Roscommon made it two Connacht titles in three years with an accomplished second-half performance turning around a seemingly lost situation against Galway at Pearse Stadium.

Following a limp and aimless first half performance they trailed by five points - a chasm against a team like the Tribesmen who have made their name with one of the most water-tight defences in the game.

But the Rossies brought an intensity that they had lacked in the early exchanges and the home team simply wilted.

For the second time in 24 hours Galway were beaten by one of their own.

The remarkable Anthony Cunningham, a winner of minor, Under-21 and senior All-Ireland hurling medals in maroon, masterminded Roscommon’s win.

On Saturday night Mattie Kenny was in charge of the Dublin team that knocked Galway out of the Leinster hurling championship.

Cunningham has now won provincial titles with different counties in different sports, adding Connacht football to the pair of Leinster hurling titles he won with the Tribesmen.

Galway’s second half collapse raises serious questions about a team that had been hoping to build a head of steam as they worked towards Croke Park this year. This is just the latest in a long series of disappointing displays that have marked their recent summers.

The second half was 42 minutes long including stoppage time and they managed two points - just one from play.

The game almost ended with a premature pitch invasion following a wide from Galway wing-back John Daly and referee Barry Cassidy did well to clear the field to allow the game resume.

Following the resumption Conor Cox spun over a brilliant point from a free to ensure a four-point win, the final whistle blew for real and the Roscommon crowd amongst the 17,639 paying punters was back out onto the field to engulf their heroes.

Before throw-in it emerged that Kevin Walsh had switched his goalkeepers, starting Ruairi Lavelle ahead of Bernard Power, presumably to make use of his accurate kicking on a miserable Salthill afternoon.

In a further change to the team announced during the week Peter Cooke started up front in place of Danny Cummins and he switched to the middle of the field after 21 minutes when Fiontán Ó Curraoin was forced off with an injury.

David Burke battles with Eamonn Brannigan and Ian Burke

Shortly after Roscommon lost busy wing-forward Conor Devaney who retired hurt and from here the Tribesmen slipped a real chokehold on the game.

In the ten minutes plus stoppage time before the break they scored five points unanswered to move into a 0-10 to 0-05 lead at the interval. For a team so adept at defending that was a powerful position to find themselves in.

Roscommon struggled to retain their own kick-outs, just as they did in their historic semi-final win over Mayo. Mayo, however, were more generous as they kicked wide after wide. A far more efficient Galway only missed the target once from eleven attempts in the first half and two of their scores came direct from turned-over Rossie kick-outs.

It was a chess match of a game through the first half, with ball-handling difficult due to the torrential rain. The grey skies lightened up shortly before the interval, though by this stage there was a spray rising off the ground every time the ball bounced.

Roscommon were trying to thread low percentage balls into Conor Cox and Diarmuid Murtagh in front of goals. On occasion it worked out and ended with classical scores, though more often the ball was turned over and moved up the field with menace.

Galway were much more patient and they were willing to wait until the right option presented itself.

Centre back Gareth Bradshaw and midfielder Ó Curraoin were amongst their six scorers from play in the first half alone. The visitors didn’t manage a score for the final 20 minutes played before the break.

But the game was turned on its head and Roscommon were level within five minutes of the restart thanks to brilliant points from Niall Kilroy and Cox, the naturalised Kerry footballer with the sweep left peg.

Murtagh got the vital goal in this period, the wise head of Cathal Cregg, the oldest and most experienced player on the team, doing brilliantly to drive into space and hold on to possession until just the right time to release the killer pass.

Galway went 21 minutes of the second half before they scored, a Michael Daly point, and during that barren period they only mounted one serious attack, which ended in a wild Shane Walsh wide.

By now the day had changed completely, the sun was shining and the wind that had been unusually absent from this normally breezy venue whipped up and strongly favoured the Tribemsen, who made absolutely no use of it.

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Roscommon: Darren O’Mally; David Murray, Seán Mulloly, Conor Daly; Niall Daly (0-1), Conor Hussey, Ronan, Daly (0-01); Tadhg O’Rourke, Shane Killoran (0-01); Conor Devaney (0-01), Cathal Cregg, Niall Kilroy (0-01); Diarmuid Murtagh (1-03, 2f), Conor Cox (0-05, 2f), Enda Smith.

Subs: Hubert Darcy for Devaney 25 mins; Colin Compton for Smith 57 mins; Cian McKeon for Cregg 61 mins; Andrew Glennon for Murtagh 68 mins; Brian Stack for Killoran 73 mins. 

Galway: Ruairí Lavelle; Eoghan Kerin, Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh, Liam Silke; Gary O’Donnell, Gareth Bradshaw (0-01), John Daly; Thomas Flynn, Fiontán Ó Curraoin (0-01); Shane Walsh (0-04, 2f. 1 ’45'), Michael Daly (0-03), Johnny Heaney; Antaine Ó Laoí (0-02), Ian Burke, Peter Cooke.

Subs: Eamonn Brannigan (0-01) for Ó Curraoin 21 mins; Seán Kelly for Cooke 53 mins; Cillian McDaid for Heaney 60 mins; Adrian Varley for Daly 62 mins; Martin Farragher for Burke 68 mins; Kieran Molloy for O’Donell 74 mins.

Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)