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Galway Football thread

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Replying To Belclare7:  "An excellent team but in fairness they were nearly caught by Claregalway after basically hammering everyone along the way..
Sean Og and Rabbit would have been ran a mile if the county final had another few minutes as the some of their decisions were headscratchers..
Underage winning is good but the absolute key is getting them through to senior..
Claregalway have struggled and I'd say Oranmore won't find it easy also.."
Agreed

Jellybaby (Dublin) - Posts: 357 - 04/11/2024 11:54:49    2578301

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Replying To TheBishop:  "Not enough talk about Conroy on here, winning player of the year as 35 year old midfielder is a phenomenal achievement. Those of us who say Conroy as a youngster knew he was capable of this.

A wonderful ambassador for the county."
Paul Conroy has been a class act for a long time but he has particularly flourished since he came back from that horrific injury. I remember before the injury he was getting a lot of criticism however he was like a man re born when he came back.

Delighted for him.

I have no particular allegiance to Corofin or Moycullen but am happy Sean Kelly will get a further break to get the body right. He looked to be moving ok by the end of the club championship but I didn't see it up close so can't be sure. We need him at full throttle for 2025.

Same applies to Comer. A fully fit Comer won't be held under the old rules and if the 3 v 3 comes in he will make hay. We just need him to get his body right.

Looking forward to next year. Learnings from 2024.......
*Don't panic about the early rounds of the league
*There is nothing between the top 6-8 on any given day
*While it was ultimately to end in disappointment, the scenes after the Connacht Final, the win over Dublin and the win over Donegal will stay with me for a long time
*Go to New York .......London was great craic:-)

Mayonman (Galway) - Posts: 1893 - 04/11/2024 16:15:35    2578358

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Replying To LottoPlus:  "Is underage football in trouble in Galway. Population base is where all A titles are going. You have Oranmore/Maree who have 12-15 k in there catchment area, adding to that they were 5-6 Clarinbridge players playing. Claregalway who probably have a similar catchment area with players from Turloughmore, Castlegar and Claregalway/Carnmore playing.. If you think of the Minors and there was at least players from 6 parishes playing. Is that fair? How many of them will fall back into playing hurling in their own parish. Years ago Corofin dominated but that was because they were better trained. At least the hurling is honest as the players who play are from their own parish. We won a minor A hurling a few years ago and they were all from Carnmore. No one from outside the parish. Don't rave about the under 19 and Dunmore getting to final, the only reason they got there, and they did have a nice team, but Claregalway were a lot stronger but they pulled the under 19s who play senior from playing the competition. Should the parish rule be enforced for under age anyway?"
Why would population bases winning titles be a signal of trouble? I actually think the opposite i.e. if small population bases are winning it generally is a sign that the work isnt being done by the population bases. With my North Galway/rural bias I would love to see the titles flowing in that direction and hopefully they will continue to win the odd one, but in reality we need the quality that quantity breeds for our county teams. At least 10 of the Armagh extended panel ( I think ) are from the urban sprawl of the Craigavon/Lurgan area.
Oranmore won Connacht beating a Westport team who blitzed the Mayo championship and an excellent Leitrim team who had previously accounted for the Sligo and Ros champs with ease.
Claregalway could have beaten Oranmore so I dont think we are in that much trouble at all. Of course the trick will be for Oranmore and Claregalway as to how to continue to develop this talent with competing sports/distractions.

anotheralias (Galway) - Posts: 955 - 04/11/2024 17:00:45    2578368

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Replying To LottoPlus:  "Is underage football in trouble in Galway. Population base is where all A titles are going. You have Oranmore/Maree who have 12-15 k in there catchment area, adding to that they were 5-6 Clarinbridge players playing. Claregalway who probably have a similar catchment area with players from Turloughmore, Castlegar and Claregalway/Carnmore playing.. If you think of the Minors and there was at least players from 6 parishes playing. Is that fair? How many of them will fall back into playing hurling in their own parish. Years ago Corofin dominated but that was because they were better trained. At least the hurling is honest as the players who play are from their own parish. We won a minor A hurling a few years ago and they were all from Carnmore. No one from outside the parish. Don't rave about the under 19 and Dunmore getting to final, the only reason they got there, and they did have a nice team, but Claregalway were a lot stronger but they pulled the under 19s who play senior from playing the competition. Should the parish rule be enforced for under age anyway?"
To be fair and I've no allegiance to either club but both Claregalway and Oranmore Maree have put in a serious amount of work into it. One of them can't come up from Intermediate and the other have never really made any impression in senior and that's just the reality. The likes of Tim Rabbitt and Sean Og Depaor have done serious work both at club and academy level in recent years. They are building no doubt and there facilities out in Maree are very impressive and getting better each year, first fully floodlit 4G pitch in the county opening early next year.

