Search Results for 'Padraic Joyce'

Despite managing just a single win from four National League outings, there is still a glass-half-full case to be made for the early season form of the Galway men’s flagship football and hurling teams.

Galway arrived at the Athletic Grounds carrying the kind of pressure that can crush a young team. Pointless after two rounds of the Allianz League and still smarting from defeat against Mayo a week earlier, Padraic Joyce’s side knew another defeat would leave relegation fears looming large, with a daunting trip to Tralee next on the horizon. Instead, what followed was a display of defiance, bravery and attacking zest that reignited their season and delivered a famous victory, sealed by Rob Finnerty’s free right on the hooter.

A five-point defeat to your fiercest rivals will always sting, but last Saturday night in Thurles is unlikely to leave any lasting scars.

And just like that, the curtain closed on another enthralling club season, with Ballygunner of Waterford and Kerry’s Dingle crowned All-Ireland senior champions in hurling and football respectively.

Ahead of last weekend’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship quarter-final between Galway and Meath, my mind kept drifting — not to the famous 2001 final where Padraic Joyce’s shooting masterclass sealed victory — but to a far less memorable clash between the sides in a rain-soaked Pearse Stadium just three years ago.

The Greenhills Hotel on the Ennis Road was my destination of choice and the place was packed full of Tipperary and Galway supporters. You certainly would not have thought you were just 400 metres from the clubhouse of Na Piarsaigh – All-Ireland winners in 2016 - when the roof nearly came off the place after 14-man Dublin produced a monumental shock to unceremoniously dump the Treaty out.

Penalties. One-point wins. Late drama. Galway rarely allow their supporters a moment of comfort, the emotional swings of each game pulling fans from elation to despair and back again in a matter of minutes.

The journey home typically follows a familiar cycle of grief. First, frustration with the players. Then the management, who inevitably get dissected in post-mortems. By Enfield, the County Board is often next in line. Everyone has something to get off their chest, and the bus or car becomes a mobile therapy session.