Joyce: Disappointed but bigger picture is All-Ireland challenge

Very competitive

GALWAY relinquished the Nestor Cup to Roscommon on Sunday afternoon after one of the greatest Connacht finals ever played. Herald Sport heard the views of managers Padraic Joyce and Mark Dowd afterwards.

PADRAIC JOYCE

ON A NARROW DEFEAT TO ROSCOMMON

We're awfully disappointed to lose it, there's no point in saying we're not, because we are. We probably had chances to win the game and we probably let it slip. Not like us unfortunately, we were six points up with ten minutes to go. We were four up with five minutes to go. In years gone by, we would have seen that out, but we didn't today. But look, fair play to Roscommon. They stuck at it. It was a brilliant game of football, I felt overall. It was very competitive, huge pace and great scores in it. Normally 2-22 would win most games for you, but in the current rules, no, it wasn't enough.

ON REFOCUSING FOR THE ALL-IRELAND SERIES

I don't think it's a huge challenge. The lads will be very disappointed, I spoke to them there. They know that it was in their own hands losing that game. But hats off to Roscommon, you have to give Roscommon good praise in fairness. They stuck at it, they've had a big league in Division 1. They beat Mayo really, really well the last day. So, we knew the challenge, especially down here.

Obviously, the breeze is a huge factor. At the end it told a tale with the two-pointers the two boys got at the end. I don't have much to do to motivate our lads. We know the longer-term picture in Galway was to win the All-Ireland. So, we're still in the hunt to do that.

ON A HELTER SKELTER 70 minutes

That's the way the game has gone. There was a lot of to-and-fro in it. I think we were a little bit more individual in the first half. In the second half there, we worked the ball really well and got some great scores in fairness. We were unlucky at the end with Shane's effort, it was only a foot wide. It wasn't too far wide. He had the bravery to take it on in fairness to him. So, we just move on.

ON WRESTLING BACK MOMENTUM AFTER HALF-TIME

We did a lot of things right. Roscommon probably got the short kickout off on the left-hand side there. We had a lot of work done on that, believe it or not. They get six or seven in-a-row and they scored probably 2-3, 2-4 out of that. But they have serious pace there in the Heneghans up top. Our lads held Enda Smith scoreless. You'd be thinking, if that happened in a game, you have a good chance to win it. But we didn't. They still scored 3-21.

ON THE CALL TO PENALISE GALWAY 50 METRES FOR A LATE TWO-POINT FREE

I actually didn't see it. It was the far side of the pitch from where the dugouts are. Seán Hurson's a qualified referee. He's not afraid to make big calls if they have to be made. We'll have to just look back at it and see.

ON MOVING SIX POINTS AHEAD LATE ON

At half-time, it didn't look too good for us. Three points up only. There was a huge breeze there in fairness. I've never doubted the battling quality of these boys. They've great character in fairness to them. I'd need to look back at it and see but it's unlike us to give away a lead like that. Six points up and four points up. But look, fair play to Roscommon. Daire Cregg kicked a brilliant two there to bring it back to one point and then Diarmuid [Murtagh] kicked the one to win it. They're a quality side, we probably should have seen the game out a little bit. We are disappointed in that but we'll get over it. We'll drown our sorrows tonight. We'll get over it and prepare for Kildare in two weeks.

ON LOSING CILLIAN MCDAID TO INJURY

An awful loss to us because he had a powerful game in the second half. He came into it really well in the second half with his drive and carrying the ball forward. It's a head injury. Hopefully it's not too bad, hopefully he'll be alright.

ON THE POSITIVES DESPITE THEIR DEFEAT

They're huge positives. Even the pace Damien [Comer] showed there from midfield to get into the full-back line and bury the goal really well was really good. Just small little margins on the day. Seán Kelly scored a great point, could have been under the crossbar by another few inches. Small little things. But look, I'm not going out of here really, really down. We're disappointed, no doubt about it but the bigger picture for us has always been the big prize in a couple of weeks' time. So, we have to regroup now and pull ourselves together and see where we can tweak a few things. Get a little bit sharper up top and we'll go from there.

ON MEETING KILDARE ON SATURDAY WEEK

I know the draw was last week, which was ridiculous, but it's done now. We stayed focused on Roscommon this week. We'll worry about Kildare tomorrow morning once we wake up.

MARK DOWD

ON BEING THREE POINTS DOWN AT HALF-TIME

I was happy enough with where we were at half-time, there was a very strong breeze out there as well. I felt our structure was set up very well, Galway kicked two-pointers in that first half, but we did limit them as well. It was a case of sticking to the process and not letting the emotion get ahead of us either.

ON GALWAY'S FIGHTBACK AFTER ROSCOMMON’S THIRD GOAL

That just shows the class of that Galway side, there’s a lot of quality in that team and I suppose that's the respect they've given us as well. You saw the team that started there, who they were bringing on as well. And they're in All-Ireland finals, they're in the semis, we're still trying to get there.

It doesn't go unknown to us, we're still where we are. No difference if we lost today, we're still two weeks away from an All-Ireland series. We just have something to show for today.

ON WHAT A CONNACHT TITLE MEANS TO HIM

I suppose it backs up what we've been trying to do all year, since the early days when we gathered a panel and started putting plans in place.

We wanted a physical team that was able to compete with the top teams there. We showed that today, that we could. It gave us that belief. We wanted it that we were going down the home straight in games and that we're still going to be in it. We showed that today.

That game could have ended up on the losing side of it as well, but it showed massive composure from the lads I felt there in those last ten minutes. They just kept their wits about them, they took it play by play and we got our scores there towards the end just to get over the line.

I've been lucky enough to witness it in 2010 over in Castlebar, witness it in 2019 in Salthill, so it is very pleasing. I'm delighted just for the bunch of lads, the amount of work they've put in. We probably haven't seen enough of these days in Roscommon and hopefully, you saw it there last week with the U-17s, U-20s, things are working for us here at the moment. It's the people that are in there, the players that are in there.