Galway Ladies suffered a blow to their championship ambitions when losing their Connacht crown to Mayo on Saturday.
Mayo, with Jason Taniane as their manager, came to Tuam on a mission and that intent was shown with a goal from Cora Staunton in the opening minute.
That set the scene for a superb display from both teams, producing one of the best Connacht finals for several years.
Galway got on the board with a pointed free from Tracy Leonard, followed by a point from play by Patricia Gleeson before Lisa Cafferkey, scoring two for Mayo, exchanged points with Lorna Joyce and Annette Clarke for Galway.
Carol Hegarty and Aileen Kilroy points gave Mayo a three-point lead but Galway replied with two Edel Concannon struck two unanswered points from play and a pointed free from Tracey Leonard to leave the teams all square at 1-4 to 0-7.
Lisa Cafferkey nudged Mayo ahead by a point, but Edel Concannon followed with a point and a goal to put Galway three in front.
Cora Staunton, however, followed suit, adding a point and a goal to her tally as Tracy Leonard pointed from a free for Galway. Then, however, came the killer blow, when, in the dying minutes of the first half, Aileen Kilroy struck a fine goal for Mayo followed by a point from Carol Hegarty to leave the visitors leading by four points at the break.
Mayo maintained that four- point lead throughout the second half. Galway had points from Edel Concannon, Aoibheann Daly, Tracey Leonard (four- three from frees ), and a goal from Una Carroll, while Cora Staunton scored 1-4 for Mayo, Fiona Mc Hale 1-0, Carol Hegarty 1-0 and Lisa Cafferkey 0-1 to give a final score of Mayo 5-11 and Galway 2-15 and victory to Mayo.
Galway manager Gay O'Brien and his charges must now wait until the conclusion of the first round of qualifiers on August 1 to know who they will be playing in the next round August 6.
The Galway Minors are taking on Dublin in the All Ireland semi-final in Ballymahon, Co Longford, on Saturday (4pm ),
