Results elsewhere were causing more discussion than matters closer to Tuam Stadium after this facile win by Galway over Leitrim, yesterday. In particular, the results from Sligo and former Leitrim player Declan Darcy's role in that was causing much comment. Neither was it surprising that the former Leitrim manager, John O'Mahony, was content, rather than euphoric, with his first success as chief of the Galway side. "I had to get this one out of the way. I know it wasn't very pretty, but it had to be done. We have a lot of hard work to do yet; but we are happy to have started off with a win," he said.

The same might be said by the new Leitrim manager, Peter McGinnitty, with even more conviction. He will no doubt take some consolation from the fact that no fewer than 11 members of the team he selected for the start of this match were wearing Leitrim's colours for the first time. He may also gain some solace from the fact that he has identified some promise among that list of debutants.

It was ironic, perhaps, that the exploits of a former Leitrim player, whose undoubted qualities blossomed under O'Mahony's guidance a few years ago, was managing to keep Dublin in touch elsewhere in Connacht. Indeed, Darcy's absence from the Leitrim line up was pretty obvious from early in the match, when his free-taking abilities were missed.

Galway started sluggishly and for about six minutes seemed reluctant to drive into Leitrim territory. Leitrim, in fact, took the lead and might have stretched it significantly had their free-taker Gene Bohan been more accurate.

Once Galway got their boat on an even keel, however, there was only one team in the match, a fact confirmed by the statistics which show that Leitrim managed only one point from play during the entire game.

O'Mahony or Galway can't be complacent either. The entire match was riddled with errors. Leitrim were the main culprits; but Galway, too, surrendered possession frequently in circumstances where opportunities were coming thick and fast.

Their late goal put what might appear to be an acceptable gloss on the day; but the stark fact is that most of their scores, including their goal, came from sloppy mistakes by the Leitrim defence.

Galway must avoid complacency if O'Mahony is to have any chance of achieving his goal of leading three counties to Connacht titles. Once Galway and O'Mahony had decided to withdraw Padraig Joyce from the orthodox full-forward role to which he had been assigned, to that of a roving half forward, Galway took a firm grip on the game and built up an eight-point (0-10 to 0-2) lead at the break.

This was, in some considerable way, due to the efforts of Kevin Fallon, Ray Silke and particularly Sean de Paor in the Galway halfback line. And the panic which Joyce spread among the Leitrim defence. Leitrim's only riposte consisted of two frees by Bohan.

Leitrim improved somewhat with the wind behind them in the second half; but never made any significant inroads on Galway's lead.

One has, however, to mention the efforts of Brendan Guckian and Micky Quinn at midfield for Leitrim, and others such as Aidan Rooney and Bohan in attack; but by and large, this was a fairly dismal performance before a crowd of less than 3,000 on a day when the weather did not pose any real problems for players.

After Derek Savage had stretched Galway's half-time lead to nine points in the second minute of the second half, the result was well beyond doubt and even though Leitrim never lacked commitment, Galway's control was never seriously challenged.

The coup de grace arrived when Shay Walsh, Declan Meehan and Derek Savage swept through the Leitrim defence in the 21st minute of the second half and when Meehan's shot was fumbled by the Leitrim goalkeeper, Gareth Phelan, Savage had a simple task to side foot it into the open net.