Paul Rouse: Joyce has chance to turn the tide of Galway’s recent football history
MAN OF THE WEST: Galway manager Padraic Joyce. Picture: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Let’s start with a statement of the blindingly obvious: it is exceptionally hard to win an All-Ireland.
This is a truth which repeats itself year after year, when excellent teams full of brilliant players fall short of the ultimate goal despite making enormous life-filling sacrifices.
It is also very hard to win even a league title, at any grade. Or indeed any final in Croke Park. And there is no point in pretending that failure does not leave a mark.
This is something that Padraic Joyce addressed head-on in an interview after losing last Sunday’s league final to Mayo. Conscious that another final had been lost, having previously lost last year’s All-Ireland final to Kerry and Division Two league final to Roscommon, Joyce said: “'The elephant in the room though is we have lost our third final in Croke Park in a row, so that's not good for us.”
It is clear that Padraic Joyce is hell-bent on managing Galway to an All-Ireland title. He has set his stall out with this in mind from the very beginning. Shortly after his appointment, he gave an interview to Galway Bay FM in which he said: “I’m obviously delighted and honoured and privileged to be in the position as Galway senior football manager. I’m a Galway man by heart and by nature so we want to do our best for Galway. Our aim is to win another All-Ireland – simple as that. Anything less will be seen as an underachievement."
He was asked to address this interview in the weeks before last year’s All-Ireland Final and he again set out his ambition with clarity: “Every team trains to win the All-Ireland. They might not say it, but they do train to win the All-Ireland and I was no different. I wanted Galway to win the All-Ireland and I still do. I am an honest person and when I have nothing to hide, I will say it. I was asked a question about my ambitions as manager. That was a question I was asked and I gave an answer to. I was not going to say, ‘Well, I am here for the craic. I am here to win a couple of Championship games and go as far as I can.’”
He's right, of course. If winning an All-Ireland wasn’t the ambition, he would have no business managing Galway.
And yet, when you look at Galway’s modern record, it is striking how limited it is. Particularly, for a county that considers itself a footballing power.
When Galway footballers won the 1966 All-Ireland senior football final, they completed a famous three-in-a-row. It was the county’s 7th senior football title and they could rightly be considered as the main county outside of Kerry and Dublin.
At that point, Kerry had 20 titles and Dublin had 17. Galway were a clear third on the Roll of Honour with their 7 titles.
What has happened since then is stark.
Dublin have won 13 more All-Irelands and now have a total of 30, while Kerry have won a further 18 and have a record 38.
A crude mathematical way of looking at it is that, if pre-1966 form were to be maintained, Galway should have won at least six or seven All-Irelands.
As it turns out, they have only won two.
They won them when Padraic Joyce was playing in 1998 and 2001. It was a thrilling team who played magnificent football. It left an imprint on football that extends beyond those two All-Irelands. But those two All-Irelands also sit marooned in a sea of disappointment.
In the 57 years since the completion of the three-in-a-row by Galway in 1966, not alone have Dublin and Kerry won more All-Ireland senior football titles than Galway, but so have Meath (5 titles), Cork (4 titles), Tyrone (4 titles), Offaly (3 titles) and Down (3 titles). For their part, Donegal, have also won 2 titles to stand alongside Galway in joint-eight place in the period in question.
Padraic Joyce has been clear that Galway had not been doing enough as a county since the All-Ireland wins of 1998 and 2001. Two decades passed without another final being reached. It was too long in the waiting: “Galway should be getting to an All-Ireland semi-final stage every three or four years at least anyway.”
And this is exactly the thing. The first stage is to repeatedly get to the business end of the championship. It is worth noting that Kerry are the team who have not just won the most All-Irelands in history, but they are also the team that has lost by far the most finals – having lost 23. In fact, Kerry have lost at least one All-Ireland football final in 13 of the last 14 decades.
It is revealing that there is a similar story in hurling. Kilkenny are not just ahead on the Roll of Honour with 36 titles, they too have also lost at least one final in 13 of the last 14 decades. It means that they have lost fully 28 finals in their history.
This, too, is a reminder of how hard it is to get to a final – and then to win it.
The question for Galway this year is the same as it is for every other county: are they good enough to win it?
The answer is that they potentially are indeed good enough. This feels like a championship that is open, with no dominant team on view. By virtue of their position as holders and the quality of players are their disposal, Kerry can be considered to be favourites. But they are not favourites in a way that could be described as overwhelming. Last year’s success may prove invaluable in kicking them to a higher gear when it comes down to the latter stages of the championship, but unless that happens they are vulnerable.
The team most likely to stop Kerry are Dublin, but they are not close to the level of a few years ago and themselves are clearly vulnerable. Galway are right in the mix, as are Mayo, with Tyrone and – at a push – Derry also in the frame.
Padraic Joyce has done a brilliant job with Galway. That the team are serious contenders for the All-Ireland is undeniable. That winning it would buck a trend that is five decades in the making is also a simple fact.
*Paul Rouse is professor of history at UCD
