No great disaster at Aughrim. On a sunny Saturday afternoon Galway moved smoothly into the next round of the Bank of Ireland All-Ireland qualifier series despite a fighting performance by Wicklow whose diffident start meant that their realistic chance of springing a surprise had evaporated by the end of the first quarter.

Before 6,500 people, comfortably accommodated rather than squeezed into the picturesque ground, it took the home side all of 25 minutes to register their first score.

By then Galway were leading by 10 points. The visitors had won the toss and elected to play with a strong wind. It was an early setback for Wicklow, according to manager Moses Coffey.

"We would have taken the wind and tried to put them under pressure from the start. Instead we were tentative and a little bit overawed in the first 15 minutes. We gave away a lot of ball. I think about 1-5 came from us losing the ball. Against top-class teams, if you give the ball away, they'll punish you."

Galway did that. Three goals helped set up the early lead and then maintain it in the second half as Wicklow threatened a revival. It was hard for the winning manager John O'Mahony to take an awful lot from the match because Wicklow's inhibited start meant that they were chasing for most of the match. This left them open at the back and Galway were able to exploit the stretched cover.

At times the attack moved well and the defence, where Richie Fahey had a very good match at corner back on Wicklow danger man Tommy Gill, was competent without being unduly pressurised.

"This was a tricky game," according to O'Mahony. "We got goals today that we didn't get against Roscommon, and that wins matches. All that counts is that we're in the hat for the next round. We've been through the wringer in the last few weeks after our performance against Roscommon. We asked ourselves a lot of questions and some of them were answered out there today. We closed them down and created a bit of space up front. At least we're back in it."

High-profile dual player Alan Kerins made quite an impact with his pace and use of the ball. In the 20th minute, he slipped in behind the Wicklow defence as Seβn ╙ D≤mhnaill, having his best championship match in three years, launched a long ball.

Gathering and finishing in virtually the one movement, Kerins pushed Galway 1-7 to nil in front.

He also set up Jarlath Fallon's goal on the hour after a strong run when sent inside by Michael Donnellan. That score eased what had become slight pressure as Wicklow cut the deficit to six with a cracking finish off a breaking ball snapped up by Gill in the 54th minute.

Wicklow's defence had been caught even more flat-footed for the second goal in the 49th minute. Both Fallon and captain Kieran Comer were unmarked behind the cover and combined for the latter to tap home.

"In the second half the two goals they got were real killer blows," said Coffey, "because we were right back in the game and if we'd got a goal instead of them I think the pressure would have been really on.

"We lost a bit of discipline at the back but in fairness to the lads we had to throw caution to the wind a little bit."

That abandon combined with an understandable loss of concentration by Galway in the second half to produce competitive interludes. But the winners' lead never dropped below six points.

Asked whether he was unhappy about anything, O'Mahony reminded everyone of why he was in Wicklow in the first place.

"I'm not happy not to be in the Connacht final tomorrow."