Saturday 14th July
Antrim v Galway
3-00pm Casement Park
Might pop over to see this. Could be a shock result on the cards.
Quote from: Orior on July 09, 2012, 01:15:09 PM
Saturday 14th July
Antrim v Galway
3-00pm Casement Park
Might pop over to see this. Could be a shock result on the cards.
Antrim to win by 10 points. No shock possible.
Realistically you have to have Galway as favourites here. If Antrim bring their 'A' game it could be tight but Galway by 3-5 points.
It's on in Belfast. Antrim can't lose.
Where is Hardstation?
Have you seen the cut of thon Galway team? The biggest crock of shite ever to play championship football.
Antrim are real fancy dans
Quote from: hardstation on July 09, 2012, 03:22:48 PM
Our boys are off the pasties 5 days now.
What about the gargle??
Quote from: hardstation on July 09, 2012, 03:22:48 PM
Our boys are off the pasties 5 days now.
Have they many marches on this week? Will it be the traditional route out of the championship again?
Are you boys serious? Surely this will be a Galway walk in the park? (Casement park!)
I'd love to see Antrim beat them but Antrim struggled past a London side that included a club player from my club and he never played any county football before, in other words London have to be poor?
Galway by 6
Quote from: ck on July 09, 2012, 04:54:25 PM
Are you boys serious? Surely this will be a Galway walk in the park? (Casement park!)
I'd love to see Antrim beat them but Antrim struggled past a London side that included a club player from my club and he never played any county football before, in other words London have to be poor?
Galway by 6
At some stage all county footballers have never played county football. The West (Belfast)'s awake!!
Antrim lads, what's the parking situation around Casement Park like for matches, would it be easy enough to get the car near the ground?
Is Kevin Niblock going to be available for this game? Any other players been drafted in to the squad and any injuries to key players?
I usually park near the PD club behind Biddy Duffys down past casement. The locals aren't too bothered bout the aul GAA. However, if there's a Celtic pre season friendly or a big race meet on you'll not get near her ;)
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
That's his Antrim blood!!
I just read that Cunningham has been dropped from the panel for not turning up at the London game. Do Antrim have any other reliable free takers?
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
I heard that Galway have 12 other players
Quote from: hardstation on July 10, 2012, 11:07:25 AM
I heard that they're shit.
Antrim have all the St Galls players so they must be brilliant. I would just be concerned that they might get caught up in some of the drinking down in Lisburn or Tandragee or some other mythology on the 12th once the Orange bands have finished playing and when people start eating those Ulster fry burgers. That is the kind of thing that can put a fella off his football. Health and Safety etc . There are a lot of these complicated cultural issues that the Galway lads don't usually experience playing in the other jurisdiction. Especially the soda farl thing but of course Irn bru too.
Quote from: hardstation on July 10, 2012, 11:39:33 AM
Yep, yis might be better not coming up. We'll go to Salthill and beat ye there if ye want.
You'd never get parking. The park the bus in front of the goal strategy falls apart in Salthill and
even Donegal would leak.
I know a couple of lads who'll look after your car for you. No charge.
Parking handy enough. Should get a spot along the road or up one of the side streets. If feeling really energetic can park in Westwood Centre at the roundabout and it's a 5 min walk. Ulster minor hurling final replay on before it at 1 so may be a few in for that too.
Niblock back for Antrim and Tomas McCann from honeymoon. If Antrim put in a good display and Galway aren't up to par we can sneak it. Tomas will be on frees with Cunningham gone. Wont make a real difference. Paddy hasn't exactly been setting the world alight for some time now
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
How many more times have we to wait on Armstrong to achieve his potential?
Galway should win this but it's the type of game Galway have tended to lose in the qualifiers in recent years (usually by a point). If their attitude is right they will probably win. If they are not at it from the start then it could be a long afternoon.
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 10, 2012, 01:24:02 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
How many more times have we to wait on Armstrong to achieve his potential?
About as long as we have to wait on Mayo to do the same
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on July 10, 2012, 01:24:49 PM
Galway should win this but it's the type of game Galway have tended to lose in the qualifiers in recent years (usually by a point). If their attitude is right they will probably win. If they are not at it from the start then it could be a long afternoon.
I think the attitude this year is different.
(http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab56/declanrice/256.jpg)
What are the latest odds ?
Quote from: seafoid on July 10, 2012, 01:36:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 10, 2012, 01:24:02 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
How many more times have we to wait on Armstrong to achieve his potential?
About as long as we have to wait on Mayo to do the same
You're not holding much hope then! ;)
(http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/581290_318001821623060_1649912646_n.jpg)
Made sure that this does not clash with the match.
Quote from: seafoid on July 10, 2012, 02:01:24 PM
What are the latest odds ?
Antrim 3/1 Galway 1/3 (a bit short??) 15/2 the draw
Handicap Antrim +3 is 11/10
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 10, 2012, 02:16:36 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 10, 2012, 01:36:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 10, 2012, 01:24:02 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
How many more times have we to wait on Armstrong to achieve his potential?
About as long as we have to wait on Mayo to do the same
You're not holding much hope then! ;)
They'll both come good soon
Quote from: drici on July 10, 2012, 01:54:31 PM
(http://i849.photobucket.com/albums/ab56/declanrice/256.jpg)
Good value there hi!!!!!!!!!!!
Parking is easy as Omagh Gael said up around the PD club behind Biddy Duffys. There were 2800 at the hurling final on Sunday and you had no problem getting parked. Don't think the crowd will be much bigger...........but no doubt the entertainment will!!
Quote from: seafoid on July 10, 2012, 02:52:10 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 10, 2012, 02:16:36 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 10, 2012, 01:36:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 10, 2012, 01:24:02 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 09, 2012, 11:26:05 PM
Galway have been living on past glories for quite a while now. Since 2001 they have won only one game outside the connacht championship (louth 2004 i think). Galways last so called great performance was in the AI Quarter final in 2008 to Kerry. The media loved this pure game of football which Kerry still won by five points in third gear. This was the way football should be played we were told. Joyce is getting older, Meehan less older and Armstrong is still to achieve some of his potential.
That said they may squeeze past Antrim.
How many more times have we to wait on Armstrong to achieve his potential?
About as long as we have to wait on Mayo to do the same
You're not holding much hope then! ;)
They'll both come good soon
I hope they both do. Galway need a few (big and small) scalps in the back door .
A bit of momentum and a bit of luck and then it's all about how well prepared the team are for the high summer
Galway team v Antrim
Adrian Faherty
Keith Kelly
Finian Hanley
Johnny Duane
Gareth Bradshaw
Gary O'Donnell
Tomas Fahy
Joe Bergin
Fiontáin O'Curraoin
Gary Sice
Sean Armstrong
Conor Doherty
Michael Meehan
Paul Conroy
Mark Hehir
Armstrong is lucky to stay in the starting lineup considering there's been four other changes from the last day out.
Johnny Duane moved to corner back. ??? He was playing well at 6
Wow 3 Corofin ladds dropped, is that some sort of record?
If we believe we've a chance. If we go into our shell and wait to be beat (perhaps playing well when we go 8 down only to stop when we pull it back to 4) we'll be beat.
We're already beat--so we may as well have a f**king go
I'm lucky have 2 arms and 2 legs, 2 lungs and 1 brain. I'm pretty sure the 15 on each side on sat will have the same. But will the Antrim players realise (believe) that
Quote from: hardstation on July 12, 2012, 10:43:19 PM
At least the most cynical man still playing the game doesn't get a starting place. Phew.
Joseph Brolly retired quite a while back. He's also from Derry.
Wherese the 2 megourtys
Quote from: rrhf on July 13, 2012, 09:03:16 AM
Wherese the 2 megourtys
beside the medulla oblongata
Awesome win for Antrim. Well done.
Smashing. No live coverage in Desenzano though.
Incredible to think now about the salivating that was done over this Galway team by some sections of the media after the Ros game. Proves yet again that the SG pundits are clueless about Gaelic football, yet they continue to be paid handsomely to assault our ears with bullshit every week.
Worrying for Connacht football that all teams other than the two Connacht finalists may be out of the championship before the Connacht final is even played.
Congratulations to Antrim by the way.
