Mayo make bold start to season with thumping Galway win

Mayo delivered a statement win over arch-rivals Galway and commenced the 2024 Allianz Football League Division 1 campaign in emphatic fashion, at Pearse Stadium, on Sunday afternoon. The Green and Red managed the famously breezy Salthill conditions superbly, running out 2-12 to 0-10 winners. It’s the third consecutive victory for Mayo over their neighbours, factoring in last year’s All-Ireland SFC preliminary quarter-final and NFL Division 1 final.

The spadework was done in the first-half which ended with Mayo in command of a four points lead despite having played into the teeth of an Atlantic westerly.

Fergal Boland, recalled to the panel, was orchestrator of the Mayo attack, scoring the first and last points of the first-half and having a hand in every other score before the interval, including Eoghan McLaughlin’s 12th minute goal.

By half-time, five Mayo players had scored against the wind as Kevin McStay’s side carried a 1-6 to 0-5 advantage into the dressing-room. And when Boland scored his third point for the opening score of the second-half, that set the tone for another solid 35-minutes by the Green and Red, who handed a debut to Conor Reid and to substitute Diarmuid Duffy – one of four Ballinrobe players on the bench.

A skyscraper point by Mayo captain Paddy Durcan helped Mayo extend their advantage to six points as Galway relied on the place ball kicking of Shane Walsh to keep in some sort of contention. However, when Duffy, Mayo’s 2022 minor captain, was fouled on his way through to goal in the 72nd minute, that presented fellow sub Cillian O’Connor the chance to fire home from the penalty spot and help secure an eight points win.

See Tuesday’s Western People for extensive match coverage, including a full match report, interviews, analysis and opinion.