As shadow-boxing goes, it was darn good stuff. All of seven months before the two teams face up to each other in the championship, with more at stake than this encounter, Mayo and Galway could reflect on more pluses than minuses as they slipped out of McHale Park, Castlebar, into the sort of November air that promises many more hours on the training ground.

Nobody wallowed too long, however. The reality of yesterday's match is that Mayo probably should have won - a propensity to shoot too many wides, 13 in all, proved their Achilles heel - and Galway, demonstrating considerable heart, didn't really deserve to lose. To abuse a cliche, a draw, all round, was perhaps the fairest result, even if the final act (a point from a free) wasn't delivered until injury time by Galway's Padraic Joyce.

"It was good for some of the younger lads to get the geography of the place, to dip their toes into the water," said Galway manager, and Mayo native, John O'Mahony. "To be honest, though, I don't think this match has too much relevance to what will happen next summer."

The manager in the opposite corner, Mayo boss John Maughan, concurred. "A good game for this time of year," he proferred, "and an opportunity to learn some things."

And, indeed, it was a fine game of football for the 10,000 crowd to savour: a goal plucked from the top drawer, some super points and, as if to add spice to the entire proceedings, some embarrassing wides, exactly the type you expect to see on greasy pitches in November. Something for everyone, really, with more good than bad.

In such situations, Mayo's cornerforward Kieran McDonald is an enigma. He is really very, very good, a thing of wonder, or, simply, terrible. He contributed five wides from his side's double-digit tally; but almost everything else McDonald touched turned to gold, and it was his touch of wizardry in the 20th minute which, more than anything, provided the catalyst for Mayo to shake off their early lethargy.

A couple of minutes earlier, Liam McHale had been introduced for the injured Ronan Golding and the big man instigated the move that led to McDonald's audacious goal.

McHale supplied John Casey who, in turn, supplied McDonald. He turned, took one look, and let fly with a rocket-like left-foot shot from 23 yards that had Martin McNamara clutching a mixture of gases. The crowd and his fellow players' could only suck in the same air in admiration. Quite brilliant.

McDonald's goal levelled a match - 1-2 to 0-5 - that had looked, on the evidence of the early exchanges, to be within Galway's grasp. At midfield, Sean O Domhnaill won a lot of ball and, in attack, Galway were showing verve and know-how. Paul Clancy's individual battle with David Heaney was particularly interesting; the skilful Moycullen player certainly seems to be one to watch in the future.

After that McDonald goal, Mayo improved. McHale fisted over a point shortly afterwards and Diarmuid Byrne elegantly floated over a lovely point to stretch the lead to two points. However, Mayo dug themselves out of a scoring drought that had lasted 10 minutes for Joyce to point a free and then Michael Donnellan to kick a good point to leave the sides on equal terms at the break, 1-4 to 0-7.

An indication of just how the second-half would pan out was shown to all and sundry in the opening two minutes. In that spell, Mayo kicked three wides and there were times when it looked as if they would be the manipulators of their own downfall.

Indeed, lesser teams would have wilted after two particular incidents.

Firstly, in the 39th minute, David Brady (who had a great game) set up Colm McManamon whose goalbound shot was blocked by a sea of maroon jerseys and David Nestor's shot from the rebound, again seemingly destined for the back of the net, was magnificently saved by McNamara. Secondly, a minute later, McManamon turned provider for McDonald but, when faced with an open goal, he blasted the ball across the face of the goal and wide.

At that stage, the sides were still level but Mayo lifted themselves for James Horan and, then, McDonald - who sold a clever dummy before pointing from 25 yards - to re-establish a two-point lead. Galway bounced back. Derek Savage got on the end of a six-man move that owed as much to basketball as Gaelic football and then Sean Og de Paor burst forward to add another point.

Still, the pendulum appeared to swing Mayo's way when McDonald and McHale, with a brilliant point, scored frees. However, McHale was to join the Mayo profligacy with two wides before the final whistle (bringing Mayo's count to 13, against four for Galway) and, in contrast, Galway responded, just as they had done at the end of the first-half, with two points, from Donnellan and finally Walsh, to secure a draw that had the crowd flocking away wishing the match had never needed to end.