Sympathy was in plentiful supply in Hyde Park on Saturday evening as the Galway supporters celebrated their victory over Roscommon. Most of the sympathy was reserved for Derek Thompson, the Roscommon goalkeeper who had made the error which presented Galway with their goal. The Roscommon dressing-room door remained firmly closed for a considerable time after the match and when it did eventually open, ashen-faced players trooped away silently to lick their mental and physical wounds after a most demanding 100 minutes of football. Only Enon Gavin had words to say. "This is a terrible blow to us, and the goal was what really decided it. What we have to do is to look on the positive side. Before the championship started, we were being rated as the weakest team in Connacht and were outsiders against Sligo. "Even when we managed to get that behind us nobody gave us a chance against Galway and yet we were within a couple of points of them at the end after extra-time. We have learned a lot and we will just have to get on with it." "We got the break when we needed it," said Galway manager John O'Mahony. "They never let up. Even when we seemed to be outplaying them they kept coming at us. Even at the end they might have got a goal either to win or draw.

"We have benefited a lot from these two games and have found out a lot about ourselves and hope to put that knowledge into action against Derry. For the moment we are just enjoying the feeling of being champions again after playing second fiddle to Mayo for so long." n Sean Og de Paor, who could be rated Galway's man of the match, echoed those sentiments. "It was very difficult to put daylight between us and them even when we seemed to be on top. They never gave up chasing."