Local knowledge stood to Galway hero Connor Gleeson as he lined up crucial kick
Galway hero Connor Gleeson used home comforts to measure his winning kick in Sunday’s Connacht final.
The goalkeeper struck the winner from a free some 50 metres out deep in injury time to complete a late comeback and clinch Galway’s first provincial three-in-a-row in 40 years.
Although Pearse Stadium wasn’t as blustery as usual, the breeze was still blowing into Gleeson’s face as he lined up the kick.
But he had prepared for such an eventuality earlier in the week.
He explained: “We train here a bit so I know the breeze. I practised a good bit during the week because I knew I was on the frees, and that helped.
“I was just concentrating on my technique. I said that if I just said that if I strike through it and aim for the black spot, I’ll give myself a chance. It was holding on, I only knew just at the end that it was staying on.
“I wasn’t running back until I knew it was over the bar.”
Although there was still more time to be played and Cillian O’Connor had a chance from distance to equalise that drifted well wide, Gleeson’s strike ultimately secured Galway’s first Connacht final win over Mayo since 2008, having lost the previous four provincial deciders in which they met their fierce rivals.
“We’d lost, I don’t know many finals against Mayo at this stage, so we wanted to put that one right. The way the game went now, for a neutral watching I’d say it was very exciting.
“We were up and down the pitch a lot and I don’t know if overall I had the best of games, but they’ll only remember the last kick hopefully!”
It came at the end of an emotional week for Gleeson and his family, with his grandmother having been laid to rest the previous Tuesday.
“It’s nice, for my family especially, they’ll take all the plaudits, I probably won’t even look at it too much but they’ll be delighted – for a change!”
Galway’s win came amid the backdrop of a testing League, in which they endured an injury crisis but managed to avoid relegation from Division One, while only they scraped into the Connacht final with a last gasp win over Division Three outfit Sligo thanks to Robert Finnerty’s injury time goal.
But Gleeson never doubted that they would come good.
“No, we always knew that once our so-called big players would come back and we’d get to full strength, we’d be a serious team.
“We were still disappointed with some of our performances considering the depth that’s in the squad and it just wasn’t going our way, for one reason or another, in the League.
“But we stayed up, got over the line two weeks ago and I suppose that really woke us up to give this a right good crack.”
Galway now take their place in Group 1 of the All-Ireland SFC, alongside Derry, Westmeath and the losers of Sunday’s Donegal-Armagh Ulster final.
Their first game in the group will be a home tie with Derry on the weekend of May 18/19 as the League champions go in search of their first ever Championship win over the Connacht kingpins.
In their four previous meetings, Galway held the upper hand in the 1998, 2001 and 2022 All-Ireland semi-finals as well as a qualifier tie at Pearse Stadium in 2015.
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