Connacht Football/ Leinster Hurl Championship 2012

Seen as the season is over bar (hopefully) a few more signings and the Heineken Draw I thought id start this to keep people interested over the summer.
Sligo got things started with an emphatic win in the big apple but the real stuff starts on the 20th with Roscommon v Galway. Have galway improved? Will mayo be beaten?
Your thoughts gentlemen.

And will the Galway Hurlers achieve anything this summer?

cant wait for the draw for the heino.

i heard the footballers have improved but lets be honest they couldnt get any worse.
i used to love the gaa, didnt play much but the more im getting to love rugby im taking less interest in other sport. cant see galway beating mayo, and any micky mouse team will beat them in the knock outs ie offaly louth meath and any any team from the north.

hurlers... mmmm same thing every year, half desent team but will never win anything as they put there heart and soul into there clubs and care little about county.

also we got the euro's to look forward to but thats to soon to talk about.
oh and also new signings for the mighty leeds utd to make finally with a good manager

Roscommon competed very well in the u21 final, will be a strong force in Connacht for the years to come. Galway are rated 1/2 with some bookies. Wouldn't be betting much on them at that price but would take them to edge out Roscommon. Big game for both sides. Can't see either recovering in the qualifiers if they lose that one.

Mayo are well ahead at the top of the province but Galway v Mayo in Salthill would be an interesting one. Mayo had a decent league but caved in badly against Cork in the league final so it'll be interesting to see how they react.

Hurlers have a favourable draw, should reach the "Leinster" final but mightn't. Miles behind KK but after that there is no standout team unless Tipp up their performance hugely from anything we have seen of late and get the full deck to choose from.

If they can reach the s/f and put in a solid series of performances this year it'll be a decent achievement. Very inexperienced and unbalanced side at this level though.

Anyone any thoughts on Galway v Sligo tomorrow. After a good display against a dissapointing Roscommon side, Galway should have the momentum to come through this one as well but Galway have flattered to deceive in recent years so who knows. I hope Galway can build on the end of the league and the Roscommon result to run out winners with a few points to spare here and set up a Connacht final against Mayo in Salthill to add to all the big events that will be happening in Galway over the next few months.

ya i think it will be a galway win. they had class vs the rossies even if they were piss poor.

what a great weekend for sport. jam packed,
cant wait till they beat mayo

i was at the ross game and biggest cheer of the day was for the introduction of meehan and joyce which says a lot for the game and also for the apparent strength in depth galway have. i dont think bane was even usedon the day which means they have min of 9 forwards to choose from.

Sligo cant match tht imo s reasonably handy win fr galway.

only worry is that bergin, who has struggled over years, looked so good at midfield v rossies.

well well well. galway football seem to be the new galway united.

lost 0-14 to 2-15 to sligo.

now sligo vs mayo/leitrim

hope to god mayo dont win

1

Desperately poor display from Galway. Seemed to think they'd only to turn up to win and played accordingly. Sligo played a good 2nd half and their midfield and full forward line got well on top and they were deserved victors.

Galway have had many a bad day since the 2001 success but this has to rank up amongst the worst.

As with Rossie below the popular perception with Galway is they would have the better forwards but the Sligo full forward line was much more dangerous and economical. Of the team that started, Conroy isn't a full forward nor Burke a centre forward.

Missing real men in the side, the likes of Gary Fahy, Tomas Mannion, Kevin Walsh (who has never been replaced at midfield, Bergin or Higgins certainly aren't and never will be the solution), Michael Donnellan etc.

Still relying on Padraig Joyce to come on and try and rescue the situation. Time to freshen up the team and move on some players who have been around for a number of years and have consistently failed on the big day.

Sligo had a good evening but its hard to see them causing much trouble to Mayo in the final who will be eager to get a bit of momentum before the All-Ireland Quarter Final.

Does anyone give Galway a chance against the cats on sunday?

I think Cunningham is a top coach/manager and they have the forwards to do it but would worry about them at the back. They just havent shown the aggression levels necessary at this level to convince me that they can live with Cats/tipp. That said, Kilk have injuries so theres a small possibility that they could be vulnerable in this one but Galway will have to hit them like they have never hit before physically to have a chance.

Some comeback by Roscommon on sunday to beat a fancied Armagh and then they get Tyrone in next round.At least its at home.Lookin forward to the Cavan/ Kildare game.Those boys in croker have a wicked sense of humour!

Realistically very little, there are some positive signs there and Galway are undoubtedly in a better position than this time last year (changes to local club championship have been a help in getting players regular competitive hurling). Galways hurling looks crisper and done at a bit more pace but Galway were so poor last year and have played such bad teams so far we'll have to see how they stand up to the rigours of a proper championship game.

However having said that, the backline looks very unsettled with players out of position and not really hurling well as a unit. In goals Skehill has the quality to be a top goalie but has made far too many needless errors in the past few seasons.

Midfield did well against Offaly but you'd worry about them against Kilkenny. Forward line looks a lot more dangerous than last year, personnel are certainly stronger in the forward line, still they threw away a lot of handy scores against Offaly which have to be taken Sunday. Canning needs to up his work rate and every free he gets inside the Kilkenny half must go over.

While Galway need to stand up physically when necessary, Kilkenny showed the last day that they won't be knocked off their stride by just that. I expect Galway to play much smarter than Dublins 1 dimensional game plan the last day and try and spread the play up front but it won't be enough.

Im travelling up with pretty much zero hope of a win but I expect Galway to give a good account of themselves and stick with Kilkenny for most of the game. Its a good situation for Galway, KK are unbackable favourites, expectations are low but I'd love to see Galway bring the game into the last 10 minutes as KK haven't been in that position in Championship in a while.

Kilkenny have shown they can blow any team bar maybe Tipp away in 10 minutes and I really hope that doesn't happen Sunday.

Realistically the quarter final will decide Galways season, if Galway can win that, they are in to their first semi-final since 2005 and from there Galway will have nothing to lose.

As for the football I wouldn't be surprised if Galway lost to Antrim. Roscommon are likely to give Tyrone a decent rattle while Mayo should account for Sligo pulling up.

Who would have thought it. Memorable day up in Croke Park. First 30 minutes in particular were a joy to behold. The expectation and the hype will be through the roof again. We've seen Galway fall flat after brilliant performances before but it would be unforgivable if Galway didn't at least qualify for an All-Ireland final now.

First time since 2005 Galway will have been hurling past race week. Great to have something to look forward to.

ya the first 30 mins was unreal. even at half time and into the second half people were tweeting messages me saying how great this was going to beat the cats but i couldn't relax till nearly the final whistle.

semi final now, and we wont be playing kilkenny or the munster champions until the final if we get there.

six teams left

galway
clare
cork
tipp
waterford
kilkenny

swift4prez wrote: ya the first 30 mins was unreal. even at half time and into the second half people were tweeting messages me saying how great this was going to beat the cats but i couldn't relax till nearly the final whistle.

semi final now, and we wont be playing kilkenny or the munster champions until the final if we get there.

six teams left

galway
clare
cork
tipp
waterford
kilkenny

Another low point for Galway football today, blowing a lead in injury time to fall 11-10 to Antrim at Casement Park. Galway football is at a low ebb but this brings it to another level.

Full credit to Leitrim getting their first qualifer win against Wicklow. Massive night for them, well deserved for the committment their county show year in year out.

Limerick into the quarters of the hurling with a fine display against Clare. Looking forward to the draw Monday where the path to the final will be mapped out for the remaining 6 sides. Any of the 6 can at least reach the final if the draw falls right and they perform on any given day so should be an interesting month or so ahead.