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Galway Football thread

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If all were fit and available I think PJ would see something close to below as his preferred 15. With likes of Molloy, Hernon, Conroy and Daly being called off the bench. It's vital that a few new players step up this year and show their worthy of meaningful game time in big championship games

Gleeson
McGrath Fitzgerald Glynn
McHugh Kelly Silke
Maher Darcy
Tierney Thompson McDaid
Finnerty Comer Walsh

gaillimhboy (Galway) - Posts: 393 - 12/01/2026 11:47:24    2650770

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Replying To Drax_the_destroyer:  "Joyce most certainly will continue the experiment way and if you take a trimming off a near Mayo championships team so what? Sure let all hype get heaped on them before the more important league game between the two"
You're the one trying to hype Mayo up on every thread here. Loads of potential starters were absent yesterday FYI but you seem to be in the know about Mayo's 2026 championship team.

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 500 - 12/01/2026 12:29:17    2650782

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Replying To GreenandRed:  "You're spot on. Bar a good league from a new manager bounce in 2023, we've been on the wane for 4 years. We need to unearth new talent, unseat some players from the comfort of guaranteed starts and not have a team that picks itself. I don't know if I'm optimistic that will happen. Time will tell."
Ye have some good young lads to bring in though.
The likes of Beirne, Lydon and Kobe for example - while they are young - are great lads to be able to bring in off the bench as they are all very accurate. And crucially all well able to kick two pointers.
I don't feel like we have the same injection of young forward talent available to us at the moment.
We got Thompson last year but I don't think there's much else there. Possibly Colm Costello who is talented but physically very small and probably needs time to bulk up a bit.

galwayman2 (Galway) - Posts: 1341 - 12/01/2026 13:15:14    2650796

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So who is unavailable at the moment?

Thompson - Gone to US until May.
Maher - Still recovering from injury?
Conroy - Expected back but not official yet. Will hardly play much league anyway at this stage.
D'Arcy - Long club campaign. Will probably get a break until last couple games of the league.
Comer - Who knows?

Heaney and Tomo gone off the panel.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2462 - 12/01/2026 14:08:24    2650805

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Heard Galway played Dublin on Sunday in Westmeath somewhere. Only heard that Dublin won with a last-minute goal by Con O'Callaghan. Seemed to have been a good quality game by the small bit I got.

JumpinJackFlash (Meath) - Posts: 3 - 12/01/2026 15:58:03    2650820

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Replying To Marooned:  "So who is unavailable at the moment?

Thompson - Gone to US until May.
Maher - Still recovering from injury?
Conroy - Expected back but not official yet. Will hardly play much league anyway at this stage.
D'Arcy - Long club campaign. Will probably get a break until last couple games of the league.
Comer - Who knows?

Heaney and Tomo gone off the panel."
I imagine Darcy will just miss max 1st game or 2. Club semi final loss was 03rd of January. 1 NFL game is 24 against Mayo - 3 week break at least. He is not the type of footballer who can afford to miss a whole pile and I think he himself will want to stake his claim for a starting spot he is prob more important now with Maher injury & Conroys legs. He did not exactly stand out as a co star for Bodens against Dingle like your Geaney Tom O sullivan or Mark O Connor but to bew fair either did your Basquels.

Eire89 (Galway) - Posts: 455 - 12/01/2026 16:30:14    2650824

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Replying To Eire89:  "I imagine Darcy will just miss max 1st game or 2. Club semi final loss was 03rd of January. 1 NFL game is 24 against Mayo - 3 week break at least. He is not the type of footballer who can afford to miss a whole pile and I think he himself will want to stake his claim for a starting spot he is prob more important now with Maher injury & Conroys legs. He did not exactly stand out as a co star for Bodens against Dingle like your Geaney Tom O sullivan or Mark O Connor but to bew fair either did your Basquels."
I thought D'Arcy was very good against An Daingean. He won a lot of kickouts, far more than Mark O'Connor, and drove them forward. He was much stronger in the air.
O'Connor had his moments too, but was anonymous for good chunks of the game. Tom O'Sullivan and Paul Geaney were by a mile the main difference makers in that game. Just because An Daingean won, doesn't mean D'Arcy was outplayed. Ballyboden had the better of midfield for the majority of the game.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2698 - 12/01/2026 17:22:51    2650834

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Replying To Marooned:  "So who is unavailable at the moment?

Thompson - Gone to US until May.
Maher - Still recovering from injury?
Conroy - Expected back but not official yet. Will hardly play much league anyway at this stage.
D'Arcy - Long club campaign. Will probably get a break until last couple games of the league.
Comer - Who knows?

