Rob Finnerty was on fire for Galway, who proved too strong for Monaghan at Inniskeen: 1-20 to 2-9.

A sixth successive defeat for the hosts means that they are relegated, while their conquerors have kept their survival hopes in their own hands ahead of next weekend’s intriguing Round Seven clash with Dublin.

With a fierce wind howling around Grattan Park, Oisín Mac Donnacha’s goal was the highlight of the first half, giving the victors a 1-5 to 0-4 half-time lead.

Eleven minutes had elapsed before Matthew Tierney finally sent over the opening score for the westerners but the border county replied with a trademark Jack McCarron two-pointer. Mícheál Bannigan cancelled out Dylan McHugh’s point but Mac Donnacha’s 16th-minute finish to the top right corner edged Galway back in front, 1-2 to 0-3. This time it was a lead that would not be relinquished…

It was double scores when the unstoppable Finnerty converted a free from the right. Last year’s Division Two winners were struggling to muster scores with the elements at their backs but, playing on his home patch, Andrew Woods popped one over on the turn ten minutes from the interval.

Finnerty and Tierney struck the last two scores of a disappointing first half which ended with Galway ahead by double scores.

Despite coughing up the first point of the second half, Monaghan got a lifeline when Dessie Ward finished excellently to the net in the 41st minute, followed by a second Bannigan point to close the gap to two. But Johnny Maher, Cian Darcy and Paul Conroy – with a two-pointer – were on hand to make it 1-11 to 1-5 with 50 minutes on the clock.

Rory Beggan boomed over a two-pointer free into the wind and Stephen O’Hanlon’s score left three points separating the teams heading into the fourth quarter. Beggan did well to divert Sean Kelly’s shot over the bar but the Tribesmen started to kick on with two-pointers from Finnerty and Conroy followed by another point from the former to lead by eleven approaching the hour mark.

Finnerty fired his eighth point of the evening as Padraig Joyce’s men cantered towards the winning line. Micheál McCarville wonderful goal and O’Hanlon’s late point were no more than consolation scores, Galway departing south Monaghan with two precious points on the board to keep their own top-flight survival ambitions very much alive ahead of their Salthill showdown with Dublin next Sunday.

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