Will Galway 'bate’ Mayo?

IT’S HARD to credit that Galway haven’t won the Connacht Senior Football Championship since 2008, and that they haven’t reached the final since 2009 when a last-gasp point from play by Peadar Gardiner, from Crossmolina, won the JJ Nestor Cup for Mayo at Pearse Stadium, Salthill.
Since then, Galway lost to Sligo in 2010, under the management of Armagh man Joe Kernan; to Mayo in 2011, under the management of Kerry man Tomás ” Flatharta; to Sligo in 2012, under the management of a Galway man, Kevin Walsh, at Pearse Stadium; and last year they lost to Mayo by 17 points, again at Pearse Stadium.
Alan Mulholland was at the helm for Galway in 2012 and 2013, so he must be hugely relieved to have reached the Connacht final this year, and his team have won twice in this campaign, across-Channel against London and more recently at Markievicz Park, Sligo.
Galway’s opponents in next Sunday’s Connacht final, Mayo, also won two games to reach the provincial final; they had an expected very big win over in New York on Sunday, May 4th, 4-18 to 0-8, and a month later they pipped Roscommon at Hyde Park, 0-13 to 1-9.