A Connacht four-in-a-row for Galway was built on a maturity that saw the Tribesmen show a steely resolve coming down the stretch, according to manager Pádraic Joyce.
The Tribesmen left Castlebar with the provincial bragging orders, but it was a hard-fought victory over their bitter rivals Mayo, who threatened to pull off a comeback victory in front of a lively crowd at MacHale Park.
With a strong breeze behind them and 2024 Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy showing his prowess from the two-point range, the visitors led by eight at the break.
Kevin McStay's side however dug deep and with 10 minutes remaining the sides were level. However a black card to Rory Brickenden was a key moment and the Tribesmen kicked three of the final four points to continue their Connacht dominance.
"It’s brilliant," Joyce told RTÉ Sport afterwards. "I thought it was a fantastic advert for the provincial championships and why they should still be kept in there. Mayo were unlucky at the end, they got it down to a kick of the ball. Every score we got today we earned.
"In the end we showed a bit maturity and cleverness."
His Mayo counterpart Kevin McStay lamented the fact that for all the resilience shown by his team to draw level, they were simply unable to finish it off.
"We just couldn't get our noses in front," he told RTÉ Sport. "There was plenty of time to do it and we nearly did once or twice. Those wides, especially the ones on the nearside, are almost unforgivable, they’re the ones that come back to hurt you.
"We’ll go back and have a good think about where it went wrong for us. This is our third or fourth big game as a group now in the last 12 months and we’re coming out the wrong side of them.
"I suppose we’ll take a little but of solace, this time last year Armagh were in the same position, had lost their provincial title on penalties and yet were able to turn it around so that’s the big challenge for us now to get competitive in this group series."
Mayo’s bright start into the wind had Galway under pressure, but Paul Conroy once again delivered a kicking masterclass, accounting for his team’s first three scores, all of which raised orange flags. He ended up with 0-07 in total, but Joyce felt the midfielder wasn’t offered enough protection around the middle of the pitch.
"He (Conroy) probably won it for us in the first half," he said. "He was being held down all day, couldn’t get at the ball, couldn’t get jumping. It’s amazing how officials didn’t pick it up. He was being pulled and dragged before the ball ever came out, but he got on with it.
"Physicality in the game is more than welcome, but we seemed to get a lot of it. I don’t know if that is because we caught so much ball the last day, but we get on with it."
Donegal or Armagh, Dublin and Derry await in the so-called group of death, but Joyce isn’t overly concerned with the level of opposition they will face in the All-Ireland series – "we have been in the group of death the previous two years as well and we seem to have managed okay" – and will hope to have key forwards Damien Comer and Shane Walsh to call upon with the business end of the season coming into view.
Walsh has not featured for Galway since March in a league encounter against Dublin, while Comer, who came off the bench in the semi-final victory over Roscommon, wasn’t deemed fit enough to make the match-day panel in Castlebar.
"Shane and Damien have dug us out of big holes over the years," Joyce said, adding that John Maher injury appears to be a dead leg and not a serious setback.
"Any coach would love to have them fit, but they are not fit at the minute. It is testament to the lads that they didn’t need them today."