Well done antrim, great result. Anyone know what odds antrim were to win before throw in.
Fair play Saffrons!
Fair play Antrim, delighted for them.
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 14, 2012, 04:48:35 PM
Incredible to think now about the salivating that was done over this Galway team by some sections of the media after the Ros game. Proves yet again that the SG pundits are clueless about Gaelic football, yet they continue to be paid handsomely to assault our ears with bullshit every week.
Worrying for Connacht football that all teams other than the two Connacht finalists may be out of the championship before the Connacht final is even played.
Congratulations to Antrim by the way.
Doesn't say much for Connacht football when one of the worst sides in Ulster can defeat one of the best in Connacht. Well done to Antrim all the best in round 3.
Quote from: hardstation on July 14, 2012, 05:16:56 PM
Up a Pope and ara!
ara??
Antrim were 11/4 backed in from 7/2 by all accounts. Listening to ray silke for the tyrone v ros game; all he did was chat about odds!!
Ara is the Irish translation of spide.
I live abroad, so wasn't at the game, and can only judge it based on what I heard on the radio. Sounded like a tight game between 2 bad teams. Galway were absolutely brutal in the first half, no idea how we lead at half time.
We played slightly better in the second half but yet again, once the game went into the melting pot, we were found wanting.
We have produced 3 AI winning U21 teams in the last 10 years, yet have hardly produced a performance of real substance in all that time. Other teams seem to be both physically and mentally stronger than us.
Can someone close to the scene at home tell me what we are doing wrong?
Is it the county board?
Is it the manager?
Is it the players?
Is it our championship structure?
I don't see much point blaming the manager anyways, we have tried that, and it has got us nowhere. Mulholland is surely no fool, but he needs to start a real rebuilding job now. The U21s are our only hope, and it's time to ditch the likes of Bergin, Armstrong, Blake, Burke etc. They've given great service but if we are to make any headway then we need to start making big changes.
We've changed managers continually the last 5 years, and all have brought supposedly different coaching "styles". We just don't seem to be producing the kind of tough footballers that other counties are
Ardoyne and Antrim bate Conamara and Galway.
Winner alright.
Quote from: thebigapple on July 14, 2012, 06:07:30 PM
I live abroad, so wasn't at the game, and can only judge it based on what I heard on the radio. Sounded like a tight game between 2 bad teams. Galway were absolutely brutal in the first half, no idea how we lead at half time.
We played slightly better in the second half but yet again, once the game went into the melting pot, we were found wanting.
We have produced 3 AI winning U21 teams in the last 10 years, yet have hardly produced a performance of real substance in all that time. Other teams seem to be both physically and mentally stronger than us.
Can someone close to the scene at home tell me what we are doing wrong?
Is it the county board?
Is it the manager?
Is it the players?
Is it our championship structure?
I don't see much point blaming the manager anyways, we have tried that, and it has got us nowhere. Mulholland is surely no fool, but he needs to start a real rebuilding job now. The U21s are our only hope, and it's time to ditch the likes of Bergin, Armstrong, Blake, Burke etc. They've given great service but if we are to make any headway then we need to start making big changes.
We've changed managers continually the last 5 years, and all have brought supposedly different coaching "styles". We just don't seem to be producing the kind of tough footballers that other counties are
Reason we were behind at halftime was mostly mental and the fact Murray cant shoot and Owen Gallagher picked the ball up after rounding the keeper, rather than lacing it into the empty net with his left foot.
Good to get a win over a so called 'big' county. Now with that monkey off our back hopefully we can rip into whoever we get the next day with a bit of belief.
11 points to 10 though was poor fair for July
Fair play to Decky O'Hagan with the winner (would've got some odds on that). He was only on the field and with his first touch came up from the back and fired over a screamer high and straight between the posts from 40yards out on the left hand side. He's hung about the panel for 5 odd years now and only got a handful of minutes in the championship in that time--well deserved that he got the winner given the commitment he's shown to the Saffron cause
It was a funny old game but I think Antrim deserved it in the end. There was some great defending with Kevin o'boyle in particular putting his body on the line at times. It seemed in the first half that Antrim didn't believe they could win it then suddenly thought hold on...
If I were a Galway supporter I would worry about that team. Bergin looked like he'd lord it and again faded into anonymity. There didn't seem to be any leaders either and in general Galway were surprisingly very poor.
Antrim to be honest at times were poor too but to beat Galway is massive for Antrim. I would say the cargin players stood out today but I thought the likes of Healy and Johnston , in forwards, put in massive shifts. All in all it's one of the biggest scalps I've ever seen Antrim take so over the moon.
Gold that should be what county football is about and not crying like Conor Mortimer. Fair play to o'hagan,
away for a few days so trying to do this from the phone but get f**king in there
Great result for Antrim, but in balance to that, Galway were v poor, given their reputation...hardly a big team, and its been a while since their last all ireland appearance.
Great, great, great, great point from O'Hagan - if he doesn't get the ride tonight, he probably never will
Great win for antrim . Another 1 point loss for galway. That is 5 or 6 in a row now. Ros were obviously no use and the maroon jersey doesn't inspire fear beyond ros and maybe leitrim. I dunno about blaming the manager. It is a multi year job to get back on track. The young fellas will learn and some of the older ones will have to go. Best of luck to antrim in round 3.
Not surprised the slightest. This game had "Galway one point defeat in the qualifiers" written all over it all week. Antrim are not world beaters but are handy and hardy enough on home turf and given the opposition it was inevitably going to turn into the type of dour low-scoring game that we usually lose. Even then we led going into injury time but you just knew that they would somehow grasp defeat from the jaws of victory.
Mulholland has to be given time but he's made his fair share of mistakes over the past two games. Thought he was tactically outwitted by Kevin Walsh and today speaks for itself. His own stock has plummeted a bit. Galway's is as low as it's ever been. With Leitrim winning today we now offically have the worst record in Connacht over the past 8 years against non-Connacht opposition. 3 All-Ireland winning Galway U-21 teams over the past decade and the senior team still can't bate eggs. Something has definitely gone amiss somewhere.
Sad way for PJ to end his career. I presume he will definitely call it a day now. He had some great teammates in the first half of his Galway career but he's been surrounded by too many imposters in recent years. Some of them dare I say not fit to wear the maroon jersey.
Congrats to Antrim and best of luck for the rest of the Summer.
Sad way for Joyce to go out if he does choose that route.
But what a win for Antrim.
If I were from Antrim I wouldn't like to have it said that they won a game contested by 2 bad teams. Galway are no bad side. And clearly neither are Antrim.
Congrats to Antrim.
Baker has brought Antrim some real good days.
He'll be off to Derry next year I'd imagine and why not ?.
Really enjoyed that game. The standard wasn't deadly but who cares. Antrim showed an abundance of guts and could easily have won by 5-6 points. Any time they shot from distance in the second half it sailed over but were very reluctant to do so and hand-passed the blood out of the ball. I thought Kerr made a couple of vital close-up saves and the defence were extremely tight when Galway got within the 21. I think it was O'Boyle who made a couple of heroic blocks. The 2 McCanns had excellent second halves with Michael especially hitting come clinkers from distance. He could have scored double his tally if he'd not passed so often. Aodhan Gallagher was tidy in the second half and rarely makes any errors.
Galway were poor though. I couldn't see any semblance of a game-plan. I think they scored only 0-4 from play and one of those came from Joyce who came on late on, possessing more threat than anyone else on the Galway side. Kept an eye on Meehan - what has happened to the talent? He was spilling ball and showed little drive to get involved. Armstrong was poor.
Antrim can get a dander up at home and will be a difficult proposition.
Antrim looked very united and committed today. They were also composed on the ball and worked some great scores. It was crying out at times for a good ball into a full forward but Niblock wanted to come out and play football - Gallagher drifted into his space a couple of times but didn't get the breaks. Would look like an obvious move to bring Niblock out to the 40 and put Magill on the square to give a direct option. Our best play came when Scullion/MCann ran straight at Galway. The defence strangled Galway a good few times. Sweeney did well as sweeper but it does weaken your forward options and the first half was pretty crap to watch to be honest. Kelly was doing well until he got injured but Gallagher did very well as his replacement - although we were giving away a few inches in midfield. Michael McCann at times just looked like a player who was on his own patch and was going to boss things no matter who came along. Up front Murray is a lovely footballer but he went quiet in last 15 minutes. We don't have a Canavan or Cooper but today we had a lot of gutsy fellas playing pretty smart football and for once we finished off a tight game with a couple of late scores to win. So well done. We need a home draw now to keep it going.
