Galway V Donegal AI Qualifiers Round 4 July 25th 2009 Markievicz Park Sligo 5pm

Definately seen it coming, to be honest I didn't think it would be in doubt right to the end. Fair play Donegal, a truely baffling county! Struggling past Carlow and Clare, then beating Derry and Galway within a week! When they play like they can they are a very hard side for anyone, and with this great form they'll be a tough match for anyone next week.

For the past 2/3 years Galway. with an ineffectual P.Joyce at 11 are worthless.
The retirement of Kevin "Grizzly" Walsh has hurt them deeply. M/F today was anonymous ( how dy'a spell that)

Good god almighty but that was a great win for us! The big question was whether we could carry the effort and passion from the Derry game into this one and we sure did. Probably not a great spectacle for the neutral but who cares! Thought the whole defence was solid. Lacey is a class act - such a great job on PB and MM. We drifted out of it in MF for a while at the start of the 2nd half but got back into it and overall we dominated breaking ball. Great games from Murphy and McFadden up front. It's especially nice to see Colm Anthony regain some of his form.
The ref had a poor enough game and Galway were definitely denied a few frees but this fact was more than cancelled out by the fact that Bergin and Joyce were allowed to stay on the field.
Anyway onwards and upwards! For us to reach the QF this year is an absolutely brilliant achievement and we're not finished yet!
Commiserations to Galway.

Well at least that ends the impossible task of trying to find a live stream of the game on the net as far as the footballers go! RTE Radio needs a serious talking too, if you're going to commentate on a game please do the whole thing, not five minutes and then go elsewhere until you feel like coming back to the game you're supposed to be commentating on, grrr! I ended up listening to the second half on highland radio or something or other, sounded like two Donegal lads on the end of a mobile phone but they were great to listen too if a little unconventional, when Cullinane came on they were stumped for his name so just kept calling him 'the big lad', they got it eventually though . Anyway good look to Donegal, I'll be falling in behind Mayo now hoping they win it for the West (unlikely I know) but I've a soft spot for Donegal so I'll keep an eye out for you too, well done again.

Well......fair comment RMD

But playing the oul' "poor mouth" card ,as you face forward, smacks of Donegal cuteness.

Ye'll miss the big Gallagher lad at M/F yet, mark my words. Galway are a beat docket....

[quote="6inarow"] when Cullinane came on .[/quote]

Galway were really fooked. The big coont wouldn't catch the swine flu' in a feckin' piggery.

[quote="Boxtyeater"]

6inarow wrote: when Cullinane came on .[/quote]

Galway were really fooked. The big coont wouldn't catch the swine flu' in a feckin' piggery.

But God loves a trier

In 50 odd years following the oul' game, one singular fact remains sacrosanct:

Win/Gain Primary possession.

Hence the games GREATS have been acknowleded ie. Jack O'Shea, Brian Mullins, Jim McKeever, Frank Eivers, Mick O'Connell etc.
Hurling wise, from my small memory, Frank Cummins, John Connolly, Joachim Kelly and the class act that was Tipp's Michael Roche.

I won't go on.......

Well done Donegal, the better side throughout.
Galway were fairly rudderless and major surgery is now required looking long-term. They looked lazy and lethargic at times and never really looked like they wanted to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Meehans still not up to the mark at this level when he comes up class defenders like Karl Lacey.N Joyce went from a star to a mess in the space of a week and PJ will want to forget tonight asap. Armstrong did alright as did Bradshaw, felt sorry for him when he missed the last kick but at least he had the balls to do it, unlike one or two others. Wouldn't have been deserved though as Donegal were simply better on the night. Hope they go on from here but seem very reliant on McFadden up front. Will take a lot of beating whoever they come up against.
Like 6inarow I suppose Im gonna have to start supporting Mayo now for the rest of the year. The horror, the horror

With the current implosion of Galway, aligned to the of brittleness of Mayo and their attitude to the Western Legend that they see in the lesser Mort, I'd say Connaught is wide open for our lads next Summer.
Hupta phook!!!!!

mossbags wrote:Well done Donegal, the better side throughout.
Galway were fairly rudderless and major surgery is now required looking long-term. They looked lazy and lethargic at times and never really looked like they wanted to take the game by the scruff of the neck.
Meehans still not up to the mark at this level when he comes up class defenders like Karl Lacey.N Joyce went from a star to a mess in the space of a week and PJ will want to forget tonight asap. Armstrong did alright as did Bradshaw, felt sorry for him when he missed the last kick but at least he had the balls to do it, unlike one or two others. Wouldn't have been deserved though as Donegal were simply better on the night. Hope they go on from here but seem very reliant on McFadden up front. Will take a lot of beating whoever they come up against.
Like 6inarow I suppose Im gonna have to start supporting Mayo now for the rest of the year. The horror, the horror

Galway were disappointing all right but I though Barry Dunnion and Karl Lacey did a good job on P Joyce and Meehan respectively. Once we were able to limit their influence, we were always going to have a good chance.
This is an evening for basking in the satisfaction of a good win, however what would worry me for next week is our midfield. We have a make-shift midfield that was made to look good by a under-par performance from the Derry MF and Galway's midfield was shown to be poor. I wouldn't agree that we are over reliant on McFadden. Murphy shouldered his share of the burden very well and gave a top class full back a torrid time (at least in the first half). I would worry about the lack of scoring from the rest of the forwards though.
I notice that a few commentators are highlighting the lack of scores from play by Donegal. In fairness, (in the first half especially) the Donegal forwards were dragged to the ground as soon as they got a sniff of getting a score from play so I think it's a bit of a misleading statistic to be focusing on.

