Gaillimh v Baile Átha Cliath

[GalwayBayBoy]

Might as well stick a thread up anyway.

Galway

1 Adrian Faherty
2 Alan Burke
3 Colin Forde
4 Johnny Duane
5 Gary O'Donnell
6 Greg Higgins
7 Gary Sice
8 Joe Bergin
9 Finian Hanley
10 Padraig Joyce
11 Owen Concannon
12 Cathal Kenny
13 Fiachra Breathnach
14 Paul Conroy
15 Cormac Bane

Durty Dubz

1. Michael Savage
2. Philly McMahon
3. Paul Brogan
4. Nicky Devereux
5. Paul Casey
6. Ger Brennan
7. Kevin Nolan
8. Denis Bastick
9. Seán Murray
10. Paul Flynn
11. Pat Burke
12. Bryan Cullen [capt]
13. Bernard Brogan
14. Diarmuid Connolly
15. Alan Brogan

Hope this game isn't decided by the full-forward lines anyway or we're goosed.

[ross4life]

I suppose it all depends on how Dublin approach this game having already secured the league final place.

Galway scoring 1-20 in Armagh last weekend was very impressive & as Mayo proved this Dublin back line can be got at.

[micka the dub]

looking at that galway team  the talent is certainly there ,bit surprised they are where they are.
id expect dublin to go hell for leather in this one as its our 2nd last game before the champo and gilroy has already shown if your not performing you dont play ,simple as that.
interesting to see murray start at mf but that where he plays out in blanch and is fairly handy at mf .worryingly still no fennell or ross mcconnell.

[ross matt]

Dublin are the form team and will go hell for leather in the battle for championship places. Galway are on an upward curve form wise and I imagine have the championship in mind more than avoiding relegation. That being said I think the Dubs will win it well.

[mckieran]

Interesting game. If ever the cliche "A game of two halves" can be applied, it is to this game. Anyway here are my ratings:

Faherty 3: Awful, kickouts were terrible, distribution was terrible. Did Galway give any run out to Lally during the league?
Burke 7
Forde 8: I like this guy from the few times I've seen him in a Galway jersey & he is worthy of a place at the moment
Duane 5
O'Donnell 5
Higgins 6
Sice 9: Seems to be in seriously good form at the minute, hopefully he can keep this up. Unlucky with that last shot
Bergin 7: Tried hard and did a lot of good things but that Dublin guy with the long hair had a big influence at midfield
Hanley 6: I'm still really unconvinced about him as a midfielder
Joyce 7: Pulled out of going for one ball near the end which really annoyed me
Concannon 6
Kenny 6
Clancy 4: And deserves a kick up the hole for his reaction when being taken off. Fully correct decision to take him off in my opinion. I might have taken him off earlier if I was manager!
Conroy: Scored one great point but thought he was poor enough otherwise, Like Hanley, I think he is being played out of position at no. 14.
Bane 8: Did very well. He frustrates me though, everytime he gets the ball he is looking to score rather then looking to pass.

Bradshaw 8
Coyne 8: Coyne is very much suited to a wing back position but we always seem to end up with a problem at corner back, move coyne back there, coyne doesnt play well there and suddenly coyne is being heckled by every single Galway fan in the place!
Brady 7: If there was a match next week, I'd be very tempted to start him ahead of Kenny.

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Not convinced that it was a red card offence by Brogan. It happened right in front of me and it looked like Duane might have over-reacted a little. I wonder if it was caught on video. While it was a spirited performance, you have to remember it was against 14 men, many of whom are not 1st choice players. So I am a bit cautious to get carried away about the second half. However, I actually think Galway are in a good position for championship. They were getting somewhere towards a settled team towards the end of the league & they know they have lots to work on. So I can see a big improvement in their first championship game. I notice Diarmuid Blake wasnt in the panel today, Where is he? And Darren Mullahy? Will Nicky Joyce return to the panel? It was strange for me looking at all these subs and realising I hadnt played against most of them, I am getting old! Couldnt understand how Galway couldnt use short kickouts in the first half when Dublin were winning midfield, we had an extra man!

[ross4life]

Clancy 4: And deserves a kick up the hole for his reaction when being taken off. Fully correct decision to take him off in my opinion. I might have taken him off earlier if I was manager!



I actually think Galway are in a good position for championship. They were getting somewhere towards a settled team towards the end of the league & they know they have lots to work on. So I can see a big improvement in their first championship game.

