Galway have claimed a second consecutive title, defeating Sligo on a scoreline of 2-20 to 0-12 in Castlebar this afternoon.
It was a game that Padraic Joyce's side were expected to win, having been one of the most impressive teams in the country during their league and championship campaigns up to this point. While Sligo have also had an excellent season, this was expected to be a bridge too far for a team that were promoted from Division 4 earlier this year.
So proved to be the case.
Despite a good start from Sligo in the opening ten minutes, it did not take long for Galway to establish their dominance in the game. Two goals from Matthew Tierney in the first half proved to be key in opening up the gap between the sides.
Matthew Tierney has scored his second goal as Galway capitalised after turning over Sligo possession and they now have a commanding lead in the Connacht SFC final
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That was ultimately too much for Sligo to recover from, with Galway running out as 14-point winners.
RTÉ panel on Padraic Joyce sending message to Galway players
Despite this being a provincial final, it was a fairly routine day at the office for Galway. They never really got out of second gear and were sloppy in their play at times in the second half.
Padraic Joyce will spot plenty of things that need to be improved upon ahead of the All-Ireland series, with the manager possibly sending a message to his players about keeping their standards high just after halftime.
Shane Walsh, Galway's star forward, was fairly anonymous in the game. He scored two points from frees, but was otherwise a non-factor in the first half.
He would then be substituted five minutes into the second half, something the RTÉ punditry panel believe was Joyce sending a warning to Walsh and the other Galway players. Both Colm Cooper and Lee Keegan felt that this was clearly the motivation behind this substitution.
"I think he looked disinterested"
Shane Walsh was withdrawn early in the second half of Galway's Connacht SFC final win and both Lee Keegan and Colm Cooper felt the forward was well below par #rtegaa
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Cooper: There was lots for Padraic Joyce to work on, parts of their play in the second half was quite sloppy, turning over the ball.
The one I would look closely at is Shane Walsh being taken off five minutes into the second half. He looked quite uninterested to me. Probably at halftime he was told he was getting five minutes to shape up, that didn't happen.
That is sending a big message through the squad that if you're not at it, you won't get game time.
Cantwell: Do you think that's what it was, that Shane Walsh was taken off as a sort of wrap on the knuckles perhaps?
Keegan: Yeah. We mentioned against Roscommon he was quite ineffective as well, he played a kind of loose roll. It's not the Shane Walsh we associate with the All-Ireland final last year, going direct, taking his man on, and hitting some of the best scores we've seen.
I agree with Colm, he looked disinterested today. Padraic is sending out a clear message that if you're not doing your stuff, you're not going to be playing...
Cooper: I don't think it's necessarily a negative thing. He has had a long season with Kilmacud going the distance, so maybe there are some ill effects there.
This could be a turning point for him where he says 'I need to pull up my socks'. We know the talent and class is there.
Padraic Joyce will certainly keep standards high within the Galway panel, with the group hoping to go one better than last year's All-Ireland final appearance later this summer.
This move will remind his players of what will be required to reach that goal.
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