Moycullen ease past Tourlestrane to claim first Connacht senior club crown

Moycullen 0-13 Tourlestrane 0-06

Galway champions Moycullen eased to their first Connacht SFC title with a convincing victory over Sligo's Tourlestrane at Pearse Stadium.

Moycullen led by 0-04 to 0-03 at the break despite having played against the breeze and not scoring from play.

But four frees from as many attempts from captain Dessie Conneely was enough to give them the edge on a sunny winter's afternoon in Salthill.

Moycullen will face the winners of the Ulster final between reigning champions Kilcoo and Watty Graham's Glen of Derry in the All-Ireland semi-finals.

It completes a great weekend for Galway clubs with Dunmore MacHales winning the Connacht intermediate crown and Clifden capturing the junior title.

Both teams played possession football but the Galway champions looked more threatening before the break and would have been much further ahead if they had taken a couple of good goal chances.

However, Tourlestrane goalkeeper Adam Broe did well to deny a fisted effort from Paul Kelly in the opening minute while Ger Davoren saw his shot after a good build-up come crashing back off the crossbar 11 minutes from the break.

Three times Tourlestrane, hoping to become only the second Sligo team to win the Connacht title, edged in front in the opening 16 minutes with John Kelly kicking two excellent points and Liam Gaughan also landing a fine effort, but each time Moycullen hauled them back with Conneely frees.

Tourlestrane failed to score in the second quarter and built up five wides by the interval, the Galway champions going in front three minutes from the break when Conneely tapped over a 20 metre free.

Moycullen's Owen Gallagher and Gary Gaughan exchanged points in the opening six minutes of the second-half but then Moycullen