Championship football is all about the score on the board when the final whistle sounds and, as always, that was the case again on Sunday.

In terms of scoring chances missed and opportunities taken Galway emerged with more to cheer about than Mayo and consequently won the game and the Nestor Cup.

On Sunday, in the white heat of battle, Mayo took 26 shots and scored 14 times which was a 53% success rate. At the other end, Galway's success rate was 65% after 15 successes from 23 shots.

PLAYER RATINGS: How Mayo fared in the Connacht Final against Galway

Scoring percentages

Mayo's scoring return from play was poor with just seven efforts finding the target from 16 efforts. This was a very disappointing 43% return.

Once again, Galway were clear winners in the 'scores from play' department. The men in maroon took 17 shots from play, scoring ten times for a 58% success rate.

Mayo's best return was a 70% success rate from placed balls. The Green and Red converted seven times from ten efforts at the posts, but yet again, Galway were more productive in this area with five successful conversions from six placed balls.

That gave the guests a success rate of 83%. 

The only department where Mayo impressed was in the amount of frees conceded. The home side had 14 whistles against them while Galway were penalised on 25 occasions.

It has been repeated time and time again that tight games are decided by the amount of possession won in the middle third and that was the case again on Sunday.

The kickout battle

Galway won 14 of their own 22 kickouts for a 63% success rate while Mayo won just ten of their 21 restarts (47%). That left Galway with much more of a solid foundation from which to build a head of steam.

Of course such a well-contested match was always going to produce a bucket-load of lost possession and turnovers. Big hits and collisions meant there were many loose balls flying around in the Castlebar sunshine.

Mayo gave the ball away 16 times but won it off Galway men on 19 occasions. Unfortunately, for the home side they failed to make this advantage pay and will now look to make major improvements in all department for the arrival of Cavan the weekend after next.

BILLY JOE PADDEN COLUMN: They let this one slip