smallfrank (Galway) - Posts: 442 - 04/11/2024 17:05:16    2578370

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Replying To LottoPlus:  "Is underage football in trouble in Galway. Population base is where all A titles are going. You have Oranmore/Maree who have 12-15 k in there catchment area, adding to that they were 5-6 Clarinbridge players playing. Claregalway who probably have a similar catchment area with players from Turloughmore, Castlegar and Claregalway/Carnmore playing.. If you think of the Minors and there was at least players from 6 parishes playing. Is that fair? How many of them will fall back into playing hurling in their own parish. Years ago Corofin dominated but that was because they were better trained. At least the hurling is honest as the players who play are from their own parish. We won a minor A hurling a few years ago and they were all from Carnmore. No one from outside the parish. Don't rave about the under 19 and Dunmore getting to final, the only reason they got there, and they did have a nice team, but Claregalway were a lot stronger but they pulled the under 19s who play senior from playing the competition. Should the parish rule be enforced for under age anyway?"
I don't think underage football is in trouble at all in Galway. I'd be pretty familiar with the juvenile setup across the county and there's quality football being played and very good teams coming through at different ages across a big spread of clubs, not all of them based on population alone - Dunmore McHales at a couple of age groups, Micheal Breathnachs super team at u15, for example.
Yes, of course population counts: Claregalway are obviously very strong, Oranmore-Maree are rising fast (5,500 possibly 6,000 catchment, not your 15,000 figure, and they've one Clarinbridge man in minor, not your 5 or 6 figure. In fact at younger ages, I understand that no Clarinbridge lads play with O-M at all as they're now effectively prohibited from doing so by C'bridge club - which seems daft and a bit old school to me.) Claregalway do get a nice bit of participation from Turloughmore, Carnmore and a few from Castlegar - so it's a big catchment but brings its own challenges in unifying as a 'Claregalway' team. Salthill-Knocknacarra has a 25,000+ catchment area and yet seem to be waning a little bit at underage, so it's not all about numbers. Corofin, Tuam Stars, Barna-Furbo, Moycullen all have big catchment areas too. The quality work has to go in though, and the interest from players and parents has to be there or you could have a 50,000 catchment and still produce nothing. I think you'll struggle to see some of the mid and small traditional clubs in North Galway, for example, win A underage titles in future but does it matter that much if they can win a B or a C title and bring through 2 or 3 or more lads every year into their adult grades and build from there?

togoutlads (Galway) - Posts: 975 - 04/11/2024 18:37:57    2578389

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I'm involved at academy level in one of the big population clubs mentioned above. I never understand the negativity around playing numbers. It's a negative that we've so many players, but if we didn't then we'd be accused of not doing enough to harness a big population into players.
Numbers are well and good, but parents and kids have to love playing at home. We've big numbers at academy level but there's still a gap between the kids who play at home and those who don't. The players who do well against other clubs and who stand out are the ones who like playing at home, and who are brought outside by their parents in the evenings. It's obvious if kids don't pick up a ball from one Saturday to the next.
If smaller clubs in rural areas have the same situation, then yeah there'll be more so called better players here by dint of population. But we've a lot of other sports and facilities to compete with.
Small rural clubs, if their parents are diehard enough about loving football, can harness that at home, but it actually starts with the parents at home. Not the coaches in the club. We only get the kids for an hour a week, parents have to drive the love of the game. If they do that, the hours of practice follow at home.

jam83 (Galway) - Posts: 172 - 05/11/2024 14:34:15    2578467

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In my opinion development squads should actually run from sept to match especially for undrr 13-16 as most of them lads are finished football since sept and will not play again until prob early April I genuinely think one day a week sat morning for an hour and 10 mins obviously they take a break for 2-3 weeks around Christmas soccer lad at 16 will play min of 18 matches that includes cup a gaa lad at undrr 16 will play max 4 matches somethings serious wrong in my opinion

Kickitout (Galway) - Posts: 956 - 05/11/2024 16:08:36    2578484

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Most Clarinbridge lads interested in playing Football bypass Oranmore and have gone to St. James' or Salthill/Knocknacarra. Delighted to see Kinvara doing so well in the Football.

ref (Galway) - Posts: 252 - 05/11/2024 18:08:43    2578497

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Replying To jam83:  "I'm involved at academy level in one of the big population clubs mentioned above. I never understand the negativity around playing numbers. It's a negative that we've so many players, but if we didn't then we'd be accused of not doing enough to harness a big population into players.
Numbers are well and good, but parents and kids have to love playing at home. We've big numbers at academy level but there's still a gap between the kids who play at home and those who don't. The players who do well against other clubs and who stand out are the ones who like playing at home, and who are brought outside by their parents in the evenings. It's obvious if kids don't pick up a ball from one Saturday to the next.
If smaller clubs in rural areas have the same situation, then yeah there'll be more so called better players here by dint of population. But we've a lot of other sports and facilities to compete with.
Small rural clubs, if their parents are diehard enough about loving football, can harness that at home, but it actually starts with the parents at home. Not the coaches in the club. We only get the kids for an hour a week, parents have to drive the love of the game. If they do that, the hours of practice follow at home."
The reality is that smaller clubs are going to need to merge with neighbours to keep going, and and that second clubs in places like Claregalway and Barna are inevitable in time.

PierreBezuhov (UK) - Posts: 229 - 06/11/2024 10:05:52    2578553

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Replying To TheBishop:  "Not enough talk about Conroy on here, winning player of the year as 35 year old midfielder is a phenomenal achievement. Those of us who say Conroy as a youngster knew he was capable of this.

