Joyce rages at disputed free: 'I couldn't get over it'

In the aftermath of a "bitter" All-Ireland final defeat, Galway manager Padraic Joyce expressed his pride in his team's performance but couldn't hide his annoyance over that free awarded against John Daly in the closing stages.

With less than five minutes remaining in normal time and the scores tied at 0-16 apiece, after an inspirational point from Cillian McDaid, Galway centre-back John Daly was penalised when in possession for holding the arm of Kerry's Killian Spillane as the latter approached to tackle.

David Clifford swung over the free, with Kerry subsequently kicking for home, rustling up the next three scores to win on a 0-20 to 0-16 scoreline.

Speaking to the press afterwards, Joyce was very quick to reference the call against his team, saying he "couldn't get over it."

"I thought we played very, very well," Joyce told reporters.

"We played football to try and win the game, we went in at half-time ahead. Credit has to go to our defence, Liam Silke was outstanding at centre-back and kept Sean O'Shea very, very quiet. Jack Glynn was immense on Paudie Clifford.

"We had a foothold in the game. I know we lost a few kick-outs but we fought our way into the game. Shane (Walsh) was outstanding up front, kicked some great scores.

"But to me, the most important and crucial part of the game is how they got a free when the game was 16 points apiece. I couldn’t get over it."

For Joyce, there is no doubt the free represented a huge swing in momentum.

"Those frees are like tap-overs for the likes of Clifford. It was a two-point swing for us, we had the momentum at that stage."

Asked for his assessment of the incident, the Galway boss was blunt, first asserting that Damien Comer should have been given a free following his turnover in the