Joyce 'relieved' to get out of Pairc Seán with win after lacklustre performance
Galways will be disappointed with their performance against an impressive Leitrim side as they look to find another level ahead of the Connacht final
“We're relieved to get over here,” Said Galway manager Padraig Joyce after his team ground out a five-point Connacht semi-final win on Saturday in Paírc Seán MacDiarmeda.
The Tribesmen will be asking questions of themselves after a lacklustre display that almost saw a dogged Leitrim team mount another championship upset.
“Hats off to Leitrim, they played really, really well. They probably were disappointed the way they played at some stages, because there were a lot of misses out there as well.”
“I went down watching the game last week, two weeks ago, against Sligo, they were very competitive, they were good on the ball, they were able to control the ball, kick scores they wanted, so they're some really good players.”
Joyce pushed back when asked if it was difficult to prepare mentally for the game with one eye on the Connacht final.
“I've been involved with Galway over the years, for instance, as a player and manager, you never get a soft game in Leitrim, we've never really beaten them extremely well, so you know what they're going to give.”
Though the Salthill man agreed that the energy in his team was not where it needed to be in the game.
“If you come into a game with that attitude, you cannot just switch it on when the game starts; that's disappointing for us. We've got a lot of work to do on that, so again, we got out of it, and we learned from it, that's all I can say.”
Galway had a bomb squad to bring on in the second half, with Joyce bringing on Shane Walsh and Damian Commer off the bench, and the forward duo made a big impact after being introduced.
“They're good lads in fairness, and a lot of work put in, so the timeline from today was probably half an hour, 20 minutes, to try and build up their championship fitness.”
Joyce is looking to manage the pair, who have been cursed with injuries over the last number of years, ahead of their Connacht final clash in two weeks.
“So they did OK, they made a big impact when they came on, in fairness, yeah. But again, I think going forward, we'll have to try and get more time out of them and get them on the pitch as much as we can.”
The performance will be “a good stick” to beat Galway with ahead of the final, according to Joyce.
“We are where we are, in terms of destination-wise, performance-wise, we're not where we need to be, or want to be, so we'll have to work on that for the next couple of days.“
The Galway men will find out who they will meet there on Sunday as Mayo and Roscommon meet in McHale Park at 4 pm.