Galway send message to Sam Maguire rivals

Galway 3-16 Roscommon 0-14: Sit up and take notice, was the Galway message. And in clinical style was it delivered.

Doubts will be cast on the merits of this victory given the tame level of resistance offered by Roscommon, but one need only refer to Galway’s second most recent performance in Castlebar and the ending of Mayo’s provincial reign to realise that Kevin Walsh is building a pretty formidable outfit out west.

And for all the chatter surrounding their improved rearguard structure and the fabric strength of the defensive blanket Walsh has been weaving since his appointment in 2014, it was their movement and decision-making in the latter half of the field that had Kevin McStay likening Galway’s first-half performance to that of a hurricane.