v

Details

Date Time Competition Season
7 May 2023 1:45 pm Connacht SFC 2023

Match Report

Tierney hits brace as Galway cruise to Connacht Championship

Matthew Tierney scored 2-7 as Galway retained their Connacht title with a 14 point win over Sligo at MacHale Park in Castlebar.

Tierney scored both goals in the first half as the Tribesmen held an eight point advantage going in at the break. They lost Ian Burke through a black card in stoppage time.

Such was Galway’s dominance in the second half manager Padraic Joyce took off Shane Walsh and Damien Comer. It’s title 48 for last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists.

Sligo opted to play with the strong wind in the first half. Pat Spillane kicked over a point within the opening 30 seconds. Twice in the first five minutes they were ahead by two. Galway got into their stride and kicked 1-04 without reply; Matthew Tierney with the first goal in the 10th minute; John Daly played a terrific ball into Damien Comer, Comer passed to Tierney who made no mistake.

After 16 minutes without a score Niall Murphy kicked over a well struck ‘45 for Sligo in the 21st minute. Two minutes later Sligo were caught. Comer combined with Tierney again and it was a second goal for the Tribesmen.

Darragh Cummins kicked over his second point of the game to cut the deficit to eight points in the 35th minute. In first half stoppage time Ian Burke was shown a black card.

The lead was 10 points in the 46th minute when Tierney fired over his third point of the game. Minutes later Peter Cooke got up to add a 12th point for Galway as both sides decided to empty their benches.

Sligo got a much needed point in the 56th minute when Sean Carrabine hit over his fourth point of the game. But once again the superb Tierney replied for Galway as Sligo couldn’t contain the excellent Oughterard man.

Credit to Sligo they battled and a fine run by sub Mark Walsh in the 57th minute saw Niall Murphy kick over a fine score. Sub Paul Kilcoyne kicked over Sligo’s last point in stoppage time before Tierney (free) and sub Tomo Culhane fired over late points for the Tribesmen.

Sligo
1Daniel Lyons Goalkeeper
2Evan Lyons Defender
3Eddie McGuinness Defender 68'
4Nathan Mullen Defender
5Brian Cox Defender
6Paul McNamara Defender
7Luke Towey Defender
18Darragh Cummins 26 Midfielder 5', 35', 52'
8Cian Lally 21 Midfielder
9Paul Kilcoyne Midfielder 71'
10Keelan Cawley 25 Forward
11Sean Carrabine Forward 3', 39', 51', 56'
12Finnian Cawley 17 Forward
13Pat Spillane 14 Forward 1'
15Niall Murphy Forward 21', 37', 57'
16Aidan Devaney Goalkeeper
17Alan Reilly 12 Forward
14Patrick O’Connor 13 Forward
19David Philips
20David Quinn Forward
21Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch 8
22Jack Lavin Defender
23Joe Keaney Midfielder
24Luke Nicholson Defender
25Mikey Gordon 10 Defender
26Mark Walsh 18 Defender

Galway
1Connor Gleeson Goalkeeper
2John McGrath Defender
3Sean Kelly Defender 61'
4Jack Glynn Defender
5Dylan McHugh Defender 4'
6John Daly Defender
7Cillian McDaid 19 Defender 12'
9John Maher 20 Midfielder
23Robert Finnerty 25 Forward 34'
10Matthew Tierney Forward 10', 23'
20', 36', 46', 54', 60', 68', 72'
11Johnny Heaney Forward 41', 64'
12Peter Cooke Forward
13Ian Burke Forward 7', 33'
35'
14Damien Comer 26 Forward
15Shane Walsh 24 Forward 16', 28'
16Bernie Power Goalkeeper
17Sean Fitzgerald Defender
18Daniel O’Flaherty
19Cian Hernon 7
20Paul Kelly 9 Midfielder
21Gerard Davoren
22Owen Gallagher Forward
24Cathal Sweeney 15 Forward 43', 65'
25Dessie Conneely 23 Forward
26Tomo Culhane 14 73'
Paul Conroy Midfielder

Timeline

Pat Spillane 1' 
Sean Carrabine 3' 
  4' Dylan McHugh
Darragh Cummins 5' 
  7' Ian Burke
  10' Matthew Tierney
  12' Cillian McDaid
  16' Shane Walsh
  20' Matthew Tierney
Niall Murphy 21' 
  23' Matthew Tierney
  28' Shane Walsh
  33' Ian Burke
  34' Robert Finnerty
Darragh Cummins 35' 
  35' Ian Burke
  36' Matthew Tierney
Niall Murphy 37' 
Sean Carrabine 39' 
Keelan Cawley
Mikey Gordon		 41' 
  41' Johnny Heaney
  41' Shane Walsh
Cathal Sweeney
  43' Cathal Sweeney
  46' Matthew Tierney
  46' Robert Finnerty
Dessie Conneely
Cian Lally
Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch		 48' 
Pat Spillane
Patrick O'Connor		 49' 
  49' Cillian McDaid
Cian Hernon
Sean Carrabine 51' 
Darragh Cummins 52' 
Darragh Cummins
Mark Walsh		 52' 
  54' Matthew Tierney
Sean Carrabine 56' 
Niall Murphy 57' 
  60' Matthew Tierney
  60' Damien Comer
Tomo Culhane
  61' Sean Kelly
  62' John Maher
Paul Kelly
  64' Johnny Heaney
Finnian Cawley
Alan Reilly		 65' 
  65' Cathal Sweeney
Eddie McGuinness 68' 
  68' Matthew Tierney
Paul Kilcoyne 71' 
  72' Matthew Tierney
  73' Tomo Culhane
  • 74'

