Tribe’s talisman Joyce calls time on county career

Galway’s longest serving player Padraic Joyce has decided to retire after 15 years of top-flight football.

Joyce (35) won nearly every major honour in the game but has now decided to call it a day after a glittering career.

Most of his inter-county success came in the early years of his career but he continued to soldier on in the last few seasons, despite a series of heartbreaking narrow defeats and Galway’s propensity to frequently change their manager.

Joyce also seems likely to retire from club football after winning four county titles with Killererin, but he has not made a final decision on this.

A combination of increased work commitments — he has his wife, Tracey, run a busy recruitment company PJ Personnel Ltd — and elevated demands of training are the primary factors in him reaching his decision.

“I can’t go on playing forever and I gave it some thought as other lads called a halt in recent years, but decided to persevere. But now the time is right to get out.

“I have been very fortunate to have played with some great teams at club, schools, college, inter-county and international level.

“I have also been blessed to have had some great managers and some great playing colleagues so I can have no complaints. The county board also has always offered great support.”

Joyce first emerged on the scene as part of the St Jarlath’s College Hogan Cup-winning team of 1994, which also provided the Meehan brothers Declan and Tomas, Michael Donnellan, John Divilly and his own brother Tommie for the Galway team which ended a 32-year barren wait for All-Ireland glory when they defeated Kildare in the 1998 All-Ireland final.

That was Joyce’s debut season for Galway and was also John O’Mahony’s first year in charge. Joyce had some very good managers — starting with the likes the late Fr Ollie Hughes and Joe Long at St Jarlath’s and Val Andrews in IT Tralee — in his career but O’Mahony will always hold a special place.

“He was so well organised. This was before mobile phones and email, but he would give us a sheet with the entire month planned and nobody deviated from that.

“He had a great way with players and I am extremely grateful to him for giving me the chance. He achieved an awful lot for Galway football and it is only as time goes on that you really appreciate what he did,” said Joyce.

That first year was geared entirely towards dethroning Mayo in the first round and once that target was achieved, Galway went on to defeat Leitrim and Roscommon in a replay to win the Connacht title.

They then accounted for Derry in the All-Ireland semi-final and defeated Mick O’Dwyer’s Kildare in an entertaining final.

It was some debut season for Joyce — six championship matches, five wins and a draw, a Connacht medal and an All-Ireland. There were some on the coach journey back to Galway, the likes of Kevin Walsh, Tomas Mannion and Seán Óg de Paor, who had chalked up close on 40 championship matches at that stage.

But disappointment soon followed for Galway. Mayo gained revenge in 1999 in Tuam and then one of Joyce’s most disappointing days when he captained Galway in the 2000 All-Ireland against Kerry, but had to watch his good friend and former IT Tralee colleague Seamus Moynihan collect Sam.

A year later there was glory again for Joyce when they became the first team to win the All-Ireland through the back door, beating Meath in the final, and Joyce picked up his third All-Star and the Texaco footballer of the year.

A January holiday to South Africa laid the foundation for that success in 2001 as Galway rebounded from a Connacht championship loss to Roscommon to gain revenge en route through the back door. Since then four Connacht titles have been the extent of the reward. The county has not won a game outside Connacht since their qualifier win over Louth in 2003.

“That’s hard to believe because we have had good teams in those years, but sometimes it just doesn’t go for you. Changing the manager so often probably hasn’t helped but we still should have won a lot more.”

Success with Killererin kept Joyce motivated, while the regular changing of the Galway manager also set challenges which he revelled in, but now he feels it is time to step aside.

“I have had a really enjoyable career and I would like to thank my family for all the support they have given me. I’m sure my daughter Ava will miss watching me playing. My club Killererin has also been very good to me and one of the highlights of the All-Ireland wins was having my brother Tommie and Killererin clubmen Tommy Wilson and Alan Keane as part of those sides.

“My wife Tracey and her family, the McElvaney’s from Monaghan, have also given me huge support and you need that, given all the demands of playing the game now.

“We have had great support from Galway fans down through the years and I’m now looking forward to joining them and enjoying many great days ahead for Galway football.”