Gaelic Games:Where now for Mayo? Last September's All-Ireland finalists encountered something of a maroon-tinted hurricane when they visited Salthill yesterday afternoon.

John O'Mahony could but watch on the sideline as Galway, the team with whom he enjoyed champagne days, inflicted a 2-10 to 0-9 beating on his native county. Between teams poised at 39 wins each in the Connacht record books, this latest chapter was traditional in that it was no classic - though several of the home scores bore the hallmark of sumptuous Galway skills.

The slightly forbidding fact that Mayo had not won here in Salthill for 40 years conveniently overlooked that Tuam was the host venue for most of those years. Nonetheless, Mayo fans travelled the N17 in a mood of uncertainty, and when Cormac Bane flashed two splendid goals in the first half, the visitors' worst fears were realised.

Galway played with the ferocity of a team unleashed from the cage of spring training and a full year of frustration. They were eager and aggressive and entirely positive.

Mayo, still recovering from an injury-ridden league, played catch-up until Pat Harte was sent off 10 minutes after half-time and the heat went out of the contest.

"The problem was that we didn't get a performance out there today and Galway did," admitted O'Mahony. The Ballaghaderreen man now has seven weeks to glue a renewed All-Ireland challenge together and, more immediately, faces a nail-biting week on the electoral circuit. But in the tumult of the tunnel underneath Pearse Stadium, he had lost none of the old composure.

"You will have comparisons now with the bad days Mayo have had, but we cannot think about that," he declared. "We have to analyse what went wrong. It is not as though the lads didn't give total commitment. But it just wasn't there. We didn't do it on purpose. But look, the only ones that can do anything about it is ourselves.

"We could talk ourselves into a situation where we missed enough to be ahead of them. I am as bewildered as everyone else at this stage. But I also feel that I will get to the bottom of it - along with everyone else in that dressingroom."

Disappointed as O'Mahony was, he warmly embraced his former player and Galway successor, Peter Ford.

This match was sweet vindication for Ford, who endured some vitriolic criticism in the fallout of last summer's championship defeat and the frigid early phases of the league.

Yesterday, everything came together. Galway's radically altered attack worked a treat. Joe Bergin looked a leader and the back six, even after Niall Coyne retired with a busted eye, looked organised and mean.

Pádraic Joyce was not spectacular but worked his socks off along with Fallon and the speed merchants on the wings did the damage. Mayo brought on the totemic figures of David Brady and CiaráMcDonald and, for a brief period, we entertained the notion of a rousing finale. But when Conor Mortimer snapped a shot of the crossbar seconds after half-time and then Pat Harte had another goal chance saved, it had the feel of being a maroon day. Galway cantered home.

They will be warm favourites to take the western theatre now, whereas Mayo must take the plunge into the unknown.

As the championship heated up around the country, Páidí Ó Sé faced uncertain times yesterday evening. The indefatigable Kerry man watched his novice Clare team hit the wall as Waterford claimed their first championship victory since 1988.

Up in Croke Park, Mick O'Dwyer came desperately close to conjuring up another football miracle. Wicklow pushed Louth to the brink, were stunned by the concession of a late goal to JP Rooney and then recovered to earn an electrifying draw when Tommy Gill fired a left-foot free to earn the Garden County another day out. Another county tingling from the O'Dwyer experience.

Although that match was the curtain-raiser, it proved more gripping than the main billing.

Meath's renaissance continues under Colm Coyle as they put a notable 2-8 past Kildare on their way to recording a six-point victory, setting up a mouthwatering meeting with Dublin.

Billy Morgan's Cork began the defence of their Munster title with a handsome win over Limerick - the 2-14 to 0-7 scoreline was impressive against a team who were stubborn and organised throughout the league.

Up in Ulster, Tyrone survived a full-hearted challenge from Fermanagh, but must now add Colm Cavanagh to their staggeringly full injury list.

Down built on last Sunday's fireworks by seeing off Cavan at home in The Marshes, giving their former star player Ross Carr his first competitive victory as manager.