‘Heartbroken’ Padraic Joyce pays tribute to John O’Mahony after Galway book All-Ireland final spot

Joyce’s team paid fitting tribute by beating Donegal in Croke Park and making a second All-Ireland final in three years, notably scoring 1-14 in the process, the same tally they notched in the breakthrough 1998 final against Kildare, O’Mahony’s first of two as manager.

“The 1-14 is a weird one,” Joyce admitted, “but look obviously when the news came up to us last Sunday morning, we were obviously heartbroken.

“Obviously shed a tear because the man has meant so much to me personally and to Galway players. Our WhatsApp group there from ‘98, ‘01, was hopping.

“Lads were just really, really heartbroken, and look it again, you can’t be heartbroken unless you love someone. So lookit, we loved him as a man, he was a great manager, he was a brilliant friend. Really good mentor as well to me over the last couple of years and I’ll miss talking to him, I’ll miss his phone calls, I’ll miss his advice, but look it our thoughts are with Geraldine and the kids all week.

“It was a tough, tough week to be honest but we had to try and separate the emotion of that and get prepared for the game, which I thought we did well. In fairness I think he got a fantastic tribute there beforehand, so look it, it was great.”

Joyce acknowledged that importance of building on Galway’s victory over Dublin two weeks back. He insisted that the win “wouldn’t have meant much to us” had they lost an All-Ireland semi-final to Donegal.

“Semi-finals are for winning, as we know,” he stressed. “I know it’s probably hard with the emotion when you’re watching the game but overall I thought it was a brilliant game.

“Both teams went at it. The first half was fantastic. It was 1-7 to 0-10 at half-time and Donegal kicked some great scores. Our lads worked the ball well inside and I just thought it was a brilliant game.

“You couldn’t take your eyes off it for a moment or make a mistake because you’d be punished. I was happy enough to get out on the right side of it because it could have gone any way at the end.

“We know that, we get that, but I just thought our lads were probably a little bit more mature and we’re probably further down the track than Donegal as a developing side. Donegal have come an awful long way from where they were 12 months ago. Fair play to Jim, the county board and the boys. But it was Galway’s day and we move on to the final in two weeks’ time.”