Galway 0-10 Mayo 0-8: Although it was a fairly barren exhibition of West of Ireland football, Galway did not care. This was an important day for the Maroon county and this 43rd provincial championship is a perfect foundation for Peter Ford's administration. The sweltering day brought the crowds to Salthill and for long stages yesterday afternoon, there was more noise generated by the frolickers on the seaside and at the funfair.
This was a strange game of football, a match that was vaporised by the fierce July heat. Both counties brought issues and uncertainties with them into this final but it was Galway who managed to shed theirs.
A defence that was maligned over the winter and newly cobbled for the purposes of this game performed with convincing belief and style over the afternoon. Michael Donnellan offered juicy hints as to the damage he might yet cause before this championship is over and captain Pádraic Joyce weathered a so-so afternoon by kicking a brave and important point after 60 minutes when the contest was wavering and looking for a home.
There was something dispiriting about the way the day just disappeared on Mayo. As usual, the Green and Red faithful came in droves but they were silent and puzzled for long periods, searching in vain for the team that exhibited such gusto a year ago. In the end, all Mayo folk got out of the day was the promise of a paddle in Galway Bay and the consolation of a mixed grill in Headford.
Though stopping in Ford's place of work might cause pain. That yet another Mayoman is delivering what is beginning to look like another serious Galway team can but sweeten the anguish that follows Mayo people.
It was perhaps coincidental Shane Fitzmaurice, the player that most explicitly took the game to Galway here, was not involved in last year's All-Ireland run.
It would be wrong to say Mayo did not try to find the right stuff during the heat of the day but as a team they communicated the feeling that a negative outcome was fated. And yet they had their chances. This loss was a big reversal in terms of dash and confidence and it will take a great rally of spirit for Mayo to return to the latter stages of the championship now.
In fairness, though, they hit something of a brick wall. The home defence was on song. Paul Clancy neutralised Ciarán McDonald. He played an old-fashioned game, operating on his own 50-yard line, picking up McDonald when he entered that range, hustling the Mayo virtuoso into passing under pressure and never giving him space to exploit his great kicking radar.
That tough, clean, performance by Clancy inspired a strong response from his team-mates. Although Conor Mortimer advertised that he was up for the game with a beautiful point on eight minutes, he found himself absorbed in a riveting battle with Alan Burke during the tense second half, the young Corofin defender never yielding an inch.
Kieran Fitzgerald and debutant Finian Hanley completed what was a very composed Galway full-back line, easily mopping up the long punts that Mayo - in an unhappy salute to Kerry's tactics of last September - sent in during the first half.
That half was, as Ford put it, weird. Conscious of the burning heat, the teams settled into a cagey, slow-burning pattern with both sets of forwards struggling to find their range. David Heaney had a lively tussle with Donnellan and Dermot Geraghty hassled Micheál Meehan all day - only to see the Caltra prodigy fire the late point that sealed it for Galway.
Trailing 0-5 to 0-3 at the break, Mayo opted for a running game in the second half, with Peadar Gardiner overlapping along the left wing and Heaney and Gary Ruane also venturing upfield. There were sequences when they moved the ball sweetly but they lacked the killer statement.
Galway stayed composed and nailed the big scores when it mattered. Meehan sent a 45 sailing through the dead heat, Donnellan dispatched a couple of distance frees and Joyce stepped up and delivered a fine point despite intense pressure from Heaney.
That score came with 10 minutes remaining. Mayo would not score again and also went 26 minutes of the first half without landing a point. The Mayo super-ego is so delicate that those droughts were devastating to morale. With McDonald being tailed relentlessly by Clancy, Mayo needed answers from elsewhere and they just were not forthcoming.
How perfectly set up Galway's season suddenly looks. Just like that, the Westerners are back in Croke Park, the scene of many a happy day for elder statesmen like Donnellan, Declan Meehan, Derek Savage and Clancy. They can play out the rest of the year without inhibition.
That burden has been handed back to Mayo, and the next day out for John Maughan's men has assumed monumental importance.
GALWAY: B O'Donoghue; A Burke, F Hanley, K Fitzgerald; D Meehan, P Clancy; D Burke; B Cullinane, N Coleman; D Savage (0-1), M Donnellan (0-4, three frees), M Clancy; M Meehan (0-2, one 45), P Joyce, (0-2, one free), K Comer (0-1). Subs: S Armstrong for K Comer, T Giblin for D Burke (both 59 mins), P Geraghty for N Coleman (65 mins).
MAYO: D Clarke; D Geraghty, D Heaney, G Ruane (0-1); C Moran, J Nallen, P Gardiner; R McGarrity, S Fitzmaurice; A Moran, C McDonald (0-1, free), A Dillon (0-1, free); C Mortimer (0-4, two frees), BJ Padden (0-1, free), T Mortimer. Subs: J Gill for A Moran (half-time), P Kelly for C Moran (half-time), B Maloney for A Dillon (53 mins), L O'Malley for P Gardiner (56 mins) inj.
Referee: J Geaney (Cork).
