By John Fallon

Galway full-forward Damien Comer said they knew in the weeks running up to the Connacht semi-final that they were going to dethrone Mayo.

The Annaghdown clubman said that massive hard work carried out during the spring was polished off in recent challenge matches and they went to Castlebar on Saturday evening convinced they were going to pull off a famous win.

"We knew in our heart and soul that we had this in us. We played challenge matches and it worked absolutely incredible. Fair dues to the management, they got it sport on. Thankfully it worked out on the day and we're absolutely over the moon.

"We knew going in after half time, we knew they were going to make a big push.

"The first ten minutes was going to be crucial. We said that at half time, coming out, that we need to come out, They got a point or two, Eamon Branniagn got one against the run of play and it split that momentum and it killed the game.

"And then Tom Flynn to race in and get that goal at that time. It shattered them and it put us on a massive high. Thankfully we rolled on and popped them over and some of the lads played absolutely out of their skins."

But Comer stressed that while it was a significant and long overdue win for the Tribesmen against a Mayo team going for an unprecedented sixth Connacht title in a row, they had already turned their attentions to Roscommon in the final.

It will be the first time the counties have met in the final since 1998, a year when Galway also stunned previous year All-Ireland finalists Mayo and then went all the way and lifted the Sam Maguire.

"We're really looking forward to it now. That was our goal. To be honest, the league was the league, but we knew we had new things to bring to the game against Mayo and that was the main thing when Kevin started this league campaign this year. We knew we owed them a bit of revenge and thankfully we got that.

"But it doesn't stop here and we want to push on. Everyone said, once we beat a big team who knows where we can go. We said the same when we won the U-21. Doors open all sides, anything can happen. That's the same that can happen here," added Comer, winner of an All-Ireland U-21 medal in 2013.

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