Connacht SFC Quarter-final/Galway 0-19 Sligo 1-12: Galway corner forward Micheál Meehan tore the Sligo defence to shreds with a clinical display of finishing as his side edged through to a provincial semi-final following this Connacht SFC quarter-final clash at Galway's Pearse Stadium on Saturday.

Meehan kicked a handsome 11 points, six from frees, as he put the Sligo defence to the sword, with seven of those points coming in a dazzling opening 35 minutes. His display won praise from Galway manager Peter Ford, who witnessed one of the best championship performances to date from an attacker.

"Micheál Meehan was on fire today. When he's in that type of form there's very little the defence can do to cope with that. It was a clinical display of finishing, but that's the Galway attack for you. Today it was Meehan, the next day it could be one of the other five attackers who will take over the scoring mantle," said Ford.

Forde firmly believes the fire is back in the Galway team.

"We're happy with the victory, for we needed this game. Sligo are a very good side. We knew they would come back at us in the second half, they were never going to go down without a real fight.

"There's no doubt but that the spirit is back, and the passion is back in this Galway side. That's one of the positives to take out of this game, which was always going to be a difficult one for us."

Now Ford believes they are ready for Roscommon.

"Roscommon will take a lot of encouragement from the Sligo display. It will be another difficult game for us, but then again there's not an easy championship game any more. We will benefit from this game. Some of our players have only returned from injuries, but their fitness levels will have stepped up considerable following this 70 minutes of competitive football."

During the opening 15 minutes Meehan weighed in with four points, leaving his side leading 0-5 to 0-2, with Pádraig Doohan and Seán Davey's points keeping Sligo in touch despite playing into the strong wind.

Sligo reshuffled their side at the start of the half, possibly due to the fact that they were playing into the strong wind, with the returning Eamonn O'Hara taking his familiar midfield post, leaving Brendan Egan to slot in at left half-back, releasing Doohan for a wing-forward role.

With Meehan in the groove and playing out of the right full forward spot, the Sligo defence came in for a severe test, but then again had Sligo taken two first-half goal chances the game could have taken on a different story.

The two chances arrived in a two-minute spell, the first saw advancing centre back Paul McGovern crash a rising drive off the crossbar, while David Kelly shot wide of a gaping goal, having robbed goalkeeper Alan Keane of possession.

Meehan tagged on four further points, and along with two Michael Donnellan efforts, one free, and one each from Derek Savage and Seán Armstrong, they looked comfortable, leading 0-13 to 0-5 at half-time.

"We were happy with the eight-point lead despite having to play into the strong wind in the second half. But we were prepared for a Sligo fightback and that is what happened," said Forde.

Sligo set about reducing the deficit immediately on the resumption, with two points in the opening four minutes through Mark Breheny and Doohan.

Paul Geraghty settled Galway's nerves with a fine point. While Sligo kept battling forward, inaccurate finishing saw numerous chances go astray, while just on time substitute Paul Taylor neatly tucked away a penalty, to leave just three points separating the sides.

Sligo knew then that a goal would hand them a replay, but they failed to win the crucial kick-out leaving Galway to mount one last attack with substitute midfielder Joe Bergin lofting over the final score to ensure his side got a semi-final spot.

"The difference between the teams is that Galway took their scores. We missed numerous chances, myself included, and we paid the penalty. One will always pay a huge price against a side like Galway if you fail to take the chances presented," said Sligo midfielder O'Hara.

GALWAY: A Keane; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, D Meehan; A Burke, D Blake, M Comer; P Clancy, P Geraghty (0-1); N Coleman, M Donnellan (0-2, one free), P Joyce (0-1); M Meehan (0-11, six frees), D Savage (0-2), S Armstrong (0-1). Subs: D Burke for Comer (33 mins), M Clancy for Geraghty (63 mins), J Bergin (0-1) for Davage (67 mins).

SLIGO: P Greene; R Donavan, N McGuire, C Harrison; J Davey (0-1), P McGovern, B Egan; S Davey (0-2), E O'Hara (0-1); P Doohan (0-2), B Curran, A Marren; D Kelly, M Breheny (0-6, 3 frees), K Sweeney. Subs: T Taylor for Marren (47 mins), P Taylor (1-0 pen) for Sweeney (54 mins), M Langan for Egan (56 mins), J McPartland for S Davey (62 mins).

Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).