Galway manager Pádraic Joyce felt that his side's second-half performance let them down after they lost to Armagh in the All-Ireland football final at Croke Park.
Armagh ran out 1-11 to 0-13 winners to claim their first All-Ireland title in 22 years and to ensure that Galway’s own famine will extend past 23 years.
Either Joyce or his opposite number Kieran McGeeney were set to join an exclusive list of men who have won Sam Maguire as both players and managers, and in the end it was the Armagh man who prevailed.
Joyce has now lost two All-Ireland finals as manager, following on from Galway’s 2022 defeat to Kerry, and while he was gracious in defeat, he felt that his side will eventually rue another missed opportunity.
"We’re absolutely devastated," Joyce told RTÉ Sport after the game. "The dressing room is really broken in there. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
"Credit to Armagh, they won the game, hats off to Kieran and the lads. They’re worthy champions, we can’t take that away from them.
"We’ll look back on it and be very, very disappointed with our performance in the second half. We know where we fell down but it’s not a blame game on anybody, I’m just immensely proud of the lads and the effort they put in.
"I’m heartbroken for them more so than anything else, the effort they’ve put in all year, the tough year we’ve had. We’ll re-assess it and see where we go, that’s all we can do."
Galway’s challenge wasn’t helped by injuries, with captain Seán Kelly withdrawing from the starting line-up just before kick-off, and Rob Finnerty only managing to play 10 minutes before being forced off.
Despite this, the Tribesmen managed to nose themselves in front early in the second half but Aaron McKay’s 47th-minute goal proved crucial in deciding the destination of Sam for the winter ahead.
Instant impact from Soupy Campbell as he lays it up for Aaron McKay to find the net. We have the first goal of this year's All-Ireland football final.
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"We were (on top of the game) and to lose Rob early on was a hammer blow to us," said Joyce. We had a lot of ball in the second half, went 0-08 0-06 up and let them back in and the goal was crucial.
"We were saying at half-time, a goal would be crucial. We were wide open for that goal, it’s not like us, we’re never that way but we caught today and it was crucial in the end.
"We still had chances in the end, we had a lot of chances and every time we just kicked under pressure and rushed a few shots.
"It is what it is, we can’t wind the clock back. We have to suck it up and take it on."
