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Replying To Gearoid1998ffowaed:  "I was up there last night came on to talk about midfield - what are ye on about? Seán Kelly was unreal. Absolute work horse. The three nearly-certain goal chances he blocked when the defenders lost their men… he just read it, stepped in, and got them out of danger every single time. Proper leader on the pitch too."
What they're on about, based on Drax stats there, is Armagh kicking the ball out 7 less times than Galway, but still winning 11 more kickout possessions than Galway on the night.

Pope_Benedict (Galway) - Posts: 4532 - 01/02/2026 12:25:04    2654279

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Replying To Gearoid1998ffowaed:  "I was up there last night came on to talk about midfield - what are ye on about? Seán Kelly was unreal. Absolute work horse. The three nearly-certain goal chances he blocked when the defenders lost their men… he just read it, stepped in, and got them out of danger every single time. Proper leader on the pitch too."
Yes we are not discounting that - but also have to look at the multiple times he lost his own man resulting in a point for armagh. On balance more pluses than negatives.

systematic (Galway) - Posts: 242 - 01/02/2026 12:29:04    2654280

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Replying To Gearoid1998ffowaed:  "I was up there last night came on to talk about midfield - what are ye on about? Seán Kelly was unreal. Absolute work horse. The three nearly-certain goal chances he blocked when the defenders lost their men… he just read it, stepped in, and got them out of danger every single time. Proper leader on the pitch too."
He played very well in general play as he did in the final 10/15 min in the Mayo match. However, still don't think he is a midfielder or that his best plays were as a midfielder where both Mayo and Armagh got the better of us. One of the puzzles we need to solve is where to play him to get the best out of him, if we can get him playing to the best of his potential he is unreal . I think under the new rules he is possibly too loose for the full back line. McHugh has right half back locked down and I don't think he holds the space well enough to be centre back , I'd like to see him at left half back or move McHugh over to left and try him at right half back, he is lethal coming into the ball

Trucker1 (Galway) - Posts: 466 - 01/02/2026 12:38:44    2654281

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Replying To Trucker1:  "He played very well in general play as he did in the final 10/15 min in the Mayo match. However, still don't think he is a midfielder or that his best plays were as a midfielder where both Mayo and Armagh got the better of us. One of the puzzles we need to solve is where to play him to get the best out of him, if we can get him playing to the best of his potential he is unreal . I think under the new rules he is possibly too loose for the full back line. McHugh has right half back locked down and I don't think he holds the space well enough to be centre back , I'd like to see him at left half back or move McHugh over to left and try him at right half back, he is lethal coming into the ball"
It's because where ever the fire breaks out in this team he seems to be the first or option to quench it, so he was never allowed to develop a one set of plays for a specific facet of play. He initially started as a half forward, I remember him coming on as a sub v Mayo in Castlebar and linking with Burke to set up Heaney for a late goal next up full back then half back and now mid field.It's not surprising that he doesn't feature in MOM discussions, as rectifying defenders errors doesn't lend itself to a more orthordox form of play.

backtooldwall (Galway) - Posts: 212 - 01/02/2026 13:21:35    2654290

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I enjoyed Oisin McDonagh's two shoulders in a row to Armagh men. Sent them flying.

Marooned (Galway) - Posts: 2478 - 01/02/2026 14:21:45    2654296

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It's early days yet with the league but overall good to see green shoots in terms of squad depth and development. I'd still be worried of our kickout "strategy" (if a coherent one exists in all honesty). Hard to know if our openness to runners from deep is a facet of the new rules or just bad tracking from some of our half forwards/midfielders. Big game down in Tralee in 2 weeks time

LárBáire (Galway) - Posts: 70 - 01/02/2026 17:23:13    2654348

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Replying To Trucker1:  "He played very well in general play as he did in the final 10/15 min in the Mayo match. However, still don't think he is a midfielder or that his best plays were as a midfielder where both Mayo and Armagh got the better of us. One of the puzzles we need to solve is where to play him to get the best out of him, if we can get him playing to the best of his potential he is unreal . I think under the new rules he is possibly too loose for the full back line. McHugh has right half back locked down and I don't think he holds the space well enough to be centre back , I'd like to see him at left half back or move McHugh over to left and try him at right half back, he is lethal coming into the ball"
Midfield is the one area Galway need to focus on. We have some big men around the area but not consistent good fielders. Andy Murnin gave an exhibition of the skill yesterday, and imo there's no reason several Galway players shouldn't be able to do the same. I think McGlinchey has this skill in his locker, as does Darcy. O'Laoi has improved a lot, contributes on the scoreboard and hopefully he can stay injury free. It was great to see Tuam and Dunmore represented yesterday and proving so influential.

AnCrúiscínLán (Galway) - Posts: 109 - 01/02/2026 17:59:55    2654364

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Fair play on the result last day, think both teams can be happy with alot of what they seen and bother missing alot of men, both teams will improve, never much between Armagh and Galway over the last 4 years, I'd actually say this was the best Armagh looked against Galway in a long time and can be really happy with the general performance but not the result, think Armagh going forward look very good and in midfield look strong, both teams will be there or there abouts come business end of things,

Liftball (Armagh) - Posts: 45 - 01/02/2026 20:48:21    2654441

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