Pádraic Joyce: Galway have work to do to be considered contenders

Galway boss Pádraic Joyce warned that his side have work to do if they're to be talked about as genuine All-Ireland SFC contenders in the summer.

The Tribesmen ended their Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign with a two-point defeat to Kerry in Killarney on Sunday.

We need your consent to load this rte-player content We use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

In truth the 0-15 to 1-10 scoreline flattered Galway, who notched 1-02 late on to put a gloss on it.

The big plus for Joyce's charges was that they avoided the drop. They start their Connacht SFC against London in Ruislip on 6 April, and will be aiming to go up a few gears.

"We're happy enough leaving Killarney, we're in Division 1, but obviously we have a lot of work to do to be talked about later in the year," said Joyce.

"We just seemed to play with a little bit of fear and restriction in our game which is hard to put your finger on. We need to address that because that needs to change going forward.

"That's not Galway's style of play; it's moving the ball fast and forward, that's what we're doing in training and then in the matches we don't seem to do it. We've to put our finger on that and figure out why that's happening because it won't be good enough going forward."

Reflecting on a contest in Kerry that was played in difficult weather conditions, Joyce added: "We started the game really well, stuck to our game plan and did what we were doing. We kind of fell away in the mid-section, probably the last few minutes of the first half and into the second half.

"It's hard to put your finger on what happened but