Galway still not up to Mayo's standard

GALWAY 0-16

TENTATIVE hopes that youthful exuberance could undermine steely experience proved to be unfounded at McHale Park on Sunday as Mayo powered their way to a four-in-a-row of Connacht titles a little bit handier than either camp might have anticipated.

Almost from start to finish, Mayo operated in a comfort zone that Galway just couldn’t penetrate – the match was not without its moments of opportunity for Alan Mulholland’s side but invariably when the chances presented themselves they were spurned.

It was a stuttering and at times flat Connacht final with Galway never getting quite close enough to last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists to put any scent of sulphur in the air – once Mayo went 1-6 to 0-2 ahead by the 23rd minute, their advantage was never less than four points.

Galway might take some statistical consolation from the fact that in the end it was a game decided on a 17 scores to 16 breakdown, and that the defeat was a 10 point improvement on the mauling they suffered over a year ago in Pearse Stadium, but they are just crumbs of solace as the qualifiers loom.

The tale of McHale Park on July’s second Sunday was primarily that of chances taken and chances missed. Mayo’s strike force were far more composed in front of goal with the cold edge of big match experience ensuring that opportunities were turned into scores.

Galway found themselves in trouble at both ends of the pitch with their defence finding it difficult to cope with the sheer physical power of Aidan O’Shea on the ‘40’ as well as the pace and trickery of the likes of Cillian O’Connor, Kevin McLoughlin and Lee Keegan.

Against good teams – and Mayo will be there again this year in the top two or three – chances, when they present themselves, must be converted into scores but the Galway forwards weren’t nearly settled enough to hit the target with regularity.

Although Mayo led by 1-9 to 0-5 at the interval, that scoring difference could have been wiped out had Danny Cummins, Eddie Hoare and Gareth Bradshaw made better use of gilt edged opportunities.

Full report in this week's Connacht Tribune