It cost Mayo in the end.
Galway won the battle on Sunday afternoon, defeating Mayo in their Connacht first round clash in Castlebar, with the home side left counting the cost of a first half red card suffered by their half forward Diarmuid O’Connor.
In the end, a smashing injury time goal from Johnny Heaney would tip the balance in favour of the travelling Tribe, but that was one of few highlights in an otherwise dull game.
Johnny Heaney with a cracker of a goal! pic.twitter.com/lblrvyMg6K
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 13, 2018
From there, Galway went on to win on a final scoreline of 1-12 to 0-12, their third win in three years over their neighbours and rivals.
It was a slow burner in MacHale Park. Galway, loyal as ever to their conservative system, packed the defence but were consequentially pedestrian and predictable in their build-up play.
With Mayo under serious pressure every time they got into the final third, it resulted in a scrappy, tentative Castlebar encounter.
Andy Moran did manage to pick them off for a couple of scores, as he always does, and his economy kept Stephen Rochford’s men in the game playing in to the teeth of a strong west of Ireland breeze.
Damien Comer looked dangerous at the other end of the field, as did Shane Walsh and while they made the best of their lot, neither man were given much to work with in terms of service from their restricted teammates.
Ciaran Duggan caught the eye for them in midfield, the 23-year-old picking Mayo off for two fine scores in either half.
For the most part, however, it was tight, it was tit-for-tat and it slightly dull.
In a game dominated by fine margins, O’Connor’s reckless act would prove decisive.
O’Connor gathered possession of the ball and lifts his head to survey the options in front of him.
Galway’s Paul Conroy retreats and is about to tackle the Mayo man.
O’Connor proceeds into the challenge, raising his elbow in the direction of the Galway man’s face with force in the process. You will often see players raise elbows to shield themselves from an oncoming challenger, but this was too high and too forceful to be excused.
He follows through with his motion.
The referee was on the spot and unsurprisingly issued him with a straight red card.
Tomás Ó Sé in the RTÉ studios felt O’Connor’s act was inexcusable.
“I think it’s just black and white, I think it was a straight red card. He comes in high, he had the option of using his shoulder but the elbow is ridiculously high, it was straight into the head with the referee right on top of him. There can’t be an issue with that,” said the Kerryman.
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