Donegal wern't averse to doing a bit of dragging themselves RMD, but their tackling didn't look as reckless as Galways. Couldn't believe the sheer idiocy of some of our tackling to-day. Reflects badly on the players and management to be so inept at such a basic facet of the game. Worse was Galways lack of spirit compared to Donegals, a 6 day turnaround after losing a Connacht Final is no excuse and perhaps Sammon should step aside now for Galways messiah in waiting, Kevin Walsh.

mossbags wrote:Donegal wern't averse to doing a bit of dragging themselves RMD, but their tackling didn't look as reckless as Galways. Couldn't believe the sheer idiocy of some of our tackling to-day. Reflects badly on the players and management to be so inept at such a basic facet of the game. Worse was Galways lack of spirit compared to Donegals, a 6 day turnaround after losing a Connacht Final is no excuse and perhaps Sammon should step aside now for Galways messiah in waiting, Kevin Walsh.

Ah I know Moss and as I've stated above the ref let a few obvious frees go. Out tackling looked way more practiced though. Some of your boys looked llike they had never tackled someone before (except for outside the Warwick maybe!).
I think today demonstrated 2 inportant things. As Boxty has already pointed out, primary MF possession is the starting point for everything. Secondly, heart, passion and commitment are vital when it comes to a game like that.

Had to laugh at the Donegal lads looking for Dublin in the next round. Cass was on the 9 O'Clock news saying that a few of the younger lads were asking him how the atmosphere in a packed Croke park against the Dubs would compare to the atmosphere in McCool park. Cass was saying that he'd like to get the Dubs so the younger lads would get the experience.

Personally I'd rather Cork, Mayo, Dublin, Tyrone, in that order.

ah now mossbags you can hardly blame management for guys not being able to tackle - for god sake even young lads and lassies at u6 u8 level are coached to tackle with the near hand and not to tackle someone by grabbing them round the waist - those are the very basic skills of football and i am sure it is something every county team works on week in week out - the problem is when it comes to games a lot of teams lose their discipline in the tackle and just give away free after free

The tactics Galway used were poor and you could certainly blame that on management at one time Meehan picked up a ball and he was about 70 yards from the Donegal goal - what is the point in a player like him playing so deep and as far as i remember the same thing was a feature against Mayo last week.

RMDrive wrote:Had to laugh at the Donegal lads looking for Dublin in the next round. Cass was on the 9 O'Clock news saying that a few of the younger lads were asking him how the atmosphere in a packed Croke park against the Dubs would compare to the atmosphere in McCool park. Cass was saying that he'd like to get the Dubs so the younger lads would get the experience.

Personally I'd rather Cork, Mayo, Dublin, Tyrone, in that order.

Antrim will get Dublin.

Or Kerry will get Mayo.

bocerty wrote:ah now mossbags you can hardly blame management for guys not being able to tackle - for god sake even young lads and lassies at u6 u8 level are coached to tackle with the near hand and not to tackle someone by grabbing them round the waist - those are the very basic skills of football and i am sure it is something every county team works on week in week out - the problem is when it comes to games a lot of teams lose their discipline in the tackle and just give away free after free

The tactics Galway used were poor and you could certainly blame that on management at one time Meehan picked up a ball and he was about 70 yards from the Donegal goal - what is the point in a player like him playing so deep and as far as i remember the same thing was a feature against Mayo last week.

It reflects badly on management Bo and believe me if I was to list the
things our management were to blame for this year we'd be here all
night. Time to thank Sammon for his efforts and last years Connacht
crown and move on. Ultimately the team have regressed this year, or at
least flat-lined into the realm of distinctly average. They have
certainly not improved.

Lads, ye' can belt away.
Unless a team can catch and kick with fluency ie. 40yard balls, the game is phooked.

Donegal and pre-McGeeney' esque Flourbags ruined the game.....

One or 2 points there Mossy.
Galway were lethargic in their approach..lazy tackling, sloppy in possession and rudderless from line to field.
Answer me this ? Would that level of effort, with the current management win 3 in a row

Boxtyeater wrote:One or 2 points there Mossy.
Galway were lethargic in their approach..lazy tackling, sloppy in possession and rudderless from line to field.
Answer me this ? Would that level of effort, with the current management win 3 in a row

Can you translate the question into English for me Boxty?

I watched this game...

...reminds me why I stick to hurling

SamiPremier08 wrote:I watched this game...

...reminds me why I stick to hurling

Thanks for the input Sami. And for the consistency

SamiPremier08 wrote:right if you don't like cycling and think it's a sport full of drugs then piss off to another thread!

SamiPremier08 wrote:i just feel that this thread should be for appreciating the race not slagging it off with drug related whines as always!

Well said Sami.

The Galway-Donegal was a pretty poor spectacle when compared with the climb up Mount Ventoux yesterday. I didn't even watch the football, I couldn't leave the telly watching Andy Schleck make bits of every rider bar Contador. Pity Frank didn't make the podium though.

SamiPremier08 wrote:I watched this game...

...reminds me why I stick to hurling

Sami are you watching games on the net up there in Yorkshire? Which site did you get it via?