Galway pull away from Mayo with stylish second-half show

Galway 1-9 Mayo 0-6

Galway tuned on the style in the second half and pulled clear of Mayo to claim back-to-back Connacht minor titles and their 27th in total.

Desmond Conneely hit the key goal 15 minutes from time, but with Evan Murphy central to most of Galway's good play up front, the home side were never troubled after they failed to cash in on their first-half wind advantage.

The home side got off to a great start in the shocking conditions, as points from Conneely (two), Robert Finnerty and Evan Murphy saw them lead 0-4 to 0-0 after 21 minutes.

Mayo had to wait until the 24th minute to open their account as Oisín McLaughlin split the posts after a smart turn. Ryan O'Donoghue added a free to cut Galway's lead to two points.

With the wind behind them after half-time, Mayo enjoyed plenty of possession but couldn't convert this possession to scores. Conor Stenson hit the post with Cormac Haslem beaten in the Galway goal.

This near miss spurred Galway on and Conneely’s goal in the 45th minute as a killer blow for Mayo as Galway easily closed out the win.

GALWAY: C Haslem; E Deeley, S Mulkerrin, E McFadden; A Quirke, E McDonagh, F Garvey; S Raftery, R Murphy; F O'Laoi, E Murphy (0-2), R Forde (0-1); R Finnerty (0-1, free), D Conneely (1-4, one free), B Goldrick.

Subs: D Silke (0-1) for R Murphy (41 mins), S Thornton for Garvey (60 mins).

MAYO: A Byrne; C Horan, D Cosgrove, J Cunnane; J Maughan, M Macken, B O'Malley; C Murphy, N Moran; P Lambert (0-1), R Egan, O McLaughlin (0-1); C Moran (0-1), R O'Donoghue (0-2, one free), N McGhee.

Subs: C Stenson for Murphy (29 mins), S McGreal for McGhee (49 mins), E Gibbons (0-1) for Egan (53 mins), L Kelly for Horan (60 mins).

Referee: John Gilmartin (Sligo).