Galway turned on the style in front of an attendance of 21,940 at Pearse Stadium to capture their first Connacht senior football championship crown since 2018.

Appearing in the final for a seventh successive season, first-half goals from man-of-the-match Shane Walsh (1-6) and Patrick Kelly laid the platform for a 2-19 to 1-16 victory for the Tribesmen against Roscommon in Salthill this afternoon.

Conor Daly's 63rd minute goal gave the Rossies a glimmer of hope as they reduced the deficit to seven points and substitute Diarmuid Murtagh followed up with their second deep into injury-time but they were always playing second fiddle to a more efficient Galway outfit managed by Padraic Joyce.

With eight players on target overall and all their scores in the opening period coming from play, the Tribesmen took a well deserved 2-7 to 0-8 lead into the interval.

Little or nothing separated the sides for the opening quarter before the Rossies were caught with a double sucker-punch that turned the game on its head.

Walsh landed the first blow of the contest on 17 minutes, with his precise low shot beating Colm Lavin in the Roscommon goal, and the home side went six clear just before the break when a point attempt by the impressive Robert Finnerty came back off the crossbar and the ball fell kindly for Kelly, who made no mistake from close range.

Midfielder Ultan Harney worked tirelessly for Roscommon, chipping in with three points from play, but they had no answer to the movement of the Galway forwards inside.

The Tribesmen pushed on in the third quarter and Damien Comer and Finnerty were on top scoring form in this period as they opened up a 2-14 to 0-12 advantage.

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