Joyce urges team to push on as Gleeson revels in moment

Padraic Joyce took aim at his critics after Galway caught Mayo late on to win a third straight Connacht title, the county’s first three-in-a-row since 1984. Much had been made of Joyce’s poor record against Mayo in recent years and he was in a defiant mood when speaking to reporters after the game.

“We all know stuff is written by different people that pressure was on us, [that] pressure was on me as well.

“You always feel it. When you see articles written about different stuff on our side and nothing on the far side, it does get to you a little bit.

“For the lads, I'm probably putting more pressure on them than anyone else. We know the talent that is in the group. Hopefully we can push on.” 

Joyce added: “There are people out there, they can just pull out their phones and send a message on social media and it is all over the place unfortunately. That is the world that’s in it,” he said.

“I say to the lads, all that matters is what is in our four walls. If we can get ourselves right, we’ll have no one to blame at the end of the year, only ourselves if we don’t get where we want to.” 

Galway led for a total of only three minutes in the game but they showed tremendous character to fight back, none more so than goalkeeper Connor Gleeson in nailing a 75th minute free.

“The character shown by the lads was fantastic. I'm delighted for Connor with that winner because he has sometimes been ridiculed and laughed at here in Galway over the last couple of years, for some reason,” he said.

“But by God did he stand up today and become a man. He had one or two hairy moments today, he wasn't as clean as the grass or anything. He was fantastic.

“To step up there at the end, he wanted that ball. He put his hand up. We had spoken about it before the game because Shane (Walsh) can't kick the frees off the ground with his (groin) injury. He (Gleeson) said, 'I'll step up, I'll take them."

The Dunmore goalkeeper has divided opinion for some time in his native county but cemented his legacy with that winning free. Galway captain Sean Kelly singled him out in his speech following the win, and paid a glowing tribute to Gleeson whose grandmother Rita had passed away the weekend before.

"Before I start my speech, I want to give a massive round of applause and a massive thanks to Connor Gleeson,” Kelly said.

"Not many know, but he had to bury someone close to him this week, and to do what he did today, there was definitely someone looking down on him.

"So a massive roar for Conor Gleeson, who was the winning of it for us today."

Gleeson revealed he was not expecting to be on duty for frees until he received word during the week.

"It is mad... it is something everyone dreams of and I never thought I would be the one kicking it.

"I was delighted to get the opportunity and am just relieved that it went over.

"During the week John Concannon, the selector, sent me a message to start practicing them and they were going well so I got the nod."