By the way, there were over 100 people on the pitch during the warm-ups. Do we really need that many people to get a game of football under way?
First off congratulations to Antrim, I thought that bar some bad wides in the second half and a reluctance to use the wind to hit some more long range points that ye would have been up on the scoreboard instead of ourselves going into injury time.
We in Galway can have no complaints with the result, the better team over the 70 minutes won, all the best to ye in the next round.
With no win outside the province for 8 years, 9 one point defeats in 7 championship seasons (9!), no win against our biggest rivals Mayo at Senior since July 2008, losing to Sligo as many times in the last 5 years as in the previous 100, how is Antrim winning at home against a bad Galway side even a shock really, I wasn't one bit surprised when we lost and I suspect that the Antrim team aren't all that shocked that they won either, this isn't a big giant killing, this is one average at best team beating another one of the same level.
Sitting there watching PJ kick the lead score as the additional time was being announced I got a deja vu feeling about the whole thing, Meath last year, Wexford the year before, every Galway supporter has seen this time and time again, how can a team not hold out for at least a draw in those circumstances?
Quote from: orangeman on July 14, 2012, 09:21:12 PM
If I were from Antrim I wouldn't like to have it said that they won a game contested by 2 bad teams. Galway are no bad side. And clearly neither are Antrim.
I'd have to respectfully disagree with that, you have to call a spade a spade and honestly although Antrim were the better side today I didn't think that they were up to much at all, Galway are definitely not a good side. I got carried away a small bit with the performance against Kildare in the league and the Roscommon match thinking we were turning the corner back towards a semblance of the outfit we used to be but it was back to the usual way it's been for many years with Galway the last two games.
There wasn't much in this match for the neutral as the first half was one of the worst 35 minutes of inter county football I've ever had to sit through, absolutely putrid stuff from both teams, Antrim would have been delighted with the score at half time though, Galway had a strong breeze with them and Antrim were only a point down. The game marginally improved in the 2nd half but bar the tension in the last 15 minutes as the lead went back and forth there was a dearth of good football, the Antrim half back line were probably the best unit on display today, good in defence and they led a number of telling sallies up the field over the course of the game, Tony Scullion was particularly good in the first half when Antrim needed an outlet to get out of their own half.
Mulholland was caught out tactically the last two days out, what did the team management expect that Antrim were going to do when facing into a stiff breeze in 1st half? The exact same thing as Sligo did in the first half in Salthill, they packed their half and said "try and break us down", again Galway failed to do so and it's been successive Galway teams and management that have had no answer or even plan whatsoever for the massed defense over the past decade.
Mistakes by management were also made in that PJ should have been brought on much sooner today, Armstrong shouldn't have been near the starting 15 based on championship 2012 form to date (nor should he next year again, woeful bad today and really has he ever done it in the senior jersey?), McGrath shouldn't have been dropped (looked one of the better players on his introduction).
It sums it all up though that we are still reliant on a player of PJ's age to manufacture something at the end of the match to try and get the win.
Mulholland won't (and shouldn't) get the bullet after this defeat, he'll have learned a lot this year and he at least has a proven track record with the county at underage. It's time to stop thinking of a manager being the difference between winning and losing, manager after manager has already been tried with a lot of this group of players, could they all possibly be at fault? The players just aren't there and some of them on the team are still coasting by on undeserved reputations.
Too many Galway players weren't up to it today to go rating or singling them out, particularly in the first half when you'd do well to find any good thing to say about the Galway performance.
Meehan didn't have a good day on the frees but I'd be reluctant to criticise a man who probably shouldn't even be on the pitch due to the numerous injuries that have robbed the best player we produced since the last All Ireland winning teams of what should have been the best years of his career.
No players go out to do anything but perform to their best but honestly it's soul destroying stuff travelling to watch the team lose by a point in championship game after championship game, I can't imagine how the players feel after putting in months and months of effort to get nothing but a one point loss in the qualifiers as a reward, I'd say sickened doesn't begin to cover it.
Does anyone have any answers to the current malaise in Galway football?
Congrats to Leitrim today, delighted to see one of the Connacht teams advance to round 3.
Quote from: ONeill on July 14, 2012, 09:24:55 PM
Kept an eye on Meehan - what has happened to the talent?
He's lucky to be even playing football. His career was in serious doubt only 6 months ago. Even now he can't really train properly.
Great win for Antrim, They have 3 or 4 players like the McCanns who would make any county side in the Country. They have also done well this year without their most natural forward CJ McCourty. He broke his leg in a McKenna cup game with uuj in januray, and never on the panel since the injury.
Bradley has done a good job with them, fairly consistent every year since he took over.
Were the Free staters intimated by having to go to Belfast over the 12th weekend / fortnight?
I genuinely believe that this factor was worth 3/4 points to Antrim.
Would love a home draw against Tyrone next week. Or Kerry. Or Kildare.
Fair play to the Galway posters on here - good sports, wishing us well etc.
To be honest you came up to our place today and played the exact game we wanted. It was more akin to basketball at times, and not a dirty stroke in anger all day. A dry ball and a running game suited us fine, and as it turned out, all our guys did well today - more than one or two seasons bests. You let us play football and on home turf we can do that all day long.
Seasoned Antrim supporters have got used to not expecting that much. But every so often we show glimpses of real potential. Today was one of those days, and by God we will enjoy it (we are neighbouring counties with Derry and to get a longer run than them is great crack!!!)
One swallow dosent make a summer - but we are one more victory off an AI QF and for sure the next day we will throw the kitchen sink at it to prove we can do these days back to back. In the meantime we will enjoy tonight. Over the course of the last 40 years since I started this crack, I think we deserve it.
Quote from: bannside on July 14, 2012, 10:44:23 PM
Fair play to the Galway posters on here - good sports, wishing us well etc.
To be honest you came up to our place today and played the exact game we wanted. It was more akin to basketball at times, and not a dirty stroke in anger all day. A dry ball and a running game suited us fine, and as it turned out, all our guys did well today - more than one or two seasons bests. You let us play football and on home turf we can do that all day long.
Seasoned Antrim supporters have got used to not expecting that much. But every so often we show glimpses of real potential. Today was one of those days, and by God we will enjoy it (we are neighbouring counties with Derry and to get a longer run than them is great crack!!!)
One swallow dosent make a summer - but we are one more victory off an AI QF and for sure the next day we will throw the kitchen sink at it to prove we can do these days back to back. In the meantime we will enjoy tonight. Over the course of the last 40 years since I started this crack, I think we deserve it.
Two points.
1. Antrim currently have better players than Derry and even without four of the best of them, it's no real surprise that Antrim's summer was longer.
2. Still two victories needed before a quarter final. Would love to see the Saffrons run out for a championship match in Croke Park.
Would agree with most of what has been said here regarding the current state of Galway football. It surprises me that people are still surprised when they don't do well. They haven't been good for close to ten years. It sounds like Antrim gave them too much respect early in the game, no team should feel that way against the current Galway team.
So why has a team with a fair amount of recent underage success been so poor at senior level? I'm sure there are specific things going on within the county that outsiders don't know about and some players are either not good enough or have the wrong attitude. But I think there is a deeper problem.
Galway, more than any other team, take pride in playing a traditional direct and open style of football. 15 against 15, man to man marking all over the field. Kerry pretend they play that way but they don't. Mayo used to but changed their style. Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Tyrone obviously don't play that way at all these days. Sligo and Antrim didn't when they played Galway because they both analysed how they could beat them.
Galway seem to be the one team that are so set in their traditional style of play that they cannot adapt to the modern game at all. Traditionalist gobshites like Spillane and McGee love them for this but the reality is that it is the very reason why they cannot be successful. The game has moved on - Galway haven't.
Regarding the underage success - we're not yet at the stage where minor and under 21 teams play 11 men back, these grades tend to be more open and this suits Galway teams. But other teams pick their best underage talent and mould them into a different kind of senior player whereas Galway try to get the players to continue with the same style.