A wonderful ambassador for the county."
remarkable

cocopop (Roscommon) - Posts: 38 - 06/11/2024 12:24:44    2578568

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Well done to High Cross college Tuam winning the junior A ladies connacht final yesterday.
A team sprinkled with a few Corofin girls and Louise Morris managing shows she's keeping up with her brother..
Great work going on in there for ladies football..

Belclare7 (Galway) - Posts: 118 - 07/11/2024 12:49:21    2578778

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Second year in a row that Corofin have given a pretty poor performance in Connacht. Still way off their old level. Probably fortunate that their main competitors in Galway have all gone backwards themselves recently.

PJ probably happy enough that he will have a full squad to work with.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2293 - 10/11/2024 15:06:23    2579101

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Shocking display, in reality I think everyone in Galway know where the standard is... hate to see or say but it's time for a rebuild.. Gary Sice looked every bit 40 years old today and it's time to step away, lundy and the farragher lads as well..
Bring in plenty of the U 19 winning lads and rebuild..
Pearses we're excellent in fairness and will take some stopping.

Belclare7 (Galway) - Posts: 118 - 10/11/2024 16:10:35    2579109

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Brigids and Pearses simply better than what Corofin have faced in Galway the last two years. Apart from a purple patch in the 2nd half Corofin was very much 2nd best though I thought Kieran Molloy; Patrick Egan had good game. Gary Sice at 40 years young remains one of the best Galway club forwards but for the 2nd year in a row he has or wasn't allowed to bring that Galway club form into the Connacht championship.

Drax_the_destroyer (UK) - Posts: 252 - 10/11/2024 18:11:35    2579122

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Replying To systematic:  "Who is this General consensus talking rubbish about the standard? Look at it objectively:
2017-19: Corofin 3 in a row AI
2020: cancelled
2021: MM beaten by Padraig pearses in csf who were beaten in aisf
2022: Moycullen beaten in aisf
2023: Corofin beaten by Brigid's in cf, who got to aif.

So really Mr general consensus is talking brown as 2023 no real difference from 21 or 22."
Mr General Consensus might have been right this time systematic.

I think the standard from the bottom up has improved greatly in Galway but apart from Corofin the rest of the top teams have gone back significantly.

This is a decent Corofin team but that's all.

Green&Gold2013 (Galway) - Posts: 14 - 10/11/2024 19:06:33    2579126

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Second year in a row that Corofin have given a pretty poor performance in Connacht. Still way off their old level. Probably fortunate that their main competitors in Galway have all gone backwards themselves recently.

PJ probably happy enough that he will have a full squad to work with.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2293 - 10/11/2024 19:13:17    2579128

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Not sure if pj be picking 2 many Corofin lads it shows how poor club football at senior level in Galway is when u consider Corofin hammerd salthill who prob have 6-8 on county extended squad and Moycullen had prib 10 who have being on various Galway squads in last 3 years maybe if management actually start looking at other clubs in both senior and intermediate they might find bette players but unfortunately in Galway If u don't play senior ur chances are very limited and definitely if u didn't play undrr 16 minor or under 20 no hope at all tome to change things I think

Kickitout (Galway) - Posts: 956 - 10/11/2024 19:16:48    2579129

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Replying To Marooned:  "Second year in a row that Corofin have given a pretty poor performance in Connacht. Still way off their old level. Probably fortunate that their main competitors in Galway have all gone backwards themselves recently.

PJ probably happy enough that he will have a full squad to work with."
Hard for players like McHugh and Liam Silke too, to be perpetually hungry for 'allireland runs' 12 months of the year, every year.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3882 - 10/11/2024 21:07:44    2579147

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Replying To Kickitout:  "Not sure if pj be picking 2 many Corofin lads it shows how poor club football at senior level in Galway is when u consider Corofin hammerd salthill who prob have 6-8 on county extended squad and Moycullen had prib 10 who have being on various Galway squads in last 3 years maybe if management actually start looking at other clubs in both senior and intermediate they might find bette players but unfortunately in Galway If u don't play senior ur chances are very limited and definitely if u didn't play undrr 16 minor or under 20 no hope at all tome to change things I think"
Give us an example of the players that you would bring in so if you were Galway manager?

Fox.1n.7he.b0x (Galway) - Posts: 134 - 10/11/2024 22:26:04    2579155

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Replying To Fox.1n.7he.b0x:  "Give us an example of the players that you would bring in so if you were Galway manager?"
Yes put your money where your mouth is. We have won 3 connachts in a row and made 2 AI finals with this selection

You did exclude that 2 of the SK players you listed won all stars this year or do you think DOF or Sweeney shouldn't he in panel?

Fair enough tomo has yet to hit heights at IC level yet.

Gleeson was selected as GK having never played senior football

Niall daly constantly picked on panel playing intermediate

The two young lads from spideal and MB brought in this year.

There are 240 players every week starting senior championship games every round so who has pj missed out on outside of senior??

jm25 (Galway) - Posts: 1291 - 11/11/2024 11:43:47    2579205

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