One of the all-time Galway and Connacht greats. A top-class out-and-out forward. I cursed him from the crowd so many times, but you had to admire him all the same!
It must have been very frustrating for him over the last few years. His inter-county career started off with such glory days and brought nothing but disappointment over the last 4 or 5 in particular.
QuoteGalway great Padraic Joyce announces retirement
52 minutes ago
One of Galway's greatest ever servants Padraic Joyce has announced his retirement from inter-county GAA.
By Declan Whooley
The 35 year-old leaves with two All-Ireland medals and six Connacht titles and now breaks the final link to the 1998 Sam Maguire winning team that ended a 32 year wait for All-Ireland success.
On of the most gifted players of his generation, Joyce has been tormenting defenders all over the country since bursting onto the scene as a 17 year-old in the 1994 All-Ireland Minor Final.
In recent years he has had to contend with injuries and last February declared himself available to new manager Alan Mulholland after a troubling Achilles injury. His substitute appearance in the disappointing qualifier defeat to Antrim was his last time to don the maroon jersey.
"I can't go on playing forever. I gave it some thought as other lads called a halt in recent years, but decided to persevere. But now the time is right to get out," Joyce said.
Galway have not won a Connacht title since 2008 and their fortunes have taken a turn for the worse, but no-one has fought hard for the Tribesmens' cause than the Killererin marksman.
A great player and a Bearna Dearg laoch.
It might be a good while before we are back in Croker for the big matches but when it comes around again it is fellas like Joyce who will be the inspiration for the players on the pitch.
98 will be remembered as long as fuball is played around Tuam. Meathies will never forget 2001 either.
One of the best ever. Broke our hearts so many times.
I remember the panic in the crowd anytime he got the ball in the 2004 Connacht Club final for Killererin.....lethal.
They talk about good players and great players.
Joyce was a Rolls Royce.
With Joe Bergin also retired who's left from the '01 team?
Joyce will go down as one of the all time greats and fair dues to him for continuing to play even when Galway football entered the doldrums. They haven't won a qualifier since '04.
He's taking it from the wrong f**king spot ref!!!
Quote from: ballinaman on November 29, 2012, 09:05:42 AM
One of the best ever. Broke our hearts so many times.
I remember the panic in the crowd anytime he got the ball in the 2004 Connacht Club final for Killererin.....lethal.
That day back in the park in 2004 was the first thing I thought of as well, panic is a better word than fear.
That Galway forward line of Meehan, Savage and Joyce was some combination. Donnellan sitting outside them too, some team, the f**kers
Quote from: Tubberman on November 29, 2012, 08:01:10 AM
One of the all-time Galway and Connacht greats. A top-class out-and-out forward. I cursed him from the crowd so many times, but you had to admire him all the same!
+ 1 esp the cursed bit ;D
Will refs now insist on frees from the hand being taken from the right spot?
He was a right bucko for stealing 5 or 6 metres
He gave the best performance I ever saw in an All-Ireland final. Leaving aside any distaste for the sporting travesty that is "International Rules", he captained his country with dignity and class. One of the very best. I hope he enjoys his retirement.
Great player. Enjoy your retirement Padraic
A sad day for all Galway GAA fans but time stands till for no man. An unbelievable servant. Will be back later with some of my own memories of the man but HS have gathered a selection of reaction online.
QuoteIrish rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll has led the Twitter tributes to Galway legend Padraic Joyce who called time on his illustrious intercounty career last night.
O'Driscoll and a large number of Joyce's gaelic football colleagues have joined the chorus of praise for his achievements during his 14 years in the maroon and white jersey.
Here's a taste of what's being said about the great man from Killererin ...
Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll)
A huge congrats to Págraic Joyce on a brilliant county football career. 14 years is no joke at that level!
Steven McDonnell (@Killeavy13)
Padraig Joyce calls it a day. What a player. One of the best I ever played alongside. He was pure class. #TopForward #Legend
Emmet Bolton (@EmmetBolton)
What a player Padraig Joyce was, the main man for Galway for the last 14 years, all the best to him in his retirement!
Joe Sheridan (@Squarecut84)
Best of luck to #padraigjoyce on his retirement 3rd best left foot in recent history after @colmcooper13 & #ciaranmcdonald #top3
Aidan O'Shea (@AIDOXI)
Just seen the gr8 PJ has retired. Some player one i looked upto growing up...& then managed to share the same pitch as him. #ClassAct
Paddy Bradley (@PaddyB14)
PJ retires.One of the all time greats.As sweet a left foot to ever grace a field #legend
Donie Shine (@donie_89)
All the best to Padraig Joyce on his retirement. What a player! #padraigjoyce
Conor Mortimer (@Conmort)
Padraig Joyce was always one my favourite players . Seen him play club and county for years and was always unreal to watch #topclass #joycer
Colm O'Neill (@crossbar13)
Padraig Joyce retires from inter county football. What a player.. #weaponofaleftleg #letalinfrontofgoal #oneofthebest
Colm Begley (@Begz_17)
All the best to Padraig Joyce in his retirement, exceptional player and leader who will be greatly missed by Galway. #padraigjoyce
Alan Costello (@AlanCos1)
the best compliment we could pay to the grea t#PJ on is retirement is to get him trending #genius
Anthony Masterson (@antomasterson1)
Best of luck to paraic Joyce in his retirement!! On the plus side we won't have to face him in the league this year #legend #oldschool
Colm Parkinson (@Woolberto)
All the best to Padraic Joyce in his retirement - played with him and against him... what a player
A joy to watch in his heyday. Like all the greats he made the game look easy. Hope he enjoys his retirement. Deserved a better county swansong than a defeat to Antrim.
One of the greats and wouldn't have looked out of place in the great Kerry sides.
