Galway get their act together on home soil

THE horse bolted on Sligo two weeks ago. Their flimsy hopes of survival in the Connacht senior championship were well and truly blown away in St Jarlath's Park, Tuam, yesterday where the holders turned in a measured display to retain a grasp on the provincial title for another week, at least.

As so often happens in replays the strong learn the most important lessons from previous mistakes. So it was with Galway who from the moment captain Jarlath Fallon won the toss and opted to play with the wind, dominated this game with a mixture of defensive resilience and attacking panache to book a semi final encounter with Leitrim at the same venue next Sunday.

All the Galway damage was inflicted on the overstretched and outmanoeuvred Sligo defence in the first half when Shay Walsh could do little wrong. The centre half forward contributed eight points, three from play, as Galway cantered into a 0-13 to 0-3 interval lead. Such a cushion never looked in danger of disintegrating.

Galway, in fact, bore little resemblance to the side which laboured to a draw in Markievicz Park two Sundays previously. There was extra bite, more determination. And, most importantly, sharper finishing. It was a display that suggested there is plenty of life in Galway's attempt to retain their Connacht crown.

Walsh may have garnered most of the Galway scoring accolades, but the man on his left, Declan Meehan, probably caused most consternation in the Sligo defence. Meehan, a bundle of energy and wizardry, won an enormous amount of possession that was used intelligently. Jarlath Fallon, especially in the second half when he moved in to a deeper position effectively as a third midfielder, Austin Leonard and Sean Og de Paor also produced extremely good performances.

Sligo only managed to stay in the hunt for the opening 12 minutes or so, helped by strong defence from Cot in White and Neil Carew. But they struggled to garner any worthwhile possession around the middle of the park.

Galway got into their stride quickly. Within 30 seconds, Walsh tapped over a free to give Sligo an indication of what was to come and, while 53 frees and two bookings demonstrate the game's championship vigour, it was Galway who were always the masters.

The game's crucial period came between the 12th and 28th minutes, during which Galway scored six points without reply to stretch into a 0-9 to 0-2 lead. Paul Taylor's point for Sligo to conclude that particular spell was only token resistance, as Galway went on to score another four points before half time.

Galway could have had a couple of goals of their own before Sligo found the net late on. Tomas Mannion crashed one effort off the crossbar and substitute Fergal O'Neill was denied by, a superb Pat Kilcoyne save, before Johnny Kenny fired home Sligo's first goal from close range in the 60th minute and, then, Paul Seevers added a second two minutes into injury time from a penalty after Brian Walsh was grounded by Galway goalkeeper Cathal McGinley.

By then, Galway's semi-final ticket had already been booked - and, if some of the 5,000 crowd, started to vacate their seats with up to 13 minutes of the match remaining, one suspects that any Leitrim players present stayed right to the end.