Would agree last two games Galway are showing good form but Mayo Away i think u'll will need Meehan,Nicky etc back.

[INDIANA]

Bernard Brogan had a blatant point ruled wide.

Overall a fair enough result. We were very average today and kept going for goals when points would have sufficed.

Galway have gone some distance backwards. Wont beat Mayo in my view on current form.

[mckieran]

Would agree last two games Galway are showing good form but Mayo Away i think u'll will need Meehan,Nicky etc back.

My point is that I have a feeling Galway are going to work harder in the next few weeks than Mayo becuase they need to. It might just bring them on that bit more than Mayo. Mayo have plenty of problems of their own but because they havent had a terrible league, they might believe they are better than they are (Not that you could ever accuse Mayo of doing that!  )

I agree that Meehan might be needed though. If Meehan had played today, I cant imagine we would have seen half of the wastefulness that we did in the first half.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Obviously you never like to be relegated but it's not completely disasterous as you'll still be playing some decent teams in division 2. Probably not great for the bean counters alright as there won't be any glamour home fixtures next year.

At least there was substantial improvement in the last 3 league games when some players that missed the early part of the campaign slowly started returning. Alas the damage was already done in the early games. A few more still to return so hopefully we'll be in better shape come the Summer.

[ross matt]

Good result for Galway. Dublin would not have been complacent given the drive of their current manager. Relegation was always on the cards for some time back so it does'nt have any damaging impact. Plus Div 2 is not far off Div 1 standard. Its better to finish the league strong than the other way around. Higgins centre back... Hanley midfield... Conroy full forward wont work against Mayo but the tribesmen will have more resouces available by then and are a nice quiet bet for winning Connacht.

[galwayman]

Was away for the weekend so didn't make Pearse on Sunday.
How did Higgins do at number 6? He's a big block of a man.
At least we have shown some sort of form in our last 2 games.
I don't personally think Hanley is the answer at midfield and we may see him return to defence before the championship is out (probably after losing to Mayo in Castlebar he will be sent back to defence for the qualifiers ).

Also, all this talk about us being transformed by the return of Meehan is a bit bemusing. Don't get me wrong Mikey is a class player and when fully fit and on form can do serious damage but the man has been injured for 12 months.
I don't see how he can be expected to be in top shape for the championship with barely 2 months training in the previous 12 months under his belt! I fear he will be subdued in the championship purely because of his lack of preparation time and match fitness/sharpness.

It's hard to predict a team at this stage but I'm guessing the team will  be along the line of...
1 Faherty
2 Burke
3 Forde
4 Duane
5 Bradshaw
6 Higgins/O'Donnell/Blake
7 Sice
8 Bergin
9 Hanley
10 Joyce
11 Conroy
12 Bane
13 Concannon
14 Meehan
15 Armstrong

That's the sort of team I'd expect management to come up with. I wouldn't agree with some of it personally (e.g. Hanley midfield, Concannon on the team etc.).

[heffo]

Looks like Alan Brogan will miss the league final now after Duane's 'Aidan O'Mahony' esque dive on Sunday.

[DUBSFORSAM1]

Good result for Galway. Dublin would not have been complacent given the drive of their current manager. Relegation was always on the cards for some time back so it does'nt have any damaging impact. Plus Div 2 is not far off Div 1 standard. Its better to finish the league strong than the other way around. Higgins centre back... Hanley midfield... Conroy full forward wont work against Mayo but the tribesmen will have more resouces available by then and are a nice quiet bet for winning Connacht.

How is drawing at home to a 14 man team for 65 mins a good result?

[ross matt]

Good result for Galway. Dublin would not have been complacent given the drive of their current manager. Relegation was always on the cards for some time back so it does'nt have any damaging impact. Plus Div 2 is not far off Div 1 standard. Its better to finish the league strong than the other way around. Higgins centre back... Hanley midfield... Conroy full forward wont work against Mayo but the tribesmen will have more resouces available by then and are a nice quiet bet for winning Connacht.

How is drawing at home to a 14 man team for 65 mins a good result?

It's all relative. My point was their form going in the right direction as they head in to championship. I accept the loss of someone of Brogan's quality never mind being a man down for nearly the entire match would have greatly weakened Dublin however.

[micka the dub]

it would have been nice to see duane come out and say he wouldnt like to see brogan miss the final over his red card,as mccdonnell did with cadogan ,but duane showed last week he is nothing more than a cheat.