Mayo captured their 47th Connacht football title when they held off a late Galway rally at Pearse Stadium.
Mayo led by 0-08 to 0-05 at the break, having played with the wind.
They shot half a dozen wides in that opening period as Galway got enough men back to force them to shoot from distance.
Galway finished the opening half strongly and scored three of the last four points before the interval to trail by just a goal with wind advantage to come.
Man of the match Matthew Ruane delighted to get the win, considering so many of the Mayo team were playing in their first Connacht final #rtegaa https://t.co/qPkpYZrnjh pic.twitter.com/HRgGQgFXcR
— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) November 15, 2020
Mayo, despite falling behind in the opening minute to a point from debutant Dessie Conneely, managed to start building a lead with Tommy Conroy getting a brace and the O'Connor brothers, Cillian and Diarmuid, also finding the range.
Paddy Durcan went forward to extend Mayo’s lead to 0-05 to 0-01 after 16 minutes before Shane Walsh got their first score in 19 minutes when Shane Walsh tapped over a free after debutant Dessie Conneely opened the scoring in the first minute.
Ryan O’Donoghue, who started instead of Mark Moran, and the impressive Mattie Ruane pushed the lead out to five three minutes from the break.
But with Paul Conroy superb around the middle of the field and the Kelly brothers Paul and Sean also making telling contributions, Galway got enough ball into attack and Walsh landed one from play after scoring a free.
And when Cillian O’Connor responded with a free for Mayo, Paul Kelly hit back with a fine point to leave a goal between them at the interval.
The most exciting period of the match came just after the break as both sides struck for three points in eight minutes before Walsh cut the gap to two after 46 minutes with another free.
Conroy kicked his second point after O’Connor had converted another free to leave it 0-12 to 0-10 heading into the final quarter.
Galway manager Padraic Joyce brought on Damien Comer, a late addition to the subs bench after recovering from a hamstring injury, but it was Mayo who went a goal in front 13 minutes from time when O’Connor added another free.
Walsh cut the gap with another sublime point from the left and then at the other end it took a superb save from Bernard Power to deny Eoghan McLaughlin the opening goal.
Sub Bryan Walsh restored Mayo’s three points lead when he fisted over from a goal chance with four minutes from regular time remaining.
Another booming point from Conroy reduced the margin to two but Walsh was unable to land two difficult frees from the right.
Then in the final play Sean Kelly was hauled down as he bore down on goal, earning Eoghan McLaughlin a black card, and while Walsh cut the gap to the minimum in the fourth minute of injury-time, the Tribesmen were unable to force extra-time and Mayo held on for victory.
Mayo: David Clarke; Chris Barrett, Patrick Durcan (0-01), Oisín Mullin; Stephen Coen, Lee Keegan, Eoghan McLaughlin; Conor Loftus, Matthew Ruane (0-02); Kevin McLaughlin, Ryan O’Donoghue (0-01), Diarmuid O’Connor (0-01); Tommy Conroy (0-03), Aidan O’Shea, Cillian O’Connor (0-04,0-02f).
Subs used: Bryan Walsh (0-02) for O’Donoghue h-t, Jordan Flynn for Loftus 58, Mark Moran for Conroy 60, Keith Higgins for K McLoughlin 64.
Galway: Bernard Power; Liam Silke, Seán Mulkerrin, Cillian McDaid; Gary O’Donnell (0-01), Johnny Duane, Johnny Heaney; Seán Kelly, Paul Conroy (0-03); Paul Kelly (0-01), Michael Daly, Cein D’Arcy; Ian Burke, Dessie Conneely (0-01), Shane Walsh (0-07, 0-04f).
Subs used: Ronan Steede for D’Arcy 23, Gareth Bradshaw for Duane 27, Kieran Molloy for O’Donnell 45, Damien Comer for Burke 50, Gary Sice for P Kelly 63.
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone).
