In regard to people stating we in Galway are coming down too hard on the players, I think that is completely unwarranted. When we consider, and I again stress that nothing is concrete yet in terms of the events that actually unfolded, that this originally originated from a small faction of guys in the panel, mostly believed to be the older cohort expressing a dislike for the previous management.

I in fact believe this to be true. If the "secret ballot" in which 22 players voted in favor of a change is correct then how could a panel where 63% of players are disgruntled and have no faith in their manager not alone lead the All-Ireland 10 minutes into the second half but actually get their in the first place? Lets face the obvious Galway played savage hurling this year. That would not be possible if the majority of the squad were unhappy. So to me the idea of the majority of lads being upset throughout the season is hard to believe.

This current panel is full of very talented young guys and to think they could have twisted into voting no in the name of the "panel" is terrible. Particularly when earlier reports suggested the younger players were not part of the initial rebel group. It is now circulating in Galway that if Anthony had been ratified with a vote on Monday night at a county board meeting the players may have gone on strike. This vote never happened as Anthony resigned beforehand but many delegates believe the floor would have voted in favor of him. You either you want to play for your county or you don't, who gives anyone the right to go on strike or even threaten such an act. We have young guys full of enthusiasm and proven at this level happy and willing for next season but instead they are wrapped up in this mess. Sad.

Again I want to say that all this is heresy and speculation about what actually happened. I am only picking out one line of thought in this post.

TheFullBack (Galway) - Posts: 110 - 19/11/2015 14:26:51    1808471

Galway players let themselves down big time with the treatment of Cunningham.. It wasn't Cunningham who missed a free 40 yards out straight in front of the goal when the game was in the balance, he had them set up to win an Ireland and the players bottled it..

Galway players have a lot to answer for when they step out on the field next year, this fiasco will be thrown in their face if they don't win an All Ireland.. Can't see them having too much neutral support, I for one hope themselves and Mayo don't win a match after how they handled themselves.

begining (UK) - Posts: 300 - 19/11/2015 14:34:41    1808472

There is no excuse for the 8 forward/midfield players scoring a paltry 1 point from play in the most important 38 minutes of the year.In an age when players have never been as fit.When the sliotar is so light it travels a mile.When Galway put up cricket scores v Dublin and Cork,and deservedly beat Tipp in a rip-roaring semi final hundinger.One miserable point from play in 38 minutes???A total collapse!

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/11/2015 14:39:27    1808476

Tipp didn't collapse John.Thats my point re Galway.Tipp fought to the death and racked up a huge score from play v Kilkenny.Galway gave up without a whimper.That is inexcusable.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/11/2015 14:43:59    1808478

There is fierce pressure on them cuederockt I think it is down to the county board people think Cody is the man in Kilkenny to keep men in toe Ned Quinn keeps a lot of things at bay.

johnwhite12 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 306 - 19/11/2015 15:56:24    1808517

The world and its mother has decided that the Galway players are ****** for what they have done.

The players met and went to a senior member of the County Board with their grievances before a county board meeting. The member along with more senior members decided to bring forward motions to ratify county management teams and when one was asked from floor whether there were any problems between players and management he said(the chap that players had gone to) that there was none. A number of senior county board members went into this with backpacks of petrol and led the fight a haystack.

The players have not come out and made their grievances public, a list of which was made to the aforementioned county board member, the county board, the mediator and everyone else involved, but have had scurrilous accusations made against them, including certain senior members leading the heave when they were some of the ones supporting previous management.

The previous management have come out of this situation wearing halos for most of the national press, but they seem to have ignored all that has actually happened. The county board are the ones that brought the grievances of the players with management to the boiling point by completely disregarding their concerns and deciding that the management must stay and the players could do one. The players backed into a corner had no choice where they could go and the behaviour of the management team towards two of the the panel in the few months previous led to irreconcilable differences. Cunningham, together with a number of County Board members, made their bed, shouted how good the bed was, and are now trying to cover themselves.

A horrible situation that was led out of control by the county board, a situation that possibly could have ended up with Cunningham in charge next year but for the total mismanagement of of a "prospective GAA president" and his minions. A whole load of people, players and management, have been left in a position with they can't win.

A ******* mess, but not the players fault (who still, though getting some serious abuse in the papers, have not come out swinging but for how much longer probably is in the CB hands).

SamnLiam (Galway) - Posts: 8 - 19/11/2015 16:22:28    1808524

The Galway Players are getting a lot of stick both on here and on the national media because of this mishandled debacle. Rightly or wrongly is a matter of opinion for us all I suppose, what interests me now is how it will be dealt with by the new management (when announced) and the players themselves in the up coming season.

All things being equal the weight of public opinion seems to be against the players actions with some rumblings in the back-round towards AC re player handling and training tactics. In my opinion the county board have a hell of a lot to answer for and in true county board style they are sitting back and letting this fester after arguably if not causing the open sore certainly didn't administer first aid when initally approached.

Anyway moving forward I think we can all agree that there is some little ingredient missing from the mixing bowl, because it beggars belief that you can have a team come out and entertain the hurling fans across the Island of Ireland with some terrific displays keeping home fans happy with some well earned wins and then it all goes Pete Tong and we witness the 2nd half of the 2015 AI final. No disrespect to the Cats, they did what they had to do, but if you didn't know better you would think that Galway went out to lose that final!
Galway have been consistent in their inconsistency, which doesn't reflect the AI club championship I might add.

