Galway manager Padraic Joyce was happy his side showed more "aggression" in their away draw to Roscommon, following their dismal outing in round 1.
The Connacht champions shipped heavy criticism following their eight-point loss at home to Mayo last Sunday, with Joyce offering a curt squad update to the media outside before departing Salthill.
They did at least secure a point on a torrid afternoon in Hyde Park, the game effectively being wrecked by the windy conditions, which left scoring into either goal extremely difficult.
"After our performance last week, we'll take the point with open arms," Joyce told RTÉ's Sunday Sport.
"We definitely put a bit of aggression into the game today. And a bit of passion.
"We had the breeze there near the end and were disappointed we didn't push on. We had a couple of chances to win the game.
"Just lost a bit of composure and didn't do enough to see it out."
In the wake of Galway's performance against Mayo, there were questions over the extent to which they were targeting the league.
"The league is a fantastic competition in my eyes," insisted Joyce. "Always was and always will be. Division 1 is a tough league. People might say, 'aw, they don't want to win it'. But no county goes out there to try and lose games.
"In the league, you try and get four points in your first three games. That's the target really, to give yourselves a bit of a cushion.
"We want to try and develop players for the championship down the line. We understand all that. The league is a building block for the championship, that's where it's at.
"We had four or five young lads in there today, between Liam O'Conghaile, Cillian (Ó Curraoin), Jack McCabe, Patrick Egan - they're all 20-21 years of age.
"Because we've so many injuries at the minute - not that we're complaining about them but they're there - that takes up nine or ten of our first team regulars, so we have to try and develop players for later in the summer.
"If the lads come back from injury and the young lads keep developing, we'll be in a healthy state, provided we can keep afloat in Division 1."
Galway's injury list was cited as mitigation last weekend and Shane Walsh joined the wounded today, though Joyce said it wasn't especially serious. The manager offered a broader injury update on his side, noting that Cillian McDaid was the only first-team player who would miss out on the league in its entirety.
"I don't think it's too bad. He missed the game today and we've two weeks now to see where he's at on that. Damien was the same, before the Mayo game he was in really good form and he just picked up a little nick. At this time of the year, we can't be chancing them.
"Sean [Kelly] and Liam [Silke] are in their return to training protocols. They should see action over the next two or three games.
"Cillian is one of our long-term ones, he's a groin injury, he mightn't see action in the league."
The point also gets Roscommon off the mark, with Davy Burke inclined to take that as a positive while wincing at the conditions which blighted the game from start to finish.
Roscommon's 0-07 to 0-04 lead at half-time was considered woefully insufficient given the size of the wind blowing towards the graveyard end, though the swirl made scoring awkward even down that side.
"Ultimately, we're off the mark," Burke sighed.
"It was a very, very difficult game to play. The conditions - I don't know if the TV will do it justice - it was very, very hard to score - into both goals.
"You think you've a big wind with you, which we did in the first half, it was very hard to score into it. I'd say both teams will be happy with a point in what was a very middling game."
Roscommon were numerically disadvantaged for a 9-10 minute spell following Donie Smith's sending off following an altercation with Paul Conroy. Jack McCabe's black card in the 64th minute left both sides even for the remainder of the game.
"There was a fair bit of hitting on both sides and I don't know why one lad was singled out," Burke told RTÉ Sport. "There was a fair bit going on on both sides, which was expected at that level.
"We were a man down for 10 minutes, which didn't help us against that breeze but our lads battled well and I thought the likes of Eoin McCormack was exceptional today."
