Connacht Football/ Leinster Hurl Championship 2012

Wasn't to be, pretty comprehensively beaten in the end. KK learned more from the last day and Galway failed to adjust their tactics. Gifting KK 1-1 straight after the early 2 goals really killed any Galway momentum dead. Some soft scores such as the one Tony Regan was waiting to come to him and the score where Tannian was hooked. In all fairness though like KK in the first game we were lucky to still be in contention at ht.

Were hard done by with the Donnellan goal with inconsistency from the ref and if Cannings shot had crept inside the post we'd have been level with the momentum behind us but KK countered and got a point and from the next puck out Donnellan was sent off. After that it was a procession for KK.

Even if the breaks had gone our way, Galway weren't at the same intensity today and KK were reinvigorated with Cody's changes working well. Overall much as it galls me the better team by far on the day won. It hurts this evening. Galway are a young team but aren't there yet. Need to find some new talent but the guts of a decent team is there. Still with KK going for their ten millionth all ireland and Tipp, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Dublin all likely to be stronger next year it won't be easy to get back to this stage but Galway have to take the positives from the year, find a few new players and a better plan B and try and find their way back in 2013.

Too many basic errors today but hopefully the experience of this campaign will stand to the Galway team and things look a lot brighter this evening that 14/15 months ago walking out of Tullamore & Thurles being hammered by average Dublin and Waterford sides.

Big Galway support today, lets hope to see at least a portion of them back following the team for the start of the league. Sad to see genuine supporters losing out on tickets to some less deserving people which is something that may need to be looked at if we're fortunate enough to get back to that stage again.

i see a galway hurling panel member flogged his leinster shc medal for 570 euro on ebay this orning lol.

jarlath cloonan of the galway hurling board descrbed it as regrettable and stated matter would be investigated.
guess it shows what a leinster medal means to a connacht man!

Don't know who did that but it is not good! Regrettable should be replaced with shameful. Any medal won with your county is to be kept and revered

Eamonn o hara has annouced his retirement from sligo football. Great player and servant. He helped put sligo football on the modern map. At least he won a connacht and should of hsd 2!
Best of luck in future eamonn.

On another note, WILL GALWAY BATE MAYO?

rossie wrote:
On another note, WILL GALWAY BATE MAYO?

The short answer is a definite NO!

U21 success a few weeks ago gives hope for the future for Galway. 2 or 3 years down the line I think Galway will be competitive again but at the moment the senior team is a bit of a running joke. Might win a game in the qualifers this year if the draw is handy (they have to win one at some stage!!)

Mayo's shortcomings were once again highlighted in the league semi-final against Dublin but there is no team in Connacht good enough to exploit Mayo's weaknesses. Mayo will walk back to Croke Park on the August bank holiday weekend and some time between there and the end of September it will all end in tears again unfortunately.

Mayo fans will be hugely in the majority next Sunday and anything less than a 6+ points win for Mayo would be hugely surprising imo.

lol in that vein the worst moment for a sligo supporter is when they go ahead and then suddenly lose the head and don't know how to deal with the situation. Then they lose. Have seen connacht react that way too before. Crossing codes yet again barraclough has managed to get that attitude out of sligo rovers. /multisport hijack.

I think that Galway will win ! They might not win an all Ireland but they are still my county team and deserve support.

Hanley is missing I hear but Mayo have a few injuries too. Good luck to both teams, I hope that a team from Connacht goes all the way to Croker in September.

Ive been told by football fanatics that galway almost never lose to mayo in salthill and that mayo hate playing there. On that basis im going to go for galway. It is the championship afterall and tradition still counts in the championship proper.

As I said Galway are a running joke. Just didn't realise they would perform that bad. Some of the Galway play was absolutely comical.

Big win is the worst thing that could happen to Mayo. Hype will go into overdrive when in reality there is still major problems in their team but they did what they needed to do today.

It was over in the first half and then galway guaranteed they had no chance with two red cards. I had no idea they would be so poor.

just seen a piece on sky sports news about london in the connacht final, the child inside me found it very very funny.

COME ON LONDON



as for galway vs armagh, i fear very very badly for the body

I'm pretty excited about the Mayo London game in a car crash way, I don't mind how the score ends up I hope it will be entertaining though. The odds for London are pretty ridiculous but everyone loves the auld fairy tale under dog tale.

What do you gal way folk make of Mayo now!?

You have to hand it to James Horan, he has this group tuned in and they have really adapted to the modern game. They are no longer the soft touch they once were.

However, some of the nonsense that has been written and spoken about since yesterday is totally out of touch with reality. One of the best performances ever seen in Croke Park being one of the more grounded statements I've heard!!!

Bottom line was Mayo started superbly and after the 2nd goal the game was over. Donegal were dead on their feet and had the bags packed for home a long time before the final whistle. The signs were there regarding Donegal in recent times. Struggled past Down and took 31 minutes to score a point against an average side like Monaghan who really should have that game put to bed long before they did. The first goal told you all you needed to know about how far Donegal's intensity levels have dropped this year

Key areas of weakness for Mayo weren't tested and while they came up with 13 different scorers or something like that you'd question how many of these lads would come up with the scores when the chips are down.

Having said that they look to have the right mindset and ruthlessness this year. They have done all that can be asked of them to date and I think they will take Tyrone too but I'd still fancy the Dubs to win it out, they seem to be moving through the gears without hitting top form. Although Mayo beat the Dubs last year the Dubs are much more focused in 2013. Strangely I think Mayo may have the edge over Kerry at this stage if they were to meet in the final. Beating Kerry is a massive psychological bridge to cross for the dubs.

Well said, Mayo look very good but how any commentator could say they had been given a proper test by that game is beyond me, would anyone say the same about the Galway game, no, but they were almost the same scoreline. I think a lot of people felt Mayo might be in trouble against Donegal because of a very easy Connacht run, this easy run has just continued tbh, The one thing in their favour is they have been able to keep the intensity high regardless of how poor the opposition might be, that might stand to them.