Joyce: I couldn't walk away
May 05, 2011
At the launch of the 2011 GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship in University College Cork, are, from left, Barry Cahill, Dublin, Paul Kerrigan, Cork, Brendan McVeigh, Down and Padraic Joyce, Galway.
Having spared his side's blushes with a 1-7 haul against New York in Gaelic Park, Joyce was unable to prevent the Tribesmen from making an early championship exit following defeats to Sligo and Wexford.
"The way last year finished up it would have been a bad way to end the whole thing," he said at the 2011 All-Ireland football championship launch yesterday.
"Last year was a very disappointing year for us, the most disappointing in my time, so hopefully this year we can try to push on a bit further.
"I said it before that if I didn't feel up to it, I wouldn't be here. I'm as enthusiastic as ever, the dream is always there to try to win another one."
The 34-year-old, who has declared himself fit for another championship campaign following a recent injury scare, is convinced Galway's Connacht SFC semi-final opponents will be Mayo, who will be expected to see off London in the first round. And he views that potential meeting as an opportunity for Galway to avenge their 0-12 to 2-14 NFL defeat to James Horan's men.
"It was very poor, I was watching it and there were some very poor performances," he remembered.
"The most disappointing fact was the way that Galway folded against Mayo and there was no real bite ot it.
"Some fella should have got vexed. I'm not condoning it, but there should have been at least a bit of bite, some fellas should have done something about it. But it was a bad defeat for us at the time and there's a lot of work for us to do to improve on that performance." Tweet
