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Possible team for Sunday (based on rumour and hearsay)

Doherty (though King may step in if Doherty's injury hasn't cleared up)

Fitz
Hanley
D Burke

D Meehan
N Coyne (Blake very doubtful from what I hear)
M Comer (though Sice, my preference, may get the nod)

Bergin
Cullinane

N Coleman
F Breathnach
N Joyce
(Ja to be sprung; very bad half-forward line)

Savo
P Joyce
C Bane

Again rumour has it that Bane will be picked ahead of M Meehan on training form, though how anyone with any sense or knowledge of Galway football could think Bane is somehow better than Meehan baffles belief.

So there you have it; backs not bad, particularly if a fit Blake could start with Coyne moving sideways. Midfield very dodgy, though if they could distribute the ball as soon as they win possession the weaknesses could be off-set somewhat. Forwards so bad they could actually mither the opposition to defeat. N Joyce, Breathnach, Bane (and Coleman to an extent) have yet to show they have what it takes in c'ship fare.

Bergin and Cullinane midfield - God bless Cullinane, he has the best of intentions when attempting to solo the ball but when he tried it yesterday it nearly ended up in Clonsilla village! Seems absurd to say about a county footballer but if he caught it and just laid it off we'd all have less grey hairs!

Is this Cullinane or Bergin you're talking about? If it's the former then that makes two of them unfortunately.

Bravest / most foolhardy hurler possibly Brendan Lynskey (+ honourable mention to Mike Coleman )

Playing Matt Clancy would give me something to think about too, like will he score, will he pass it to a teammate, will he look up when he goes on a run with the ball etc. (Sorry, but, you know...)

Whatever way you slice it Galway's half-forward line is going to be very weak. Any combination of Matt Clancy & Cormac Bane is going to be severely lacking in ball-winning ability. If (big if) Armstrong is fit you may see something like

N Coleman  P Joyce  C Bane
N Joyce  M Meehan  S Armstrong

though I'd play Coleman in midfield from the start. It's easier to bring on Geraghty / Cullinane to boost that area rather than taking them off and trying to shore it up. Shame we can't unearth one or two more strong forwards a-la Paul Clancy (will he be fit? doubt it). Perhaps Alan Burke and / or Gary Sice would be worth a run there. Is Damien Dunleavy injured still?

It's conceivable that Galway could beat Mayo in Pease, it's just as possible that a strong, hard-hitting Roscommon could then take Galway.

Football;

Savo passing inside to Joyce in the 2000 final instead of going for a score himself off his weaker right foot. Also, Sean Og or Mikey D converting late chances in that game when we had Kerry on the ropes. Liam Sammon to score the peno in the 1974 final. If we'd won perhaps the Dubs of that era may never have been heard of?

Hurling;
Cyril playing an orthodox line-up against Cork in the '86 final.
Cyril not making a big deal of the Keady affair in '89
Ger Cunningham's forehead not being so big in '90

So many, so many....

Reasons to be negative;
* No sign yet of a proper full-back or indeed a settled line on the field
* Kilkenny, the current benchmark, were missing Shefflin, Cha and possibly Reid
* For the second time in a few weeks a KK team was slicker than a Galway one
* Inconsistency continues
* Players are perhaps being moved too quickly, not giving them time to settle

Reasons to be positive (slight)
* The emergence of John Lee and, possibly, Tannion and F Moore
* Subsequent meetings won't be in Nowlan Park
* For all the pessimism, Galway controlled the game for long spells - the goal was the obvious turning point
* Gerlock is talking KK up - no harm
* Some of KKs other forwards aren't particularly brilliant, e.g. Comerford the 2 Eoins, Fogarty. Like their Galway counterparts they flitted in and out of the game. Power was windy off frees.

Other thoughts; M Kerins is better started. E Cloonan is going to be there so get used to it. He lacks pace, yes, but he still takes watching. The half-forward line needs to learn how to catch high ball or the goalie to vary the puck-outs. Wouldn't read anything into the differences between the starting team and the program, the team was named on Saturday, too late for the printers probably. Ryan was always going to resume in goal.

The year is long yet!

Galway had a facile win over Leitrim last Sat. in Ballinasloe. The side looks useful but Mayo will undoubtedly be a stern test. Have Mayo many from last year's side?

Now you said it BT7 - inconsistency is Galway hurling's middle name. You have a pool of lads like Forde, Kerins x 2, F Healy, Tierney, Murray, Hardiman - all individually good hurlers but seemingly incapable of stringing a few good games together. It's enough to drive any manager (weaker than Loughnane) silly.