This is difficult for Galway because it's hard to see them changing their style to adapt successfully at this stage when they haven't been able to do it up to now. It may be that we have to wait for the game to evolve again to suit a different style of play before we see Galway competing at the business end of the championship again. As long as they continue as they are teams know exactly how to set up against them to ensure victory eight or nine times out of ten.
Galway played a sweeper today
Quote from: hardstation on January 28, 2012, 09:30:31 AM
We'll probably just do the same as Sligo again.
Getting a right habit now.
Just in the door from Belfast.I cannot really put into words just yet just how disappointed and disillusioned I feel right now as a long term supporter of Galway football teams.
The lack of bite and intensity in our play today was the worst part for me.
It just wasn't there.
Cosmo -you make some interesting points definitely re the problems we have in Galway.
PS it wasn't really that Galway played a sweeper today.it was more a case of Antrim withdrawing some of their forwards into deeper roles and their men staying put in defence.they would not have played an extra man back if Antrim had kept their 6 forwards up.
Some craic in Casement tonight I'd imagine.
Quote from: drici on July 14, 2012, 11:50:54 PM
Quote from: hardstation on January 28, 2012, 09:30:31 AM
We'll probably just do the same as Sligo again.
Getting a right habit now.
Brilliant. Or Burilant as Buchanan would say.
Quote from: ONeill on July 15, 2012, 12:18:34 AM
Some craic in Casement tonight I'd imagine.
The lads in Belfast will run out of things to throw at people with all these people in orange marching around town.
100% HS. What did mama used to say?
To be respectful of Galway, we do see this as a big scalp. Paddy Power must have thought so too!
HS wont give a fiddlers (neither do I) but must be frustrating for Galway followers with 3 x all ireland under twenty ones in the last ten years.
That said, try being a Saffron. Second biggest county in Ireland. No reason we cant kick on from this!
Seafoid, were ya at the match?
Quote from: hardstation on July 15, 2012, 12:57:00 AM
Quote from: Tony Baloney on July 15, 2012, 12:47:21 AM
Quote from: hardstation on July 15, 2012, 12:42:25 AM
Quote from: hardstation on July 09, 2012, 02:41:07 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 09, 2012, 02:39:53 PM
Antrim are real fancy dans
You'll regret that.
Go to bed.
Give me my moment in the sun.
To be fair, you'll have to go to bed for that.
I'm happy for hardstation.
Massive chance for Antrim to make the quarters. A nice draw, then Clare.
The smile on my young lad's face will stay with me. It was his first experience of such an atmosphere. He asked me if Antrim play Tyrone are we enemies. I said 'we are son. We are.'
It definitely is bedtime in that case HS! Me too.
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 14, 2012, 11:19:14 PM
Galway, more than any other team, take pride in playing a traditional direct and open style of football. 15 against 15, man to man marking all over the field. Kerry pretend they play that way but they don't. Mayo used to but changed their style. Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Tyrone obviously don't play that way at all these days. Sligo and Antrim didn't when they played Galway because they both analysed how they could beat them.
Galway seem to be the one team that are so set in their traditional style of play that they cannot adapt to the modern game at all. Traditionalist gobshites like Spillane and McGee love them for this but the reality is that it is the very reason why they cannot be successful. The game has moved on - Galway haven't.
Regarding the underage success - we're not yet at the stage where minor and under 21 teams play 11 men back, these grades tend to be more open and this suits Galway teams. But other teams pick their best underage talent and mould them into a different kind of senior player whereas Galway try to get the players to continue with the same style.
Can't disagree with too much of that. I think we have won underage All-Ireland's recently because tactically at underage you are generally allowed to play football. Far less thought is put into stopping the other team playing. In that kind of situation we have players who can look fantastic. At senior grade though we look like a relic. If we come across any team with a defined defensive system we look completely befuddled by it and even worse we generally leave the door wide open at the back ourselves. Even Kevin Walsh recognised this. He isolated his full forward line against Galway by sending his half-forwards into midfield and when they won the ball there was acres of space in front of the Galway full-back line. All you need then is half decent ball in and forwards will generally make hay given such space.
Long way back for us now. Mulholland managed the senior team this year like it was an underage team. Not very many sides will just allow you to play ball unhindered anymore. Hopefully the last two games although painful will be something he learns from. We all hoped for a united squad under him but still players like Nicky Joyce and Cormac Bane walked off the panel during the Summer. As much as Alan Mulholland needs time I do feel he's been rather naive during his first year in charge. Some of his selections too have been questionable. For example continuing to persist with Sean Armstrong for every game even though he didn't play well all Summer. He didn't even play well against Roscommon in a game we won by 14 points ffs. Yet he starts again today and is subbed off after 25 minutes to nobody's surprise.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on July 15, 2012, 02:11:35 AM
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 14, 2012, 11:19:14 PM
Galway, more than any other team, take pride in playing a traditional direct and open style of football. 15 against 15, man to man marking all over the field. Kerry pretend they play that way but they don't. Mayo used to but changed their style. Cork, Dublin, Donegal and Tyrone obviously don't play that way at all these days. Sligo and Antrim didn't when they played Galway because they both analysed how they could beat them.
Galway seem to be the one team that are so set in their traditional style of play that they cannot adapt to the modern game at all. Traditionalist gobshites like Spillane and McGee love them for this but the reality is that it is the very reason why they cannot be successful. The game has moved on - Galway haven't.
Regarding the underage success - we're not yet at the stage where minor and under 21 teams play 11 men back, these grades tend to be more open and this suits Galway teams. But other teams pick their best underage talent and mould them into a different kind of senior player whereas Galway try to get the players to continue with the same style.
Can't disagree with too much of that. I think we have won underage All-Ireland's recently because tactically at underage you are generally allowed to play football. Far less thought is put into stopping the other team playing. In that kind of situation we have players who can look fantastic. At senior grade though we look like a relic. If we come across any team with a defined defensive system we look completely befuddled by it and even worse we generally leave the door wide open at the back ourselves. Even Kevin Walsh recognised this. He isolated his full forward line against Galway by sending his half-forwards into midfield and when they won the ball there was acres of space in front of the Galway full-back line. All you need then is half decent ball in and forwards will generally make hay given such space.
Long way back for us now. Mulholland managed the senior team this year like it was an underage team. Not very many sides will just allow you to play ball unhindered anymore. Hopefully the last two games although painful will be something he learns from. We all hoped for a united squad under him but still players like Nicky Joyce and Cormac Bane walked off the panel during the Summer. As much as Alan Mulholland needs time I do feel he's been rather naive during his first year in charge. Some of his selections too have been questionable. For example continuing to persist with Sean Armstrong for every game even though he didn't play well all Summer. He didn't even play well against Roscommon in a game we won by 14 points ffs. Yet he starts again today and is subbed off after 25 minutes to nobody's surprise.
It's always been the Connacht way. You get all the plaudits for playing 'nice' football but most of the time that nice football comes in heroic defeats. It takes time to change the ways of many lifetimes.
The craziness of our game is probably explained by how open both teams were willing to play (and for us this was with at times two sweepers back, which makes it quite a paradox in). Once you lose midfield like we did that tactic can lead to a flood.
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 15, 2012, 01:09:12 AM
I'm happy for hardstation.
me too. The antrim monaghan thread was pure nihilism. Someone said it didn't matter who won.
Sure didnt Galway have northern managers and coaches last year and they still got beat. Tactics me arse, they simply have a bunch of over rated players who play for themselves first
Time for Galway to give up listening to Pat Spillane praising them for doing well in Connacht playing nice football. 1998 and 2001 are in the past and it is time for a new set of heroes to emerge. The journey to the top will be long but if you have a plan, a goal and a system. With a bit of patience it's amazing how quick progress can be.
Galway won their last AI in 2001. Armagh won the AI in 2002......football had changed forever. Since them Galway have hidden behind that great success as well as winning a few Connacht titles in a weakened Connacht championship.
People are feeling sorry for the (expected) retired Padraig Joyce to go out in such a game. Don't, the man leaves the game a legend with two AI medals and he will always be remembered for the good days.
And the fact David Heaney could nearly always do a good job on him!
