Galway beat misfiring Mayo

It wasn't that Galway were all that good; but merely that Mayo were poor. In fairness it must be admitted, however, that the first half of this Connacht championship match at a crowded McHale Park in Castlebar, yesterday, provided a lot of good and exciting football.

Mayo in search of their third Connacht title in a row for a long period seemed to have every chance of achieving their aim and were within a point of their goal, with less than 10 minutes to go.

In that time, however, they failed miserably to make any headway against a gritty Galway defence. The fact that they managed only a single point in the second half speaks volumes about their problems in attack. Galway were deserving winners and on this performance will take a lot of beating before this year's championship is over.

Their defence conceeded two goals to Kieran McDonald and the cornerforward from Crossmolina might have had three or even four, were it not for the second-half vigilance of Martin McNamara in the Galway goal, and the intervention of the crossbar at a crucial period in the game.

And yet a Mayo win would not have Galway any justice. They blunted the Mayo midfield and attack to such an extent that Mayo's opportunities were severely limited, apart from those goal-scoring chances. Had it not been for McDonald and the other Mayo corner man, Maurice Sheridan, the champions would have had a very lean time indeed.

Yet, the first half provided some stirring football, the high points coming just before the break when first Derek Savage and within a minute, Kieran McDonald, drove home spectacular goals at either end of the pitch to leave the half time score of 2-5 to 1-8, with the prospect of a replay in the offing. That feeling persisted for a lengthy period in the second half, as Galway failed to draw away into the comfort zone. But Mayo's failure in front of goal and indeed, in several other departments, frayed the nerves of their supporters and allowed Galway the time to gather their reserves. This was underlined by the fact that as the match turned into the last quarter, Galway were a mere two points ahead.

Earlier, the appearance of Pat Holmes in the Mayo defence in place of David Brady, seemed to instil a little more fire and enthusiasm into the Mayo side, as David Heaney moved to the middle of the field. At this stage had McDonald's shot hit the net rather than the crossbar, things might well have been different. A goal at that stage would have put Mayo into the lead but that was not to be, and successful free kicks by Joyce and Finnegan following a splendid save by McNamara, saw Galway home. At that stage, McDonald's lone point for Mayo in the second half seemed of little importance.

Both sides had fine goal chances but pride of goalkeeping place goes to McNamara between the Galway posts. At fault for Mayo's first goal, when his mishit clearance was cruelly punished by McDonald, he made two spectacular stops in the second half to redeem himself and frustrate Mayo, who will surely point to the absence of Pat Fallon at midfield, as a strong element of their failure to make the most of their chances.

But McNamara was aided by a resolute Galway fullback line of John Divilly, Gary Fahy and Tomas Meehan, who defused most of the Mayo salvos before they required the goalkeeper's intervention. Ray Silke also played a major part in curbing and holding scoreless Mayo's Colin McMenamon, while his flankers Sean Og de Paor and Tomas Mannion also emerged with credit in a well balanced Galway side.

Kevin Walsh, who seemed to be about to limp out of the game, following the opening exchanges, recovered to be deserving of a man-of-the-match accolade, while his partner Sean O Domhnaill, until he tired towards the end, managed to outplay Liam McHale and David Brady, while Padraig Joyce and Jarleth Fallon and the lively Niall Finnegan took the major honours in attack.

By and large it was a good day for Galway football and they will cherish it for some time, hopefully until the late autumn. In view of the extraordinary result from Croke Park, however, little can be certain in this most enchanting of contests where in the long run Connacht football might be said to be the winner.