Pádraic Joyce: Sometimes when you work hard enough a bit of luck will come your way

Galway clinched another provincial crown with a thrilling win in Castlebar.

LOCAL HEROES: Galway manager Padraic Joyce celebrates with Kieran Molloy and Seán Fitzgerald. Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne

In the end, they dug it out. Galway manager Pádraic Joyce knows his side could have lost this terrific Connacht final. The joy comes from how they won it.

A two-point margin only tells part of the tale. Mayo were eight down at half-time having played against the wind but fought back to draw level with 15 minutes left. Down the stretch, Galway produced the championship-clinching moments.

“For me it was a brilliant game of football,” said Joyce post-match. “The way football should be played. Both teams went out and went at it really hard. Hard hits, hard tackles, all fair in fairness.

“A bit of pulling and dragging off the ball on kickouts, that is expected, overall it was a brilliant game of football. I know Mayo will rue the chances they missed at the end but for us to eke out the result against the wind, under pressure on our kickout, eight point lead at half-time, conceded a goal straight away at the start, on the back foot, for me our lads showed great character at the end.” 

When they needed inches, Galway found them. Dylan McHugh produced an outstanding block on Paul Towey late on. The awesome Cillian McDaid kicked an immense point against a strong wind. They kicked three two-pointers from seven attempts. Mayo kicked two from nine, with another effort ending up as a single point as goalkeeper Connor Gleeson touched the ball as it dropped over the crossbar. Substitute Liam Ó Conghaile came on and scored.

Joyce made the call to bring Cathal Sweeney back off having brought him on at half-time for the injured John Maher. That paid off too, “We got a huge impact from our lads on the bench. We were saying it all week, the bench we have is strong enough to come in and perform. Cian Hernon was superb. Peter Cooke, Cathal Sweeney worked really hard in fairness and unfortunately, I said to him there, we had to make a tactical decision with Peter to get a bigger man on the pitch. The other boys were going really well. Liam kicked a score which was great.” 

Some big breaks went their way as well. Johnny McGrath’s first-half penalty seemed a harsh call on Matthew Ruane. The midfielder had a chance to level it with the final kick but his effort floated wide.

“We knew it was going to come down to the wire. It is about making the right decisions in high pressure situations as we call them. We got a bit of luck but sometimes when you work hard enough a bit of luck will come your way.” 

They did it with a considerable injury list as well. Johnny Heaney, Finnian Ó Laoi and Cillian Ó Curraoin remain sidelined. Damien Comer played in Galway’s semi-final win over Roscommon but suffered a setback in a recent challenge. Shane Walsh was also not in the matchday 26.

The All-Ireland finalists take on a wounded Dublin in Salthill next. Will Walsh and Comer be available for it?

“They weren’t fit for today,” said Joyce. “If they are fit the next day they’ll be part of it but if not we’ll keep going with what we have because what we have there seems to be doing okay.”