By Shaun Casey

EVER wonder what it’s like being inside the Galway changing room? What Padraic Joyce is bringing to the set up that has led the Tribesmen to the last four in the race for the Sam Maguire?

Former Donegal player John Haran knows all about Joyce and his backroom team of John Divilly and John Concannon having played alongside the trio as part of the great St Jarlath’s Tuam team of 1994 that won the Hogan Cup.

It was an All-Star line-up, filled with future All-Ireland winners. Divilly and the Meehan brothers Tomas and Declan manned the defence. Tommie Joyce controlled the middle of the field and up from Padraic Joyce, Michael Donnellan and John Concannon ran the show.

“They would have been fanatics about football,” said Haran regarding the three men leading the Galway revival.

“Concannon would have managed his club team Milltown to a county final, and he was only young at that stage, he might have been only stopped playing. It was actually Padraic Joyce that beat them in the final, Killererin beat them in the final and Tommy Joyce might have even been the manager that year.

“Divilly would have been involved with UCD for a long time and coaching a few different clubs around the midlands. Padraic’s probably late coming into management, Padraic’s first role would have been with the Galway u-20s before the senior job and Concannon and Divilly would have been involved with him in that.”

There was no better time than now to take the Galway job. Joyce and his management team, that includes Cian O’Neill, got their just rewards when they won the Connacht title this season (their third in charge), defeating Mayo and Roscommon along the way.

“I suppose when Kevin Walsh left Joyce’s name was mentioned and I remembered speaking to Concannon at the time and their thinking was that Shane Walsh, Damien Comer and Paul Conroy were coming into their prime and if they didn’t take it then, when would they have as good a crop of Galway players to work with?

“They thought that the timing was right to go in and try to get success with that group of players because they were coming into their peak. I think Cian O’Neill was a big help to them, they wouldn’t be afraid to admit that.

“He’d brought a wee bit more experience to the backroom team that he didn’t have from being around inter-county teams for 10 or 12 years, so I think Cian O’Neill has played a big part.

“But the boys would be shrewd operators, they’d have nothing to learn, and they’d be confident of their own ability, and they’ll have their homework done now for Derry coming up in Croke Park, there’s no doubt about that.”

Even at the young age Haran soldiered with him, Joyce’s leadership ability and self confidence could never be questioned, but he wasn’t the only superstar in their ranks and the captain debate for their final year sparked some controversy.

“We won the u-16.5 Connaught title in ’93 and the funny thing about it was in St Jarlath’s at that time, the captain of the senior football team was always a boarder. So, John Concannon had made the decision to come boarding for his last year – he only lived about seven mile from Tuam.

“We all took that as a sure thing that he was going to be captain of the senior football team but low and behold, he didn’t get it. Padraic Joyce got it ahead of him and Padraic was a day-boy which was a big shock at the time, it was a big thing.

“John Concannon had been a bit of a boy wonder at the time, he was going on to be his third year of senior football which was kind of unheard of. He played when he was 14-and-a-half just turning 15 in a Hogan Cup final in ’92 against St Brendan’s Killarney.

“And then he played in ’93 against St Coleman’s Newry, they beat us. That was a big thing at the time, when Joyce got awarded the captaincy ahead of Concannon. It’s funny the way the thing works, they’re still best buddies and they’re still on the sideline together now.

“Concannon and everyone else in the school thought he was going to get it because he was the most experienced player and at that stage, he was probably our best player, he was the standout player at the time.”

Joyce would have been vocal in the changing room Haran confirms and recalls how he drove the standards at training along with Michael Donnellan.

“Joyce never lacked confidence; he was always sure of himself even at that young age. The team manager Joe Long might have seen that because Joyce would have captained the u-16.5 team the year before.

“He would have been vocal, but that team was all full of leaders, Michael Donnellan would have been very vocal too. They played at a high standard and even at a young age, Michael Donnellan was on that ’94 team at 16-and-a-half.

“He’d flare up at training if boys were messing about or standards were slipping, and Joyce would have been the same. Joyce would have been very confident in himself as a player, and I suppose when you’re assured of yourself as a player you probably have earned a bit of respect so you can be more vocal as a captain.

“Looking back, we were only young fellas, when you think of it. We were only 16 or 17 but I suppose those leadership qualities were probably there from being sure of himself and confident in himself.

“He wouldn’t have lacked confidence and that always stood to him even as a player. And Concannon and Divilly, it’s funny the Galway boys when they get going, they’re as cocky as anyone, there’s no doubt about that.

“He’d have been vocal and well able to get boys riled up, but I’d say now in his position as Galway manager, he would have come in there as an icon, like any former player that has won All-Irelands.

“I’d say the players looked up to him straight away, but you have to get the results to back it up as a manager. You can come in as a big icon, but look at James McCartan there, it mightn’t just go according to plan just because you have a big name.

“You have to be able to back it up, but I would say Padraic would have been very assured of himself and very confident. Even when you saw his first year, he wanted to go in and play a different brand of football, more open than they were playing.

“He tried that for a while, but he had to come back to reality a wee bit and get more defensive because they were leaking too many scores, so he’d be pragmatic enough too.”

Galway are coming up against another fanatic on Saturday as Rory Gallagher is famed for his insights into other teams, how they set up and their strengths and weaknesses. While Joyce’s life revolves around football, Haran wouldn’t put him in the same bracket as Gallagher in that respect.

Having had an insight into Gallagher’s methods when the Fermanagh native led Donegal, St Eunan’s chairman Haran, who keeps in contact with his former teammates through a WhatsApp group, couldn’t compare the two.

“There’s a WhatsApp group going, there’s six of us in it. Me and Joyce, Divilly, Concannon, Tommy Joyce and a fella from Ackle Island Johnny Cafferkey, it’s good craic. I was chatting to Concannon on Monday (after the Armagh game).

“They were delighted with the win over Armagh, and they were just a wee bit worried about what the disciplinary proceedings were going to be, but they were confident that Sean Kelly would get off anyway because he didn’t seem to do much wrong in the melee.

“People are on about Derry and they are flying but to me it’s a 5050 game, anyone can win it. I don’t think Galway will fear Derry and I don’t think Derry will fear Galway, so I think it’ll be a brilliant game. Both have nothing to lose.”

“I wouldn’t put Joyce in that same bracket (as Gallagher), definitely not. But maybe since he’s become Galway manager, you probably have to be a wee bit like that there. Padraic Joyce is a very successful businessman, has built up businesses with recruitment and construction and catering and domestic cleaning.

“He would have been busy enough doing that there in the last ten years while Rory was involved in inter-county teams all the time and Rory was always known for that micro-analysis of other teams and every player in the country and I know that from the Donegal boys chatting about him over the years.

“I wouldn’t have put Padraic into that category but to me that’s only a small part of it. It’s great surely if you know that there but, in this day and age you have backroom teams, you have analysis and you have a team of men working on that and they’ll know each other inside out.

“They played each other in the league this year and challenge games and different things. It’s great knowing all that stuff but at the same time you have to have your players motivated, and have them fit, you have to have them in the right frame of mind to carry out that gameplan.

“No matter if you know if he kicks with the right or he kicks with the left or does this or he does that, that’s alright but you have to get your own players to perform as well as knowing about the opposition so I wouldn’t put a lot of emphasis on that.

“It’s great to have it surely but I definitely think Padraic Joyce wouldn’t be in the category, absolutely not, but he’d have nothing to learn at the same time.”