TheFullBack

Top post my friend.

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 17/11/2015 16:03:51    1808001

Well Cunningham certainly laid into those players with that statement.Will the players respond I wonder? I believe they have to because as it stands they are being portrayed as a bunch of bottlers who are willing to blame anyone but themselves for their shortcomings.
Watch this space.

Condorman the sad fact of the matter is that they are bottlers, and always have been. Yes Anthony Cunningham may not have been the greatest tactician in the history of the game, but where did all of the senior players disappear to in the second half of the All Ireland final when the game was clearly drifting away from the. Not one of them stood up to be counted, the were like rabbits caught in headlights, and they didn't know what do to, although it has to be said there was also little or no leadership coming from the sideline. I have maintained all year that this Galway team would beat most teams including Kilkenny in a free flowing game, but when a great team like Kilkenny puts the squeeze on, Galway capitulate like they always do. There are no winners in this sorry saga, an honourable decent man who has given his all for this team has been forced to walk by players who are blaming others for their own failings, yet another sad day in the sorry sage that is Galway hurling.

gilly0512 (Galway) - Posts: 1176 - 17/11/2015 16:39:09    1808012

If virtually all the payers on the panel do not want you as manager then your time is up and you should go irrespective of who appointed you. After all most county boards are made up of guys who know very little about the 'heat of battle' to coin a phrase. The guys representing clubs sometimes are not much better as most of them like county boards folk are administrator. Galway do have the players judging by the amount of underage that they have won. When you have good players a good manager makes a huge difference and he makes a significant difference even with average players. Cunningham did well to get to 2 AI's, however I have no doubt that if the likes of Cody was in charge Galway would have a few. The problem being that there isn't many Cody's around.

browncows (Meath) - Posts: 2342 - 17/11/2015 16:48:13    1808016

It wasn't Cunningham who collapsed in the second half, the same players who were flying for 35 mins simply didn't have the belief, when it came to the crunch, that they could beat Kilkenny. Look at Cork, they haven't really recovered from their strike. We in Antrim know only too well how splits and different camps poison the atmosphere.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9702 - 17/11/2015 18:32:35    1808041

I'm not so sure Cody as manager of those Galway players would necessarily win titles. The whole culture in Galway is very different to that in Kilkenny and that has as much to do with success as the manager. Cunnngham had a difficult enough task to control the players and keep them happy. In addition he had the GPA barking in the background. Even the great Brian Cody would find that a struggle.

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 17/11/2015 18:37:42    1808043

Lads the Cork comparisons are erroneous. Firstly, Cork won two AI's after their first strike.

The last strike left a lot of bitterness in the county and in my view 90% of that was generated by the County Board (like Cunningham and GCB) trying to do the impossible and foist a manager on the players. But whoever you blame for the strike and the bitter after taste, those are not the main reasons for Cork's subsequent failure on the pitch. We fail because we don't have as many great players as we used to have. And we don't have those players because (many of ) the same County board have utterly failed, and continue to fail, to provide coaching resources in the county.

I think the Galway players have made a mistake in ousting Cunningham. However, I think GCB and Cunningham have made a far more costly error by seeking to impose their imagined authority over a group of volunteers. You cannot command volunteers without their consent. In other news - the sky is blue.

Culchie (Cork) - Posts: 799 - 17/11/2015 18:52:05    1808052

Can anyone tell me what exactly the GPA's input into this was?

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 17/11/2015 19:05:19    1808055

Well thankfully it didn't come to a strike in Galway, let alone three! Always comforting to have experienced posters on here advising, and otherwise, Galway folk on what to do. I guess though we can't deny that some have plenty of experience in the past to share with the rest of us.

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 17/11/2015 19:26:11    1808062

Galway hurlers and Mayo footballers will more than likely get what they deserve in the years ahead. For the players of both camps to use management as a scapegoat for their own short comings is ridiculous.

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3347 - 17/11/2015 19:50:13    1808077

This whole episode started when two players considered not good enough for the starting 15 got the support of 3 other senior players. Anthony Cunningham was right to dig in and perfectly right to call it as it is .
Other players were seriously misguided to row in behind these two players.

The ironic thing is that the new management will have no option but to root out these players.