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on November 29, 2012, 01:09:48 PM
A sad day for all Galway GAA fans but time stands till for no man. An unbelievable servant. Will be back later with some of my own memories of the man but HS have gathered a selection of reaction online.
QuoteIrish rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll has led the Twitter tributes to Galway legend Padraic Joyce who called time on his illustrious intercounty career last night.
O'Driscoll and a large number of Joyce's gaelic football colleagues have joined the chorus of praise for his achievements during his 14 years in the maroon and white jersey.
Here's a taste of what's being said about the great man from Killererin ...
Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll)
A huge congrats to Págraic Joyce on a brilliant county football career. 14 years is no joke at that level!
Steven McDonnell (@Killeavy13)
Padraig Joyce calls it a day. What a player. One of the best I ever played alongside. He was pure class. #TopForward #Legend
Emmet Bolton (@EmmetBolton)
What a player Padraig Joyce was, the main man for Galway for the last 14 years, all the best to him in his retirement!
Joe Sheridan (@Squarecut84)
Best of luck to #padraigjoyce on his retirement 3rd best left foot in recent history after @colmcooper13 & #ciaranmcdonald #top3
Aidan O'Shea (@AIDOXI)
Just seen the gr8 PJ has retired. Some player one i looked upto growing up...& then managed to share the same pitch as him. #ClassAct
Paddy Bradley (@PaddyB14)
PJ retires.One of the all time greats.As sweet a left foot to ever grace a field #legend
Donie Shine (@donie_89)
All the best to Padraig Joyce on his retirement. What a player! #padraigjoyce
Conor Mortimer (@Conmort)
Padraig Joyce was always one my favourite players . Seen him play club and county for years and was always unreal to watch #topclass #joycer
Colm O'Neill (@crossbar13)
Padraig Joyce retires from inter county football. What a player.. #weaponofaleftleg #letalinfrontofgoal #oneofthebest
Colm Begley (@Begz_17)
All the best to Padraig Joyce in his retirement, exceptional player and leader who will be greatly missed by Galway. #padraigjoyce
Alan Costello (@AlanCos1)
the best compliment we could pay to the grea t#PJ on is retirement is to get him trending #genius
Anthony Masterson (@antomasterson1)
Best of luck to paraic Joyce in his retirement!! On the plus side we won't have to face him in the league this year #legend #oldschool
Colm Parkinson (@Woolberto)
All the best to Padraic Joyce in his retirement - played with him and against him... what a player
Behind Ciaran McDonald?? I presume he is taking the piss.
One of those players who will be talked of in years to come when fathers and grand-fathers tell tales of Galways former glory days. Many of the new generation ( the 16 year olds and under) will not totally appreciate the class of the player, as they did not see him do his stuff at the top table. Probably the best Footballer Galway has ever produced, and believe me there have been allot of fine footballers in the Tribes County.
Although, he could probably keep going to 40. As he is smart and still skilled enough of a player to hide his loss of pace. Thought he should have packed it in a few years ago. But credit to the man for staying on, even though Galway football has declined since 2001. The easy thing to do would have been to walk away.
Despite the lack of success at the tail end of of his career, he still has the two Celtic crosses in the back pocket. Bar Kerry and Tyrone players of this recent era, there are not many that can beat of equal that achievement.
Legend
We only beat him in the championship that one time, 2001 of all years.
A terror to all the other counties in Connacht - what higher praise is there to be given than that?
Will never forget the 2001 final. It was a hard to watch for the first 50 minutes while we were still within a shout of it but after that you just had to sit back and watch Joyce go to work. He was finding acres of room and our defense could only watch as he ran through time after time.
At one point I'll never forget when we were on the rack already he could have finished his day off with a goal, as he came steaming in with only the keeper to stop him and he eased up and tapped it over. It was already won.
Great player.
I'm sure all Galway football followers will be thankful that we got the opportunity to witness so many great performances from PJ in the maroon and white down through the years; he certainly made a huge contribution in Croke Park for the All Ireland final wins of 98 and 01, the bigger the game, the better he played.
I'm delighted to have been at his both his inter-county championship debut in Castlebar and his swansong in Belfast this year as he is the best in the maroon in my lifetime anyway, will we see his likes again? You'd have to hope so although things are fairly bleak for Galway football at the minute.
Besides the fact that he was the best we had in Galway in terms of skill and leadership, I nearly have more admiration for PJ's devotion to the Galway cause than anything else. It's been plain to see that we have been miles away from contenting for any honours for many years, he was left playing with team mates who were far off the calibre of Donnellan, Walsh, de Paor, Mannion et al, yet he decided to keep ploughing ahead with Galway regardless. To stick with the county when your medals are already won is more than admirable, it's clear that the man just loves football and lived for playing it, best of luck to him in his future endeavours off the pitch.
Certainly the word legend is bandied about too loosely these days and all debates over his place in the GAA pantheon of greats will come down to personal opinion of course, but I think he is the best player Connacht has produced in the modern era, is there any comparable Connacht man who could claim to be his equal in terms of the skill, leadership, ability, calmness, intelligence, consistency and longevity he displayed on the pitch for 14 years as well as having the medals and awards to back it up? A few might be up there with him in one or two respects but not the lot.
It's a huge pity that he didn't have the same calibre of player around him in the latter part of his inter county career because he was left carrying that Galway team for a good number of years now, probably the lack of success in that part of his career will cause some people to not place him on as high a pedestal as the greatest of his contemporaries but I wouldn't subscribe to that notion, at his best he was the equal of any of the very best between the white lines, he is not just a Galway great but a Gaelic football great IMHO.
