against Kerry last year in Tralee and Galway were in serious bother until he was replaced. Duane can play at CHB or nothing, doesn't have the pace for the other positions in the backs and John Daly is a much better option at 6 if he is fit and playing like he was before his serious injury.
Silke is a lad that is somehow considered an automatic selection and it's purely based on his club performances, he's been roasted plenty of times in a Galway jersey. Has had some good days tbf but realistically has played nowhere near the reputation he has off the back of his Corofin performances, maybe he'll prove different this year but for the minute PJ might be better off with someone else tried there.
Sean Kelly has turned into a serious bit of stuff alright though, and I hope that continues this year, he was probably Galway's best player last year alongside Shane Walsh.

[Manning18]

Mulkerrin surely will be a starter? He had a fine debut year last year and should kick on. I don't think the team named above is especially far off despite that, with Duane dropping off and Connelly's spot possibly going to any of a few. A defence of Kelly, Mulkerrin, Silke, Heaney, Daly Molloy is fine imo. Defence wasn't the reason Mayo pipped us last year, the problems were in the forwards