Pádraic Joyce admitted Galway still have areas to improve despite securing an important Allianz National Football League victory over Monaghan on Sunday.
The Tribesmen picked up their second win of the campaign with a hard-earned victory in difficult wintery conditions in Inniskeen, eventually pulling clear of the already relegated hosts.
Galway were missing several key forwards including Shane Walsh, Matthew Thompson, Cillian McDaid and Damien Comer, but they still managed to get the job done.
Rob Finnerty was Galway’s main scoring threat with 0-8, while veteran Paul Conroy produced two outstanding two-pointers in the second half to help seal the result.
Captain John Maher also impressed in midfield and was named man of the match after a powerful display.
Despite the win, Pádraic Joyce admitted the performance was far from perfect.
> We'll look at a lot of aspects of it, but, it was a hard enough day for football the wind was all over the shop a little bit, but I thought we controlled the game well the first half.
While Galway were largely in control, they did concede two goals during the contest.
Pádraic Joyce played down those moments as costly individual errors rather than a structural issue.
> I wouldn't say they were individual errors, but just two kind of fumbles and mistakes, you know, but in this division, Division One, If you make a mistake like that, you'll be punished.
Galway’s strongest spell came midway through the second half when they kicked nine points in a row, a run that effectively decided the contest.
However, Pádraic Joyce pointed to a number of aspects that still frustrated him.
> We turned the ball over there today 25 times, which is a lot, like, you know. That's far too high, you know.
>
> So I mean if you can keep that down to single figures, you get a couple more scores on the board.
The Galway manager also felt his side were wasteful late in the game.
> Just thought we were a bit sloppy there towards the end as well, missed a two point free there at the end and you don't know how the division could come out with score difference and that stuff.
The win keeps Galway alive in Division 1 heading into a dramatic final round of fixtures.
Joyce’s side now face Dublin in Salthill, with the relegation battle set to go right to the wire.
If Dublin lose that game they will drop to Division 2, while Galway could still be relegated if Armagh better their result away to Kerry, with Jack O’Connor’s side chasing a place in the league final.
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