The best tribute I ever heard to Joyce came during the 2010 qualifier loss to Wexford in Salthill. Once again it was a one man show by PJ for most of the match and having just pulled ahead by a point going into injury time Galway were clinging on. He won the ball on his own 21, fended off several tacklers and soloed up the field as far as the Wexford 45 when he was finally caught up to and unceremoniously hauled down by a Wexford player. Galway would somehow contrive – by missing the free PJ won and conceding two injury time points – to lose yet another championship game by a point but at the time that he won the free, in the crowd we thought PJ had pulled another one out of the fire for Galway.
Anyway, myself and the crowd around me are up on our feet shouting for the great man after his run, when we sit back down an auld Galway buck that was well into his eighties sitting in the row behind us taps me on the shoulder and proclaims: "I seen Stockwell, I seen Purcell, I seen the lot of them, he's the best man we ever had!" - says it all really for me.
Quote from: AQMP on November 29, 2012, 01:17:25 PM
A joy to watch in his heyday. Like all the greats he made the game look easy. Hope he enjoys his retirement. Deserved a better county swansong than a defeat to Antrim.
The swansong of all swansongs. No better swansong could a man wish for. We are the grim reapers.
Larry Reilly aint been seen since 09
Hope he has a fruitful retirement. One of the very best.
Padraig Joyce retires................pheeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwww!
One of the best forwards in the game ever in my opinion. Clinical in taking his scores rather than wastefully spectacular. Powerful physique which enabled him to win his own ball. Brilliant brain which allowed him to make space for himself and others. He had a huge presence on the pitch also. The ball graduated to him and opposition feared him even when he didnt have the ball.
His career also had longetivity spanning the best and worst of times in Galway football yet his performance level was consistently high throughout. Most of all though he had ice in his vains. Always appeared detached from emotion and unaffected by nerves regardless of the occassion.
I presume he will play on with his club. He could play well in to his forties due to his economy of movement. It was probably time for him to leave the county scene in order to allow Mulholland build for the future. I dont think we'll see his like again.
Quote from: ross matt on November 30, 2012, 12:32:17 AM
I presume he will play on with his club.
Word is he may pack it in with the club as well matt.
On the news he said he might take some time off but intends to get into coaching after that and hopes to get the Galway job some day.
best of luck to him. One of the all-time greats and I dont' say that lightly
Could play till he's 50 with his footballing brain
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on November 30, 2012, 01:55:49 AM
Quote from: ross matt on November 30, 2012, 12:32:17 AM
I presume he will play on with his club.
Word is he may pack it in with the club as well matt.
On the news he said he might take some time off but intends to get into coaching after that and hopes to get the Galway job some day.
Really GBB? I imagine he'd make a good manager alright.
Mayo were better than Galway from 95-97 although there wasn't much in it and there were some fabulous matches over the period. Then Galway stepped up a gear in 98 with the addition of a few players including Joyce to the team and even though the latter was only 21 or so they went on to win an all Ireland.
There was something about the confidence of the young lads like Donnellan and Joyce. Even if they played for a county that had won nathin for so long there was a North Galway mortas cine in operation deep in the headspace - a connection back to the last team to do the biz, the Jarlaths stuff , etc and once they got to Croke Park and hit the groove there was nobody going to stop them.
But now the signal is dormant again.
Top class player - one of the modern greats.
Quote from: yellowcard on November 29, 2012, 07:09:05 PM
Quote from: GalwayBayBoy on November 29, 2012, 01:09:48 PM
A sad day for all Galway GAA fans but time stands till for no man. An unbelievable servant. Will be back later with some of my own memories of the man but HS have gathered a selection of reaction online.
QuoteIrish rugby captain Brian O'Driscoll has led the Twitter tributes to Galway legend Padraic Joyce who called time on his illustrious intercounty career last night.
O'Driscoll and a large number of Joyce's gaelic football colleagues have joined the chorus of praise for his achievements during his 14 years in the maroon and white jersey.
Here's a taste of what's being said about the great man from Killererin ...
Brian O'Driscoll (@BrianODriscoll)
A huge congrats to Págraic Joyce on a brilliant county football career. 14 years is no joke at that level!
Steven McDonnell (@Killeavy13)
Padraig Joyce calls it a day. What a player. One of the best I ever played alongside. He was pure class. #TopForward #Legend
Emmet Bolton (@EmmetBolton)
What a player Padraig Joyce was, the main man for Galway for the last 14 years, all the best to him in his retirement!
Joe Sheridan (@Squarecut84)
Best of luck to #padraigjoyce on his retirement 3rd best left foot in recent history after @colmcooper13 & #ciaranmcdonald #top3
Aidan O'Shea (@AIDOXI)
Just seen the gr8 PJ has retired. Some player one i looked upto growing up...& then managed to share the same pitch as him. #ClassAct
Paddy Bradley (@PaddyB14)
PJ retires.One of the all time greats.As sweet a left foot to ever grace a field #legend
Donie Shine (@donie_89)
All the best to Padraig Joyce on his retirement. What a player! #padraigjoyce
Conor Mortimer (@Conmort)
Padraig Joyce was always one my favourite players . Seen him play club and county for years and was always unreal to watch #topclass #joycer
Colm O'Neill (@crossbar13)
Padraig Joyce retires from inter county football. What a player.. #weaponofaleftleg #letalinfrontofgoal #oneofthebest
Colm Begley (@Begz_17)
All the best to Padraig Joyce in his retirement, exceptional player and leader who will be greatly missed by Galway. #padraigjoyce
Alan Costello (@AlanCos1)
the best compliment we could pay to the grea t#PJ on is retirement is to get him trending #genius
Anthony Masterson (@antomasterson1)
Best of luck to paraic Joyce in his retirement!! On the plus side we won't have to face him in the league this year #legend #oldschool
Colm Parkinson (@Woolberto)
All the best to Padraic Joyce in his retirement - played with him and against him... what a player
Behind Ciaran McDonald?? I presume he is taking the piss.
I'd say say Big Joe was being totally serious.
