Sligo ended 32 years of heartache when they defeated Galway by 1-10 to 0-12 in the Connacht senior football championship final at Dr Hyde Park. Sligo 1-10 Galway 0-12 In a remarkable display of bravery, Sligo dug deep to hold off the challenge of Galway and thoroughly deserved their victory and the scenes of jubilant among their supporters at the final whistle was something special. Galway entered the match as strong favourites for this match having played some excellent football in their wins over Mayo and Leitrim during the course of the Connacht campaign. However, Sligo had no intentions of just turning up and making up the numbers as they set their sights on lifting the provincial crown for the first time since 1975, while in the process turning's this year's championship on its head. Despite, the recent terrible weather conditions, the sun shun down on Dr Hyde Park as the sides, although a number of heavy showers earlier in the day made the conditions greasy. Sligo were handed a scoring opportunity early on when awarded a free and Sean Davey's short free to Kieran Quinn was tapped over the bar by the big midfielder to give the underdogs the perfect start. Davey was winning plenty of possession in the full forward and his pass lead to another free for the Yeats County in which Mark Breheny converted from just outside the 20-metre line. In the fifth minute, Galway opened their account when Nicky Joyce found room and fed veteran Ja Fallon and the centre forward blasted over the bar with the goal at his mercy. Fallon won a free when he had his jersey tugged and Padraig Joyce converted the free to bring the sides level. A mazy run by Nicky Joyce saw the Sligo defence split open, but the wing forward shot harmlessly wide as Galway got to grips with the game as Joe Bergin and Niall Coleman started to dominate a t midfield. The Tribesmen were cutting through Sligo at this stage and a Bergin pass resulted in Savage slotting over the bar for their third point in succession with ten minutes gone in the game. Bergin was stamping his authority on the match and another pass from the talented midfielder found Michael Meehan who pointed before Padraig Joyce made it 0-5 to 0-2. Sligo wing back Johnny Davey surged forward and was fouled near goal and Breheny slotted the resultant free over the bar for their first score in eleven minutes. Johnny Davey converted a '45 to leave just one between the sides as they seemed to weather the early pressure from Galway and a fine point from distance by Breheny brought the sides level for the second time in the match. A poor Sligo kick out went straight to Coleman and he played in Cormac Bane who found room and scored a good point. Then the opening goal of the match came when centre back Michael McNamara send in a long ball to David Kelly, who laid off to Eamon O'Hara and the former All-Star scored a cracking goal while on the run to leave the scoreline at 1-5 to 0-6 in favour of Sligo after 25 minutes. A point from John McPartland pushed Sligo further ahead as Tommy Brehony's charges hit a purple patch. Galway narrowed the gap through a Nicky Joyce point and they showed how dangerous their forward line was when Meehan broke through and blasted narrowly wide. A great run by Michael Comer ended with Fallon scoring his second of the afternoon as the Tribesmen cut the deficit to just one point but the last action of the half saw McPartland and Padraig Joyce exchange points to leave the score 1-7 to 0-9 at the interval. The second half started slowly but a fine catch by Sligo goalkeeper Philip Green denied Nicky Joyce the opening score of the second period, before Breheny was fouled at the other end and the same player converted the free to open the gap to two points once more. Moments later, O'Hara was harshly penalised for a foul on Savage and Nicky Joyce pointed to reduce the deficit once more, then Davey missed a close range free, which in fairness was easier to convert than miss. Galway manager Peter Ford introduced Sean Armstrong for Cormac Bane and Barry Cullinane was introduced surprisingly for Michael Meehan, while Sligo brought on Kenneth Sweeney for Bernard Egan. Sligo were dealt a massive blow when influential midfielder Eamon O'Hara was forced off with what looked like a thigh injury and was replaced by substitute Padraig Doohan. Sweeney made a major impact soon after being introduced as he scored a very good point to keep Sligo in front as the half wore on, but with both sides hitting a number of wides, it was still anyone's game. AS expected Galway came forward in droves but found it hard to break through a hard working Sligo defence, while at the other end their forwards were foraging for every ball, but McPartland and Breheny were guilty of some bad misses. Galway failed to score for 34 minutes of the second half until Padraig Joyce converted a free from '45 metres with only four minutes left in normal time. The next attack was going to be important and Sligo had the chance to go ahead once again when awarded a free, but the ball went wide. However, McNamara sent the Sligo supporters into raptures by kicking a massive point as four minutes of injury time was announced. Then Padraig Joyce sent over a close range free to bring it to the minimum once again. Fallon could have drawn the match but his effort drifted narrowly wide as Sligo lifted the Connacht title for the first time in 32 years. Sligo - P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donovan; P McGovern, M McNamara (0-1), J Davey (0-1); E O'Hara (1-0), K Quinn (0-1); B Curran, B Egan, S Davey; D Kelly, M Breheny (0-4), J McPartland (0-2). Subs - B Philips for McGovern; K Sweeney (0-1) for Egan; P Doohan for O'Hara; A Marren for Kelly; B Philips for McNamara. Galway - P Doherty; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, D Burke; M Comer, D Blake, D Meehan; J Bergin, N Coleman; D Savage (0-1), J Fallon (0-2), N Joyce (0-2); M Meehan (0-1), P Joyce (0-5), C Bane (0-1). Subs - S Armstrong for Bane; B Cullinane for M Meehan; N Coyne for Blake; M Clancy for Coleman; P Geraghty for Savage. Referee - Brian Crowe (Cavan). Tweet

Most Read Stories