Galway 2-20 Sligo 0-12
A 20-year gap bridged as Galway tidily took care of business and stride forward into the All-Ireland series with intent.
It’s rare these days that a team wins an All-Ireland without having established some level of domination in their own province and so this 14-point victory is a positive portent for Galway with the round robin series approaching when they will have Tyrone, Westmeath and the losers of the Ulster final between Armagh and Derry for company.
A 48th Connacht title in all draws them level with Mayo at the top of the roll of honour though it was their first time to retain the Nestor Cup since 2003, when current manager Padraic Joyce was in his playing pomp.
Putting provincial titles back-to-back isn’t something that Galway have excelled at over the past few decades, which goes some way towards explaining their relatively meagre return of two All-Irelands in the last 57 years, with 1986-87 the previous time they achieved it.
“It’s a bad sign that we didn’t do it in 20 years, but it’s a reflection of where we went to for a while and Mayo probably dominated Connacht for a couple of years there,” said Joyce.
“So look, we had a title to defend and we did it, and we can’t ask for any more.”
By the end, the 14-point victory was their biggest in a Connacht final since 1982, when they beat Mayo by 16.
In front of a crowd of just 11,867 at Hastings MacHale Park, the lowest for a Connacht final in living memory, nobody anticipated anything other than a handsome Galway victory.
They might have thought the outcome would be a going concern for longer than it was, though, with Galway eight up at half-time and wind advantage to come, you feared at that stage that it would be worse than it actually turned out to be for Sligo.
The underdogs started encouragingly, aided by a stiff breeze, as they moved 0-3 to 0-1 in front after five minutes but by the time they scored again, 16 minutes later, Galway had struck for 1-4 without reply.
Niall Murphy’s 45 did little to reverse that trend, however, as Galway quickly tagged on another 1-3.
Both goals were scored by Matthew Tierney and assisted by Damien Comer, albeit it was John Daly’s superb pass that laid on the first as he played in Comer in the 10th minute. The full-forward’s handpass across goal was followed by an emphatic left-footed finish by Tierney.
The second goal was wholly avoidable from a Sligo point of view, with Finnian Cawley’s loose crossfield pass asking a bit too much of Cian Lally, though the midfielder still ought to have secured possession rather than allowing the ball to bounce. It gave enough of an opening for Comer to intercept, tear down field and place Tierney once again in the 23rd minute.
By half-time it was 2-7 to 0-5 though a black card for Galway’s Ian Burke in first half injury time allowed Sligo some leeway in a third quarter in which they largely matched Galway stride for stride, albeit whatever intensity there was to the contest had diminished.
With 12 minutes remaining the margin was still eight though Galway, with some impetus from their bench and Tierney continuing to fatten his tally which peaked at 2-7, finished strongly with seven of the last eight points.
Ultimately, conceding goals when playing with the wind put paid to Sligo’s chances of remaining in the game into the second half.
“I thought if we could keep them to 15-16 points then we could chip in with 10-12 points and make this game realistic, but both of those goals came from our errors,” said Sligo boss Tony McEntee. “That made life very difficult for us.”
Galway’s conversion rate was notably high with just two wides along with two other efforts dropping short. Their second goal came from an interception on halfway with only two players involved in the move from there.
“From a long way out they really punished us, they are very good and they are a very accomplished team,” McEntee noted. “They’ll go a long way.
“Today is just something we need to learn and improve upon, I don’t think it’s necessary that we beat ourselves up here, there’s a gulf in class between the two teams and we are trying to build ourselves and learn from it.”
There are no guarantees that Galway will go that one elusive step further than last year’s All-Ireland final defeat, but they appear to have the potential to at this remove having developed a more rounded squad, and one with an encouraging age profile too.
“Look, I’m a huge advocate for young players coming in,” added Joyce. “Sean Purcell told me one time that if you are good enough, you are old enough no matter what age you are.
“We’ve had lads on the panel previously for four or five years and some lads left the panel because they weren’t contributing.
“Whereas if a young fella comes in he’s going to give you huge ambition and huge energy. You see Johnny McGrath and them fellas today, they’re already in the mix in Galway.
“They know what it takes to win All-Ireland titles at underage, so it’s a matter of getting through the National League and Connacht with us and let them push on now for the All-Ireland series and see where they go.”
GALWAY: Connor GLEESON 7; John McGRATH 8, Sean KELLY (0-1) 8, Jack GLYNN 7; Dylan McHUGH (0-1) 8, John DALY 7, Cillian McDAID (0-1) 6; Peter COOKE 8, John MAHER 6; Matthew TIERNEY (2-7, 0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’) 9, Shane WALSH (0-2f) 5, Johnny HEANEY (0-2) 7; Robert FINNERTY 5, Damien COMER 7, Ian BURKE (0-2) 7.
Subs: Cathal Sweeney (0-2) for Walsh (41), Dessie Conneely for Finnerty (46), Cian Hernon for McDaid (49), Tomo Culhane (0-1) for Comer (60), Paul Kelly for Maher (63).
SLIGO: Daniel LYONS 7; Nathan MULLEN 6, Eddie McGUINNESS 5, Evan LYONS 6; Paul McNAMARA 7, Brian COX 7, Darragh CUMMINS (0-3) 7; Cian LALLY 5, Paul KILCOYNE (0-1); Finnian CAWLEY 5, Luke TOWEY 7, Pat SPILLANE (0-1) 6; Keelan CAWLEY 5, Sean CARRABINE (0-3, 0-2f) 7, Niall MURPHY (0-3, 0-1f, 0-1 ‘45’) 7.
Subs: Mikey Gordon for Keelan Cawley (42), Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch for Lally (49), Patrick O’Connor for Spillane (49), Mark Walsh for Cummins (53), Alan Reilly for Finnian Cawley (65).
REFEREE: Brendan Cawley (Kildare).
QUOTE ME ON THAT
“These four games were always about learning for us, if we get a single win against any of those teams it will be massive for us.”
Sligo manager Tony McEntee as his side head for the All-Ireland series.
STAR MAN - Matthew Tierney (Galway)
A very straightforward choice as he notched 2-7, matching the tally of Mayo’s Aidan O’Shea when Sligo were last in a final in 2015. Might have had a third goal too.
AN OTHER - Shane Walsh (Galway)
A clearly below par Walsh was called ashore early in the second half having been suffering with a virus. Notable that Galway still hit 2-20 without him or Damien Comer really firing.
UP NEXT
GALWAY: Tyrone (h), All-Ireland Group 2, May 20/21.
SLIGO: Kildare (h), All-Ireland Group 3, May 20/21.