Few, if any, possessed Mac's ability to spray pin point passes about. Martin McHugh rated him as the best distributor of the ball that he had ever come across and I'd say his opinion was shared by many.
However, I'd rate Joyce as the more complete player of the two. Mac could have his bad-hair days where his shooting let him down and, unlike PJ, was not a proficient goal-scorer.
Pee had just about everything, including a good knowledge of the dark arts. He could draw a free better than anyone else I know but that didn't take from his overall class.
He'd be a shoo-in if I were picking my team of all time greats.
Quote from: An Fhairche Abu on November 29, 2012, 08:27:07 PM
I'm sure all Galway football followers will be thankful that we got the opportunity to witness so many great performances from PJ in the maroon and white down through the years; he certainly made a huge contribution in Croke Park for the All Ireland final wins of 98 and 01, the bigger the game, the better he played.
I'm delighted to have been at his both his inter-county championship debut in Castlebar and his swansong in Belfast this year as he is the best in the maroon in my lifetime anyway, will we see his likes again? You'd have to hope so although things are fairly bleak for Galway football at the minute.
Besides the fact that he was the best we had in Galway in terms of skill and leadership, I nearly have more admiration for PJ's devotion to the Galway cause than anything else. It's been plain to see that we have been miles away from contenting for any honours for many years, he was left playing with team mates who were far off the calibre of Donnellan, Walsh, de Paor, Mannion et al, yet he decided to keep ploughing ahead with Galway regardless. To stick with the county when your medals are already won is more than admirable, it's clear that the man just loves football and lived for playing it, best of luck to him in his future endeavours off the pitch.
Certainly the word legend is bandied about too loosely these days and all debates over his place in the GAA pantheon of greats will come down to personal opinion of course, but I think he is the best player Connacht has produced in the modern era, is there any comparable Connacht man who could claim to be his equal in terms of the skill, leadership, ability, calmness, intelligence, consistency and longevity he displayed on the pitch for 14 years as well as having the medals and awards to back it up? A few might be up there with him in one or two respects but not the lot.
It's a huge pity that he didn't have the same calibre of player around him in the latter part of his inter county career because he was left carrying that Galway team for a good number of years now, probably the lack of success in that part of his career will cause some people to not place him on as high a pedestal as the greatest of his contemporaries but I wouldn't subscribe to that notion, at his best he was the equal of any of the very best between the white lines, he is not just a Galway great but a Gaelic football great IMHO.
The best tribute I ever heard to Joyce came during the 2010 qualifier loss to Wexford in Salthill. Once again it was a one man show by PJ for most of the match and having just pulled ahead by a point going into injury time Galway were clinging on. He won the ball on his own 21, fended off several tacklers and soloed up the field as far as the Wexford 45 when he was finally caught up to and unceremoniously hauled down by a Wexford player. Galway would somehow contrive – by missing the free PJ won and conceding two injury time points – to lose yet another championship game by a point but at the time that he won the free, in the crowd we thought PJ had pulled another one out of the fire for Galway.
Anyway, myself and the crowd around me are up on our feet shouting for the great man after his run, when we sit back down an auld Galway buck that was well into his eighties sitting in the row behind us taps me on the shoulder and proclaims: "I seen Stockwell, I seen Purcell, I seen the lot of them, he's the best man we ever had!" - says it all really for me.
A fine tribute ABU, and all accurate. It's debatable if he was the best forward ever from Connacht. So many matches stand out but
a) the drawn final of 2000 when he moved out to CHF and turned the tide in Galway's favour (Oh God we should have won that game, why didn't Savo look up and pass inside?)
b) the final of '01 - some said he could have been replaced at half-time ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
c) the county semi-final of '99 (I think), opponents Salthill had several defenders of county class. They tried one man on him, then another, then two, then three, then they simply gave up. He pulled them apart with the ease of one from another galaxy. Surely the finest club footballer we have seen in Galway in our time.
A shame that Michael Meehan wasn't born 5 years earlier, imagine the forward unit we'd have had in that era?
Some excellent posts/tributes here for PJ.
I have seen the majority of PJs performances for the maroon and white at minor,u-21,senior league or championship.
An absolute class act. And I agree with AFA that his dedication to the cause in lean times was outstanding.
I was at that county semi final between Killererin and Salthill in Tuam Stadium in '99. I don't think I have ever seen an individual display like it. Twelve points from play and frees. An absolute masterclass.
He was simply a class act.
Very good footballer. But think he should have retired from county football about 4 years ago. Was at the qualifer game in Sligo in 2009 between Galway and Donegal and he was a total passenger in that game and pretty much has been since. Got the feeling talented up and coming footballers in Galway were becoming supressed by his continued influence on the Galway team. He was like Valdermama on the Columbian soccer team, everything had to go through PJ and he seemed to lose the head a bit with other players when moves broke down. He had the odd off day aswell. I would personally prefer to have MacDonald on my side.
When I re-read that it sounds a bit critical, sorry for that PJ. He was a serious bit of stuff probably the best scoring forward in Connacht since the Galway team of the sixties.
If Ciarán McD was my favourite Connacht player for the last 20 years, PJ was the best. McD could do stuff no one else could but if it came down to picking one man to drag you over the line, it has to be Padraic Joyce. I remember Tom Nallen (!) marking him out of it in McHale Park leaving us a point up with the 70 minutes gone. PJ then engineered and scored two points in injury time to win it for Galway. Even on a bad day he could turn the game around.
Unreal servant for his county. A very long nightmare for Connacht defenders has finally come to an end. Phew!
Great to see ya back muppet. As for Joyce a legend and a gentleman to boot .
A player of true class, the very best to him.
It was a pleasure to watch him in action, even when he was taking Mayo down. I remember David Heaney and Tom Nallen doing better than most in marking Joyce but you never had him out of a game.
If we had him in Mayo ...
