Galway hold on to book Connacht SFC semi-final spot with victory over Mayo in Castlebar

James Horan suffered his first championship defeat in seven meetings as Mayo manager to arch rivals Galway as a late comeback came up short in Castlebar as the Tribesmen held on in thrilling finish to win by 1-14 to 0-16.

Galway led by six points with two minutes of regular time left before Mayo finally got moving as Lee Keegan, Ryan O'Donoghue, Kevin McLoughlin and Cillian O’Connor, with a couple of frees, hit points to cut the gap to the minimum.

But Mayo were unable to get level in five minutes of injury-time with sub Aiden Orme wide with an ambitious effort from the left in the final play of the game.

Galway did enough to hold out with Liam Silke, Jack Glynn and Kieran Molloy outstanding in a defence which smothered the Mayo attack and forced them into shooting eleven wides.

The sides went in level at the break at 0-09 to 1-06 after Mayo recovered from a blistering start by Galway, who opened up a five points lead by the tenth minute.

It took Shane Walsh just 14 seconds to get the Tribesmen off the mark but Cillian O’Connor quickly levelled with a free.

Johnny Heaney with the goal for Galway against Mayo Highlights on #sundaygame at 9.30pm #RTEGAA ⌨️ https://t.co/BATVYoshOd