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Aidan O'Rourke's column from the RTE website;

Typically, one defender is squeezed out the back of the middle to sit in as a cover player and everyone else gets to work pressing. Sean Mulkerrin filled that role more often than not against Tyrone and that has reinforced the Galway rearguard considerably. Earlier in the league John Daly filled this role and struggled with the decision making required to be effective.

That part had me scratching my head. I thought John Daly was arguably man of the match in 2 of Galway's first 3 games.

He was!  O'Rourke is wrong on that one for sure.  Daly has been our most consistent performer since the start of last years league!!!!

Weird game in Tuam yesterday and any analysis would have to be tempered due to the sendings off and the terrible injury to McShane - wish him a speedy recovery, he is a class player.

We were the better team while the sides were numerically matched but were definitely opened up a little too easy for my liking at times.  That being said, our first meaningful attack should have yielded a goal!  Our KO's were aimless I thought for most of the game and a lot of work needs to be done there otherwise it will come back to haunt us as the year plays out.  Hopefully yesterdays game will give Steede the confidence to push on at this level, he kicked a few great scores albeit he had acres of space in which to do so. 

Shane Walsh is just a joy to watch at the moment and a coaches dream and I say that from my own perspective.  I had my your fella (11) and his buddy with me in Tuam at the game and they were just enthralled with his ability off both feet and his pace. Nothing would do them but to get out on the pitch afterwards just to tell him well done and home after to bate the ball off the rebounder but with a lot less dexterity that Shane - maybe that will come with time!!!   

Very much looking forward to a great tussle with Meath in Navan next weekend - its been a very enjoyable league campaign to date.

Ian Burke's 2019 form in a Galway jersey was terrible, if he plays at a 2018 level then he'll be a massive addition but he has it all to do to get back to that standard.
Farragher has done absolutely nothing yet at inter county and was piss poor against Mayo last July but in fairness he hasn't got too many opportunities outside of that either.

John Daly must be injured, big loss for Sunday as he's been outstanding so far this year.

Daly picked up a knock (ankle I think) against Donegal so out for this weekend it seems.  His direct replacement needs to start showing some form at IC level as his last outing in a Galway jersey was very poor indeed.

For sure Farragher was poor but he also needs to have a much better attitude - what he displayed last July below in Limerick is just not acceptable at this level.  His issue was probably with KW, but nonetheless he was like a spoilt brat!

Weather not forecast to improve much between now and Sunday so will be very much a slog for both teams in Tuam.

Jaysus Monaghan, threw away a win there, will be disgusted with how that finished up.

Great to get the win.  Absolutely it's a ridiculous way to decide a championship match.

I thought Liam Boyle was involved with the squad in the FBD but I could have that wrong.
Was a nice wing back for the minors a few years back though quite small and light physically.
I'm glad Steede is getting another start

Liam Boyle was definitely named on 26 for the Monaghan league match so he's been in the camp at least.

Not surprised to see Ó Laoi make way but definitely surprised to see Michael Boyle back in there, he looked a nice bit off IC standard in the Monaghan match but maybe unfair to judge on the basis of one match, anyone who saw the match in Kerry and didn't know anything about the players would have probably put Steede in the same category.

Varley very unlucky to be out of the starting 15 again on the basis of performances in the 4 matches this year to date, he's certainly played better than Daly, Boyle and probably Finnerty as well.

100% agree that Varley should be starting based on performances YTD.  He may be carrying a knock for this one as he was down for an extended period of time after a heavy challenge on Shane Enright the other night. 

Wonder will the game even go ahead? Forecast looks very bad for Sunday.

The @Galway_GAA team to play @officialdonegal on Sunday #GAA ⬇️

Connor Gleeson
Seán Kelly
Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin
Johnny Heaney
Gary O'Donnell
John Daly
Cillian McDaid
Ronan Steede
Céin D'Arcy
Eamonn Brannigan
Damien Comer
Michael Daly
Rob Finnerty
Shane Walsh
Mikey Boyle

Michael Boyle starting is a surprise based on his previous outing against Monaghan where he looked well off what is required at this level.  Maybe he is showing well in training and is getting another chance to impress.

