Joyce and Donnellan Retire

[Duine Eile]

Well lads, we all felt it was coming but didn't want to believe it but looks like its true. Announced on Galway Bay FM that both lads have decided to call it a day, but there's a chance we might see Padraic back for the league but for the minute, two of Galway's stars of the last ten years have played their last game in a maroon shirt. Thanks for everything lads, too of Galway's best ever players.

[GaillimhIarthair]

Feck it, I was hoping they would give it another year as both are just about the 30 mark.  Both have been outstanding servants to Galway over the past 10 years and definitely 2 of the best ever to don the Galway Jersey.  Thanks for everything lads, ye leave us some wonderful memories 

[OkeyDoke]

 Announced on Galway Bay FM that both lads have decided to call it a day, but there's a chance we might see Padraic back for the league

Why would Joyce announce his retirement and then someone say that he might be back for the league
Two great servants for Galway, but in truth neither has played well for a few years now. Donnellan never really got over the Groin operation and Joyce just seemed to lose his appetite

[youbetterbelieveit]

OkeyDoke, Donnellan has a good season two years ago after he had won the all ireland with salthill.

[OkeyDoke]

Thats true, he was the reason they won it. Had forgot about the club, was only really thinking about county level.

[Barney]

If it is true then Connacht football has lost two of its best ever footballers. Joyce in particular. I don't think Donnellan always got the best out of his talent but in forty years time people will still talk about his performance in the 1998 AI Final and that point will still be in peoples memories.

They are young enough though and you would not rule out a return at some stage - is Forde the problem?

[Orior]

Them two boys would be a fine addition to many a county (Antrim, Cavan, Clare etc).

If it were me though I'd prefer to be put out to stud.

[dodo]

"but there's a chance we might see Padraic back for the league "

Strange sort of retirement.

Two absolutely class footballers in their day. Football will be all the duller for their absence.

Probably the correct decision for Donnellan as he seems to have lost a lot of that blistering pace that was so much of his game.
He was the reason that Salthill won the club AI, had a brilliant second half that day. Would have given him MOTM instead of Finian Hanley.

Joyce could play on for few more years I'd imagine if the desire was still there. Was a pale shadow of himself this year,
anonymous in McHale Park for Connacht final.

[magpie seanie]

Two fantastic players and the game will miss them. Donnellan was often the difference for Galway on their big days. His display in the '98 final was huge. I hadn't seen a lad from Connacht do this before. Galway were supposed to be the sacrificial lamb on the altar of Micko's greatness but this young upstart ran the crap out of them. Straight down the barrel of the gun to rob a phrase from Martin McHugh/Seán O'Neill. When he was motoring he was some sight.

Joyce is one of my all time favs and will remain so (despite his dive in '99 in Markievicz!). He was one of if not the most celebrated forwards in the game and even with the demands of intercounty football he never forgot about his club and that to me is what a true GAA star should be like. Immensely talented and not lacking in bottle even if things were going a bit wrong. Evidence of this is the AI final in 2001 when in the first half he looked like he'd kicked the game away only to produce magical stuff in the second. Another enduring image for me is also against Kildare (sorry Dinny) on the shocking wet day. It was scrappy, Galway or their opponents not playing great but he was roasting his man and demanding the ball at every turn from his teammates. Real leadership. And like all the best players, a citeog.

[Dinny Breen]

Another enduring image for me is also against Kildare (sorry Dinny) on the shocking wet day. It was scrappy, Galway or their opponents not playing great but he was roasting his man and demanding the ball at every turn from his teammates. Real leadership. And like all the best players, a citeog

He was fantastic that day, Kildare tried everything legal and illegal, John O'Mahony though made sure the linesman knew what was going on resulting in John Finn been sent off. That Galway team broke my heart but those two boys and Ja were class personified..

[Jack Dempsey]

Modern day greats

[Farrandeelin]

It's a pity, it's Connacht's loss as well as Galway. As Dinny Breen said themselves and Ja were incredible in 98.

[cavanmaniac]

Donnellan in 1998 and Joyce in 2001 are two of the all-time great marquee All-Ireland performances, up there with Mo Fitz in 1997. I'll never forget them.

It's a mark of how demanding and draining our games are that two guys like this, hovering around the 30 mark, have long since passed their best because the cumulative effect of injuries or lost hunger.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Have to say I'm a bit shocked. I knew it was a possibility but neither of them are particularly old and I thought there would be another 2 years left in them at least. To be fair the milage would be pretty high alright. Pretty much irreplaceable those two and will take us a long time to replace them.

Joyce IMO was up there with Peter Canavan as the best forward of their respective eras. Just one of those players that oozed class on the ball. Donnellan was outrageously talented but I know what people mean when they say he underachieved with the God given talent he had but to be fair to him he suffered terribly from niggling injuries ever since the 2001 All-Ireland. Those injuries robbed him of his coruscating pace. He was still a superb all-round footballer and athlete though. The true mark of great players is when they perform brilliantly when they have to on the big days and both Joyce and Donnellan stamped their class on two All-Ireland finals and virtually made them their own. When Donnellan got the ball in his prime the crowd almost took a collective breath waiting for the fireworks to begin. I had never seen a gaelic footballer before that moved with such speed and grace. He seemed to glide over the ground.

As for Joyce it's well recounted at this stage that at half-time in the 2001 All-Ireland final he apologised to his team-mates for his first half display but said to them to keep giving him the ball and he'd win the game for them in the 2nd half. And he did.

Two legends in Galway. Thanks for everything lads. I can see Padraig Joyce as a future Galway coach. He was always a very clever reader of a game.

[Turfsmoke]

Padraig Joyce in particular ... the full GAA footballer article. A class, class act on and off the field. Even when he ws destroying your own team you could only admire him.

Thanks for it all.