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Championship football is about finding a way. It is a motto that has served Galway footballers well throughout the past three months.

Galway eventually came out on top of Armagh in one of the most thrilling games Croke Park has seen for years, 2-21 to 3-18 after extra-time with the Tribesmen winning 4-1 on penalties. The teams could not be separated in normal time or extra time and almost three hours after the ball was first thrown in Matthew Tierney’s penalty struck the net and jubilant celebrations could finally begin in the Galway camp.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

“There is nothing as Galway as Our Lady's Boy’s Club,” was how our president Michael D Higgins described OLBC some years ago at a function in the Columban Hall. It is more than 80 years since it was founded and it is the longest-running youth club in the country. It was set up by Fr Leonard Shiel SJ at a time when there were was a lot of grinding poverty in Galway and no recreational facilities or extra-curricular activities for young people in areas like the Claddagh, Bohermore, Shantalla, and ‘The West’. The club provided these and has been a source of guidance and inspiration to thousands of young men and boys since, especially those from a working class background. From that first day of nervous membership, right through their teens, and even after they had taken up the challenges of adult life, the spirit and watchful eye of the Club is ever with them.

Padraic Joyce managed Galway to a championship victory over Mayo for the first time on Sunday with a superb 1-14 to 0-16 victory in over their arch rivals in Castlebar.

They could have forced it to extra time at the death, when Aiden Orme took aim from the stand side of the field and kicked for a point but his effort tailed just wide of the target and from Connor Gleeson’s kick-out David Coldrick blew the final whistle.

Galway footballers suffered their second defeat to Roscommon in the space of a week when they fell short of the finishing line in Croke Park on Sunday.

Galway and Roscommon prepare for another meeting - this one of more significance for Padraic Joyce's players as they seek to claim the Allianz Football League division two crown.

The Galway footballers will be playing division one football in 2023 after securing an immediate return to the top flight with a game to spare.

Padraic Joyce’s Galway footballers overcame the challenge of Clare in Tuam Stadium in blustery conditions on Sunday afternoon.