Galway senior football team manager Pádraic Joyce. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
By Cian O'Connell
Padraic Joyce acknowledged that kicking three two pointers on the spin was 'crucial' in Galway's Allianz Football League Division One victory over Armagh.
In the second half at Pearse Stadium Galway were ahead by one, 1-5 to 0-7, before Cillian Ó Curraoin, Shane Walsh (free), and Paul Conroy landed efforts from distance, to put them seven clear.
Matthew Tierney's opening period goal following a foul on Ó Curraoin was another key moment in the match according to Joyce. "We won it by six or seven in the end," Joyce says.
"I wouldn't be overly happy with the way we started the game, but obviously we grew into it after 17, 18 minutes. I think the penalty was a big turning point to get us back into the game.
"To go in at half-time two up after not playing overly well was great. We kind of saw the game out in the second half. The twos were crucial. We got three in a row, which gave us a huge gap then on the scoreboard so we were able to just sit back and play the game on our terms."
Joyce felt that Galway weren't sufficiently clinical. "I wouldn't be happy with a lot of stuff," he added. "We missed a good few there at the end, probably two or three good goal chances, a few scores when we were maybe just over-elaborating a bit too much.
"But it's the first game of the league and I'd be very, very happy if someone told me this morning that we'd beat Armagh and get two points."
The depth of the Galway panel was also referenced by Joyce, who is now preparing for another interesting clash with Mayo at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park on Sunday. "I think the work-rate from the lads was brilliant," he reflected.
"The effort everyone put in was great. We tackled really hard and we worked really hard. We would have been seen as probably a nice team to play against but I think a lot of lads worked really, really hard.
"You take Danny O'Flaherty, I thought he was exceptional at corner-back. A new position for him, great pace. Seán Fitz (Fitzgerald) was outstanding at full-back for us. But our seasoned players played really well too.
"When you can bring the likes of John Maher, Liam Silke, Shane Walsh, Kieran Molloy and Johnny Heaney off the bench, it's great to be building a squad."
