GALWAY DEMOLISH DONEGAL IN SLIGO

Galway went on a scoring spree to book an All-Ireland quarter-final showdown with Kerry next weekend after stunning Donegal by 4-17 to 0-14 in a surprisingly one-sided encounter at Markievicz Park.

It was a dismal night for Donegal football. They had three players black-carded, missed a penalty and played most of the second-half with 13 men when Michael Murphy and Martin McElhinney picked up black cards with all subs used.

But the game was over as a contest by then as Galway, hoping to bounce back from the shock Connacht final loss to Roscommon,
destroyed a shaky Donegal defence.

Johnny Heaney was the main tormentor for Galway as he fired home 2-2 with both goals coming in the opening half as the Tribesmen blitzed Donegal.
Rory Gallagher's men just had no answer to a powerful performance from Galway, who had the game wrapped up by half-time when they led by 3-9 to 0-7.

The Ulster side played most of the second-half with just 13 men when Michael Murphy and Martin McElhinney picked up black cards when they had all six subs used.

The big breakthrough came for Galway after 16 minutes when Heaney got in for the first of his goals after Sean Armstrong and
the impressive Ian Burke had set him up and he fisted to the net.
Armstrong then pointed a free before the disorganised Donegal defence was again punished when goalkeeper Mark Anthony McGinley tripped Flynn to concede a penalty.

It got worse for Donegal when referee Anthony Nolan dished out a black card to the goalkeeper while his replacement,
Peter Boyle, stood little chance against Liam Silke's penalty.
That made it 2-6 to 0-5 after 25 minutes and Conroy quickly added a point to turn the screw and by the interval they were out of sight when Heaney got his second goal.

The loss of Murphy and McElhinney meant no way back for Donegal who missed a penalty when Paddy McBreaty's effort was saved by Bernard Power.

And Galway finished in style with Danny Cummins getting their fourth goal in the dying moments of the game.
One of the biggest cheers of the evening though was when Michael Meehan made his long-awaited return to championship football after his lengthy battle with injury.
He looked sharp in a brief cameo role as he tasted this level of football for the first time since 2014.

Galway finished the game with 14 men when full-back Declan Kyne picked up a second yellow card but it mattered little as they eased to victory.
They face Kerry in the quarter-finals on Sunday at Croke Park.