    Tomo Culhane with a point

  • 72'

    Matthe Tierney with a free. That's 2-7 for him now

  • 71'

    Paul Kilcoyne with a point for Sligo

  • 69'

    Eddie McGuinness is booked for a challenge on Matthew Tierney

  • 69'

    Matthew Tierney fists over the bar. That's 2-6 from him today

  • 65'

    Cathal Sweeney with his second point

  • 64'

    Johnny Heaney with a point

  • 62'

    John Maher is off

  • 62'

    Paul Kelly is on for Galway

  • 62'

    Paul Kelly is on for Galway

  • 62'

    Paul Kelly is on for Galway

  • 61'

    Damien Comer is off

  • 61'

    Tomo Culhane is on

  • 61'

    Sean Kelly gets up to fire over a point

  • 60'

    Matthew Tierney is on fire today

  • 54'

    Matthew Tierney again

  • 56'

    Sean Carrabine with a point

  • 52'

    Darragh Cummins with his third point of the game

  • 51'

    Sean Carrabine with the free for Sligo

  • 49'

    Cillian McDaid is off

  • 49'

    Cian Herron is on for Galway

  • 49'

    Pat Spillane is off

  • 49'

    Patrick O'Connor

  • 48'

    Cian Lally

  • 48'

    Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch

  • 48'

    Peter Cooke with a fine point

  • 46'

    Rob Finnerty is off

  • 46'

    Dessie Conneely is on

  • 46'

    Matthew Tierney with an excellent point

  • 43'

    Cathal Sweeney with a point

  • 41'

    Keelan Cawley is off

  • 41'

    Mikey Gordon is on for Sligo

  • 41'

    Shane Walsh is off

  • 41'

    Cathal Sweeney is on

  • 41'

    Johnny Heaney with a good point

  • 40'

    Good point from Sean Carrabine

  • 37'

    Niall Murphy points the free

  • 37'

    Free in to Sligo

  • 37'

    Free in to Sligo

  • 36'

    Matthew Tierney with a point. Great start for Galway

  • 35'

    Ian Burke is shown a black card

  • 35'

    Darragh Cummins scores his second point

  • 34'

    Rob Finnerty is booked

  • 33'

    Fine point from Corofin's Ian Burke

  • 31'

    Another wide for Sligo. Their fourth

  • 28'

    Shane Walsh fires over the free

  • 27'

    Another Galway free

  • 25'

    Galway back defending and they win possession.

  • 23'

    Sligo caught. Comer to Tierney and he gets in and shoots to the bottom corner of the net

  • 21'

    Niall Murphy with a well struck 45

  • 21'

    John McGrath blocks Pat Spillane's effort and it's out for a 45

  • 20'

    Sean Kelly on the receiving end of a high tackle. No free.

  • 17'

    Matthew Tierney fists the ball over the bar. That's 1-4 without reply for the Tribesmen

  • 16'

    Shane Walsh with the free.

  • 15'

    Free for Galway. It all started with some good work from Peter Cooke

  • 12'

    Nice point from Cillian McDaid. Ball in from Peter Cooke

  • 10'

    Matthew Tierney with a goal. Fantastic play in by John Daly to Damien Comer, Comer played to Tierney and he fired to the net

  • 9'

    Galway are on the attack, there are plenty of Sligo players back. Just one Sligo player in the forward line

  • 7'

    Ian Burke with a fine point for Galway

  • 5'

    Darragh Cummins with a lovely point for Sligo to restore their two point lead

  • 4'

    Dylan McHugh with Galway's first point

  • 3'

    Sean Carrabine with the free

  • 2'

    Free in for Sligo. Harsh enough on Galway

  • 1'

    Great point from Pat Spillane. Within 30 seconds of the start

  • Sligo make a change and it's tactical. Patrick O'Connor the full-forward is out and is replaced by defender Darragh Cummins

  • Late change for Galway Rob Finnerty comes in for Paul Conroy

  • Sligo are hoping to win their 4th Connacht title while for Galway a win would see them secure their 48th title; level with Mayo

  • The last time these two sides played in the Connacht Final was in 2007. Sligo won by one point. Galway manager Padraic Joyce was on the losing side.

  • Football in Sligo is on a high at the moment. Their U20s booked their place in the All-Ireland Final for the first time ever yesterday evening. They defeated Kerry in the semi-final

  • Galway are the holders and come into this game after beating Roscommon in the semi-final. Sligo defeated London in the quarter-final and then New York in the semi-final

  • Good afternoon and welcome to Final Whistle's coverage of the Connacht SFC Final between Galway and Sligo

Past Meetings
(Final)
0-13 0-14
Connacht Under 20 Football Championship
Tuam Stadium
(Semi Final)
4-24 1-12
Connacht SFC
Pearse Stadium

Ground

MacHale Park, Castlebar
MacHale Park, McHale Road, Gorteendrunagh, Castlebar Urban Electoral Division, Castlebar Municipal District, County Mayo, Connacht, F23 RC84, Ireland

Deniese is a freelance sports journalist/broadcaster. She has worked for several local and national media outlets. GAA and soccer are her great loves and she also follows rugby league and snooker. She's a big supporter of her local clubs St. Mary's GAA Granard and Longford Town. She also follows Celtic, Liverpool and Leeds Rhinos. She presented and produced a popular sports podcast last year where she interviewed Ray Houghton, Chris Kamara and John Hartson. Deniese is currently Head of Communications for Boccia Ireland