'It was a game we wanted to win' - Padraic Joyce rues missed chances against Dublin
RESPECT: Dublin manager Dessie Farrell and Galway manager Padraig Joyce shake hands after the game. Pic: INPHO/Morgan Treacy
They didn't, but given the circumstances, you'd have been forgiven for thinking that Galway threw this game.
Previously unbeaten - the only team in the top three divisions who could say that - and joint top of Division 1, they substituted Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy, two-pointer supreme Shane Walsh, All-Star Dylan McHugh and Rob Finnerty by the 46th minute.
Finnerty and Walsh didn't even make it to the second-half as the team's scoring radar apparently malfunctioned.
"They missed about 2-10 between them," said boss Padraic Joyce of Walsh and Finnerty, shaking his head.
So it wasn't all a ruse to skip a league final that comes the weekend before Galway play New York in the Connacht championship?
"It was a game we wanted to win," maintained Joyce. "To me, it was basically nearly a league semi-final. So we treated it as a game we wanted to win. We don't go to lose matches in case people think we do. But the way we shot at goal, you'd think we did.
"First play of the game, missed a simple kick from 25, 20 yards, in front of the goal. Then we intercepted a kick-out, we were two-on-one with the goalkeeper. That ball should have been in the net, simple as that."
That one was Finnerty's error, a palmed finish that somehow missed the gaping net, and with two wides and two shots that dropped short, he paid the price.
Still, all is not lost for a Galway side still in the hunt for a rare league title. It just means they need a result against Kerry in Salthill next weekend, if they really do want to make that final.
Dublin, also on eight points now, are right in the mix too. And they've got their talisman back, goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton. The 43-year-old was a late addition to the team in place of Evan Comerford, making his seasonal return against the team that knocked Dublin out of last year's Championship at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage.
It's a brand-new game Cluxton has returned to and his once peerless distribution skills were put under a fresh microscope. He struggled at times, trying to go short like the old days several times and getting caught, like when Galway forged that goal chance for Finnerty.
"The kick-out has fundamentally changed," said Dublin manager Dessie Farrell, who isn't necessarily won over by the ball effectively having to go long each time. "I just wonder if a little bit of fatigue will set in overtime. It's a war zone now out around the middle. It can be messy and ugly at times. But it's been positively received at this point in time because it's so new. I just wonder, further down the line, towards the latter stages of the season, or maybe next season, if a little bit of fatigue will set in around it."
Joyce's main feeling on the rules is that the experimentation has to stop now.
"To be honest, I hope it is the last iteration of the rules because we have championship in three weeks' time so they need to settle on something," said Joyce.
Overall, it was a high-paced, enjoyable game, significantly improved by the fact that goalkeepers have now been tethered to their line by the latest rules tweak, ending the 12-v-11 overload opportunity. There was less reason to stall the play and pass sideways until the goalkeeper joined the attack.
Dublin, changing a third of the team that lined out in the Round 5 defeat to Armagh, took full advantage of Galway's errant kicking, opening up a 1-8 to 0-2 lead.
Ross McGarry, another making his seasonal return, was excellent initially. So was Luke Breathnach who fired a two-pointer. Sean Bugler, back after a calf injury, fired the first goal in the 12th minute. Breathnach was the creator, latching onto a kicked delivery and feeding him. Bugler got the second goal too, in the 47th minute, after a one-two with Tom Lahiff.
Dublin were 10 points clear at that stage. That's when things really got interesting, Damien Comer coming on for his own seasonal return and causing havoc. He scored 1-2 and won the advanced mark that led to John Maher's deflected goal. Suddenly, there were just two in it again. But Dublin regrouped and redoubled, picked off four points in a row, and put daylight between the teams again.
"We missed 19 shots at goal," said Joyce, pinpointing where he felt the game was won and lost. "In Croke Park, you cannot do that, especially against Dublin. They're the most efficient team that's ever been out there."
Afterwards, Farrell confirmed that John Small won't be returning this year, joining Michael Fitzsimons, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey, Brian Fenton and Paul Mannion in apparently retiring.
"They've considered the situation and decided it's time to hang up the boots," said Farrell. "We wish them well."
S Bugler 2-0; C Costello 0-5 (2 frees, 1 45); L Breathnach (1 tp), C O'Callaghan 0-4 each; R McGarry 0-2; N Scully, K McGinnis, C Murphy, L O'Dell 0-1 each.
D Comer 1-2 (0-1 mark); J Maher 1-0; R Finnerty (1 free), D O'Flaherty (tp), M Tierney (1m) 0-2 each; M Thompson, D McHugh, C Darcy, L O Conghaile, C McDaid 0-1 each.
: S Cluxton; D Byrne, T Clancy, C Tyrrell; B Howard, S MacMahon, C Murphy; P O Cofaigh Byrne, T Lahiff; N Scully, C O'Callaghan, S Bugler; R McGarry, L Breathnach, C Costello.
Subs: K McGinnis for O Cofaigh Byrne (43); J Madden for Scully & L O'Dell for Breathnach (54); K Lahiff for McGarry (62); D Keogh for Costello (68).
: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, D O'Flaherty; D McHugh, L Silke, S Kelly; P Conroy, J Maher; M Tierney, C McDaid, C Darcy; R Finnerty, S Walsh, M Thompson.
Subs: L O Conghaile for Finnerty (32); C O Curraoin for Walsh (h/t); J Glynn for McHugh (40); D Comer for Conroy (46); S O'Neill for Fitzgerald (58).
: M McNally (Monaghan).
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