THE abiding satisfaction for Mayo appeared to be the spirit shown by the team in surmounting a tough championship first round. A first win in Tuam since 1951 might have appealed to their sense of history but only as a means towards emulating the other achievement that has been unfulfilled for the last 46 years, an All Ireland title.

Kenneth Mortimer, the team's most consistent performer on the afternoon, even seemed a little blase. "I've only lost one or two games here. That's a matter of fact. I've more favourable memories here than in many another ground."

The first half fadeout didn't appear to have much concerned Mayo's corner back, either. "I don't think there was a turning point as such because I always felt the match was turning in our favour. In all games like that when a team gets so far ahead, they take their foot off the gas - not consciously, it just happens.

Even if the Tuam breakthrough left him unmoved, Mortimer explained its significance for the county at large. "For Mayo people today, that was the second most important match after an All Ireland final. Years and years of oppression were blown away. We can't take anything for granted, but it was a good win."

David Nestor, who switched between corner forward and the wing had been a little more alert to the barren history of the place. "It looked like the Tuam hoodoo coming out all over again," he said, but once we made a couple of changes for the second half, we settled down.

"Kieran McDonald came on and we started getting quality ball into the full forward line. We were also winning a bit more of the breaks around the middle. We seemed fresh towards the end of it and moved up on to another level and Galway weren't able to live with us.

Alan Mulholland, the Galway substitute, had an unpleasantly clear view of Mayo's opening blitz. "We couldn't believe it," he said of the third minute goal, "couldn't believe in the fashion we gave it away. We went 1-4 behind before starting to play and it was good to see if the young fellas had the bottle to come back."

He wasn't sure about how the match moved away from Galway in the second half. "It was as if we were afraid to go and clinch the thing. We took our foot off the pedal, or Mayo realised they were in a game and just went up a gear.

"I don't think we used Michael Donnellan enough in the second half. We kept putting it into the full forward line and the ball was coming back out as fast as we could put it in."