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Galway Football thread

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Replying To Galwaymaster9:  "Entertaining game, nice crowd on a bitterly cold afternoon.
Leitrim were good in the first half, defensively strong and punishing Galway with 3 two pointers off the Leitrim goalkeepers boot.
Much better in the second half.

Stand out players?
Thompson absolutely class, what a player we will have back for the major part of championship.
Shane Mc Grath was excellent when introduced, the rest were good but I suppose it is a development team.."
Lol yeah fair play at beating leitrim out the gate in fbd in January fair play to ye ! Ha

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 623 - 10/01/2026 16:49:00    2650567

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Replying To Galwaymaster9:  "Entertaining game, nice crowd on a bitterly cold afternoon.
Leitrim were good in the first half, defensively strong and punishing Galway with 3 two pointers off the Leitrim goalkeepers boot.
Much better in the second half.

Stand out players?
Thompson absolutely class, what a player we will have back for the major part of championship.
Shane Mc Grath was excellent when introduced, the rest were good but I suppose it is a development team.."
Cogger was impressive again. Scan was saying 54 lads are involved over all, I would say 10 + of these lads have 1-2 weeks left to impress until it's filtered down. Hernon looks way off the pace, Molloy struggled first half but came into it.

An experimental starting team i would like to see against Mayo in Rd1 of league based on what has been seen, also considering current injuries, availability and players not yet confirmed to return for league.

Gleeson
Johnny McGrath, Sean Fitz, Jack Glynn
McHugh, Kelly, Cogger
McDaid, Roche
Shane McGrath, Matt Tierney, Ciaran Mulhern
Rob Finnerty, *Fionn McDonagh, Colm Costello

*Or Jack Mullen, depending on Injury

Subs:
Conor Flah
Maughan
Molloy
Hernon
Folan
Jack O'Neill
O Flaherty
Mcglinchy
O Curraoin
Mulryan
Naughton.
Shane Walsh ( 2nd Half Impact )

WonTon5 (Galway) - Posts: 104 - 10/01/2026 16:56:49    2650569

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How did Naughton get on? I see he got 0-2 in the first half but was taken off at half-time. probably more space available in the second half once Leitrim started tiring.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2460 - 10/01/2026 17:12:11    2650572

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Replying To WonTon5:  "Cogger was impressive again. Scan was saying 54 lads are involved over all, I would say 10 + of these lads have 1-2 weeks left to impress until it's filtered down. Hernon looks way off the pace, Molloy struggled first half but came into it.

An experimental starting team i would like to see against Mayo in Rd1 of league based on what has been seen, also considering current injuries, availability and players not yet confirmed to return for league.

Gleeson
Johnny McGrath, Sean Fitz, Jack Glynn
McHugh, Kelly, Cogger
McDaid, Roche
Shane McGrath, Matt Tierney, Ciaran Mulhern
Rob Finnerty, *Fionn McDonagh, Colm Costello

*Or Jack Mullen, depending on Injury

Subs:
Conor Flah
Maughan
Molloy
Hernon
Folan
Jack O'Neill
O Flaherty
Mcglinchy
O Curraoin
Mulryan
Naughton.
Shane Walsh ( 2nd Half Impact )"
I think we'll see a stronger team Vs Mayo. Losing a first or second match in the league leaves you under big pressure to keep fielding strong teams to get points to survive. Joyce too likes beating Mayo and probably won't want them turning things around too much ahead of what could be another meeting in a Connacht final. Though if he names too many players from last year's championship team I'll be a bit disheartened too, hopefully he'll give players a proper chance to prove themselves in a quite strong Galway team each week.

jam83 (Galway) - Posts: 215 - 10/01/2026 17:13:13    2650573

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Replying To WonTon5:  "Reports are saying Matthew Thompson had the longest kick at the Leader NFL kicking trials in December out of 100 kickers.... A man of many talents."
Longest kicker might win you the silverware in the Cooley mountains, but it won't win you an NFL job, unless you bring supreme accuracy and ice cold execution along with it. We hadn't a freekicker to win Sam Maguire at the 2024 final, let alone the superbowl.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4507 - 10/01/2026 17:46:20    2650576

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Replying To S1234:  "Lol yeah fair play at beating leitrim out the gate in fbd in January fair play to ye ! Ha"
Would you stop with the negativity.

Alwaysencourage (Galway) - Posts: 559 - 10/01/2026 17:50:40    2650578

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Replying To Alwaysencourage:  "Would you stop with the negativity."
Lol

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 623 - 10/01/2026 23:03:54    2650621

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Does anyone know if Shane king will rejoin monivea abbey this year ? Fell out with bunt but with bunt gone to headford it'd be great to see him back amongst the fraying

caltra04 (Galway) - Posts: 29 - 11/01/2026 02:43:25    2650628

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Replying To Pope_Benedict:  "Longest kicker might win you the silverware in the Cooley mountains, but it won't win you an NFL job, unless you bring supreme accuracy and ice cold execution along with it. We hadn't a freekicker to win Sam Maguire at the 2024 final, let alone the superbowl."
Who's saying anything about an NFL contract or winning superbowls?no one is claiming raw distance alone wins anything. My point is simply that the lad clearly has a serious boot, alongside his other strengths, and that's something we should be looking to use on his return. Gleeson took the bulk of our long range placed balls for parts of last season and being generous, was only converting around we will say 30-40%, while Shane Walsh and Matty Tierney are alternative options but aren't always available. With the 2 pointers, that level of return just isn't good enough from a kicker, you're talking 0.6-0.8 points per attempt when the target should be closer to 75%, or 1.5 points per kick per 2 point effort. Thompson popping one over from the ground with relative ease yesterday is a strong indicator of natural range and accuracy, and the fact he's a natural lefty only improves the angles making him a logical option to raise our placed ball efficiency. Look at Killian Gaffey kicking 3 orange flags for Leitrim yesterday in the first half alone from placed balls. From open play we may be one of the best in the country at exploiting 2 point rule, but from the placed ball, our averages needed to improve if we have any chance of beating the top 3-4 teams.

