Fogarty Forum: Would Padraic Joyce have quit if Mayo hadn’t won All-Ireland?

It wasn’t that Joyce wasn’t up for the challenge, but the spectre of Mayo’s win would have followed the team into and through 2027.

TOUGH TO TAKE; Galway manager Padraic Joyce and selector John Concannon celebrate beating Mayo. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

The most successful Galway senior football manager in 22 years steps down less than six weeks after Mayo finally reached the summit. The irony is as lost as Galway’s season.

Four consecutive Connacht titles put all six of Padraic Joyce’s immediate predecessors in the shade. Kevin Walsh brought Galway to two Nestor Cups and had a more favourable championship record against Mayo than his old comrade Joyce – three wins and two defeats to Joyce’s three and three.