Another disaster of a year for Galway. If I hear one more person describe us as a team in transition i'll do damage, we're a team in transition since 2002 if that's the case. We're not good enough at present, it's as simple as that. We have a severe lack of leadership on the field, nobody is willing to stand up and take a game by the scruff of the neck, it took a 35 year old in the 15th year of his career and carrying a knee injury to come on last Saturday and try to pull the game out if the bag and he very nearly did only to be let down by terrible defending by his own team mates. Why was nothing done about the extra player dropped back into the Antrim defence early on in the game and what plan was given to Gary O'Donnell when he discovered he was our extra man in the defence? The persistence with Sean Armstrong is another puzzle, Sean can be a fine player on his day but he needs someone to feed him scores, he's not a centre forward and hasn't played well all year, he's had a horror of a few years with injury and has lost some of his sharpness and should have been dropped for the Sligo game, he was anonymous against Roscommon, maybe losing his place would have been the kick in the arse he needed to up his game. Joe Bergin is another one who only plays well when the team is playing well, at his age and with his experience he should be a player the lads look to for guidance and a bit of cuteness when a game like this is in the melting pot but we have his usual falling around the place like a small calf learning to walk and horrendous wides. Danny Cummins constantly being the first forward called on when theres a substitute is being made is another question, the amount of times he kicks the ball into the keepers hands and fluffs his chances is unreal. Paul Conroy coming out from full forward to take frees was just ridiculous, why wasn't he told to go back in where he was and mind his business, we had Mark Hehir and Mike Meehan on the field at the time, there was no need for him to be anywhere near the frees. Saturday showed a real naiveness (if such a word exists!) on the part of the management, playing Conroy full forward worked against Roscommon, didn't work against Sligo and didn't work again against Antrim yet he was left there all day again, this game called out for a Cormac Bane type player who can kick from distance, Galway couldn't get the ball past the packed defence, why wasn't Micheal Boyle thrown in? This lad fears no one, is lightening fast and can score but didn't get a sniff at all in the championship this year. The traditional Galway attacking game doesn't work on it's own anymore, we have nobody capable of being a bit cynical, when Antrim fouled they did it around midfield, away from the danger area and it gave them time to get their men back into a defensive position. I think Alan Mulholland needs someone in his backroom team with experience of senior team management, this Galway team were set up like a minor or u-21 team as others have said, and that's not going to cut it anymore. We've had 5 managers in the last few years, Peter Forde, Liam Sammon, Joe Kernan, Tomás Ó Flatharta and now Alan Mulholland. Each time a new man has been appointed we've heard about how they're going to trawl the county for talent, this however seems to consist of holding trials in Loughgeorge and requesting clubs to send in a few lads they think are good enough. The management team needs to get out and see the club games, both league and championship, relying on clubs to send the players just isn't good enough. To listen to the older followers of Galway football, people that have been attending games since the 1950s, over the weekend is seriously depressing, the general concensus is Galway football has had its dark days in the past but we've never been as low as this. :(
Can someone explain to me what structures we have in the county? We seem to be able to create a decent minor or U-21 team once every five or six years and praying they will all make it like what happened in 94/95. We are waiting for a miracle again! Are there any development squads/academies to try to bridge the gap between under-age and senior football?
Leadership at all levels is an issue, on the pitch there are no leaders anymore. We used to have Joyce, Donellan, Walsh, Fahy, Finnegan to took on leadership roles at different stages during the years, now when the tide is out we have no one capable of giving any leadership on the field at all. Some of the senior players like Bergin and Hanley need to be doing more!
We are so naive too, most counties are applying defensive tactics now and our traditional play is not working against this at present. Even kerry had cut their cloth accordingly. We are so open a the back sometimes and our backs are constantly exposed, I'm sure there is some middle ground between the Donegal type of play and the traditional type of play we have, we had to adjust accordingly.
And in terms of attitude if the footballers showed half as much as the hurlers did, we'd still be in the championship. I wouldn't like to see Mulholland go but I was hoping to see some progress this summer, its going to be a long winter for us :(
Only a f**king Antrim player would be wearing matching "diamond" earrings in a tv interview. ???
Quote from: Tony Baloney on July 16, 2012, 06:24:45 PM
Only a f**king Antrim player would be wearing matching "diamond" earrings in a tv interview. ???
Different class
Quote from: hardstation on July 16, 2012, 06:57:23 PM
Quote from: Tony Baloney on July 16, 2012, 06:24:45 PM
Only a f**king Antrim player would be wearing matching "diamond" earrings in a tv interview. ???
Who?
Johnston.
Quote from: myball22 on July 16, 2012, 06:23:25 PM
Can someone explain to me what structures we have in the county? We seem to be able to create a decent minor or U-21 team once every five or six years and praying they will all make it like what happened in 94/95. We are waiting for a miracle again! Are there any development squads/academies to try to bridge the gap between under-age and senior football?
Leadership at all levels is an issue, on the pitch there are no leaders anymore. We used to have Joyce, Donellan, Walsh, Fahy, Finnegan to took on leadership roles at different stages during the years, now when the tide is out we have no one capable of giving any leadership on the field at all. Some of the senior players like Bergin and Hanley need to be doing more!
We are so naive too, most counties are applying defensive tactics now and our traditional play is not working against this at present. Even kerry had cut their cloth accordingly. We are so open a the back sometimes and our backs are constantly exposed, I'm sure there is some middle ground between the Donegal type of play and the traditional type of play we have, we had to adjust accordingly.
And in terms of attitude if the footballers showed half as much as the hurlers did, we'd still be in the championship. I wouldn't like to see Mulholland go but I was hoping to see some progress this summer, its going to be a long winter for us :(
They'll never turn hurling into rugby league. Something like Iarla Tannnian-Joe Canning link up for the first goal is what the footballers needed.
Maybe at some psychological level the players couldn't be arsed playing shite football.
5 more matches played in the football equivalent of treacle - maybe they just didn't want it.
Meath are not adapting very well to the regime either.
Quote from: hardstation on July 16, 2012, 07:06:36 PM
Interesting, seafoid, very interesting.
do you know what is going to happen now?
Tipperary are going to cream Antrim
And lose the next round
Galway continue to be the big under achievers of gaelic football. Is there the appetite in the county to change things? Countless managers tried over the past 10 years and the same results.
PJ ain't one bit pleased, from HoganStand;
Joyce disillusioned
17 July 2012
Galway and Killererin star Padraig JoycePadraig Joyce has delivered a damning assessment of Galway football.
In the wake of Saturday night's shock defeat to Antrim, Joyce pointed out that the westerners are nowhere near the level that people think they are:
"There is a perception that Galway should be up there because they are a big county, but you have to earn the right to be up there with the Corks, Dublins, Kerrys and Tyrones - teams who have done it," the Tribe veteran is quoted as saying in The Examiner.
"We haven't done it consistently. We'll come with a spell and we'll go, and we'll come back in a couple of years time. God knows when we'll be back again.
"It's happened too many times for people to say we're cursed or anything like that. Look at the teams who beat us - with all due respect they are teams we should be beating.
"We thought that we had a good mix this year but that was well and truly blown out of the water against Sligo and we didn't learn anything in the six weeks since. That's the worst of it.
"We didn't improve or learn since Sligo. They and Antrim are Division Four teams. We're not that bad but we're definitely not up there where some people think we are.
"It's not bad luck, it's about making mistakes and taking wrong options. We were a point up twice in the last five minutes and still coughed up the lead. We weren't cute enough and didn't know how to slow the game down.
"It's not good enough at this level. Not good enough at all."
Quote from: Duine Eile on July 17, 2012, 01:30:40 PM
PJ ain't one bit pleased, from HoganStand;
Joyce disillusioned
17 July 2012
Galway and Killererin star Padraig JoycePadraig Joyce has delivered a damning assessment of Galway football.
In the wake of Saturday night's shock defeat to Antrim, Joyce pointed out that the westerners are nowhere near the level that people think they are:
"There is a perception that Galway should be up there because they are a big county, but you have to earn the right to be up there with the Corks, Dublins, Kerrys and Tyrones - teams who have done it," the Tribe veteran is quoted as saying in The Examiner.