Heaney and Tomo gone off the panel."
John Daly and Cathal Sweeney haven't been mentioned this year?

WonTon5 (Galway) - Posts: 105 - 12/01/2026 17:55:36    2650838

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Replying To WonTon5:  "John Daly and Cathal Sweeney haven't been mentioned this year?"
I had heard Sweeney had opted out for the year before Christmas.

Jellybaby (Dublin) - Posts: 377 - 12/01/2026 20:37:56    2650851

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is james macloughlin from moycullen involed this year or walsh from kilannin?

gbay (Galway) - Posts: 280 - 12/01/2026 21:01:15    2650853

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Replying To Jellybaby:  "I had heard Sweeney had opted out for the year before Christmas."
You would imagine he would have been mentioned by PJ along with Heaney and Tomo then. But who knows?

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2462 - 12/01/2026 22:45:28    2650868

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Replying To MayoDan:  "You're the one trying to hype Mayo up on every thread here. Loads of potential starters were absent yesterday FYI but you seem to be in the know about Mayo's 2026 championship team."
In fairness it's the most amount of established championship starters ever named in an FBD 15. If you have any other examples I'm all ears but don't believe there is any. Andy obviously thought it was of more benefit than the usual development side

PressureKick (UK) - Posts: 339 - 12/01/2026 22:59:09    2650871

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Be interesting see what sort of sides Galway and mayo play for fbd final next Sunday with them playing again in pearse the following Sunday. Have heard that Galway are playing kildare in a challenge game Saturday so guessing the team playing kildare will be more of a resemblance to that which will line out in the league game following weekend.

Gaagael15 (Galway) - Posts: 24 - 12/01/2026 23:33:02    2650875

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Replying To PressureKick:  "In fairness it's the most amount of established championship starters ever named in an FBD 15. If you have any other examples I'm all ears but don't believe there is any. Andy obviously thought it was of more benefit than the usual development side"
What are you on about?

MayoDan (Mayo) - Posts: 500 - 12/01/2026 23:55:34    2650876

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Replying To WanPintWin:  "I thought D'Arcy was very good against An Daingean. He won a lot of kickouts, far more than Mark O'Connor, and drove them forward. He was much stronger in the air.
O'Connor had his moments too, but was anonymous for good chunks of the game. Tom O'Sullivan and Paul Geaney were by a mile the main difference makers in that game. Just because An Daingean won, doesn't mean D'Arcy was outplayed. Ballyboden had the better of midfield for the majority of the game."
What game were you watching? He was anonymous

cavan.galway (Galway) - Posts: 257 - 13/01/2026 08:10:55    2650881

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Replying To cavan.galway:  "What game were you watching? He was anonymous"
Ballyboden cleaned out An Daingeanin midfield in the first half and D'Arcy was a big part of that. He caught more clean ball than anyone. He was still the main source of Ballyboden's possession from kickouts in the second half, when they were struggling. O'Connor has some engine on him and was still going strong in extra-time, but D'Arcy was much stronger than him in the air.
In today's game, ball winners are crucial and he's our best at that job at the moment.

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2698 - 13/01/2026 11:03:11    2650893

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Replying To cavan.galway:  "What game were you watching? He was anonymous"
Ya biggest input was his interview beforehand and how he was captain of Caherlistrane and made a huge commitment of travelling down for 6 months but was unable to continue to do so what an example he set.

Eire89 (Galway) - Posts: 455 - 13/01/2026 11:05:39    2650894

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Replying To PressureKick:  "In fairness it's the most amount of established championship starters ever named in an FBD 15. If you have any other examples I'm all ears but don't believe there is any. Andy obviously thought it was of more benefit than the usual development side"
Perhaps Galway should also look at getting strong sides out early in the year, getting up to speed and really going after the league. They could catch the other teams on the hop, it's by far their best chance of winning a national title.

JimB1991 (Donegal) - Posts: 126 - 13/01/2026 11:57:59    2650903

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Replying To JimB1991:  "Perhaps Galway should also look at getting strong sides out early in the year, getting up to speed and really going after the league. They could catch the other teams on the hop, it's by far their best chance of winning a national title."
Unlikely. We've come a lot closer to winning the All-Ireland than the league in recent years, so building gradually would be better.
Your namesake and fellow Donegal man, has brought a good few new faces into the panel for the McKenna Cup. Did anyone stand out for you?

WanPintWin (Galway) - Posts: 2698 - 13/01/2026 12:11:13    2650909

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