Galway's Ladies footballers will have a chance to avenge their one point semi-final defeat to Dublin in the Lidl NFL semi-finals after they secured a safe passage to the last four of the TG4 All-Ireland senior championship with a resounding 11 point victory over Connacht rivals Mayo in Dr Hyde Park.
Róisín Leonard and captain Tracey Leonard were Galway's stand out players with score of 2-2 and 0-4 respectively, as Galway finished comfortable winners by 5-11 to 0-12.
Despite the size of the scoreline Galway manager Stephen Glennon was revealed to get the win over the same opponents they had defeated in the Connacht final in June.
“I turned around to the crowd and put my hands up. It was just relief. At that stage I felt there was no coming back for Mayo. There was pressure. I am probably my own worst critic and I put a lot of pressure on myself. But of all games, and I have been involved in a lot of games, I really did feel it coming into this game."
The only downside to the victory for Galway was the nasty knee injury sustained by midfielder Ailbhe Davoren who was stretchered off in the 45th minute and will miss the semi-final.
Goals from Caitriona Cormican, Ailbhe Davoren, and Róisín Leonard enabled Galway to go in at the break with a nine point advantage (3-6 0-6 ).
And just three minutes after the interval Leanne Coen extinguished any hope Mayo might have had by adding a fourth goal to Galway's tally.
Fiona Doherty did manage a three pointer for Mayo but Róisín Leonard underlined Galway's dominance by adding her second and Galway's fifth goal to ensure Galway's first senior championship semi-final since 2014.
Scorers – Galway: R Leonard 2-2 (1f ), L Coen 1-4, A Davoren 1-1, T Leonard 0-4 (1f ), C Cormican 1-0.
Mayo: G Kelly 0-5 (4f ), F Doherty 0-5, N Kelly 0-1, S Cafferky 0-1.
Galway: L Murphy; F Cooney, S Lynch, S Burke; E Flaherty, N Ward, C Cooney; L Ward, A Davoren; O Divilly, T Leonard, C Cormican; S Conneally, R Leonard, L Coen.
Subs: L Gannon for Lynch (38 ), N Connolly for Flaherty (45 ), S Divilly for Davoren (45 ), E Reaney for O Divilly (55 ).
