Pádraic Joyce: No one to blame but ourselves

Galway manager Pádraic Joyce felt that his side's second-half performance let them down after they lost to Armagh in the All-Ireland football final at Croke Park.

Armagh ran out 1-11 to 0-13 winners to claim their first All-Ireland title in 22 years and to ensure that Galway’s own famine will extend past 23 years.

Either Joyce or his opposite number Kieran McGeeney were set to join an exclusive list of men who have won Sam Maguire as both players and managers, and in the end it was the Armagh man who prevailed.

Joyce has now lost two All-Ireland finals as manager, following on from Galway’s 2022 defeat to Kerry, and while he was gracious in defeat, he felt that his side will eventually rue another missed opportunity.

"We’re absolutely devastated," Joyce told RTÉ Sport after the game. "The dressing room is really broken in there. We have no one to blame but ourselves.

"Credit to Armagh, they won the game, hats off to Kieran and the lads. They’re worthy champions, we can’t take that away from them.

"We’ll look back on it and be very, very disappointed with our performance in the second half. We know where we fell down but it’s not a blame game on anybody, I’m just immensely proud of the lads and the effort they put in.

"I’m heartbroken for them more so than anything else, the effort they’ve put in all year, the tough year we’ve had. We’ll re-assess it and see where we go, that’s all we can do."

Galway’s challenge wasn’t helped by injuries, with captain Seán Kelly withdrawing from the starting line-up just before kick-off, and Rob Finnerty only managing to play 10 minutes before being forced off.

Despite this, the Tribesmen managed to nose themselves in front early in the second half but Aaron McKay’s 47th-minute goal proved crucial