Costello leads by example

Under-21 Football Championship/Galway 2-9 Sligo 1-8: Captain Tomas Costello led from the front as reigning All-Ireland under-21 football champions Galway began the defence of their title with a hard-earned win over Sligo in the Connacht semi-final at Tuam.

Sligo worked extremely hard against the elements during the opening half and got a great boost when corner forward David Kelly scored a goal after just four minutes.

However, a goal from Costello set Peter Ford's men on their way when he expertly finished three minutes from the break to put Galway into a lead they never lost.

Seán Armstrong quickly added a second well-taken goal to make their interval lead 2-5 to 1-3. Galway finished with 14 men as Ruairí McTiernan picked up a second yellow late in the game.

SCORERS: Galway - T Costello (1-3), S Armstrong (1-2, 0-1 free), B Lee (0-1), F Breathnach (0-1), B Faherty (0-1), G Rogan (0-1). Sligo - D McTernan (0-4, all frees), D Kelly (1-0), F Horan (0-2, frees), M Gordon (0-1), J Scanlon (0-1).