Joyce’s bullish nature helping to spark Galway football revolution

Inside Track with John McIntyre

HE’S only in the job a few months, but already Padraic Joyce has kick-started a Galway football revolution. The Tribesmen may have stumbled late on in Tralee on Saturday night, but there was no disguising the promise of the performance in the second round of league action.

And wasn’t it refreshing to hear a GAA manager not mincing his words afterwards. There was no bland hard-luck post-match narrative from the Killererin man. Joyce called it as he saw it. “Galway lost it, rather than Kerry winning it” was his blunt and accurate assessment.

Perhaps, some supporters might feel Joyce has left himself a hostage to fortune if Galway clash with Kerry in the championship this summer, but the new manager is clearly setting high standards for the team. He has big ambitions and has already stated that their aim is to win the All-Ireland title.

That level of bullishness from a manager can only have a positive impact on the mindset of his players and, already, Galway are looking a transformed team. The safety-first approach has been abandoned, with their direct style of football often having the Kerry backs at sixes and sevens. Galway created a heap of clear-cut goal chances, but only took two.

There were a couple of occasions in the match when Kerry threatened to pull away – David Clifford leading their early charge – but Galway weren’t in the least bit intimidated as they served notice a tough evening was on the cards for the Kingdom with the incisiveness of their attacks. The long-serving Gary O’Donnell was setting the tone for the Tribesmen’s display in a high-quality encounter.

Raiding defender Johnny Heaney finished to the net from close range after being set up by the impressive Eamonn Brannigan, but Damien Comer, Fintan Ó Laoí and Michael Daly could (maybe should) also have raised green flags in the first-half. Kerry again opened a little daylight on the resumption but Galway were in no mood to roll over.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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