Mayo have pulled off a sensational victory in Salthill this afternoon, defeating old rivals Galway on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-11 at Salthill this afternoon.
Heading into this game, it was expected to be an incredibly close contest. Both counties would have been disappointed to find themselves at this stage of the competition, having squandered leads last weekend that would have seen them advance straight into the quarter-finals.
In the first half, it looked as though only one team had shown up.
Galway were well on top in the opening 35 minutes, completely dominating in all areas of the pitch. Playing with the wind, they probably felt that they should have been more than five points up at the interval.
Cillian McDaid opens up a five-point lead for Galway
Mayo have really struggled in this half
📱 Updates https://t.co/fsSzdeaAwx
📺 Watch @rteone and @RTEPlayer https://t.co/hgbwjaZ03L
📻 Listen @RTERadio1 https://t.co/fTWa53IHoq #sundaygame pic.twitter.com/JSFyZKl7KN— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 25, 2023
The second half was a very different story.
Mayo burst out of the traps after the throw-in, scoring 1-2 inside seven minutes to get themselves back on level terms.
David McBrien makes his way forward after the pass-off from Aidan O'Shea for a Mayo goal. They have scored 1-02 without response
📱 Updates https://t.co/fsSzdeaAwx
📺 Watch @rteone and @RTEPlayer https://t.co/hgbwjaZ03L
📻 Listen @RTERadio1 https://t.co/fTWa53IHoq pic.twitter.com/elgwpWmmbu— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) June 25, 2023
From that point onwards, Kevin McStay's side always looked like the most likely winners. After getting their nose in front, they never really looked back.
At one point Galway would go almost 30 minutes of playing time without a score, something that ultimately came back to bite them.
After a tense finish Mayo would eventually run out as winners on a scoreline of 1-10 to 0-12.
Peter Canavan prediction comes back to bite Galway against Mayo
Galway will certainly look back at this game with plenty of regrets.
They will feel that they should have hammered home that first half advantage, leaving a number of scoring opportunities behind them over the course of the opening 35 minutes.
Padraic Joyce's side didn't make the most of the breeze, despite dominating in most areas of the game. In fact, they should have done far more with their advantage in one particular area.
Speaking on RTÉ at halftime, Peter Canavan predicted that Galway's failure to capitalise on the amount of turnovers they got from the Mayo kick-out could come back to bite them in the second half.
Mayo have only won four of 13 kick-outs. You'd have to winder what Matthew Ruane is doing on the bench when they're struggling. Galway have pressed up really hard on them.
But, Padraic Joyce will be asking how they've won 9/13 kick-outs, but they've only scored three. Now a stat like that, anytime you're winning that amount of kick-outs and playing against the breeze, you've got to be scoring more from it.
Eight points from that amount of possession against a team that aren't playing a clearcut sweeper, at times Tommy Conroy was sitting back in there.
Galway haven't really exploited it, that's why it's still game on. That is a five or six point breeze.
That certainly proved to be the case.
Mayo were a very different team in the second half, flying out of the traps and never really looking back. In saying that, their task would have been far more difficult if Galway had managed to rack up a bigger score before halftime.
They will certainly be regretting their failure to do so at the moment.
SEE ALSO: Lee Keegan Refuses To Rule Tyrone Out Of Race For Sam Maguire
