Pádraic Joyce slams game-changing ref call after Dublin loss

The Galway boss was not pleased.

Dublin showed that they are still a real contender in this year's All-Ireland Championship, beating Galway by 1-18 to 2-14 at Pearse Stadium yesterday.

The Tribesmen came into the game as favourites, having beaten Mayo in the final of the Connacht SFC, while the Sky Blues had suffered a shock loss to Meath in the semi-final of the Leinster SFC.

It was the tightest of contests, with Tom Lahiff's point giving the Dubs the win just as the hooter sounded in their opening game of the All-Ireland round robin stage.

However, Galway boss Pádraic Joyce was not pleased with a decision by referee David Gough, as he penalised Seán Kelly for barging while running in on goal.

Joyce said: “It's tight. Look at Seán Kelly he got pulled there in the second half.

“It's a great set move we have - across to Rob and onto Sean and he got pulled for barging. It's a ridiculous decision if you ask me. But look, I wasn't as close to the play as David Gough was.

“Again, Dylan McHugh coming around the back there seemed to be pulled down around his neck. So, just didn't get the breaks today and we have to suck it up and move on.

"It was a disappointing one to be honest, hard one to take in the end there. Fair play to Dublin, they came down with a plan for the game. They beat us by a point, yeah.

“It's a tough one to take, yeah. Especially, we got ourselves into a position to win the game. But I think we just dealt with the high pressure situations in Castlebar but we didn't really do that tonight.

“We gave the ball away three times in our last seven attacks which wasn't like us in fairness. But look, I have to commend the lads for their heart and effort in the second half there.

“People talk about Dublin being beat and out of it, they've seven or eight of the best footballers in the country you've ever seen. So we knew that, okay. People are doing podcasts and all sorts of stuff.

"Unfortunately, some mud on the walls will stick sometimes. But we knew internally ourselves it was going to be a huge battle, we said it to the lads before the game.”