"We haven't done it consistently. We'll come with a spell and we'll go, and we'll come back in a couple of years time. God knows when we'll be back again.
"It's happened too many times for people to say we're cursed or anything like that. Look at the teams who beat us - with all due respect they are teams we should be beating.
"We thought that we had a good mix this year but that was well and truly blown out of the water against Sligo and we didn't learn anything in the six weeks since. That's the worst of it.
"We didn't improve or learn since Sligo. They and Antrim are Division Four teams. We're not that bad but we're definitely not up there where some people think we are.
"It's not bad luck, it's about making mistakes and taking wrong options. We were a point up twice in the last five minutes and still coughed up the lead. We weren't cute enough and didn't know how to slow the game down.
"It's not good enough at this level. Not good enough at all."
He obviously doesn't study the league tables too closely.
Without the Mc Gourts would Antrim not be consdidered division 4 specialists?
Quote from: hardstation on July 17, 2012, 01:37:51 PM
The most cynical man still playing the game indeed.
Seriously Hardstation, I've asked before but care to elaborate on this statement? ???
Quote from: rrhf on July 17, 2012, 01:52:20 PM
Without the Mc Gourts would Antrim not be consdidered division 4 specialists?
Define what you mean by specialists?
We aren't in division 4 and the mcgourty's don't play for us so at a guess the answer to your question is no.
Bit disrespectful of Joyce. To be honest Antrim aren't overly good at present - there are some very good players(McCann's and Loughrey were as good as any Galway player on an individual level) but the tactics can sometimes be depressing. We aren't a division 4 team though and haven't been in a few years.
Sligo are actually a decent team though.
Quote from: hardstation on July 17, 2012, 02:07:32 PM
You are the most forgetful person on this board.
Now that I can wholeheartedly agree with :)
Only having a go at hs for the craic like. What happened to the mc Gourtys.
Quote from: Duine Eile on July 17, 2012, 01:30:40 PM
PJ ain't one bit pleased, from HoganStand;
Joyce disillusioned
17 July 2012
Galway and Killererin star Padraig JoycePadraig Joyce has delivered a damning assessment of Galway football.
In the wake of Saturday night's shock defeat to Antrim, Joyce pointed out that the westerners are nowhere near the level that people think they are:
"There is a perception that Galway should be up there because they are a big county, but you have to earn the right to be up there with the Corks, Dublins, Kerrys and Tyrones - teams who have done it," the Tribe veteran is quoted as saying in The Examiner.
"We haven't done it consistently. We'll come with a spell and we'll go, and we'll come back in a couple of years time. God knows when we'll be back again.
"It's happened too many times for people to say we're cursed or anything like that. Look at the teams who beat us - with all due respect they are teams we should be beating.
"We thought that we had a good mix this year but that was well and truly blown out of the water against Sligo and we didn't learn anything in the six weeks since. That's the worst of it."We didn't improve or learn since Sligo. They and Antrim are Division Four teams. We're not that bad but we're definitely not up there where some people think we are.
"It's not bad luck, it's about making mistakes and taking wrong options. We were a point up twice in the last five minutes and still coughed up the lead. We weren't cute enough and didn't know how to slow the game down.
"It's not good enough at this level. Not good enough at all."
I m taking that as a slight on management. Maybe it s not intended that way but it reads like that to me. Last thing Mulholland needs is Padraic Joyce having a snipe. I was kinda surprised he hung around for the qualifier as he had left the grounds in Salthill sooner than most of the crowd.
Mulholland will have a job now. As has been said already it is one thing winning underage stuff but Galway senior football needs a complete change in approach and attitude. I have a feeling the manager s job will be Joyce s any time he wants it so he ll be able to have a go solving the problems he sees. Whether he is a success or not remains to be seen. He appears to be a fella that can be contrary and fast to blame others.
Quote from: rrhf on July 17, 2012, 02:55:52 PM
Only having a go at hs for the craic like. What happened to the mc Gourtys.
Don't start that again!!
Quote from: moysider on July 17, 2012, 03:00:25 PM
I m taking that as a slight on management. Maybe it s not intended that way but it reads like that to me. Last thing Mulholland needs is Padraic Joyce having a snipe. I was kinda surprised he hung around for the qualifier as he had left the grounds in Salthill sooner than most of the crowd.
Mulholland will have a job now. As has been said already it is one thing winning underage stuff but Galway senior football needs a complete change in approach and attitude. I have a feeling the manager s job will be Joyce s any time he wants it so he ll be able to have a go solving the problems he sees. Whether he is a success or not remains to be seen. He appears to be a fella that can be contrary and fast to blame others.
It would appear to be alright moysider, this is the end of Padraic's intercounty career I'd say. Hard to blame him, this team are going nowhere fast and the management haven't a clue and are treating them like a crowd of minors from what I've heard, what 35 year old needs that. He's had a brilliant career, just a pity it had to end in such a disaster of a year. Wouldn't agree about him being fast to blame others however, he came on and scored 2 points to put Galway ahead twice and both times Antrim were let down the field to score again and eventually get the winner. In his 15 years playing I think this is the only time he's ever made a statement along these lines, shows his frustration with the whole set up in my opinion.
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
Nobody is calling for Alan to go, the dogs on the street know that this present group aren't good enough at the moment, management however need to change their mindset, they have come through managing minor and u-21 teams and don't seem to have adapted things to suit the senior team they have now and also the game of football the way it's played at senior level at the moment. Nice open football and 6 backs against 6 forwards might work at minor and u-21 level but not senior level. Their lack of tactical awareness and ability to make quick changes during a game let the team down badly this year. Now while the team have to shoulder most of the blame management should have learned from our failings against Sligo but they didn't, they sent the team out to play the same way and yet again it didn't work. This is what's frustrating me anyway.
Quote from: hardstation on July 17, 2012, 02:07:32 PM
You are the most forgetful person on this board.
She's a Killererin woman too. 8)
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 05:23:00 PM
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
Ha ha brilliant seafoid. It's true. We're just too pure to survive in the modern game.
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
Asal
I was watching the 2003 final the other day and it was very poor quality and now Donegal etc have brought it
on 3 or 4 levels. Kildare and all their intensity and they are so in the footballing moment but you know they are going to be dumped out by a team with 2 scoring forwards.
I suppose they will have to do something about the rules.
This was on Hogan Stand
" Pretty boys playing pretty football just don't cut it in the championship in these times. All the top teams have a fair number of tough hard bruisers who rule with an iron fist. They are not necessarily good footballers but they are fit, strong and hard. They operate right on the line of what they can get away with and in football ability they are able to handpass the ball five yards which is about as much as you need to be able to do in a lot of teams"
F*ck that, really
Even Lynshkey was better than that.
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
The way we re going we re likely to be the team scoring 3 :(
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I'll let you go with that one, ye Mayo bucks have ye're own crosses to bear. ;)
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 05:23:00 PM
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
From the outside looking in...
- You actually do have some decent footballers so gym monkeys is harsh.
however...
- You have absolutely no leaders.
- You can't win dirty ball.
- A massive problem Antrim have always had is that they play a spare man back(it was more than one on saturday), the other team push up and then antrim don't know what to do. It's a simple tactic antrim always fall short on and you didn't know what to do.
- You are very reliant on Gareth Bradshaw to set up attacks. James Loughrey has an engine as good as the best of them and bradshaw didn't count.
- Your forwards are too easily dispossessed. This tallies with the fact that when antrim pushed a load of men back you didn't push enough men forward and didn't have the support.
A few other comments:
- There were some boys who came on as subs who probably should have been started. The wee half back guy from Corofin who looks very gutsy looked like he should have started.
- Your number 12 was starting to cause antrim problems then you took him off.
- Kevin O'Boyle put his head where a lot of people wouldn't on saturday towards the end to stop a certain goal otherwise this conversation wouldn't be going on.
- Joyce on earlier would have made a difference.
The top teams have needle in them and are good at winning break ball. You fall very short in both areas.
Also I felt, and I know nothing about your manager, that tactically you were incredibly naive on saturday night. Baker has the most simplistic game plan you would find and most managers combat it with ease. You were void of ideas to a very simple game plan which would be concerning.
