By Cian O'Connell

Galway manager Kevin Walsh acknowledged it was a deeply disappointing Connacht SFC Final for his team on Sunday.

A pumped up Roscommon outfit dominated the second period to claim silverware at Pearse Stadium.

An inability to win possession after the restart was critical according to the Galway manager. “In the second half we just didn’t seem to get our hands on the ball," Walsh reflected.

Having accumulated a 0-10 to 0-5 interval lead Galway only managed to land two further scores in the second period.

"We overturned the ball maybe two or three times at the start of the second half, when we were attacking, and the next 20 minutes we didn’t seem to get our hands on the ball," Walsh added.

“I could be reading it wrong, obviously ye probably had more time to watch it, but we’ll have to evaluate it during the week. One thing for sure is it wasn’t a consistent performance.

"I think we probably didn’t get our hands on the ball enough. They seemed to be winning all the breaking ball and running at us. We certainly weren’t as good defensively in the second half.”

Fiontan O'Curraoin, who was prominent early on for Galway, suffered an injury which hurt the locals. With Paul Conroy and Ciaran Duggan already sidelined it was another setback for Galway.

"I've never blamed injuries during the year," Walsh remarked. "He had a very good first 15 minutes when he was there, kicked a huge point and caught a ball in the square. He was very good, but in fairness to Eamonn Brannigan he kicked a point in the first half and maybe fouled for one.

"So he did well, but maybe as the game wore on that midfield area where we had all the big guys like Conroy and Duggan and Fiontan, they just weren't there at that point and maybe it had a bearing on getting their hands on the ball."