Galway boss Padraig Joyce: 'If Donegal had the shooting boots on, we'd have lost'

Galway manager Padraig Joyce might’ve been the one that saw his side let a late two-point lead slip and then miss a free to win in Donegal, but he was content enough.

The sides finished all square at 1-9 apiece in Letterkenny, although Donegal kicked 13 wides to the visitors’ four. The closest of those from a maroon perspective was a Paul Conroy free with the last kick, which looked like it was going over only to change its mind at the very end.

“I thought it was over,” Joyce admitted after O’Donnell Park had emptied. “I was celebrating it. It just seemed to turn at the last minute. There was a tricky wind there and it turned at the last yard or two. It was a very, very difficult kick.

“But it's a point gained. With the performance we put in, definitely a point gained. If Donegal had the shooting boots on, we'd have lost that game by seven or eight points, easily. We were in a good enough position at half-time.”

Matthew Tierney’s goal just 43 seconds after Oisin Gallen’s penalty from Donegal cut the Galway arrears from five to two and at the break, Paddy Carr’s team had tagged on just one more with the wind.

Donegal grab a hold of Galway late on as points shared in Letterkenny

Jason McGee struck a late score for Donegal to get a draw against Galway at O'Donnell Park

“It was a brilliant response by the lads after Donegal got their goal,” Joyce added. “We didn't push on after that. We had good chances to go further ahead. The way we close out games, we never think we have it won.”

Galway have moved onto four points from four outings and Joyce says that’s not a bad return to date.

He added: “We have three more League games left so we're going okay. We are still in the middle and not safe yet.It is competitive. Lads are getting game time and that's the one good thing about it. It's better than training. We just weren't on the money and our attitude was just a bit off-kilter. We struggled a bit at the end and we made needless errors to let Donegal in for scores.”