I like Galway and I think with the right manager there could be a lot in that team but look at the teams who are coming up. Donegal, Mayo and Kildare have introduced a lot more needle etc into their football and they can win ball. You lack both of these but with the right manager etc behind you I think you could improve a lot. As it stands though that was a poor poor show on saturday.
Quote from: imtommygunn on July 17, 2012, 09:14:28 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 05:23:00 PM
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
From the outside looking in...
- You actually do have some decent footballers so gym monkeys is harsh.
however...
- You have absolutely no leaders.
- You can't win dirty ball.
- A massive problem Antrim have always had is that they play a spare man back(it was more than one on saturday), the other team push up and then antrim don't know what to do. It's a simple tactic antrim always fall short on and you didn't know what to do.
- You are very reliant on Gareth Bradshaw to set up attacks. James Loughrey has an engine as good as the best of them and bradshaw didn't count.
- Your forwards are too easily dispossessed. This tallies with the fact that when antrim pushed a load of men back you didn't push enough men forward and didn't have the support.
A few other comments:
- There were some boys who came on as subs who probably should have been started. The wee half back guy from Corofin who looks very gutsy looked like he should have started.
- Your number 12 was starting to cause antrim problems then you took him off.
- Kevin O'Boyle put his head where a lot of people wouldn't on saturday towards the end to stop a certain goal otherwise this conversation wouldn't be going on.
- Joyce on earlier would have made a difference.
The top teams have needle in them and are good at winning break ball. You fall very short in both areas.
Also I felt, and I know nothing about your manager, that tactically you were incredibly naive on saturday night. Baker has the most simplistic game plan you would find and most managers combat it with ease. You were void of ideas to a very simple game plan which would be concerning.
I like Galway and I think with the right manager there could be a lot in that team but look at the teams who are coming up. Donegal, Mayo and Kildare have introduced a lot more needle etc into their football and they can win ball. You lack both of these but with the right manager etc behind you I think you could improve a lot. As it stands though that was a poor poor show on saturday.
Good stuff there. I don't know if either of the three teams you mention are good enough to win it though. Maybe if Galway got engaged with the puke programme they could move up the rankings but it seems like an awful slog . It looks like asphyxiation .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWlABqUppF0
I wouldn't pay to watch a match like that. i dunno if i would like the young lad to play that sort of style either.
All that fouling is very negative and cynical.
I wouldn't say they are either but I think those 3 are getting the most out of what are possibly not the most talented footballers. (compared to your tyrones/kerrys/corks /dublins(who while a lot say are just athletes have a number of great forwards).)
Even with Galway playing football that match on saturday, dunno if you were at it, was hard to watch. Other teams who play like this will drag you down and you're not going to beat them without playing in that manner so you're pretty much damned if you do and damned if you don't.
Hanley, Bradshaw, Meehan, Sice to a lesser extent, Conroy and boys like that are good footballers. (Though Conroy is a too greedy and needs that knocked out of him). You play a system round them boys and you'll do alright.
(However in converse to this if you'd have pushed more men up on saturday you'd likely have won...)
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 05:23:00 PM
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
Swap A Mulholland for P Joyce and that's 2, 3 and 4 on your list sorted straight away.
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
You now have picked two of the biggest fallers when it comes to false dawns of the past 24 years. Both have levels of looking the real deal this year, but you know there aint going to be a happy ending in both cases. (All the same, Boy do i hope i'm very very wrong)
Quote from: saffron sam2 on July 17, 2012, 10:33:21 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 05:23:00 PM
Quote from: Zulu on July 17, 2012, 03:57:30 PM
I thought mullholland was highly regarded and widely accepted as the best man for the job? Hard to put a finger on exactly what's wrong but tactics or not there are too many journeymen in the team. In order to be competitive Galway will have to adopt more negative tactics as they have an average defence (though they have one or two good individuals), a woeful midfield and scoring forwards. Drawing teams in a breaking quickly to get Meehan et al. in space might make them a top 8 team again.
It looks like
Poor gym monkeyness
Chronic inability to foul out the field
too sportsmanlike
Lack of players who can slow down a game to grind out a win
Tactics
General lack of suitable personnel
Distaste of puke football
Swap A Mulholland for P Joyce and that's 2, 3 and 4 on your list sorted straight away.
In fairness to the manager it was his first season and he never wins anything in the first year. It was the same with the minors and under 21s.
I was reading an article from the Connacht Tribune this time last year re the hurlers after a similar Antrim style trauma (Dublin) .
"Where does Galway hurling go from here? There must be a root and branch review to determine where the county is at and what it needs to do to challenge for top senior honours. The key weakneses at senior level must be identified and addressed at the earliest opportunity. For the most part the focus in Galway has been on the small skilful exponent with the larger perhaps more cumbersome player consigned to the margins. Given the tribesmen's lack of physicality at the top level these players could easily be the future of Galway hurling"
And 12 months later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5KSr-LD2ts
The thing about hurling is you have to have the skills even with the workrate so it isn't really comparable with Donegal fuball ;)
So I suppose it depends if they want it badly enough on the football side.
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 17, 2012, 11:04:07 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
You now have picked two of the biggest fallers when it comes to false dawns of the past 24 years. Both have levels of looking the real deal this year, but you know there aint going to be a happy ending in both cases. (All the same, Boy do i hope i'm very very wrong)
Statistically, it must happen some day. Even if Mayo only win once every 40 years. It is about time now. And who can forget 2001 and Crossmolina and Athenry doing the Connacht double in the club championships ? Unbelievable.
If Finian Hanley is one of your stronger players/leader? - then he was under used in full back - bit like Seamus moynihan stuck in full back for Kerry.
Full back has been his position since he started playing intercounty, he was tried at mid-field once and it was a disaster. Doesn't have the pace for the half back line and isn't tight enough for a corner back, he can't kick the ball either so full back is the best place for him. He'd be one of the longer serving players alright, he's 27 I think, don't know would I call him a leader though.
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 11:16:31 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 17, 2012, 11:04:07 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
You now have picked two of the biggest fallers when it comes to false dawns of the past 24 years. Both have levels of looking the real deal this year, but you know there aint going to be a happy ending in both cases. (All the same, Boy do i hope i'm very very wrong)
Statistically, it must happen some day. Even if Mayo only win once every 40 years. It is about time now. And who can forget 2001 and Crossmolina and Athenry doing the Connacht double in the club championships ? Unbelievable.
Emm.. surpassed only by '06 when those 2 ultra-gifted exponents M Donnellan and J Canning won AI club medals on the same day.
Quote from: mouview on July 18, 2012, 01:01:00 AM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 11:16:31 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 17, 2012, 11:04:07 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
You now have picked two of the biggest fallers when it comes to false dawns of the past 24 years. Both have levels of looking the real deal this year, but you know there aint going to be a happy ending in both cases. (All the same, Boy do i hope i'm very very wrong)
Statistically, it must happen some day. Even if Mayo only win once every 40 years. It is about time now. And who can forget 2001 and Crossmolina and Athenry doing the Connacht double in the club championships ? Unbelievable.
Emm.. surpassed only by '06 when those 2 ultra-gifted exponents M Donnellan and J Canning won AI club medals on the same day.
We planned to do the inter-county double for Connacht in 2006 as well but the Christmas Lights got stage fright.
Quote from: mouview on July 18, 2012, 01:01:00 AM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 11:16:31 PM
Quote from: From the Bunker on July 17, 2012, 11:04:07 PM
Quote from: seafoid on July 17, 2012, 07:03:38 PM
Quote from: Farrandeelin on July 17, 2012, 06:53:01 PM
Galway are a team in transition. Just want to see what damage Duine Eile will do!
I have transferred my allegiance for this year over to Mayo, Farr, and am hoping now for a Connacht double with Mayo winning the fuball. I hope ye don't get strangled by some team that can only score 6 points but hold ye to 3.
You now have picked two of the biggest fallers when it comes to false dawns of the past 24 years. Both have levels of looking the real deal this year, but you know there aint going to be a happy ending in both cases. (All the same, Boy do i hope i'm very very wrong)
Statistically, it must happen some day. Even if Mayo only win once every 40 years. It is about time now. And who can forget 2001 and Crossmolina and Athenry doing the Connacht double in the club championships ? Unbelievable.
