Padraic Joyce has never been a man to pull his punches.
The 45 year old Killererin man didn’t hold back as a player and he doesn’t as a manager either.
His Galway players have felt that, he admits, but he doesn’t spare himself either.
In his first interview after his unveiling as Tribe boss back in November 2019, Joyce told Galway Bay FM that anything less than an All-Ireland would be underachieving.
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“It is not an unshakable belief,” says the triple All Star. “I was asked a question about my ambitions as manager.
“I was not going to say, ‘Well, I am here for the craic. I am here to win a couple of Championship games and go as far as I can.’
“Every team trains to win the All-Ireland. They might not say it, but they do train to win the All-Ireland and I was no different.
“I wanted Galway to win the All-Ireland and I still do. We haven’t won anything yet.
“We are on a journey this year that might help us get there. We are as close as we have ever been.”
Not too many managers are as upfront about their goals: “Look it, I am who I am,” continued the double All-Ireland winning forward.
“I am an honest person and when I have nothing to hide, I will say it.
“The lads certainly know that as the years go on. That was a question I was asked and I gave an answer to.”
The impression out there is that the modern player requires an arm around the shoulder as opposed to the type of rows they might have had back in Joyce’s day as a player.
“Ah, there’s a few definitely get it at time,” says Joyce. “Whether they can take it or not, I don’t know.
“I’m giving a serious answer. A few can take it. They don’t react too well to it, but they’d have a chat with you after training about it.
“But that’s fine. I am who I am. I’m not going to change.
“I’ll change a little bit, as much as I can, but you have to be mindful as well, that you talk to them in a constructive manner.
“It’s easy to point out what’s wrong.
“But as I always say to our lads, don’t come to me with a problem because I can see it. Come with a solution to the problem as well and see where you can go.”
Joyce has faith in youth and he recalls something the “revered” Sean Purcell said to him back in the days when he was lighting up Gaelic football as a crack inside forward.
“I'm involved in a couple of race horses there with a Kerryman, Mike O'Callaghan up in the Curragh,” explains Joyce.
“I always say to him, it's as easy training young horses as old horses.
“It's not going to do anything for you. It costs the same, where the young horse might try and get fitter and stronger.
“So I've no problem putting young lads in. I remember years ago Seán Purcell, Lord have mercy on him, after one of the matches, he said if you're good enough, you're old enough.
“No matter what age you are playing football.”
Joyce continued: “Sean would have been around an awful lot back in our time in the 90s.
“He'd have no problem going through Martin Macs (McNamara’s bar) after matches. He used to pop in there. He'd make sure you weren't drinking water.
“A great character, a great fella. Revered. He used to come into the dressing rooms before the matches and shake your hand.
“It actually got to the stage where you'd look forward to him coming in - where is he?”
Joyce was the holder of two All-Irelands as a player by the time he was 24.
“I remember having a few pints with John Divilly (current Galway coach) that week (2001).
“I was saying to him, ‘We’ll win another one or two and then retire then at 26 or 27.
“But it didn’t go that way. I was playing another 11 years after that and didn’t even see Croke Park, never mind the colour of an All-Ireland medal.
“It’s not that we were playing bad football. It’s just that we weren’t good enough as a group.
“We weren’t doing enough as a county to make sure we got there. It’s a long time since we’ve been there. A county our size, it shouldn’t be that long.
“Again, it’s not for me to fix but we are going some way towards half sorting it and we’ll see where it goes in the future.
“Definitely, it’s an area for me Galway should be getting to an All-Ireland semi-final stage every three or four years at least anyway.”
It has been far from plain sailing for Joyce.
He’s been in charge for two Covit-hit years where his Galway side exited straight knockout Championships at the hands of fierce rivals, Mayo (2020 and 2021).
There were other setbacks along the way, like the 22 point league mauling in Kerry back in May, 2021, and their subsequent relegation to Division 2.
It’s a far cry from this summer and the Championship victories over Mayo, Roscommon, Armagh and Derry, which have set up a first All-Ireland final since 2001 when Joyce starred in the triumph over Meath.
“You would be doubting yourself, doubting the way you set-up and why did you do it that way,” says Joyce.
“It is great when you win a game as a manager, you are a tactical genius and when you lose it you haven’t a clue.
“That is just the way things are said nowadays but you have to look at everything.
“You have to look at the players you have and see were they the boys for the fight?
“Were they the boys for the job? And some were and some weren’t. That is the way it was.”
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