Matthew Tierney inspires Galway to first successful defence of Connacht title in 20 years

Galway 2-20 Sligo 0-12

On a weekend of coronations elsewhere, it was a procession in Castlebar as Galway maintained their rule over Connacht by claiming consecutive provincial titles for the first time in two decades.

Matthew Tierney scored 2-7 (2-5 from play) in a game Galway led from the moment of his first goal in the 10th minute until the final whistle. The success moves Galway out on their own at the top of the Connacht roll of honour with 49 titles, one ahead of Mayo.

“I absolutely love a Connacht title,” beamed Johnny Heaney afterwards. “We have been looking at this provincial since we were young fellas, it is all about winning Connacht and having that throne in Connacht.”

Kings of all before them out west now, and yet this was the first time Galway have managed back-to-back Nestor Cup triumphs since 2002-03. Not that it ever looked in any doubt here in front of 11,867 spectators at MacHale Park.

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Sligo, hoping to win only a fourth provincial senior title, were outclassed, outplayed and overpowered by a Galway side so much further down the road in terms of their development.

Galway had 10 different scorers and could afford to have three forwards who had been nominated for All Stars last year watch the closing stages of this game from the bench – Damien Comer, Shane Walsh and Rob Finnerty. Pádraic Joyce explained afterwards that Walsh had been in bed sick for two days prior to the match. Comer was again involved in so much of Galway’s positive play and no doubt his substitution was more with an eye to bigger days coming up.

Indeed, while this was another victory demonstrating the growing strength of Galway’s collective, Tierney’s performance was as good as any we are likely to see in a provincial final this or any other season.

His two goals gave Galway a 2-7 to 0-5 half-time lead and as the teams traipsed in at the interval the game was already up for Sligo.

“I’m constantly telling him (Matthew Tierney) he should be kicking 1-2 or 1-3, but 2-7 was a phenomenal score in fairness to him,” smiled Joyce.

“He probably could have got a third goal when he punched the ball over the bar. He was one of our standout players in the league and not only that he caught kickouts (today), kicked a 45, punched a score and kicked a free and had a couple of great scores from play as well. It was a fantastic performance from him.”

Sligo, who played their league football in Division Four this season, entered the game on the back of championship wins over London and New York. The jump in class against Galway, Division One league finalists this year and All-Ireland finalists last summer, was simply a hurdle too far.

And yet Sligo, hoping to harness the momentum of Saturday’s superb All-Ireland under-20 semi-final success, started brightly and led 0-3 to 0-1 after five minutes. However, they were outscored 2-6 to 0-2 over the rest of the half. The goals sucked the life out of their challenge.

“I thought if we could keep them to 15-16 points then we could chip in with 10-12 points and make this game realistic, but both of those goals came from our errors,” lamented Sligo boss Tony McEntee. “That made life very difficult for us.”

Tierney’s first goal came at the end of a good move, which was initiated by a sublime defence-splitting John Daly pass to Comer, who in turn squared the ball across the face of the goal where Tierney placed the ball brilliantly to the top corner.

Comer was again involved in the second goal, seizing on an overhit pass across the middle of the pitch in the 23rd minute that left Sligo exposed at the back. He grabbed possession on the opposition 65 metre line and immediately headed goalwards.

“As soon as we lost that ball it looked like a goal and it finished as a goal,” admitted McEntee. “Lower divisions teams will not crucify you as much as that.”

Comer offloaded to Tierney, who this time showed good composure to round goalkeeper Daniel Lyons before tapping home, 2-5 to 0-4.

Ian Burke received a black card just at the end of the first half, but despite their numerical disadvantage during his time in the sinbin, Galway outscored Sligo 0-4 to 0-2 in that opening ten minutes after the break.

“It’s great to defend the title,” added Joyce. “We haven’t done that in Galway, believe it or not, for 20 odds years.

“It’s a bad sign that we didn’t do it in 20 years, but it’s a reflection of where we went to for a while and Mayo probably dominated Connacht for a couple of years there.”

But Galway are the ruling class again these days.

Kings of Connacht once more, and harbouring aspirations of conquering so much more in the weeks ahead.

GALWAY: Conor Gleeson; John McGrath, Seán Kelly (0-1), Jack Glynn; Dylan McHugh (0-1), John Daly, Cillian McDaid (0-1); Peter Cooke (0-1), John Maher; Matthew Tierney (2-7, 0-1f, 0-1 45), Shane Walsh (0-2, frees), Johnny Heaney (0-2); Robert Finnerty, Damien Comer, Ian Burke (0-2). Subs: Cathal Sweeney (0-2) for Walsh (42 mins); Dessie Conneely for Finnerty (46 mins); Cian Hernon for McDaid (49 mins); Tomo Culhane (0-1) for Comer (60 mins); Paul Kelly for Maher (63 mins)

SLIGO: Daniel Lyons; Nathan Mullen, Eddie McGuinness, Evan Lyons; Luke Towey, Brian Cox, Darragh Cummins (0-3); Cian Lally, Paul Kilcoyne (0-1); Finnian Cawley, Paul McNamara, Pat Spillane (0-1); Keelan Cawley, Seán Carrabine (0-4, 2f), Niall Murphy (0-3, 1f, 1 45). Subs: Mikey Gordon for K Cawley (42 mins); Gerard O’Kelly Lynch for Lally (49 mins); Patrick O’Connor for Spillane (49 mins); Mark Walsh for Cummins (53 mins); Alan Reilly for F Cawley (65 mins)

REFEREE: Brendan Cawley (Kildare)