Galway made it back-to-back Connacht senior football titles for the first time in 20 years after brushing aside Sligo with a 2-20 to 0-12 victory in Castlebar this afternoon.

Matthew Tierney (2-7) struck both goals in the opening half for the Tribesmen as they firmly lived up to their billing as favourites at MacHale Park to retain the JJ Nestor Cup.

Pat Spillane jnr was instrumental in getting Sligo off to a decent start in their first provincial decider in eight years, as they settled in by building a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after the opening five minutes.

Dylan McHugh pulled back a point before the holders landed their first hammer blow on 10 minutes that saw Damien Comer cross into Tierney who found the top corner of the net beyond scrambling Sligo defenders.

Some 13 minutes later and Comer would set-up Tierney again from a Sligo turnover and the latter supplied a superb finish that had Padraic Joyce’s charges moving towards a 2-7 to 0-5 half-time lead.

Now with the wind at their backs for the second-half, Tierney pointed 10 minutes into the resumption to increase Galway’s lead to nine.

Niall Murphy (free) and Sean Carrabine pulled back points for the Yeats men but last year’s beaten All-Ireland finalists pushed on in the closing quarter with points from Sean Kelly and subs Cathal Sweeney and Tomo Culhane to retain their provincial crown in emphatic fashion, equalling Mayo's record of 48 JJ Nestor Cups in the process.

Watch the full-time highlights of Galway v Sligo in the Connacht Senior Football Championship Final here on #GAANOW pic.twitter.com/GetK6vy1CE

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 7, 2023

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