Hey, Muppet.
Some brilliant posts on here from all over the country for one of the all - time greats.
The Americans always talk about clutch players in their sports. Joyce was the clutchest player around. I remember the '00 semi-final also against Kildare when Joyce engineered a late comeback and after each score he was pointing at his chest ad shouting at his outfield players to keep giving him the ball. He's as good as I've ever seen.
It's great to see the Muppet back and on such an ecumenical thread as well about a Gaillimheach started by a Mayo man.
Quote from: Paul Callanan on November 30, 2012, 04:53:20 PM
Some brilliant posts on here from all over the country for one of the all - time greats.
The Americans always talk about clutch players in their sports. Joyce was the clutchest player around. I remember the '00 semi-final also against Kildare when Joyce engineered a late comeback and after each score he was pointing at his chest ad shouting at his outfield players to keep giving him the ball. He's as good as I've ever seen.
You've said all there Paul. I've seen him up close in league games down through the years and he was virtually uinstoppable when in the mood.
Great footballer, and one of the best Galway have had, fairly clean honest player, but not the best forward to come out of Galway fore-by Connacht unlike what someone had said earlier.
Quote from: Wildweasel74 on November 30, 2012, 06:47:38 PM
Great footballer, and one of the best Galway have had, fairly clean honest player, but not the best forward to come out of Galway fore-by Connacht unlike what someone had said earlier.
The only realistic competition he has for the title of best Galway footballer ever is from the late Sean Purcell and Purcell is one of the all time greats in the game itself let alone just Galway.
I didn't see Purcell play but by all accounts he was more of all-rounder who literally could play anywhere whereas PJ was always an out and out forward.
I don't even think there was anyone on the Galway 3 in a row side to compare with Joyce (Purcell of course wasn't on those teams which is often forgotten).
Pretty much everything has been said about Joyce at this stage. He'd give you the shivers any time he'd get the ball. That was indeed one of the best forward lines when you think of it; Joyce, Donnellan, Savage, Fallon etc. Unreal players the lot of them. It's a pity Mayo didn't/don't have the calibre of forwards I mentioned there.
Purcell was who i was thinking of, but by all accounts he could play anywhere from fullback up. Frank Stockwell the other great player from that era, the late 50`s, together they were famously named the terrible twins!
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
The truth always comes out in the end
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
Donnellan won footballer of the year in 1998 and 2001. You mightn't be as far off the beaten track as you think in your assessment.
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce
Listen as a Galway fan who was there for all those games believe me when I say there is absolutely no way Galway would have won those All-Ireland's without PJ. He was the ultimate big game player. The bigger the game the more he delivered. The sign of a truly great player IMO.
In his first year at senior and Galway down 3 points at HT against Kildare in 98 final. He scores 1-1 in the 2nd half the goal coming right after the break and pretty much kicked off the Galway surge.
2000 semi against Kildare. Galway struggling against a super fit Kildare side himself and Donnellan give an exhibition in the second half to win the game.
Drawn final against Kerry in 2000. Galway 7 points down in the first half. He's moved to centre-forward and masterminds a great comeback. In injury time he runs free in acres of space only for Derek Savage not to see him somehow. Otherwise he would have buried Kerry in the last minute. As he's leaving the field he tells his teammates "you can't give Kerry a second chance".
2001 final against Meath. He has a very poor first half by his own high standards but gives one of the greatest ever Al final displays in the 2nd half. As poor as he was early on he asks his teammates at HT to keep giving him the ball and he wins the game for them almost on his own.
There were plenty of great performances after that in much weaker Galway sides that almost went unnoticed but such is life.
And Donnellan was great. A ridiculously exciting athletic talent in his prime but by 2003 he was already winding down due to constant niggling injuries. PJ was still playing for Galway almost a full 10 years later which is kinda mad when you think about it.
Ya PJ, never liked seeing his name in the teamsheet when playing ourselves. The thing i liked most about Joyce was how conducted himself on the field, i never see pull a dirty stroke. Im not sure he was the most talented footballer ever but he has one of the best football brains ive ever see. His reading of space and fooling his marker was second to none and a lethal left foot. He was never greedy either. Enjoy your retirement and thanks for the memories excluding the ones against Sligo but it was truly an honour to watch you play.
Quote from: IolarCoisCuain on November 30, 2012, 11:21:20 PM
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
Donnellan won footballer of the year in 1998 and 2001. You mightn't be as far off the beaten track as you think in your assessment.
I also think that out of both players, in their prime, donnellan was the better of the two. Used to love watching donnellan get the ball deep in his own half and just start flying up the field and leaving men dead with his pace. With type of game he played though he was never going to last as long as Joyce unfortunately.
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
rarely read a post i disagree with more. you're not the odd man out - you just look like a plonker unfortunately.
He was no Larry Reilly though.
What are Galway going to do without him? He had strenght and guile,attributes that make a good forward.
Enjoy the inter county retirement and enjoy the club footall for many years to come.
Quote from: INDIANA on December 01, 2012, 03:28:40 PM
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
rarely read a post i disagree with more. you're not the odd man out - you just look like a plonker unfortunately.
Well done being classy.
nothing classy about claiming one of the all greats as being a passenger on two all-ireland winning teams when he damn well won one on his own!!
Did you see the second half of the 2001 ai final syferus?
Either you're trying to be controversial or you know nothing about football!
I saw him play in maghera one day where he was not so affectionately called slippy tit all day though he was a man who could draw frees. He was a winner as well as a great footballer.
Quote from: INDIANA on December 01, 2012, 05:34:57 PM
nothing classy about claiming one of the all greats as being a passenger on two all-ireland winning teams when he damn well won one on his own!!
I think only you could read that into what was said.
