Galway experience told against Donegal down the stretch - Pádraic Joyce 

Pádraic Joyce says his Galway side was just that little bit more battle-hardened than Donegal in the last quarter of an hour at Croke Park in what was a dramatic All-Ireland semi-final win. 

The Tribesmen edged a tight encounter on Jones Road by 1-14 to 0-15 with Paul Conroy’s fortuitous first-half goal, in the end, proving decisive. 

Still, there is no doubt that a more seasoned Galway managed matters better down the stretch as Donegal’s accuracy and decision-making deserted them at a crucial juncture. 

A debatable call on Ciaran Thompson for lifting the ball off the ground allowed the Connaught champions to move 1-13 to 0-15 clear on 66 minutes. 

With Donegal struggling to break down an impressive defensive shape from their opponents, Liam Silke landed the last score of the game to progress Joyce’s men back to another All-Ireland final. 

“Donegal kicked some great scores and it was a brilliant game,” the Galway boss explained after. 

“Our lads were probably just that little bit more mature and that little bit further down the track in terms of development. 

“Donegal have come an awful long way in such a short space of time under Jim. But it was Galway’s day and we move onto the final in two weeks time now.

“Honestly, the difference today probably was that we were the more battle-hardened team down the stretch. 

“We had that game with Mayo in the Connacht final and we’d tough encounters with Derry, Armagh, Westmeath and Dublin.

“Donegal probably coasted through Clare and Louth easier than they would have liked. And that showed last night too - Armagh were able to dig that little bit deeper than Kerry.

“I said it before, we’re just that little bit more developed than Donegal are at this stage of things”.  

Joyce admits that Galway's 24th-minute goal was hugely influential and making up that ground probably did fatigue Donegal. 

“There’s no getting away from the fact that it was huge and it was fortunate. Paul was going for a point but Mattie came across it and distracted the goalkeeper”. 

Galway lost the 2022 All-Ireland decider to Kerry so the aim now is to go one better against Kieran McGeeney’s Armagh in a fortnights’ time. 

“It’s great to be looking forward to that now. The hope is we’re more experienced and that two years ago stands to us in a positive way. We still feel the hurt from losing that final. That's the motivation".