Connacht SFC Final/Galway v Mayo: To see Michael Donnellan embrace Caltra's Tomás Meehan in the tunnel afterwards, you would swear this was his first championship win of note. The maroon boys were as happy as they have ever been in Salthill yesterday. Just like that, they are in the last eight of the All-Ireland championship, young and unburdened and full of the joys of the game again.

"For a lot of us this is our fifth title. But it goes down as one of the sweeter ones," said Paul Clancy afterwards. "We have been out of it for the past few years and to achieve this was something special.

"We had seven years with John (O'Mahony) and when someone new comes in, it brought fresh ideas and people are enjoying themselves. We worked hard out there. We were under pressure but we felt we could hold them out. We dug deep in the last 10 minutes whereas in the last few years we probably sat down at that stage so it was good to see there was a bit of fire and determination."

Much of that emanated from Clancy. Shadowing Ciarán McDonald, the Moycullen man was fierce in his diligence and, all around him, the other Galway defenders grew more composed as the afternoon wore on. "They had control from the start of the second half and they decided to run the ball. Before they were kicking it in deep and we handled that comfortably," Clancy reckoned. "And they caused us problems but we knew it was going to come so we just rode the rough wave. And at the end the lads were able to kick over a few.

"I thought all of our defence played excellently today," said manager Peter Ford when asked about Clancy. "I didn't see much of Galway last year so I wasn't sure how good he was there. But once I saw him a couple of times, he was a natural and adds a bit of steel and is a great leader.

"Mayo had a lot of the ball but they weren't punishing us. They weren't breaking us down and the lads found a way to get in. With the ball we weren't that good today but hopefully that will come."

It was a big afternoon for Ford, who now has a Connacht championship to add to his under-21 All-Ireland title as a manager. The result was as he had hoped but the character of the game was nothing like he had imagined.

"After 20 minutes and it was two-two I was thinking God, this is going be a weird game," he recalled. "I thought it would be a perfect day for football. But you can never tell in championship. As long as you come out the right side of a low-scoring game, it doesn't matter."

The copper-headed Kieran Fitzgerald received a standing ovation as he made his way through the tunnel. Since his stellar debut year, Fitzgerald has felt the turbulence of the last few years as keenly as any Galway player but in what was a crunch match for the Ford administration, he found form.

"Ah, I am delighted. It was our aim at the start of the year to win Connacht. And this is as good as any day I have ever played for Galway. Just to beat Mayo, our arch rivals. It was hot out there and as I am a red head, I wouldn't be too fond of the heat at the best of times.

"But the whole team knuckled down and we played for each other to the bitter end. The heat took its toll and we tried to play a little bit cuter and slow it down a little. Ah, it's brilliant, it's lovely to be back in the quarter-finals. It's where we want to be, in the last eight."