Quote from: Syferus on December 01, 2012, 05:40:20 PM
Quote from: INDIANA on December 01, 2012, 05:34:57 PM
nothing classy about claiming one of the all greats as being a passenger on two all-ireland winning teams when he damn well won one on his own!!
I think only you could read that into what was said.
what part of galway would have won those two all-irelands without him did I miss?
Nice piece by Keith Duggan in the Times today. Probably writes about Connacht football better than anyone.
QuoteJoyce's career an amalgam of style, substance and commitment
KEITH DUGGAN
SIDELINE CUT: They pronounce the name with a scything flatness and to all Galwegians, Pádraic Joyce was always either "Jiyce" or "PJ".
Ever since his star-bursting summer of 1998, Joyce has eclipsed West of Ireland politicians, singers and television stars in terms of instant recognition and importance. The significance you attach to the news this week that he is to retire from Galway football depends on how well you understand Ireland.
The late lamented John McGahern remarked in a radio interview during the height of the silliness that Ireland had changed more in the last 15 years than in the previous 200. He may have been a bit previous in that pronouncement but there is no question that in a bewilderingly fast and false period it was difficult to be certain of what had substance and what was mere illusion. Through it all, Gaelic games remained one of the most trustworthy prisms through which to interpret the country. And within that framework, Joyce possessed a brightness that was impossible to ignore.
It was pure serendipity that Galway happened to have a talented filmmaker in its squad and that John O'Mahony was sufficiently liberal to allow Pat Comer to capture the 1998 season as it unfolded, from the unspeakably black nights which characterise the west of Ireland winters to the hallucinatory days which followed their September All-Ireland victory. That victory, of course, bridged the gap to Galway's eternally Brylcreemed bunch of 1964, '65,'66.
The three-in-a-row side conferred on Galway a permanent place in football's hierarchy. They were, as the Italians say, made men. It didn't matter that they could go through moribund years where they scarcely caused a ripple on the football summer. Deep down, there was a sense that a latent greatness lurked within those flickering maroon teams. And they rushed from nowhere in 1998.
Joyce was the kid on that team, the black-haired full forward with the deceptively quick step and an uncanny knack for making space and kicking these heartbreakingly perfect scores. He scored the goal that tilted the All-Ireland final against Kildare in Galway's favour and celebrated it with the slightly furtive gesture that would become emblematic: head bowed and arm held aloft.
Joyce was from the football heartland of east Galway; the family was a football family and he had schooled at St Jarlath's. He followed the same path as Seán Purcell had done in the 1940s. He won two All-Irelands in three seasons and when the arc of Galway's football team began to decline – and it was a slow curve – he could have taken a quick look around and decided that it was time for him to skip town. One by one, his former team-mates began to fall away and when Michael Donnellan, the undisputed football genius of the era, walked away, Galway's chances of winning another All-Ireland greatly diminished.
It was in the years after that, when Galway slipped back into the pack and Armagh and Tyrone engineered a football revolution, that Joyce's real brilliance became apparent. On good days and bad days for Galway, he never failed to do something that was so brilliantly quick-witted and unexpected that it made everyone in the stadium kind of gasp.
I remember taking my son to a Connacht final when he was four. The whole kick for him was the press box because of the fact that it was an improvised lorry. Of the game, he said only: "The number 11 did everything." Depressingly, he had summed up in five words what I intended taking a 1,000 to explain – there was no more scathing indictment of the futility of this job. Joyce was the No 11 that day.
I interviewed him just once, on the occasion of his captaincy of the Irish International Rules team. He was dead pleasant and just as moderate; like many GAA players, he has made a career out of saying very little in public because if he said what he actually thought about things, he would undoubtedly come across as too caustic and sharp.
On summer days of Galway disappointment, we watched him walk quickly out of dressing rooms in Roscommon or Salthill, bag thrown over his shoulder and head bowed and figured that that would be his exit from Galway football. But for 16 seasons, he showed up for more. He couldn't not.
In recent seasons, he has become a totemic figure in Galway football. The frame thickened a little and the black hair was silver dusted at the temples but the mind and eye were as quick as ever and he manufactured space and scores from nothing. You could see what he meant to younger players from across the country when they shook hands after games.
Much has changed over Pádraic Joyce's playing career.The country became loud, tipsy and grotesque and inevitably it all fell apart. Pat Comer's film caught a moment of Irish life at a very delicate, complex period when everything and everyone was on the verge: things were about to take off.
Watching Joyce play football on a dewy spring day in Tuam or during the height of the championship was for Galway people a vivid connection to that 1998 season but more generally, his presence was a truly eloquent example of grace and commitment and poise and belief in something real – values that were badly in want in this country. He played his heart out for as long as he could.
Quote from: imtommygunn on December 01, 2012, 05:39:51 PM
Did you see the second half of the 2001 ai final syferus?
Sure he was only 18 months old then ;D
I keep tellin ye not to pass any heed on Sufferingus' oul nonsense which is a source of great embarrassment to us Rosfolk. :-[
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
Very hard to agree with 'Galway winning without Joyce', but I take your point about Donnellan being a better player. In a way he was more brilliant and was arguably unequalled in his physical gifts, especially with his searing pace. But Donnellan had a good few quiet days whereas Joyce had much less so. Additionally lingering, chronic injuries conspired against Donellan, while Joyce probably had a better focus and attitude overall.
In a way, it's like comparing short-term brilliance Donnellan / Joe Canning to long-term influence / match craft Shefflin / Joyce.
You know, I didn't mean Joyce wasn't an important part in the AI seasons - particularly 2001, I was there when he picked us apart in the AIQF in Castlebar - but that if we were to ask who of Donnellan and Joyce could have been injured/not there and Galway still have a live chance at the titles it'd have to be Joyce because Donnellan was such an unreal game-breaker at his peak, all the cutest of Joyce with the pace and raw talent of the all-time greats. I'm not arguing Galway wouldn't have been a poorer team without Joyce.
