Mayo left heartbroken by four-in-a-row Galway

CONNACHT SENIOR FOOTBALL FINAL

Mayo 1-15

Galway 1-17

In Castlebar

AS always there was only a kick of a ball between the old rivals in another rip-roaring provincial final under sunny skies in Castlebar. The big wind blowing straight down the pitch played a major role in proceedings with Galway having it behind them first and Mayo enjoying its power after the interval.

The Galway men went home with the Nestor Cup for the fourth year running after holding off the home side in the closing stages, but Mayo will have huge regrets and will rightly feel they left the game behind them.

They say a good start is half the battle. That certainly wasn't the case during the first half today when Mayo began the day with passion, power and pace, yet ended the half eight points adrift of a rampant Galway outfit.

The major talking-point of the half was the penalty awarded to Galway after 27 minutes when referee Paddy Neilan pointed to the spot after Johnny McGrath's shot was saved by Colm Reape. To say it was soft would be an understatement, given the other frees awarded and not.

Mayo had started well and were 1-2 to 0-2 clear after ten minutes when Darren McHale crashed home a goal.

Galway seemed obsessed with two-point shots at that stage and they got good return in the first 20 minutes with Paul Conroy landing three of them as Mayo's attacking fluidity dried up. The home side went an age without scores as Galway took almost complete control around the middle and moved eight clear, 1-11 to 1-3 at the half-way mark.

Mayo needed an explosive start to the second half and got it when Ryan O'Donoghue landed an early two-pointer and the Mayo dander was up. They were back on level terms after 53 minutes when O'Donoghue's two-point effort turned into a single point when Galway goalkeeper Connor Gleeson got his hand to the ball before it cleared the crossbar.

Mayo seemed ideally positioned to win it at that stage but a succession of poor wides halted their progress before a calamitous kick-out after 61 minutes was intercepted by Rob Finnerty. Rory Brickenden pulled him down and the Galway man kicked the subsequent free after Brickenden was sin-binned.

Galway took charge again around the middle in the next few minutes and moved two clear when Paul Conroy raised a white flag against the 14 men. Mayo still had time to get back into it and went looking for scores but all they could come up with was a Reape '45 before Liam Ó Conghaile stretched it out to two again with a counter-attacking point as the huge Galway crowd went wild.

Mayo still believed they could rescue it and had possession when the hooter sounded. They worked the ball to and fro but when Matthew Ruane's two-point effort drifted wide, Galway were champions again for the fourth year in succession.

A full report, analysis and pre and post-match reaction will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.