Galway vs Kerry

In a repeat of last year's All-Ireland final, where they were level with Kerry after 66 minutes, but starting to wane, there was no fade out here.

“It’s great that they are building and have got better as the League went on. It’s a long time since Galway have beaten Kerry in league football. Tribe boss Joyce said: “It was a good win for us to be honest. It’s good to win it. “They didn’t panic. “In the second half, defensively, we were excellent, got our couple of scores and it was great to get time into Damien and Rob, get them back on the pitch. The big play off the half came on 34 minutes when Paul Conroy’s attempt for a point dropped short, but Kerry goalie Shane Murphy collided with a post and dropped in into the net. Ruairi Murphy raided forward and David Clifford turned his man to square for O’Sullivan, but he fumbled the ball with goal on and had to settle for a fisted point. And Power showed good game management skills to hit Mattherw Tierney three times in a row on the wing from long kickouts when Galway were a little shaky in the second half. Tom O’Sullivan exploited his free man role to go upfield and hit two points from play in the first half, one a trademark effort off the outside of his left foot, as well as hitting a wide. Even the way they managed out the final minute and a half of stoppage time, holding onto the ball was impressive, with sub Daniel O’Flaherty taking a big catch from a Galway kickout to relieve the pressure. The way they controlled the ball in the final two minutes of stoppage time, playing down the clock with a two point lead, showed a level of maturity and game management that hasn’t always been there.