Inside Track with John McIntyre

The trend has been unmistakable over recent years. When it comes down to the home stretch in tight Connacht championship matches between Galway and Mayo, there is only going to be one winner as underlined in front of over 27,000 spectators at MacHale Park in Castlebar on Sunday.

In the clutch moments of these matches, Mayo have a killer habit of buckling. They had enough chances to break Galway’s stranglehold on the province on Sunday, but poor finishing came back to haunt them, with Jordan Flynn and substitute Paul Towey the main culprits in a thrilling battle for supremacy.

Eight points down at the interval having surprisingly opted to face the wind, Mayo had drawn level by the 53rd minute. Two pointers from Ryan O’Donoghue and Matthew Ruane had helped to reel in Galway. With all the momentum and the elements behind them, the Connacht title was there for the talking.

But Mayo have been so badly scarred by big-day defeats over the past 15 years, they are brittle under pressure. The doubts creep in when matches are in the melting pot and their lack of scoring efficiency continues to haunt them. If the roles were reversed on Sunday, Galway would have kicked on. They are simply more reliable.

Sunday’s two-point defeat is the latest reversal to sting Mayo, but you begin to run out of sympathy for them when it happens so often – losing games they should be winning. Davitt Neary and Darren McHale gave O’Donoghue sterling assistance up front, while defender Enda Hession ran himself into the ground, but Mayo are unable to close the deal in tight contests.

They can again bemoan their bad luck – like with Connor Gleeson got his fingertips to an O’Donoghue free from behind the crossbar which meant it should have been a two-pointer instead of one – but they really have only themselves to blame. This represented another deflating outcome and it’s now a daunting challenge to pick themselves up for the All-Ireland series.

In contrast, this was a mighty win for Galway. Remember, their heavy attacking artillery of Shane Walsh and Damien Comer didn’t even make the match-day squad due to injury; while the in-form John Maher only lasted until half-time. Still, they found a way with Gleeson’s terrific save from Hession and Dylan McHugh’s outstanding block on Towey critical to the Tribesmen completing the provincial four-in-a-row for the first time since 1966.

Surprisingly, the opening exchanges hadn’t gone well for Galway given that their form coming into the final was far more compelling and they had the wind behind them. Mayo were up for the battle and McHale’s seventh minute goal helped them into a three-point lead.

Pictured: Galway’s Dylan McHugh and Paul Conroy celebrate after defeating Mayo in Sunday’s Connacht Senior Football Final at MacHale Park. Photo: David Fitzgerald/ Sportsfile.