If I was handed a 1pt defeat and a good performance prior to our game in Tralee I would have taken it no bother, however, in the context of last nights game we definitely left that one behind us and badly so at that.  To have created so many chances in the first half and taken so few was extremely disappointing with Shane and Damien being to the fore in that regard.  The longer the game progressed in the 2nd half we were definitely in the ascendency and making Kerry look quite rudderless at times.  Walsh was now in full flow and by a distance the outstanding player on view.  Once again, Cillian had another brain fart and we just did not manage that 10 min period when we were down to 14 very well at all, turned over too much ball in our own back line and were constantly outing ourselves under pressure. 
A very enjoyable game of football overall and a cracking atmosphere to boot  in Tralee - very wet drive home though!!! Onwards we go to Letterkenny.

How did you think Mulkerrin and Heaney did in the fb line?

I thought they both did well and Mulkerrin especially considering the quality of ball that was going in to Clifford in the first half.  A forward of Cliffords quality will kick scores all day if he get a good service.    Once Galway repelled the initial Kerry attack they were very good and pushing them out beyond the 45 and were quite successful in turning them over.  John Daly again was excellent and is really turning into a cornerstone of our defence.  Overall a very good performance and just a pity we didn't at least take a point out of it which would have been deserved. 

If I was handed a 1pt defeat and a good performance prior to our game in Tralee I would have taken it no bother, however, in the context of last nights game we definitely left that one behind us and badly so at that.  To have created so many chances in the first half and taken so few was extremely disappointing with Shane and Damien being to the fore in that regard.  The longer the game progressed in the 2nd half we were definitely in the ascendency and making Kerry look quite rudderless at times.  Walsh was now in full flow and by a distance the outstanding player on view.  Once again, Cillian had another brain fart and we just did not manage that 10 min period when we were down to 14 very well at all, turned over too much ball in our own back line and were constantly outing ourselves under pressure. 
A very enjoyable game of football overall and a cracking atmosphere to boot  in Tralee - very wet drive home though!!! Onwards we go to Letterkenny.

Odds 30 Jan

Dublin 13/8
Kerry   3/1
Galway 8/1
Tyrone 9/1
Mayo 10/1
Donegal 10/1
Monaghan 40/1
Meath 150/1


The divisions are said to be evenly matched

Hmmm, I would suggest that that the football divisions are pretty evenly matched with Cork in Div 3 possibly being the exception.  There were two Div 1 games in Pearse Stadium last Sunday, 1 was a good competitive match, the other wasn't even a good training session.  I'm not expecting a win in Tralee on Sat night but I am hoping that we will be at least competitive and I would also be hopeful of giving the Dubs a good rattle in Pearse Stadium later on, similar to their last visit.  I like the football league structure, even allowing for the time of year its played etc.

Too much talk about Galway in certain circles, Colm Parkinson and the lad from Mayo on his podcast both tipping Galway to get to the final.

I think a lot are tipping Galway to go well in this league because they reached the final in 2018 and at half time in the round 7 game last year Galway were on course to reach the final again.

The difference this time round though is that Galway are under a new manager with a de facto new playing style. To reach a final again under such circumstances would mean probably beating one of Dublin (showing no signs of taking it easy) or a Kerry team hoping to push on again this season. A big ask.

It would be a minor miracle for Galway to make it through to league final given the upheaval in both the players who are out on the pitch and the major change in the tactical approach, I cannot understand how anyone would be tipping them for a league final.

One of the big takeaways from yesterday was that at last Galway played football their fans could care about.

I think it's very likely that Galway will take a fair clipping or two in this league while adjusting to a very different playing method, I wouldn't be waiting on Galway's fickle football fans to have any patience when this happens just because they are enamoured with the style of play.

