PADRAIC Joyce has admitted he could have walked away from the Galway job had the Tribesmen beaten Armagh in this year’s All-Ireland final.
It was the second time Joyce had led his native county to the biggest day in the Gaelic football calendar, only for the Orchard to come out on top just as Kerry did in the 2022 decider.
Kieran McGeeney’s side came on strong to lift Sam Maguire, leaving Joyce to try and pick up the pieces as Galway were so close, yet so far once again. Had they managed to get over the line, however, the Killererin man would have been tempted to call time, there and then.
“I’d say so, to be honest,” said Joyce, who will manage a Connacht select in this weekend’s inter-provincial series, when a host of potential new rules will be showcased at Croke Park.
“I’d have been close enough, yeah. I’d say if we got over the line, that could have been, yeah. I can’t say for definite, but I’d say I’d be leaning towards that.
“It’s a sickener, there’s no doubt about that… I still have nightmares about it. I said to the boys afterwards, we’ll regret it probably until we take our last breath in this world. But we had a great chance.
“For the first couple of weeks after the match, you’re just keeping your head down, avoiding people. It’s a lonely place to be, no doubt about it, but the buck stops the manager at the end of the day.
“There’s a huge kind of grá among the players to go back and go at it again straight away - that probably made up my mind as well about staying for another year with them. The lads are hurting; we’re all hurting.”
Next year could look a lot different, of course, should the proposals brought forward by Jim Gavin and Football Review Committee (FRC) get the green light.
Joyce was an exhilarating forward during a playing pomp that brought two All-Irelands and three Allstar awards, but the defensive evolution of the game has seen players of a similar ilk largely forced to the fringes.
The FRC ‘rule enhancements’ carry the potential to breathe new life into then game, and the watching public have the opportunity to make up their own minds this weekend – with Joyce’s Connacht outfit facing Dessie Dolan’s Leinster on Friday evening before the meeting of Ulster and Munster.
“I look at it with an open mind, to be honest,” he said.
“I think, in fairness, the lads have put a lot of work into the rules, Jim and the committee. And look, they’re all very, very well-respected guys that’s involved in the committee.
“Is there much wrong in the GAA in my opinion? Probably not a whole pile, but it definitely needs something to put a bit of spark into it. We’ve probably had one of the most open Championships in years and, all of a sudden, this is wrong and everything’s wrong.
“But look, there’s definitely something to change. There’s too many teams going out playing football not to lose, instead of going out trying to win games. So, if we can get a few rules out of this… I think the ball back to the ‘keeper is a big one.
“I think the tap and go is a huge one. That’ll bring a lot of speed into the game. And the cynical fouling that takes place without it being a black card to allow the game to move forward 40, 50 metres is a big one.
“If you can get a bit more foot into the game, a bit more speed, a bit more movement, players will love that. Players want to just play ball and do one-on-one contests as much as they can, but it’s not always going to be that case.”
