Connor Gleeson proved the hero as Galway edged Mayo late on to claim a 50th Connacht senior football championship title at Pearse Stadium this afternoon.

It finished 0-16 to 0-15 at the packed Salthill venue, where Galway ‘keeper Gleeson nailed the winning point from a 50-metre deep in injury-time to secure his county’s third provincial success in-a-row.

Having led by 0-7 to 0-5 at the halfway stage, Mayo saw their advantage slip away in the early minutes of the resumption before hitting the front again with Jordan Flynn and Matthew Ruane points.

A brace of points from Ryan O’Donoghue had the scoreboard reading 0-11 to 0-8 in favour of Kevin McStay’s men entering the closing quarter where there’d be plenty of swings and roundabouts to come in this decider.

Gleeson (free) and Rob Finnerty got the Tribesmen level ahead of Shane Walsh sailing over a point ahead of fellow substitute Cillian O’Connor.

Mayo responded with another O’Donoghue free being backed up by Ruane’s third from play and a Tommy Conroy point that put two between the teams heading towards injury-time as Mayo looked to be on the cusp.

The added minutes saw Padraic Joyce’s men dominating however, as Finnerty’s eighth point would ignite them again for a Walsh free to level it in the 73rd minute and then Gleeson would sail over from 50 metres out two minutes later to clinch a sweet success for the men in maroon and white.

WATCH: FULL-TIME HIGHLIGHTS! 📺🚨

Galway are the Champions of Connacht!

FT Score:@Galway_GAA 0-16@MayoGAA 0-15

Enjoy the best of the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship Final with #GAANOW 👇👇 pic.twitter.com/G5k1VUIC81

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 5, 2024

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