Emm.. surpassed only by '06 when those 2 ultra-gifted exponents M Donnellan and J Canning won AI club medals on the same day.
That was magic as well.
A huge improvement from 1988 when the 2 teams went away with nathin
I know it was mostly a dig at Alan Mulholland and the state of Galway football but Joyce should have known better than slagging off the two teams that beat them like that.
It's the footballers equivalent of a spectator going on about watching 'two bad teams' as he watches his own team being beaten - its a very ungrateful way to lose. Antrim and Sligo have both improved their standing in the last ten years while Galway have gone backwards. I don't know too much about Antrim but Sligo certainly have a far better team than Galway at the moment, Joyce should acknowledge that rather than dismiss them, incorrectly, as a division 4 side.
Mulholland needs to spend the next few months working out how he's going to reinvent Galway football. The rules aren't going to be changed just because they want to play catch and kick.
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:16:25 AM
I know it was mostly a dig at Alan Mulholland and the state of Galway football but Joyce should have known better than slagging off the two teams that beat them like that.
It's the footballers equivalent of a spectator going on about watching 'two bad teams' as he watches his own team being beaten - its a very ungrateful way to lose. Antrim and Sligo have both improved their standing in the last ten years while Galway have gone backwards. I don't know too much about Antrim but Sligo certainly have a far better team than Galway at the moment, Joyce should acknowledge that rather than dismiss them, incorrectly, as a division 4 side.
Mulholland needs to spend the next few months working out how he's going to reinvent Galway football. The rules aren't going to be changed just because they want to play catch and kick.
God loves a trier and all but Sligo and Antrim are nowhere near all Ireland standard. There are puke teams that can strangle the life out of the opposition with less effort.
Joyce was just saying that Galway should be capable of beating these teams. And they should. Losing to Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Sligo, antrim- with all due respect none of these are worldbeaters. Meath beat us last year but they have their own issues. Banty out!
After the Sligo match Mulholland said it would be tough to get the players back on the road- I'd say he realised at that stage that they weren't at the races. I think this year is the end of the road for the notion that Galway can do their own thing.
So there needs to be some thinking done on the reinvention.
Mayo are further ahead on the programme but can they pull it off ?
Quote from: Syferus on July 18, 2012, 04:55:22 AM
We planned to do the inter-county double for Connacht in 2006 as well but the Christmas Lights got stage fright.
Syferus, remind us all again how many wins your seniors have had in Croke Park in the last 30 years.
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:26:01 AM
Quote from: Syferus on July 18, 2012, 04:55:22 AM
We planned to do the inter-county double for Connacht in 2006 as well but the Christmas Lights got stage fright.
Syferus, remind us all again how many wins your seniors have had in Croke Park in the last 30 years.
Cosmo, ignore like everyone else
Quote from: seafoid on July 18, 2012, 11:25:20 AM
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:16:25 AM
I know it was mostly a dig at Alan Mulholland and the state of Galway football but Joyce should have known better than slagging off the two teams that beat them like that.
It's the footballers equivalent of a spectator going on about watching 'two bad teams' as he watches his own team being beaten - its a very ungrateful way to lose. Antrim and Sligo have both improved their standing in the last ten years while Galway have gone backwards. I don't know too much about Antrim but Sligo certainly have a far better team than Galway at the moment, Joyce should acknowledge that rather than dismiss them, incorrectly, as a division 4 side.
Mulholland needs to spend the next few months working out how he's going to reinvent Galway football. The rules aren't going to be changed just because they want to play catch and kick.
God loves a trier and all but Sligo and Antrim are nowhere near all Ireland standard. There are puke teams that can strangle the life out of the opposition with less effort.
Joyce was just saying that Galway should be capable of beating these teams. And they should. Losing to Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Sligo, antrim- with all due respect none of these are worldbeaters. Meath beat us last year but they have their own issues. Banty out!
After the Sligo match Mulholland said it would be tough to get the players back on the road- I'd say he realised at that stage that they weren't at the races. I think this year is the end of the road for the notion that Galway can do their own thing.
So there needs to be some thinking done on the reinvention.
Mayo are further ahead on the programme but can they pull it off ?
I don't have the time to list all the teams who have beaten Antrim during Baker's reign. But Kerry, Down and Tyrone had no real problems in the last few years. Maybe, just maybe, hardstation has a point??
Quote from: hardstation on July 18, 2012, 11:28:54 AM
Quote from: seafoid on July 18, 2012, 11:25:20 AM
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:16:25 AM
I know it was mostly a dig at Alan Mulholland and the state of Galway football but Joyce should have known better than slagging off the two teams that beat them like that.
It's the footballers equivalent of a spectator going on about watching 'two bad teams' as he watches his own team being beaten - its a very ungrateful way to lose. Antrim and Sligo have both improved their standing in the last ten years while Galway have gone backwards. I don't know too much about Antrim but Sligo certainly have a far better team than Galway at the moment, Joyce should acknowledge that rather than dismiss them, incorrectly, as a division 4 side.
Mulholland needs to spend the next few months working out how he's going to reinvent Galway football. The rules aren't going to be changed just because they want to play catch and kick.
God loves a trier and all but Sligo and Antrim are nowhere near all Ireland standard. There are puke teams that can strangle the life out of the opposition with less effort.
Joyce was just saying that Galway should be capable of beating these teams. And they should. Losing to Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Sligo, antrim- with all due respect none of these are worldbeaters. Meath beat us last year but they have their own issues. Banty out!
Maybe, just maybe, Galway are shite and that's why they keep losing to these teams.
+1
Instead looking outwardly to the poor standard (perceived) of the teams beating Galway lately maybe, they should look internally to fnid out why they cant beat these types of teams. IMO shows a real lack of leadership and hunger for a team to keep getting beat by teams they think are worse than them. Or then again maybe HS was just right.
Quote from: sans pessimism on July 18, 2012, 11:46:12 AM
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:26:01 AM
Quote from: Syferus on July 18, 2012, 04:55:22 AM
We planned to do the inter-county double for Connacht in 2006 as well but the Christmas Lights got stage fright.
Syferus, remind us all again how many wins your seniors have had in Croke Park in the last 30 years.
Cosmo, ignore like everyone else
Sadly for you your own mind isn't the rest of the world.
@ Cosmo we've won the same amount of finals as ye have. :-*
Just not adopted to the horrible modern game yet, which is necessary to be able to compete.
Quote from: seafoid on July 18, 2012, 11:25:20 AM
Quote from: Cosmo Kramer on July 18, 2012, 11:16:25 AM
I know it was mostly a dig at Alan Mulholland and the state of Galway football but Joyce should have known better than slagging off the two teams that beat them like that.
It's the footballers equivalent of a spectator going on about watching 'two bad teams' as he watches his own team being beaten - its a very ungrateful way to lose. Antrim and Sligo have both improved their standing in the last ten years while Galway have gone backwards. I don't know too much about Antrim but Sligo certainly have a far better team than Galway at the moment, Joyce should acknowledge that rather than dismiss them, incorrectly, as a division 4 side.
Mulholland needs to spend the next few months working out how he's going to reinvent Galway football. The rules aren't going to be changed just because they want to play catch and kick.
God loves a trier and all but Sligo and Antrim are nowhere near all Ireland standard. There are puke teams that can strangle the life out of the opposition with less effort.
Joyce was just saying that Galway should be capable of beating these teams. And they should. Losing to Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Sligo, antrim- with all due respect none of these are worldbeaters. Meath beat us last year but they have their own issues. Banty out!
After the Sligo match Mulholland said it would be tough to get the players back on the road- I'd say he realised at that stage that they weren't at the races. I think this year is the end of the road for the notion that Galway can do their own thing.
So there needs to be some thinking done on the reinvention.
Mayo are further ahead on the programme but can they pull it off ?
It's not 1998 or 2001 anymore. Your team lost to Louth, Wexford, Westmeath, Sligo, Antrim because all are now better than Galway.
Good players more often than not will still beat good systems. Galway just do not have enough quality players at the moment, either in terms of players being strong enough to win their own ball and skillful enough to use it effectively when they have it.
I think Mulholland will use this year's learning curve to good effect and and should be given every chance to unlock the potential of last year's Under 21s at senior level but it is going to take time.