As a Galway man I would have to say we have always enjoyed good cross county support, a lot of ye seem to like us out there. This tryst might have a bearing on things and I would say to those of you who have withdrawn your support on here for our hurlers, thanks for your honesty and see ye at the races.

mactomac (UK) - Posts: 37 - 19/11/2015 17:30:42    1808546

Cuederocket,

Did Tipp collapse in 2012 when the Cats hammered them by 18 points? Explain that one please.I don't recall seeing Kilkenny or anyone else beat Galway by 18 points in a championship game yet no one is calling Tipp bottlers etc etc.
Kilkenny have dished out hidings to everyone since Cody took over and I don't recall anyone causing them more trouble than Galway in that time.Less of the bottler talk please.

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 19/11/2015 20:47:44    1808593

Tis a heresy alright, The Fullback. Btw a vote of 26 to 6 means that over 81% of the players were dissatisfied with the manager and not 63%. Cuederocket, I fully agree with you that the Galway players performances in the 2nd half of the All Ireland final was pretty pathetic. There were no leaders on the field.We had no one to take the game by the scruff of the neck in a manner similar to the way Shefflin did it in 2012. Our players did not seem capable of taking decisions on the field and when they could see the tactics we were using were not working out, no one said "come on let's change things." It was left to an 18 year old (the least experienced player on the field, i.e. Conor Whelan) to show the kind of attitude and leadership that should have come from the more established players.

But if the players have things to answer for in their 2nd half display, so too do the management. Cunningham was completely out-thought and out-manouvered by Cody in that second half. Cody changed Kilkenny's style of play in the 2nd half , he played a Waterford style of hurling, swamped the midfield and half backline and narrowed the play into a confined space. The response that was crying out to be made from Galway was to widen the play , spread out the players and let the wing men hug the sidelines. There needed to be a change in puck out strategy and in ball delivery from the half backs to the forwards. but none of this happened. Instead we played the same tactics in the 2nd half as we did in the first half and carried on as if Kilkenny had made no change to their style or tactics at all. We continued time after time to lob high ball onto their half back line and midfield which is just exactly what Kilkenny were hoping we would do. we played to Kilkenny's strengths in the 2nd half and played the game on their terms. And for this Anthony Cunningham has to take his share of the blame -- and since he was tactically out-thought it more than 50%. If the Galway players display in the 2nd half deserved a 3 or 4 rating out of 10, Cunningham and his management team deserve to be given the same score for their tactical deficiencies too.

PoolSturgeon (Galway) - Posts: 1903 - 19/11/2015 21:02:41    1808601

What bottler talk?I never said that as far as i remember.I said Galway collapsed in second half.Whats your problem with that?Tipp did the same in 2012,helped by Lars crazy following of T Walsh.Are you happy i said Tipp collapsed also?

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 19/11/2015 21:23:23    1808602

Top analysis Pool Sturgeon.

Condorman (Dublin) - Posts: 983 - 20/11/2015 11:38:57    1808662

Yes pool,i would agree with all of your last post.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 20/11/2015 12:13:23    1808675

Pool Sturgeon,

Yes that's what happened on the pitch. It's very difficult to react to Kilkenny's second half tactics from the sideline particularly in a cauldron of 82,000 people. Sure, you can make a switch or a substitution but unless timeouts are introduced in GAA it's hard to rejig your team's style of play. The Galway players could see what was happening as well as anyone in the stadium but continued to play the ball into the areas where Kilkenny were strongest. What Cody does best, he empowers the players to think on their feet. In that second half, Galway were out-fought & out-thought.

keeper7 (Longford) - Posts: 4088 - 20/11/2015 12:18:08    1808679

Exactly keeper.

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 20/11/2015 12:25:15    1808685

The Galway lads have been tough,but fair in their post All Ireland assessment's.Constructive criticism.You have to be honest enough to call it as you see it,and try and evaluate what went wrong so as to improve next year.Galway lads are on the ball!

cuederocket (Dublin) - Posts: 5084 - 20/11/2015 12:52:39    1808691

I don't buy that Keeper7.Tactical changes are made all the time in big games in Croke Park and other stadia with big crowds in attendance.Surely its the job of the manager to manage? Surely Cunningham and his management team would have anticipated some reaction from Cody after the first half? Perhaps Galway's half time break was destroyed by the alleged row in the tunnel or dressing room ? We'll probably never know.
I would suggest that to have any chance of beating Kilkenny in an All Ireland final you must have an entirely unified squad , players and management all pulling together to achieve success.Clearly Galway didn't have that.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 20/11/2015 12:55:07    1808692

Barnowl94

I think you are bringing a lot of good balance to the debate. One question:

Who was the better Manager - Cunningham or John McIntyre?

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 20/11/2015 14:05:16    1808712

When you have a manager that doesn't directly communicate with the players, and you end up in a situation before the semifinal where one member of the mgmt team goes to a defender and tells him you are marking Callinan and this is what you need to do, and then have another member of the same mgmt team go to a different defender and tell him that he is marking Callinan and that this is what he needs to do.....Probably the players fault alright they should never get a jersey again....kangaroo court????God save the king

SamnLiam (Galway) - Posts: 8 - 20/11/2015 15:30:44    1808727

SamnLiam

You are either one of the players or their brother/sister I'd say :-)

Tell us all you know ...............

slayer (Limerick) - Posts: 6480 - 20/11/2015 15:46:49    1808730

Thats a tough question to answer Slayer.McIntyre did win a league and was very unlucky in 09 and 2010 in my opinion.On the debit side our defeat to Waterford in 2011 was one of the worst performances I've ever seen from a Galway team and thats saying something.
Cunningham's high point was the 2012 Leinster final win over KK but there seems to have been a freakish element to that.I'm not sure how much credit he deserves for the performance against Tipp this year in light of what we now know about what was going on.
I'ld rate them about equal.

Barnowl94 (Galway) - Posts: 3150 - 20/11/2015 15:59:56    1808732