‘It was heart-stopping stuff’: Joyce relieved to get out of Celtic Park with a draw

For Tally and Derry, this was a sore one. They had an eight-point lead on the 50-minute mark and were still six up with nine minutes left.

Matthew Tierney of Galway after scoring his side's fourth goal. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

They could have won it and they were fortunate not to lose it. In the end, Pádraic Joyce was satisfied to head home with a draw.

“Relieved to get out of there with a point,” he said after a thrilling fixture against Derry.

“The way we played and obviously being six points down with six minutes to go, we showed good character to stick at it. A bit of Hail Mary stuff but delighted to still be involved in it and take a point. It gives us something to play for in the last game.

“Overall, I wouldn't be happy with our performance at all. We seemed to panic a bit in the second half. A lot of wild shots.” 

Derry deserve huge credit for their performance. Never before has the talk of a winless record been so unfair. They drew with Galway in the league as well, they beat Mayo on penalties last year. Paddy Tally’s outfit were the better team for large parts of the game.

“They were very physical in the first half but our lads matched that and we came back into it just before half-time. I'd say for a neutral, it was probably a great game to watch but for us on the line, it was heart-stopping stuff at times. 

"Derry put a lot of pressure on us, that's what good teams will do and it's a tough, tough group, there's no doubt about that.

“Any team in the group is capable of beating any team so we've to go out now and get ourselves ready. All we can do, the ball is on our own court at this stage which is good so we're not relying on other results so we need to go now and make sure we get a result against Armagh in two weeks.” 

For Tally, this was a sore one. They had an eight-point lead on the 50-minute mark and were still six up with nine minutes left.

“The thoughts are immediately we should have won that game,” he said. “We were eight points up, in a really good position and didn't close it out. That's disappointing.” 

Derry took issue with the decision to award a sideline to Galway before Matthew Tierney’s third goal.

“I think the goal they got was the side-line ball up there, which was contested. 

"It looked as if it was our line ball. I think that was a bad call. If the referee wasn't sure, hop the ball. But don't give a decision you're not sure of. And then they got the goal off that which is really disappointing.”