NFL Division One Semi-final/ Galway 1-11 Mayo 1-6: Championship be damned: this fiery league semi-final tussle between the royals of the Connacht game felt like the most important hour of Gaelic football played in the West for years.
A place in the league final may have been the ostensible ambition of both counties yesterday but such was the mood you felt they would have thundered into one another with the same uncompromising lust if nothing more than a plate of sandwiches had been at stake. While it would be wrong to suggest the present sides hate each other, a great rivalry is budding. And on this evidence, Galway are holding the aces.
In fact, there is a dash and edge and necessary toughness about Peter Ford's team that may well set them apart as one of the few teams in the country with genuine reason to believe they can win an All-Ireland this year. Frustratingly for Mayo, this demoralising afternoon chasing down maroon leaves the county with more questions than answers.
Galway hit with intent from beginning, singling Peadar Gardiner, Mayo's livewire wing back, out for particularly meaty treatment and also hounding impact player David Brady when he made his entrance.
The charismatic Ballina man apparently played the entire second half with a broken jaw, the kind of manic heroism more readily associated with the hottest days of championship than with April league play-offs. Brady's conviction and directness did inspire a brief second-half rally but keen as the Mayo faithful were to believe otherwise, the visitors were in control and could have worked up a handsome score but for some stray finishing from their sharpshooters.
"We are bitterly disappointed," said a grim Mickey Moran. "No doubt about it, we didn't create in the first half and got sucked in by Galway's tactics. They went six points up, which is a big ask for us. In the second half, when we went for the game, we proved we were able to take Galway on. We went down fighting. All is not lost."
Nor is it, but this was a grievous blow to a county with a notoriously fragile ego in all matters Gaelic football. Mayo's 58th-minute goal (they trailed 0-5 to 1-9 at that stage), a great hammer blow of a shot from Austin O'Malley, came courtesy of a brave, direct run and pass from Brady. But it originated in a Galway mistake, when Keith Higgins thieved a loose pass.
It was one of the few occasions when Galway permitted Mayo to run through space. Ger Brady, a revelation in the league, was constantly blocked by the excellent Galway half-back line.
O'Malley was the only Mayo starting forward to land a point from play: substitute Trevor Mortimer contributed a terrific point during the short-lived comeback. For all Mayo's attractive build-up play, there is the feeling that, Conor Mortimer aside, they do not have the kind of prodigious scoring forwards that reside in the neighbouring county - and elsewhere.
More alarmingly, they were routed during the first half hour at midfield, where Paul Clancy once more stood apart. The Mayo defence had a patchy afternoon, with excellent shows from Liam O'Malley and the indestructible Gardiner and some good attacking play from David Heaney but, as a unit, they were exposed.
Michael Donnellan ghosted in to hit the post from close range after seven minutes. And on 54 minutes the Galway legend terrorised all of Mayo by jarring a loose pass from the hands of Higgins and playing Micheál Meehan and Armstrong into a clearing.
Armstrong missed the gift and the game remained alive but the moment illuminated the kind of potency that exists within this Galway attack.
Forced to throw in David Brady, the Mayo management also introduced Ciarán McDonald to carnal howls of approval - and that was just from the local radio men. But it was poignant and perhaps worrying that Ger Brady, the star of this campaign, was the man he replaced.
James Gill, a player seemingly low on confidence, also retreated early but the feeling here is that the Westport man has so much potential Mayo need to revive him. As it happened, McDonald's first touch led only to a blazing Clancy shot that could well have been a goal for Galway.
Galway's front six are a joy to watch but the significant factor here was their defence. Diarmuid Blake played with real authority in the crucial number six jersey, driving the ball forward toward the close in the sequence that led to Pádraic Joyce's 65th-minute point, the score that finally killed Mayo.
Galway had been steadily turning the screw when they made the breakthrough goal after 28 minutes, a mesmerising move involving Clancy, Donnellan and a fine ball from Niall Coleman. Mattie Clancy's finish bounced on the underside of the crossbar.
Alan Keane made a marvellous save from Andy Moran on 23 minutes, when the Ballaghaderreen man got on the end of a smart free from Gill. Had that been a score, perhaps Mayo would be firing on all cylinders to the league final. Instead, they will have to knuckle down until midsummer, maybe tuning in to watch their neighbours next weekend. And wondering.
GALWAY: A Keane; D Meehan, K Fitzgerald, D Burke; A Burke, B Blake, M Comer (0-1); P Clancy (0-1), N Coleman; M Clancy (1-0), D Savage (0-1), M Donnellan (0-2 frees); M Meehan (0-1), P Joyce (0-4, 2 frees), S Armstrong (0-1). Subs: P Geraghty for M Clancy (61 mins); B Cullinane for Armstrong (65 mins).
MAYO: J Healy; T Howley, D Heaney, L O'Malley; K Higgins, J Nallen, P Gardiner; J Gill, R McGarrity; BJ Padden, G Brady, A Dillon (0-2, frees); A Moran, A O'Malley (1-3, two frees), A Durcan. Subs: D Brady for Durcan (30 mins); T Mortimer (0-1) for Gill (38 mins); P Kelly for Howley (56 mins).
Referee: D Coldrick (Meath).