I just think in Joyce's absence players like Sean Og, Savage, Walsh and Fallon could hope to pick up the slack from his role, simply by how deep the attacking talent from 4-15 was in that Galway team, but that the things Donnellan could do no one else could ever hope to replicate.
All you can say is congratulations on a great career, an excellent footballer.
Quote from: mouview on December 01, 2012, 11:06:11 PM
Quote from: Syferus on November 30, 2012, 09:59:13 PM
In all honesty I've always rated Michael Donnellan above Joyce. It's really about how you judge players - Donnellan's star undoubted burned brighter at its peak, for the All-Ireland chasing years he was quite literally the most devastating player in the country, but his career tailed off with injuries before its natural end.
Joyce's great achievement was his sheer consistency, never really the best player in the country at any one time, but always near the top of everyone's list. I think people forget Joyce was just a rookie in 1998 and was little more than 'another guy' on a very good team, people have associated that first All-Ireland in particular far too much with him simply because he's been the highest profile link to that team for so long.
I just value the short period of utter brilliance even more when it comes as the heartbeat of multiple All-Ireland winning team.
I still feel Galway could have won those All-Irelands without Joyce, but that there was no way on earth they could have without Donnellan - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw2a7Ej_NU) - and for that reason I'll forever be the odd man out when it comes to Joyce's ultimate place in Galway and Connacht's history.
Very hard to agree with 'Galway winning without Joyce', but I take your point about Donnellan being a better player. In a way he was more brilliant and was arguably unequalled in his physical gifts, especially with his searing pace. But Donnellan had a good few quiet days whereas Joyce had much less so. Additionally lingering, chronic injuries conspired against Donellan, while Joyce probably had a better focus and attitude overall.
In a way, it's like comparing short-term brilliance Donnellan / Joe Canning to long-term influence / match craft Shefflin / Joyce.
I know he seems to have been around for a while but Canning is only 23 or so .
Quote from: Syferus on December 02, 2012, 01:04:43 AM
You know, I didn't mean Joyce wasn't an important part in the AI seasons - particularly 2001, I was there when he picked us apart in the AIQF in Castlebar - but that if we were to ask who of Donnellan and Joyce could have been injured/not there and Galway still have a live chance at the titles it'd have to be Joyce because Donnellan was such an unreal game-breaker at his peak, all the cutest of Joyce with the pace and raw talent of the all-time greats. I'm not arguing Galway wouldn't have been a poorer team without Joyce.
I just think in Joyce's absence players like Sean Og, Savage, Walsh and Fallon could hope to pick up the slack from his role, simply by how deep the attacking talent from 4-15 was in that Galway team, but that the things Donnellan could do no one else could ever hope to replicate.
I've never subscribed to the notion that Joyce was less skilled then Donnellan.
Donnellan's searing pace and spectacular scores at times were a thing of beauty. He was a fabulous player.
But the longevity of Joyce's career and his ability to make the very difficult look so ridiculously easy makes him the better footballer IMO. Not by much. But by a little.
Another great forward retired from the game at the weekend. Declan Browne played his last game for his club. Moyle Rovers, in the County League Final against Eire Og. Tipperary's greatest ever footballer and a gentleman on and off the field. His loyalty to Tipp was something that was admired by all.
Quote from: Onlooker on December 03, 2012, 08:17:14 PM
Another great forward retired from the game at the weekend. Declan Browne played his last game for his club. Moyle Rovers, in the County League Final against Eire Og. Tipperary's greatest ever footballer and a gentleman on and off the field. His loyalty to Tipp was something that was admired by all.
Legend. Saw him score 9 points from play against Down in the league in Burren one year. If he was from Kerry he would have 4 or 5 AI medals and a shed load of all stars.
The biggest (back handed) compliment ever paid to him was when the Aussies took him out (thuggery) in a pre compromise rules friendly game a few years ago...thus ensuring he didnt play in the real series.
TG4 did a Laochra Gael on him a couple of years ago...seems like a sound fella.
Quote from: 5 Sams on December 03, 2012, 09:44:43 PM
Quote from: Onlooker on December 03, 2012, 08:17:14 PM
Another great forward retired from the game at the weekend. Declan Browne played his last game for his club. Moyle Rovers, in the County League Final against Eire Og. Tipperary's greatest ever footballer and a gentleman on and off the field. His loyalty to Tipp was something that was admired by all.
t I wish I saw
Legend. Saw him score 9 points from play against Down in the league in Burren one year. If he was from Kerry he would have 4 or 5 AI medals and a shed load of all stars.The biggest (back handed) compliment ever paid to him was when the Aussies took him out (thuggery) in a pre compromise rules friendly game a few years ago...thus ensuring he didnt play in the real series.
TG4 did a Laochra Gael on him a couple of years ago...seems like a sound fella.
I know what you mean but ...... I m sure Declan Browne is happy with his career but I wish I saw him play more than once live.
He was a brilliant player but is already 'Declan Who? in most peoples' minds! I d suspect a lot of lads that play football and are U30 years of age haven t a clue who he is.
Reminds me a few years ago when the Tommy Murphy Cup was started up. Chairman of club and other big shots were asking each other 'who the f**k was Tommy Murphy?' When I told them who he was I knew that I had done a bad thing.
Anyway I regret I didnt see more of Declan Browne.
That's the lot for any All-Star caliber player on the lowest ranking teams. Emlyn Mulligan seems destined to play out his career with defeat after defeat in both Connacht club and senior county but most every time I see him play my jaw is near the floor, he really has every bit of the talent and the guile of the likes of Jamie Clarke, Andy Moran, Bernard Brogan or, dare I say it, Gooch.
Will most people know who he is in fifteen years' time? Not a chance unless he decides to do a Larry or a Seanie.
