Lesson learned for Galway

JOB done, learn the lessons, move on. That was the message from Galway selector Joe Connolly after Saturday’s win over Westmeath. “You couldn’t be pleased with the performance but a win is a win and that’s what we came for,” said the former All-Ireland-winning captain.

“We were off the pace and looking to Dublin in a fortnight’s time, we’ll have to pick it up — that’s the challenge. Dublin held off a very strong Offaly performance and if we play like we played tonight, they’ll destroy us. But we showed great heart in the finish, fellas stood up when we needed them.”

Same song from manager John McIntyre, who paid tribute to Westmeath: “I thought Westmeath produced a fantastic display, maybe their best championship performance in 10 years. On a couple of occasions, it looked like we were going to put a lot of daylight between the teams but they brought it level with 15 minutes to go. It showed their league form was completely wrong — Brian Hanley has made a big difference and the players showed character and pride. It was a classic no-win fixture for us and that’s how it has turned out; a lot of people will be writing off Galway after tonight but that’s not my problem. We’re in the Leinster semi-final, that was our target and nothing has changed. We know that wouldn’t be good enough to compete against Dublin, but I think we’ll see a different Galway in two weeks.”