McHugh Admits Galway Were Studying Key Armagh Tactic, And It Paid Off With Connacht Title

Galway are Connacht champions for the fourth consecutive year. They battled through a dogged Mayo team to defeat their old enemy in a Connacht decider in Castlebar for the first time since 2008. Their manager Padráic Joyce was captain that day.

It was a compelling fixture played amid high winds and bright sunlight. Galway built up an eight-point half time lead and then Mayo roared back with the wind behind them.

While the burden of victory for Galway is a place in the Sam Maguire round robin Group of Death, they'll be thrilled all the same with the win. Talismen Shane Walsh and Damien Comer were both sidelined on Sunday but Galway's incredible depth shown through.

Mayo had a few chances to equalise late on but Galway's defence proved resolute. In particular, a huge block by Dylan McHugh on Paul Towey and a Conor Gleeson save on Enda Hession in the final few minutes denied Mayo vital scoring opportunities.

Galway's Cillian McDaid, fresh from helping his side to victory over Mayo, joins the Sunday Game panel to give his immediate reaction to a fourth consecutive Connacht title. #RTEGAA #TheSundayGame pic.twitter.com/3kTNTHbkJ4

— The Sunday Game (@TheSundayGame) May 4, 2025

Cillian McDaid was instrumental in inspiring the Galway attack but speaking to RTÉ after the game, he said McHugh's intervention was the winning of the four-in-a-row.

Dylan McHugh's block, that's the Connacht championship. It's not a score obviously, but that's the winning and losing of the game I think.

And Conor Gleeson as goalkeeper. Last year he kicked the winner for us. Between the two lads, that's the winning of the game.

Speaking to Tommy Rooney of Off The Ball after fulltime, McHugh described what was going through his mind when he dove at the ball.

"If you're not going to put your body on the line with a minute to go in the Connacht final in Castlebar, when are you going to do it? Probably a no-brainer. Probably just dove at it, lucky enough just blocked [it]," he said.

Interestingly, McHugh also revealed that Galway had been studying one element of Armagh's defensive approach in preparation for this year's Championship.

It's probably something we looked at last year. We had a look at Armagh's shots at the end of the year. Armagh faced a lot of shots last year, but their expected score was probably lower than what they were conceding because anytime anyone took a shot at Armagh's goal, there was bodies flying at the ball. It's probably something we said we might try to bring into our game.

Joe McElroy's diving block on Paul Conroy was the winning of the 2024 All-Ireland final, as McHugh and his teammates know all to well.

The block that won it for Armagh.

Joe McElroy. What a moment pic.twitter.com/u4v6sPAPuZ