Tom Monaghan's Touching Tribute Steals Show After Galway Leinster Success

Tom Monaghan produced the performance of his life to help Galway end an eight-year wait for Leinster glory on Sunday, but afterwards the man of the match's thoughts were not on medals or silverware.

Instead, they were with his mother.

Monaghan was outstanding as Galway overwhelmed Dublin 4-29 to 4-15 in Croke Park, scoring 0-7 from play in a display that underlined why he has become one of the most important players in Micheál Donoghue's side.

The Tribesmen were full value for their victory, securing their first Leinster title since 2018 and booking a place directly in the All-Ireland semi-finals.

Reflecting on Galway finally getting over the line after a series of painful Leinster final defeats, Tom Monaghan revealed his family had suffered a bereavement during the week.

We've faltered at this hurdle now for so long.

We've had incredibly tough days here in Leinster finals and anytime you leave Croke Park without a medal is a really tough day.

The Galway forward then explained why the victory carried extra meaning.

I'm glad to put a smile on my mother's face after losing her sister during the week.

It was an incredibly tough week for the family.

So I'm just incredibly proud today that I was able to put a smile on my mum's face.

Earlier, Monaghan had been at the heart of Galway's best display of the year.

Having come in for criticism after inconsistent performances during the Leinster round-robin, Galway delivered the complete 70-minute display they had been searching for.

I suppose we've been playing in dribs and drabs up to this and we shipped a bit of criticism, and rightly.

We were looking for a 70-minute performance and we got that today.

We stuck to our plan and kind of said at half-time we need to stick to what we're doing.

Even with the black card, we got the message around, stick to what we're doing, stick to what we're doing, and thank God it worked out in the end.

Galway's movement and attacking play repeatedly stretched Dublin, with Monaghan a constant threat throughout.

Conor Whelan added 0-5, while Galway's pace and movement caused Dublin problems from the opening whistle. Even a controversial black card shown to Whelan and a penalty converted by Donal Burke in the second half failed to knock them off course.

Aaron Niland and Conor Cooney added late goals as Galway powered clear and ensured the Bob O'Keeffe Cup would be heading west.