Joyce: God knows when we’ll be back again

Padraic Joyce has given a damning assessment of Galway football following their latest humiliating back door defeat.

Joyce believes there is a huge gap between where people think Galway should be and where they actually stand in the pecking order.

“There is a perception that Galway should be up there because they are a big county, but you have to earn the right to be up there with the Corks, Dublins, Kerrys and Tyrones, teams who have done it,” said Joyce, in the wake of Saturday’s shock loss to Antrim at Casement Park. “We haven’t done it consistently. We’ll come with a spell and we’ll go, and we’ll come back in a couple of years time. God knows when we’ll be back again.”

Whether Joyce intends to stick around during the rebuilding period under Alan Mulholland remains to be seen, but the two-time All-Ireland winner said Galway have no excuses for their poor record in the qualifiers.

With no win outside of Connacht since 2004, they have lost in the qualifiers in the last four years by a single point.

“It’s happened too many times for people to say we’re cursed or anything like that,” he insisted.

“Look at the teams who beat us — with all due respect they are teams we should be beating.

“We thought that we had a good mix this year but that was well and truly blown out of the water against Sligo and we didn’t learn anything in the six weeks since. That’s the worst of it.

“We didn’t improve or learn since Sligo. They and Antrim are Division 4 teams. We’re not that bad but we’re definitely not up there where some people think we are.”

Joyce came off the bench for the last 10 minutes in Casement Park and twice gave Galway the lead which they failed to hold on to.

An Antrim point in the second minute of injury-time saw them snatch victory.

“It’s not bad luck, it’s about making mistakes and taking wrong options,” said Joyce.

“We were a point up twice in the last five minutes and still coughed up the lead. We weren’t cute enough and didn’t know how to slow the game down.

“It’s not good enough at this level. Not good enough at all.”