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Galway Hurling thread

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Replying To tommy k:  "Unfortunately "size matters" when it comes to senior intercounty hurling these days. Galway had mostly big men in 2017 and Limerick have continued that trend since. You might get away with 1 or 2 "smaller" lads but not 4 or 5. That's why I would be worried if we started the likes of Grealish, O'Shea, Monaghan, Niland and Collins together as they would not be able for the physical hits / dominance that the likes of Limerick, KK etc. would bring to the table. I'm not saying playing some smaller lads was the only difference in the second half of the AI semifinal last year but it was a factor no doubt."
Size matters in this rugler era, where bulking, big hits, rucks, gym sculptured bodies and what not is the order of the day. However, there should still be a place for intelligent hurling, low or chest high fast delivery into the smaller forward or quick ball into space. Most of the delivery into the forwards last Sunday was mediocre at best. There were instances where a back was on his own and still drove a high ball in on Whelan who was double or treble marked.
I wouldn't give up on Jason Flynn. Some of the comments about him here are disgraceful. The treatment he got at U21 from Limerick was the most savage I have seen underage and he got no protection from the officials. He also had personal tragedy in his life. For his own sake, I hope he doesn't come near this forum.

baire (Galway) - Posts: 1804 - 13/02/2024 15:07:42    2525872

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Replying To tommy k:  "I think Galway are also lacking physical toughness (along with height / strength) in many of the players. Tipp were giving some dirty tackles / verbal abuse yesterday and a lot of the Galway players were not responding to it as they were "too nice". I would like to see a bit more "fire and brimstone" from the players to show that they won't be pushed around too easily. For example St. Thomas's have that in spades - the likes of Fintan, David, Darragh, Eanna and Bernard Burke will not be pushed around by anyone. Sylvie Linnane and Pete Finnerty from the 80's teams were other examples. That is another issue for Shefflin & co. to work on!"
Tommy, I missed most of the live broadcast on Sunday but I just watched a recording of the game. I was looking out for all these "dirty tackles" from Tipp but apart from Byrne's hit on Niland (which should have been a red card) I couldn't see anything else of note. There did seem to be a few "verbals" exchanged on and off during the game but no more than in most games. To allege "verbal abuse"is a fairly serious accusation. Maybe you were close enough to the action to hear what was said. If not, you must be a lipreader. In general, I thought the match was played in a good spirit with no evidence of any rancour or bad feeling. Both teams have lots of room for improvement but come championship time I would expect both to be challenging strongly, even if they are still well off Limerick's standards.

midlands (Westmeath) - Posts: 543 - 13/02/2024 16:17:28    2525885

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Replying To baire:  "Size matters in this rugler era, where bulking, big hits, rucks, gym sculptured bodies and what not is the order of the day. However, there should still be a place for intelligent hurling, low or chest high fast delivery into the smaller forward or quick ball into space. Most of the delivery into the forwards last Sunday was mediocre at best. There were instances where a back was on his own and still drove a high ball in on Whelan who was double or treble marked.
I wouldn't give up on Jason Flynn. Some of the comments about him here are disgraceful. The treatment he got at U21 from Limerick was the most savage I have seen underage and he got no protection from the officials. He also had personal tragedy in his life. For his own sake, I hope he doesn't come near this forum."
Excellent post!

ecad123 (Galway) - Posts: 272 - 13/02/2024 23:05:25    2525951

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Replying To baire:  "Size matters in this rugler era, where bulking, big hits, rucks, gym sculptured bodies and what not is the order of the day. However, there should still be a place for intelligent hurling, low or chest high fast delivery into the smaller forward or quick ball into space. Most of the delivery into the forwards last Sunday was mediocre at best. There were instances where a back was on his own and still drove a high ball in on Whelan who was double or treble marked.
I wouldn't give up on Jason Flynn. Some of the comments about him here are disgraceful. The treatment he got at U21 from Limerick was the most savage I have seen underage and he got no protection from the officials. He also had personal tragedy in his life. For his own sake, I hope he doesn't come near this forum."
Fair enough about Jason Flynn (of who I'm a big fan) but him or any player should know what they get in any of these kind of forums. Even Joe Canning got bashed on a lot of these threads from people inside and outside of Galway. Like I said in an earlier post: we are lucky to have Jason Flynn. I'm sure there are quite a few counties that wish they had him.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2120 - 14/02/2024 15:38:02    2526064

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Replying To Trump2020:  "Fair enough about Jason Flynn (of who I'm a big fan) but him or any player should know what they get in any of these kind of forums. Even Joe Canning got bashed on a lot of these threads from people inside and outside of Galway. Like I said in an earlier post: we are lucky to have Jason Flynn. I'm sure there are quite a few counties that wish they had him."
He is a great impact player that's what he is. You'll get a good 15/20 mins and that's his lot for inter county. A great club player but plenty of counties have players like Jason. We are long enough looking at him now to know his limitations at inter county level.