There really needs to be a second All-Star team that acknowledges individual excellence outside of the top teams where it's plainly obvious everyone is raising each other's boats.
For me, the best player that came out of Connaught in the last 30 years.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/sport/2012/1201/1224327342441.html
The Irish Times - Saturday, December 1, 2012
Joyce's career an amalgam of style, substance and commitment
KEITH DUGGAN
SIDELINE CUT: They pronounce the name with a scything flatness and to all Galwegians, Pádraic Joyce was always either "Jiyce" or "PJ".
Ever since his star-bursting summer of 1998, Joyce has eclipsed West of Ireland politicians, singers and television stars in terms of instant recognition and importance. The significance you attach to the news this week that he is to retire from Galway football depends on how well you understand Ireland.
The late lamented John McGahern remarked in a radio interview during the height of the silliness that Ireland had changed more in the last 15 years than in the previous 200. He may have been a bit previous in that pronouncement but there is no question that in a bewilderingly fast and false period it was difficult to be certain of what had substance and what was mere illusion. Through it all, Gaelic games remained one of the most trustworthy prisms through which to interpret the country. And within that framework, Joyce possessed a brightness that was impossible to ignore.
It was pure serendipity that Galway happened to have a talented filmmaker in its squad and that John O'Mahony was sufficiently liberal to allow Pat Comer to capture the 1998 season as it unfolded, from the unspeakably black nights which characterise the west of Ireland winters to the hallucinatory days which followed their September All-Ireland victory. That victory, of course, bridged the gap to Galway's eternally Brylcreemed bunch of 1964, '65,'66.
The three-in-a-row side conferred on Galway a permanent place in football's hierarchy. They were, as the Italians say, made men. It didn't matter that they could go through moribund years where they scarcely caused a ripple on the football summer. Deep down, there was a sense that a latent greatness lurked within those flickering maroon teams. And they rushed from nowhere in 1998.
Joyce was the kid on that team, the black-haired full forward with the deceptively quick step and an uncanny knack for making space and kicking these heartbreakingly perfect scores. He scored the goal that tilted the All-Ireland final against Kildare in Galway's favour and celebrated it with the slightly furtive gesture that would become emblematic: head bowed and arm held aloft.
Joyce was from the football heartland of east Galway; the family was a football family and he had schooled at St Jarlath's. He followed the same path as Seán Purcell had done in the 1940s. He won two All-Irelands in three seasons and when the arc of Galway's football team began to decline – and it was a slow curve – he could have taken a quick look around and decided that it was time for him to skip town. One by one, his former team-mates began to fall away and when Michael Donnellan, the undisputed football genius of the era, walked away, Galway's chances of winning another All-Ireland greatly diminished.
It was in the years after that, when Galway slipped back into the pack and Armagh and Tyrone engineered a football revolution, that Joyce's real brilliance became apparent. On good days and bad days for Galway, he never failed to do something that was so brilliantly quick-witted and unexpected that it made everyone in the stadium kind of gasp.
I remember taking my son to a Connacht final when he was four. The whole kick for him was the press box because of the fact that it was an improvised lorry. Of the game, he said only: "The number 11 did everything." Depressingly, he had summed up in five words what I intended taking a 1,000 to explain – there was no more scathing indictment of the futility of this job. Joyce was the No 11 that day.
I interviewed him just once, on the occasion of his captaincy of the Irish International Rules team. He was dead pleasant and just as moderate; like many GAA players, he has made a career out of saying very little in public because if he said what he actually thought about things, he would undoubtedly come across as too caustic and sharp.
On summer days of Galway disappointment, we watched him walk quickly out of dressing rooms in Roscommon or Salthill, bag thrown over his shoulder and head bowed and figured that that would be his exit from Galway football. But for 16 seasons, he showed up for more. He couldn't not.
In recent seasons, he has become a totemic figure in Galway football. The frame thickened a little and the black hair was silver dusted at the temples but the mind and eye were as quick as ever and he manufactured space and scores from nothing. You could see what he meant to younger players from across the country when they shook hands after games.
Much has changed over Pádraic Joyce's playing career.The country became loud, tipsy and grotesque and inevitably it all fell apart. Pat Comer's film caught a moment of Irish life at a very delicate, complex period when everything and everyone was on the verge: things were about to take off.
Watching Joyce play football on a dewy spring day in Tuam or during the height of the championship was for Galway people a vivid connection to that 1998 season but more generally, his presence was a truly eloquent example of grace and commitment and poise and belief in something real – values that were badly in want in this country. He played his heart out for as long as he could.
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Pádraic Joyce will play his final game for his club Killererin this weekend.
38-year-old Joyce will call time on his glittering playing career after Killererin's Division 2 league game against Moycullen on Sunday. He made his senior debut for the club as a 15-year-old in 1992 against Clonbur
Joyce on his retirement
Quote
"It's hard to walk away from it but I'll tell you now, I've one league game left and when that's over, that's it for me.
"I'm 1000 per cent sure this time. I have a young lad in the house, three months old, and he needs my attention."
He's some man for one man! He came back last year to drag us out of a relegation dogfight and he was second top scorer (I think) in this year's championship. We will certainly never see his likes again in our club, unless little Charlie shows promise with the left peg! I have a feeling he's only biding his time before he eventually gets into club management and maybe even inter county. He has a fantastic footballing brain. All the best PJ!
To borrow a famous, but apt in this case, line from Jimmy McGee, "different class".
wasn't he part of the Irish team for the Rules yesterday?
Good Riddance! ;)
(The Highest compliment that any Mayo fan can give such a gifted player who caused us untold pain down the years!)
For me the best player on that Galway team and a tremendous finisher but as far as I can remember we handled him fairly well most of the time.
Donnellan and Joyce in their youth were just amazing. Hard to believe it's nearly 20 years ago now.