The Galway players lack dignity and will never have what Anthony Cunningham has including an All-Ireland medal nevermind a pair of medals.

tasman (Roscommon) - Posts: 23 - 17/11/2015 19:56:29    1808083

As an outsider looking at Cunningham for the last few year's I have to say I wasn't impressed by him on the line, he doesn't have a presence like Cody or Davy or Loughnane or O'Grady or Sheedy-these managers would stand up for their team and fight for every ball with them, it looked sometimes as if he was getting bullied on the line and then became narky and childish with the ref and the opposition-even his statement has that feel to it. People have mention his failure to curb Callanan v Tipp but what about not bringing Canning out the field in the 2nd half of the AI -he was on fire in the first half-at the end of the day decent man and all as he is if the Galway players thought they were going to win an AI with him I'm sure they would have looked for him to stay

updwell (Limerick) - Posts: 817 - 17/11/2015 20:17:01    1808091

TheFullback,

A misleading post from you I have to say.AC was manager for 4 years, wee got to the final in 2 of them so 2 out of 4 not 2 out of 3 as you say.the other 2 seasons i.e. 2013 & 2014 we were poor, very poor in 2013 when an All ireland was there to be won.You can't praise the guy for getting us to 2 finals and absolve him of all blame in the two seasons when we were not at the races.
We made no impression on the league under AC.Even McIntyre won a league! This year after the debacle in Walsh Park our players had a meeting and as I understand voted no confidence in Cunningham 27-3 which is a massive majority.They made him aware of this and it was decided that it was too late in the year for a change of manager.The subsequent run to the All Ireland final had more to do with the players than AC.
The point is they had decided back in April that they had no confidence in him so there is no question of them blaming him for the All Ireland defeat.He knew the score yet he allowed the CB ratify him for another year .The question has to be asked what was he thinking?
He should have gone gracefully after the All Ireland final in my opinion.By hanging on in the way he did he has exacerbated the problem, his incendiary 'statement' has not helped either.
He had 4 years and it didn't work out.He had lost the players in that time.He had to go.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 17/11/2015 20:18:53    1808093

"He lost the players" wow! Is that what you call them? Bottlers what I call them!

Awwwwnow (Cavan) - Posts: 1050 - 17/11/2015 20:53:52    1808106

Culchie, the third Cork strike was different from the other two because it because it was called simply to get rid of Gerald McCarthy. It was a personal spiteful strike. There is no doubt that the actions of the county board generated it, but the players went on strike because the fault was mainly their own in trusting the county board. The players must take their share of the blame for that.

Midleton (Cork) - Posts: 643 - 17/11/2015 21:01:26    1808108

Fact is none of us were inside that camp and know what was going on or what the issues were.
Players are giving up their lives to play GAA and want to have everything 100% for the chance to win an All Ireland. Rightly or wrongly the manager is the one that takes the fall. I just think people are being overly critical on the Galway players. Anthony C appears to be a good man but I don't think going on the news was a wise move. If there are issues in the camp then do you trud along and go with the flow or stand up and make a change?
I wish Galway all the best and hope they prove everyone wrong next year. Anthony may get a chance with another team and hopefully he does.

yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11232 - 18/11/2015 08:05:06    1808111

I wish Galway all the best and hope they prove everyone wrong next year. Anthony may get a chance with another team and hopefully he does.

How many inter-county Managers come back from a player heave to manage/coach again at Inter County level?

Justin McCarthy tried with Limerick after Waterford, had the same problems, nothing of note since
Gerald McCarthy has not managed inter county since Cork
I don't think John Meyler has managed at the same level he was with Wexford in 08/09
Babs Keating hasn't managed a county side since Tipp in 2007

Cunningham is younger than the above mentioned players, but the facts are a Manager doesn't come back from this, the players get a second chance.

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 18/11/2015 08:32:49    1808123

Posters seem to forget that A.C has had 4 years to deliver. In Premier league football terms that is an eternity. No one is bigger than the team. The collapse in the second half against KK, this year and in 2012 demand an explanation!!!!. Ok it is tough on Mr Cunningham, but he had 2 chances to win. The players and fans gave their all- it was lost on the sideline, not the pitch. The question is who will take over?
Here are some names:
Anthony Daly
Eamon O Shea,
M.Kenny
Ollie Canning

galwayford (Galway) - Posts: 2519 - 18/11/2015 09:36:32    1808149

sad to see Ac go out this way, a galway hurling stalwart who gave every thing as a player and manager - must leave a very bitter taste in his mouth when he sits back and thinks about his treatment versus his service

McFan88 (Limerick) - Posts: 447 - 18/11/2015 10:24:12    1808174

It is patently idiotic to say that the '12 & '15 all-Irelands were 'lost on the sideline' and not on the pitch, galwayford. What about the other 9 that KK won since and including 2000, where were they won? Why can't we accept that our hurlers are not as good as KK's hurlers, until they prove otherwise? There a big 11-nil all-Ireland score between KK & Galway since 2000, and yet you see this continual drivel from some Galway fans about matches against KK being 'lost on the line'.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 3423 - 18/11/2015 10:37:05    1808178

The collapse in 2012 and 2015 - how did that happen posters are asking! Let me see now - oh yeah, on both occasions there was another team involved and that happened to be Kilkenny, on both occasions! Just maybe, maybe, Kilkenny had something to do with it! Galway out-worked Tipp in the semi and just about got over the line. They were never going to out-work Kilkenny over seventy minutes. They did for perhaps 20 minutes but that doesn't win titles.

westisthebest (Galway) - Posts: 444 - 18/11/2015 10:39:46    1808180