WonTon5 (Galway) - Posts: 104 - 11/01/2026 14:25:44    2650649

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So it's Galway v Mayo for the next two weekends..

I'd be hoping we continue to play the development lads next weekend and go stronger the week after.
Mayo went nearly full strenght today starting 10 regulars in what was a pointless challenge v Roscommon.

They kicked a few two pointers from young newcomers like Ryan O Donoghue and Jack Carney and Tommy Conroy.
Had another young lad full forward Aiden o Shea I think was his name..
They must be strong favourites for the FBD title now

Galwaymaster9 (Galway) - Posts: 456 - 11/01/2026 14:56:32    2650651

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Andy Moran must be looking for an early cup in the locker. That's a very strong side he picked for an FBD game. Presume he'll do the same next week. I imagine we won't be going that strong anyway. Good few players not even available anyway.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2460 - 11/01/2026 15:06:04    2650655

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Replying To Galwaymaster9:  "So it's Galway v Mayo for the next two weekends..

I'd be hoping we continue to play the development lads next weekend and go stronger the week after.
Mayo went nearly full strenght today starting 10 regulars in what was a pointless challenge v Roscommon.

They kicked a few two pointers from young newcomers like Ryan O Donoghue and Jack Carney and Tommy Conroy.
Had another young lad full forward Aiden o Shea I think was his name..
They must be strong favourites for the FBD title now"
Nah it's Galways to loose and your favourites for that and connacht and ya know it !

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 623 - 11/01/2026 15:23:52    2650660

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Any reasons why Dara Walsh or Casey O Ceallaigh has not been involved in the FBD, injured or just not invited in?

WonTon5 (Galway) - Posts: 104 - 11/01/2026 15:51:23    2650665

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Replying To Galwaymaster9:  "So it's Galway v Mayo for the next two weekends..

I'd be hoping we continue to play the development lads next weekend and go stronger the week after.
Mayo went nearly full strenght today starting 10 regulars in what was a pointless challenge v Roscommon.

They kicked a few two pointers from young newcomers like Ryan O Donoghue and Jack Carney and Tommy Conroy.
Had another young lad full forward Aiden o Shea I think was his name..
They must be strong favourites for the FBD title now"
Did you see the line up for Mayo today? Almost a championship outfit! I mean good luck to them and Andy if they believe the FBD is all about winning it - fair play lads but what will it prove doing it with 60-70% championship starters? Galway should keep going the way we are and experiment away for FBD, that's what it's for.

togoutlads (Galway) - Posts: 1112 - 11/01/2026 19:16:20    2650692

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Replying To togoutlads:  "Did you see the line up for Mayo today? Almost a championship outfit! I mean good luck to them and Andy if they believe the FBD is all about winning it - fair play lads but what will it prove doing it with 60-70% championship starters? Galway should keep going the way we are and experiment away for FBD, that's what it's for."
Hard to see them making any significant progress unless they find a few more. Moran will give them a bit of a lift but you would think they won't go much further than last year with nearly all of same lads bar the return of CoC and Hennnelly.

Trucker1 (Galway) - Posts: 461 - 11/01/2026 20:06:50    2650704

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Replying To togoutlads:  "Did you see the line up for Mayo today? Almost a championship outfit! I mean good luck to them and Andy if they believe the FBD is all about winning it - fair play lads but what will it prove doing it with 60-70% championship starters? Galway should keep going the way we are and experiment away for FBD, that's what it's for."
Their first two subs today were bringing on
stephen Coen and Jack Carney...

If Beirne, lydon etc don't break through this year they'll be back relying on Cillian and Aiden

Galwaymaster9 (Galway) - Posts: 456 - 11/01/2026 20:17:36    2650705

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Replying To Trucker1:  "Hard to see them making any significant progress unless they find a few more. Moran will give them a bit of a lift but you would think they won't go much further than last year with nearly all of same lads bar the return of CoC and Hennnelly."
Lol

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 623 - 11/01/2026 21:01:40    2650710

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Replying To Trucker1:  "Hard to see them making any significant progress unless they find a few more. Moran will give them a bit of a lift but you would think they won't go much further than last year with nearly all of same lads bar the return of CoC and Hennnelly."
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.

GreenandRed (Mayo) - Posts: 8417 - 11/01/2026 21:31:42    2650716

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Replying To Trucker1:  "Hard to see them making any significant progress unless they find a few more. Moran will give them a bit of a lift but you would think they won't go much further than last year with nearly all of same lads bar the return of CoC and Hennnelly."
Sure yeah it's Galway for sam.....

S1234 (Mayo) - Posts: 623 - 11/01/2026 21:46:43    2650718

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