2maroonjerseys (Galway) - Posts: 26 - 14/02/2024 16:36:21    2526074

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Replying To 2maroonjerseys:  "He is a great impact player that's what he is. You'll get a good 15/20 mins and that's his lot for inter county. A great club player but plenty of counties have players like Jason. We are long enough looking at him now to know his limitations at inter county level."
I'm just fine with him coming off the bench for us. I said it ages ago about him. Last 15 or 20 minutes of a tight match he'd be great to have.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2120 - 14/02/2024 18:33:58    2526085

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Two up at half time in Fitz semi final. Backs holding up well against Mark Rodgers and Gearoid O'Connor. Any sort of half decent ball into Molloy at the other end is a score. He has magic wrists.

galway19 (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 14/02/2024 19:08:20    2526095

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Cruel way to lose a semi final by a point with a mistake at the end but they were the two best teams in the competition by a mile so it was always going to be tight. Great to see Liam Collins back even it was only for 15 minutes, scored two lovely points and will see game time straight away in the league. Worrying from our perspective is how Greg Thomas destroyed TJ Brennan. Brennan is either carrying an injury are is just woefully out of nick. Thomas isn't even on the county panel but I'd imagine there are way too many lads in front of Brennan now for him to get a shirt - will be battling to be on the 26. Loftus and Lawless both done well in the UG back line.

galway19 (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 14/02/2024 19:55:37    2526102

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Replying To galway19:  "Cruel way to lose a semi final by a point with a mistake at the end but they were the two best teams in the competition by a mile so it was always going to be tight. Great to see Liam Collins back even it was only for 15 minutes, scored two lovely points and will see game time straight away in the league. Worrying from our perspective is how Greg Thomas destroyed TJ Brennan. Brennan is either carrying an injury are is just woefully out of nick. Thomas isn't even on the county panel but I'd imagine there are way too many lads in front of Brennan now for him to get a shirt - will be battling to be on the 26. Loftus and Lawless both done well in the UG back line."
A lot of their lads looked like seasoned intercounty, a lot of our lads looked like u20's. We're falling behind massively on S&C. Morrissey in general had a good game but he could do with bulking up, likewise Killeen, McGlynn, that's what it takes at IC now.

Loftus did well, agree about Molloy, he's a real talent.

Galwayspur (Offaly) - Posts: 230 - 14/02/2024 21:13:45    2526114

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I'd agree it was the physicality of ul that got them over the line aswell as the class of rogers in the second half..morrissey and molloy were very good with Galway..pity conditions were so bad as there is a lot more in both teams..thought Mary I were very impressive in their semi and they won't mind playing ul in final..Jamie wall has some record in this competition..

CTGAA10 (Limerick) - Posts: 2217 - 14/02/2024 21:28:01    2526115

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Replying To galway19:  "Cruel way to lose a semi final by a point with a mistake at the end but they were the two best teams in the competition by a mile so it was always going to be tight. Great to see Liam Collins back even it was only for 15 minutes, scored two lovely points and will see game time straight away in the league. Worrying from our perspective is how Greg Thomas destroyed TJ Brennan. Brennan is either carrying an injury are is just woefully out of nick. Thomas isn't even on the county panel but I'd imagine there are way too many lads in front of Brennan now for him to get a shirt - will be battling to be on the 26. Loftus and Lawless both done well in the UG back line."
They hit some woeful bad wides, they had more than enough chances to get something from that game, especially in the last 15 mins or so.
Has the makings of a good final all the same.

Bon (Kildare) - Posts: 1909 - 14/02/2024 21:46:44    2526117

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Replying To Galwayspur:  "A lot of their lads looked like seasoned intercounty, a lot of our lads looked like u20's. We're falling behind massively on S&C. Morrissey in general had a good game but he could do with bulking up, likewise Killeen, McGlynn, that's what it takes at IC now.

