Galway and Kerry both retained their senior ladies football provincial titles with wins over Mayo and Waterford on Sunday.
In Castlebar, Galway shot themselves into an early six-point lead, spearheaded by Róisín Leonard and Olivia Divilly, and kept themselves ahead throughout despite a netted penalty from Sinead Walsh in the second half.
Wind and rain plagued proceedings, but the Tribeswomen managed to open their account through a Leonard free on 11 minutes, their lead soon doubled by a point from Divilly.
The Galway pair rattled off two further a points apiece before Mayo got in on the scoring action at the other end, Walsh converting a free to put them on the board.
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The host’s would manage just one further point before the break, Erin Murray’s fisted effort on 28 minutes, while Divilly, Nicola Ward and Hannah Noone combined to give Galway a 0-9 to 0-2 half-time lead.
The reigning champions pushed on following the restart, Leonard, Ward and Noone extending their lead to 10 points by the 40-minute mark.
Kathryn Sullivan rattled the crossbar for Mayo, but another opportunity wasn’t long on the way, a foul on substitute Clodagh Keane resulted in Walsh slotting the resulting penalty low to best Dearbhla Gower.
Still thoroughly in control, Ailbhe Davoren and Divilly (free) pointed for Galway before Walsh landed a brace for Mayo to trail by seven. However, Galway’s fresh legs had the final say, Eva Noone and Shauna Hynes pushing the champions to a 0-16 to 1-4 win.
Meanwhile in Munster, Kerry had a dramatic win over a persistent Waterford in Mallow.
The Déise led for much of the match and looked set to spoil the Kingdom’s time in the provincial top-spot, but two late goals from Danielle O’Leary and Mary O’Connell proved decisive.
The counties traded early in the opening minutes before points from Clare Walsh and Brid McMaugh put Waterford ahead after 10 minutes.
A point from O’Leary cut Kerry’s deficit back to two, 0-5 to 0-3, on 22 minutes, but with Hogan dominating the midfield Waterford the gap was returned to four, only for Anna Galvin to have the final say for Kerry, ending the half 0-8 to 0-5.
Waterford kept their charge going after the break, but the game changed when Niamh Ní Chonchúir fielded a ball in midfield before finding O’Leary who blasted to the back of the net to make it 1-6 to 0-10.
With two minutes to go Kerry finally went ahead when O’Connell pounced on a short Waterford kick-out to bring the score to 2-6 to 0-10, where it remained to the final whistle.
The four counties move on to the All-Ireland series where Galway will face Donegal and Tipperary, Kerry and Mayo will be joined by Cork, and Waterford will come up against Dublin and Leitrim.
Connacht SFC final: Galway 0-16 Mayo 1-4
GALWAY: D Gower; B Quinn, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; H Noone, N Ward (0-2), C Trill; L Ward, S Divilly; L Noone (0-2), K Thompson, A Davoren (0-1); O Divilly (0-4, 1f), R Leonard (0-5, 4f), K Slevin. Subs: S Hynes (0-1) for Thompson (37), E Noone (0-1) for L Noone (45), A Trill for Leonard (47), A Ní Cheallaigh for C Trill (51), L Coen for Davoren (51).
MAYO: J Gawalkiewicz; L Wallace, N O’Malley, C Durkan; D Caldwell, H Reape, S Lally; E Murray (0-1), C Whyte; E Brennan, K Sullivan, A McDonnell; S Walsh (1-3, 1-0 pen, 2f), C Doherty, S El Massry. Subs: B Hession for Doherty (HT), C Keane for McDonnell (HT), L Hanley for Whyte (47), S McNulty for Sullivan (51), A Devereux for Brennan (57).
Munster SFC final: Kerry 2-6 Waterford 0-10
KERRY: ME Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, F O’Donoghue; A O’Connell, E Costello, A Dillane; M O’Connell (1-0), A Galvin (0-1); N Carmody (0-1), N Ní Chonchúir, C Evans (0-1); D O’Leary (1-1), R Dwyer, S O’Shea (0-2f). Subs: C Lynch for Dillane (7 mins, bs), K Brosnan for Dwyer (43), C Lynch for Costello (46), R Rahilly for Dillane (52), N Broderick for Evans (60).
WATERFORD: K Gardiner; K McGrath (0-1), R Casey, C Murray; E Murray, E Power, A Murray; H Power, K Hogan (0-4, 2f); Á O’Neill, K Murray, B McMaugh (0-1); C Fennell, C Walsh (0-1), L McGregor (0-3). Sub: M Ryan for A Murray (45 mins).
