'It happened by chance': Galway boss explains Guardiola meeting
Pádraic Joyce: "I just feel it is important to have the players really know and understand where we're going as a group, what we are trying to achieve. Some players buy into it, some don't." Pic: Ray McManus/Sportsfile
One of the great unknowns in the GAA landscape is the off-season. We hear loosely what goes on during the season, in training camps and around games. But the off-season? That remains largely opaque.
That is despite the fact that management teams are formed and broken in those months. New inter-county careers are quietly shaped and others are ended. There are those weighing up their own futures, there are those trying to secure their future. There is plenty of conflict along the way.
Little of that is ever shared. It occurs behind closed doors. For Galway and Pádraic Joyce, they did speak openly about a torturous winter in 2021, full of hard conversations. But they only spoke about it in 2022 when they finally reached an All-Ireland final.
So, what are those conversations like? Is it always fraught with debate and disagreement? When Joyce was weighing up whether he would return, were the discussions purely logistical or was it something more combative?
“It is the same every year,” he says directly, speaking at the launch of the FBD Connacht League.
"To be quite honest, unless the players buy into it, it is not just about the manager or the management. The players have to understand where we went wrong or where they went wrong and we will fix it together.
“My opinion at the end will be the deciding factor on everything. I just feel it is important to have the players really know and understand where we're going as a group, what we are trying to achieve. Some players buy into it, some don't.
"That is why there is chop and change every year with different players. Some can commit to the effort that is required. Some can't, some don't. I don't have all the answers. I have always said that.
“The more we lean on, the more expertise around the place for us, the better. The players are very smart nowadays. They are really intelligent footballers in any inter-county squad.
"They'll know themselves what's working and what is not working. They will smell the bluffing that is going on when we are trying to do stuff. We're lucky in Galway. We have an open and honest group that will let you know and we encourage that here with the group. It is player-driven and it has to be.”
Galway’s current position is an interesting one. Draw a line from that 2022 final to now. They have lost five championship games since, all by a single score. There is frustration in that too. They want to put teams to the sword more decisively.
“Isn't that a problem too? We've either won by a point or lost by a point. You can look at it both ways. I know what you're saying, we're competitive. Why are we leaving teams in the game with five minutes or three minutes to go?”
Of their championship wins in 2025, only one was by more than three points. Galway were involved in some spectacularly entertaining ties, including the defeat against Dublin, draw against Derry and wins over Armagh and Down, but that ruthless edge needs to improve. You get the sense they’ve spent considerable time discussing it. Maybe one day, we will hear about it.
It wasn’t all work and strain. Joyce was pictured meeting Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola last November after their 4-1 win over Dortmund at the Etihad Stadium.
Watching TNT post-match and there’s Pádraic Joyce shaking Pep Guardiola’s hand.
— Daniel Hussey (@DanielHussey2) November 5, 2025
Two Greats. pic.twitter.com/Bg4ZmG3vWY
“It just happened by chance. It was a charity thing a couple of years ago, I was playing golf in London at a Greenwood Foundation and I met one guy and went over to play in his charity. There were tickets for sale for charity, so I was the highest bidder on that by default.
“It just happened that the lad sat beside us and knew him very well and got him in to meet us. It was nice to meet him.”
Not that he studies him too closely.
“I'm a Man United fan so I can't say too much about it! But obviously, I watch his style of play. He's been a brilliant manager.”
To which the obvious follow-up is the club’s recent decision to bring Ruben Amorim's 14-month tenure to an end. Evidently, a former giant felt the charismatic manager wasn’t the right man to bring them back to past glories. How did he feel about the move?
“I disagree with when they got rid of Mourinho years ago. I just thought chopping and changing managers isn’t going to help,” Joyce replies.
“So the manager’s union, the manager can't be the problem all the time.”
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