Loftus did well, agree about Molloy, he's a real talent."
That's what I said earlier about big, physical players being required to win matches these days and when I say big I don't always mean tall but strong as well. For example Mark Rogers and Adam English are not that tall but are definitely strong whereas the smaller Galway players are much lighter which means they are too easily pushed off the ball and there was a lot of examples of that in tonight's game. UG were equally as skillful but definitely not as chunky. In saying that, I thought UG were unlucky to lose and it should have at least been a draw were it not for that loose attempted pass that was blocked down at the end.

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3323 - 15/02/2024 01:32:37    2526133

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Another thing I noticed is that the UG players were slipping and sliding on the surface a lot more than the UL players. I don't know if that is down to a lack of strength and conditioning also or just the boots they were wearing. Also the amount of times I saw fumbling and foostering trying to rise the ball with one hand in muddy conditions was ridiculous. The only Galway player that I can remember that could rise the ball with one hand in one quick, smooth movement was Ollie Canning - the rest are only trotting behind him.

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3323 - 15/02/2024 10:21:19    2526158

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Replying To tommy k:  "Another thing I noticed is that the UG players were slipping and sliding on the surface a lot more than the UL players. I don't know if that is down to a lack of strength and conditioning also or just the boots they were wearing. Also the amount of times I saw fumbling and foostering trying to rise the ball with one hand in muddy conditions was ridiculous. The only Galway player that I can remember that could rise the ball with one hand in one quick, smooth movement was Ollie Canning - the rest are only trotting behind him."
His brother Joe and Kevin Broderick could do it also.
First touch so vital in today's possession-based game now.

Triffic (Galway) - Posts: 124 - 15/02/2024 14:09:23    2526205

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Replying To Triffic:  "His brother Joe and Kevin Broderick could do it also.
First touch so vital in today's possession-based game now."
Very true triffic. I'm sure a lot of it can be improved via skills training etc. but the 3 players you and I mentioned had it naturally.

tommy k (Galway) - Posts: 3323 - 15/02/2024 15:02:09    2526216

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Replying To Triffic:  "His brother Joe and Kevin Broderick could do it also.
First touch so vital in today's possession-based game now."
I think both Mannions are pretty handy like that as is Niland, he's very quick to get the ball into hand.

Galwayspur (Offaly) - Posts: 230 - 15/02/2024 20:28:23    2526273

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Replying To tommy k:  "Another thing I noticed is that the UG players were slipping and sliding on the surface a lot more than the UL players. I don't know if that is down to a lack of strength and conditioning also or just the boots they were wearing. Also the amount of times I saw fumbling and foostering trying to rise the ball with one hand in muddy conditions was ridiculous. The only Galway player that I can remember that could rise the ball with one hand in one quick, smooth movement was Ollie Canning - the rest are only trotting behind him."
Good to see a couple of Galway lads feature with MI on Saturday. Well done.

SixtiesKid (Galway) - Posts: 304 - 18/02/2024 10:42:35    2526611

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Replying To SixtiesKid:  "Good to see a couple of Galway lads feature with MI on Saturday. Well done."
Gillane's brother, playing goalkeeper, gave some exhibition of freetaking early on, landing one from 110+ yards or so, and scoring 1-3 in total from range.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3422 - 18/02/2024 11:29:50    2526620

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Replying To SixtiesKid:  "Good to see a couple of Galway lads feature with MI on Saturday. Well done."
TJ Brennan right? Was there anyone else? Congratulations to them anyway. Awesome achievement beating such a tough UL team. This is a great era for Limerick Hurling.

Trump2020 (Galway) - Posts: 2120 - 18/02/2024 13:07:53    2526634

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Four left now in the Senior A hurling:
Raphael's vs Nenagh CBS
St Kierans vs Ardscoil Ris

Raphael's great chance to get to the final but I'd say Ardscoil are hot favs to win this out. They look like an adult team size wise, definitely five or six lads who physically look out of place playing schools hurling. Kieran's not as strong as last year. Raphael's have a lovely team and are coming in nicely under the radar.

galway19 (Galway) - Posts: 675 - 18/02/2024 15:23:09    2526666

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