The Galway minor footballers crashed out of the Connacht championship to Mayo on a scoreline of 5-8 to 2-11 after-extra time last Sunday in Hyde Park.
The sides were level at 2-4 each after an exciting first half, with Galway's goals coming from Niall Lee and Peter Cooke.
However Galway struggled with the high ball into their full-back line all day and Mayo were able to get goals when they needed them.
It was 2-9 for Galway to Mayo's 3-6 at the end of full time and Galway team captain and full-forward Eoin McCormack had to hit two late frees and a 45 to bring the game to extra-time.
However Galway's inability to deal with high probing deliveries into the heart of their defence came back to haunt them in extra time too. Two punched goals by Conor Loftus and Liam Irvin saw the boys in maroon out of the championship after only one outing.
It was a tough way for the minor panel's year to end as they and the management team under the guidance of John Donnellan had put an awful lot of time and graft into their preparations over the past few months.
The fact that Mayo had already had a championship outing against Leitrim was a big advantage to them, but Galway conceded goals too easily, and that was their real undoing.
Galway have not won a Connacht championship title at this grade now since 2007 which is a concern.