All very true AFA and the first of those "clippings" is very likely this coming Sat evening in Tralee based on the 2 teams' respective performances over the weekend.  We are a long way off the standard that was on view in CP.

Was it so that there was a pitch invasion after the final whistle at Salthill to celebrate a bare bones  one point home victory over the relegation favourites?

Kids running out to get a selfie or an autograph from their favourite player?  Happens after most games as far as I can see across the country and that's the way it should be.  Don't see the problem with it to be honest. 

Maurice Deegan.

He was beyond bad.  It's just so hard to understand his thought process when awarding frees.  We went through a sustained period in the second half where it looked like he decided we were getting no frees and it really brought Mon back into the game at time when we had pushed 5 ahead and it should have been further but sin sceal eile! A win is a win BUT an awful lot to improve on if we are to get anything out of the next 2 games, seems unlikely on the basis of what Kerry and Donegal produced last night.

Any semblance of a kick out strategy today?
I had to make do with radio coverage - but sounded like we struggled a bit around midfield?
Flynn, O Curraoin, Duggan, probably Steede and maybe Tierney to come back into that sector I guess so all is not lost.
How did the fullback line in general do?
Big step up next week.

I'm sure there is a strategy but it's not very well thought out or executed from what was on display today.  Anything into the middle of the field is 50:50 at best and putting them on top of a small lad like O'Laoi doesn't make much sense either.  Mid range kick outs were not too effective either and we seemed to resort to a lot of short ones after that.  D'Arcy and Comer did field 2 great balls in either half but they were the exception.  To be honest, I think a big part of the problem is that there are zero runs being made to get on the ball for our KOs.  Mon schooled us in that dept today. A lot of work needed for sure.

Kick outs were such a massive issue under KW as well.
D'Arcy not going to make that team from what I've seen over the past few seasons - just seems a bit short of county senior standard to me.
Interesting to see if they try Steede out.

Another thing that was blatantly obvious today was Monaghan's tactic of using their runner (fella in the yellow bib) to fill space on the pitch around the 50 on almost all of our kick outs for the last 20 mins or so of today's game.  Our sideline were very naive in not bringing it to the refs attention or at least dealing with him themselves.  It's definitely something that needs to be clamped down on.  Sherlock for Dub was a master at it under Gavins reign. 

Maurice Deegan.

He was beyond bad.  It's just so hard to understand his thought process when awarding frees.  We went through a sustained period in the second half where it looked like he decided we were getting no frees and it really brought Mon back into the game at time when we had pushed 5 ahead and it should have been further but sin sceal eile! A win is a win BUT an awful lot to improve on if we are to get anything out of the next 2 games, seems unlikely on the basis of what Kerry and Donegal produced last night.

Any semblance of a kick out strategy today?
I had to make do with radio coverage - but sounded like we struggled a bit around midfield?
Flynn, O Curraoin, Duggan, probably Steede and maybe Tierney to come back into that sector I guess so all is not lost.
How did the fullback line in general do?
Big step up next week.

I'm sure there is a strategy but it's not very well thought out or executed from what was on display today.  Anything into the middle of the field is 50:50 at best and putting them on top of a small lad like O'Laoi doesn't make much sense either.  Mid range kick outs were not too effective either and we seemed to resort to a lot of short ones after that.  D'Arcy and Comer did field 2 great balls in either half but they were the exception.  To be honest, I think a big part of the problem is that there are zero runs being made to get on the ball for our KOs.  Mon schooled us in that dept today. A lot of work needed for sure.

Maurice Deegan.

He was beyond bad.  It's just so hard to understand his thought process when awarding frees.  We went through a sustained period in the second half where it looked like he decided we were getting no frees and it really brought Mon back into the game at time when we had pushed 5 ahead and it should have been further but sin sceal eile! A win is a win BUT an awful lot to improve on if we are to get anything out of the next 2 games, seems unlikely on the basis of what Kerry and Donegal produced last night.