Galway 1-15 Tyrone 0-14

Galway scored a precious victory and plunged Tyrone deeper into relegation trouble with a 1-15 to 0-14 win in their National Football League division one clash at Tuam Stadium.

Inspired by Joe Bergin, the Tribesmen got the better of the Red Hands in a thrilling basement battle.

Joe Kernan is now breathing a little more easily, having picked up a second win of the campaign, despite the absence of injured attacker Michael Meehan.

Galway got in for a goal after five minutes. Joe Bergin picked out corner back David Reilly with a superb pass, and his offload found the in-rushing Matthew Clancy, who gave John Devine no chance with a rocket from eight yards.

Tyrone struggled to benefit from the strong wind at their backs, and when they did craft useful scoring opportunities, poor shooting proved their undoing.

The Tribesmen were four points clear by the tenth minute after Eoin Concannon and centre back Diarmuid Blake had split the posts.

Tyrone did enjoy some reward for their efforts midway through the half when Colm Cavanagh shot a point, and Martin Penrose converted his third free.

Two minutes before the break, Penrose narrowed the gap to a point, but Galway reeled off the last three scores of the half, with Clancy fisting over the bar, before sublime efforts from Gary Sice and Concannon made it 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval.

And Joe Kernan's mean stretched the lead out to seven when they added three more quick-fire scores at the start of the second half, through Concannon, Nicky Joyce and Clancy.

The game really burst into life at this stage, and with Sean Cavanagh now in the action, Tyrone finally started to display a greater level of hunger and urgency in response to the dire situation in which they found themselves.

Now it was their turn to keep the scoreboard ticking, with five points without reply, four of them from Penrose, the other a wonderful Sean Cavanagh effort.

Galway were up for this one, however, and Niall Coleman and the imperious Bergin dug deep, helping them respond with scores from Concannon and substitute Cormac Bane.

Bergin steered over a couple of gems, and even though Tyrone registered through Ryan Mellon and Aidan Cassidy, they could not contain the Tribal desire.

Galway: E O Conghaile, D Reilly F Hanley, D Burke, D Meehan, D Blake (0-1), G O'Donnell, P Conroy (0-1), N Coleman, G Sice (0-2), F Breathnach, J Bergin (0-2), E Concannon (0-4, 2f), N Joyce (0-1, f), M Clancy (1-3).
Subs: K Fitzgerald for Hanley, C Bane (0-1) for Meehan, D O'Neill for Burke, D Dunleavy for Conroy, D Cummins for Breathnach

Tyrone: J Devine, M Swift, Justin McMahon, C Gourley, D Harte, C Gormley, R McMenamin, A Cassidy (0-1), C Cavanagh (0-1), Joe McMahon, C McCullagh (0-1), R Mulgrew, T McGuigan (0-1, f), M Penrose (0-8, 6f), J McAnulla.
Subs: S Cavanagh (0-1) for Harte, C McCarron for Gourley, R Mellon (0-1) for Mulgrew, S O'Neill for Swift, P Harte for McAnulla

Referee: M Duffy (Sligo).