Anyway, Gerlock gave a few hints last Sunday about his c'ship team. The FF line as started will be there IMHO. M Kerins is edging towards CHF, Tannian is starting to put his name forward for one wing forward slot, with Murray / Tierney / F Healy (my preference) for the other. Depending on next Sunday's performance midfield could be A Kerins and Hayes. Lee will be no. 6, probably flanked by Forde and D Collins - physically strong line but not too quick unfortunately. Full-back line is the big imponderable; D Joyce will be in one corner I think, other corner between Moore and Kennedy, D Cloonan has to get a chance at FB to see what he's like in it, otherwise it's Kavanagh or Regan (shudder). In goal will be A Ryan.  Hardi will have to be sub along with Farragher who realistically will only play if E Cloonan is unavailable. Nowlan Park will confirm or refute a lot of the above I believe.

Agree to all the above. Thought the Limerick corner-back Moloney was very unlucky - just returned from a year out through cruciate damage and had started very well against Hayes, hope his current injury isn't too serious. Loughnane certainly doesn't take prisoners, Tierney was hauled off before half-time with the other two at the interval. Farragher is no CHF anyway, going by Cloonan's current form the most he may hope for is a corner-forward slot. David Forde was dodgy for a long time but like the rest of them, finished well. Derek Hardi' surpassed Pete Finnerty's 1993 record of warming up before being brought on. On the debit side however, that's the second game in succession that midfield and half-forwards were changed completely, no-one still able to make a place their own yet. Is Kerril Wade still on the panel? Would like to see him getting a run. Unlike practically all other managers, Loughnane isn't afraid to talk up his chances or at least emphasise the positives, must be very refreshing to journo's.

Jeez, they're scraping the barrel a bit if Charlie is a Laochra Gael, n'est pa?

From a Galway perspective it wasn't a classic but was a necessary win nonetheless. The strong breeze was always going to make it a game of 2 halves and Armagh beat themselves when they didn't rack up more scores in the opener. Stevie in particular dropped a few short. At the other end poor finishing and a bit of bad luck kept Galway scoreless in the first half, though no amount of adverse breeze could disguise the lack of ball winning ability in the Galway forward line. In the 2nd half, once PJ got going Galway built up momentum and the introduction of Niall Coleman for the eternally-hamstrung Sean Armstrong just before half-time gave the winners a big boost after the break. Best for the home side were goalie Doherty who has yet to concede a goal in this league (though kick-outs could improve). Full-back line were generally ok though a bit loose in the 1st half, half-back line again good with Blake very strong, Comer undoes some good work with slack passing. Midfield were middling in the first half, not tracking back and Bergin's decision making on the ball was terrible, though he turned it around in the 2nd half in fairness. The half-forward line were so-so; Ja is still struggling to find his feet again, Sean Armstrong showed well until injured, while wing-forward didn't suit Savo. In the full, PJ was rusty but still has class in abundance, Nicky was good on the ball but his lack of bottle and courage mean he will be eaten in the c'ship, Cormac Bane was useless and why Ford left him there for the whole match is a mystery. The moderately sized Savo was replaced by the even smaller Frankie Burke who hadn't a look-in against Andy Mallon - why Ford didn't give a chance to a few of the bigger subs is another mystery as Galway were physically very light up front; as stated Niall Coleman made a big difference. Unless the tribesmen get some ball-winners in the forwards like M Meehan (soon) and Paul Clancy (doubtful) they're going to have a very short year.

Lot of Galway people in football circles worried about this one I'd say, not least the management themselves. Team has found no sort of form, is very low on confidence and is in dire straits at midfield. Bit by bit, the returning players should improve things but the Jekyll-and-Hyde tendencies that Galway footballers have shown pretty much since 2001 haven't gone away. This match should have been played in Tuam where they'd at least attract a larger home support.

Continuing the theme,

Over-rated in Galway, sad to say;
Joe Bergin - good engine,  honest player but very basic skills, kicking particularly poor
Nicky Joyce - when he's not on county panel it's "Bring back Nicky", when he's playing it's "Take him off to f*ck!"
Tony Og Regan - but do any supporters in Galway actually rate him that highly?

Under-rated
Perhaps Fergal Healy - suffers a bit in the physicality stakes but very skilful

Archie, I am just providing counter-evidence (and one example)  to a point made earlier that 'no-one ever took O'Hailpin to the cleaners' - read the posts man.