Connacht SFC final replay: Tribe trounce Rossies

July 17, 2016

Galway's Gary Sice on his way to scoring a goal
©INPHO

No sign of a draw today as Galway crushed Roscommon in this replayed Connacht decider at Castlebar, 3-16 to 0-14.

These sides played out a low-quality drawn encounter at Salthill last weekend - the weather was much better today and so was the Galway performance! They led by 15 points at one stage and ended up winning by eleven.

Goals from Danny Cummins (2) and Gary Sice saw Kevin Walsh's men ease to their first Nestor Cup success since 2008 (and 45th in all) as their opponents - who finished the game with 14 men following the late dismissal of Donie Smith - fell to a devastating defeat and a tough Qualifier against either Derry or Clare next weekend.

Cummins' second major in the 56th minute left 14 points between them - 3-13 to 0-8 - which was four more than the half-time cushion had been, 2-9 to 0-5.

With 15,960 looking on, this was a turkey shoot. Eoghan Kerin, Sice (free) and Eamon Brannigan lofted over three unanswered Galway points inside the opening seven minutes and the Tribesmen never looked back. The gap went out to five when Cummins bagged his first three-pointer, firing low to the bottom corner in the 21st minute, 1-4 to 0-2.

Tom Flynn and Paul Conroy lorded midfield and the winners delivered a lovely brand of attacking football throughout, with ten different players finding the target.

A brilliant day for Galway, who move back within one of Mayo on the provincial Roll of Honour, and one to forget for the Rossies. Will they be able to get this sobering experience out of their system in six days, though?

Galway - B Power (0-1'45); E Kerin (0-1), D Kyne, D Wynne; L Silke, G O'Donnell (0-1), G Bradshaw; P Conroy (0-1), T Flynn; G Sice (1-2, 0-2f), E Brannigan (0-2), J Heaney; D Cummins (2-1), D Comer (0-3), S Walsh (0-3, 2f). Subs: A Varley for S Walsh, P Sweeney for D Comer (BC), F Hanley for D Kyne, P Varley (0-1) for J Heaney, E Hoare for G Sice, P Cooke for D Cummins.

Roscommon - D O'Malley; D Murray, S Mullooly, N McInerney; D Keenan, J McManus, S Purcell; N Daly, C Compton; F Cregg, C Cregg (0-1), S McDermott; C Murtagh (0-4, 1f), S Kilbride (0-2), C Devaney. Subs: D Smith for D Keenan (BC), E Smith (0-2) for C Devaney, F Lennon (0-1) for S Purcell, D Shine (0-2) for F Cregg, T Corcoran (0-1) for C Compton, U Harney (0-1) for S Mullooly (BC).

Referee - C Branagan.


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