An unbelievable result from Markievicz Park tonight, where Galway have hammered Donegal by 4-17 to 0-14 to book an All-Ireland quarter-final date with Kerry.

Beaten out the gate by Roscommon in the Connacht final, the winners took full advantage of a lacklustre display from Rory Gallagher's out-of-sorts charges to ease into the last eight with 10,564 spectators looking on.

Having emptied the bench, the losers played most of the second half with 13 men after both Michael Murphy and Martin McElhinney were black-carded, while the winners finished with 14 men as Declan Kyne walked for a second yellow card and therefore a red.

Galway's victory means there will be no need for a quarter-final draw on Monday morning: as the Tribe have already met the Rossies, they will face the Kingdom tomorrow week, while Mayo - the third Connacht county in the last eight - will take on Nestor Cup holders Roscommon in that Croke Park double-header in eight days.

The beaten Connacht finalists led by eleven points at the short whistle, as goals from midfielder Johnny Heaney (2) and wing back Liam Silke (penalty) put them in complete control of their destiny, 3-9 to 0-7.

Disgracefully, throw-in was belatedly delayed for 15 minutes to accommodate Sky Sports following a draw in the day's other qualifier, which was played over 200 kilometres away. When the action did commence, it was the Tribesmen who took the game by the scruff of the neck to roar into an eight-point lead inside half an hour, 2-7 to 0-5.

Heaney palmed the opening goal to the net in the 18^th minute after Patrick McBrearty's excellent point had edged the Tir Chonail men ahead for the first and only time, 0-5 to 0-4, and Silke calmly slotted the second past substitute goalkeeper Peter Boyle from a 27^th-minute penalty, conceded by Mark Anthony McGinley, who was black-carded for pulling down Tom Flynn after the ball came back off an upright.

In between those three-pointers, Heaney and Sean Armstrong - a late addition to the Galway XV - pointed and the winners kicked on thereafter with points from Paul Conroy, Ian Burke and Damien Comer to a solitary Murphy ('45') reply as they led by nine points with a minute left before the break, 2-9 to 0-6.

Heaney's second major in injury time put the game well and truly out of Donegal's reach, despite a late, late point from substitute McElhinney before the break.

Armstrong and Shane Walsh lofted over the first two points for Galway before a brace of Murphy frees had the losers level. Armstrong's brace was then cancelled out by McBrearty (2) and Murphy as the Ulster county led ever so fleetingly before Kevin Walsh's confident charges, with the handbrake well and truly off, assumed control of the game.

Man of the Match Heaney knocked over the first point after the restart and Armstrong followed up to put 13 between the teams; captain Gary O'Donnell added another after Donegal butchered a great goal-scoring opportunity at the other end - 3-12 to 0-7.

Substitute Martin O'Reilly pulled back a consolation point but things went from bad to worse for the losers when their captain was black-carded eight minutes into the second half and, as they had already used up their full allocation of replacements, they would have to play out the remainder of the game with, at most, 14 men. Thirteen men, actually, as McElhinney was also black-carded four minutes later after McBrearty had supplied their ninth point of the night.

Michael Daly pointed in the 49^th minute before McBrearty smashed a rasping shot off the Galway crossbar - it just wasn't going to be Donegal's day! McBrearty pulled back a free for the 13 men in the 51^st minute, 0-10 to 3-13, and substitute Michael Langan closed the gap to eleven after Galway had full back Kyne sent off for a second yellow-card offence.

Bernard Power - named late to play between the Galway posts - got down well to make a double save from a McBrearty penalty following a Cathal Sweeney (black card) foul on O'Reilly, who floated over the twelfth Donegal point as they closed within ten with as many minutes remaining.

Substitute Eamonn Brannigan and Armstrong (free) added to the winning tally and a heavily-strapped Micheal Meehan made a late cameo appearance for the Tribesmen after McBrearty tacked on further consolation points either side of O'Donnell's second.

Brannigan pointed again before substitute Danny Cummins planted a rasping shot in the net deep into injury time as the Tribe won by an incredible 15 points to advance to the All-Ireland series.

Galway - B Power; E Kerin, D Kyne, C Sweeney; G O'Donnell (0-2), G Bradshaw, L Silke; P Conroy (0-1), J Heaney (2-2); Thomas Flynn, M Daly (0-1), I Burke (0-1), S Armstrong (0-6, 4f), D Comer (0-1), S Walsh (0-1). Subs - D Wynn for Sweeney (BC), E Brannigan (0-2) for Walsh, D Cummins (1-0) for Daly, M Meehan for Comer, C McDaid for O'Donnell, D Walsh for Bradshaw.

Donegal - MA McGinley; P McGrath, N McGee, C Ward; R McHugh, K Gillespie, E Gallagher; J McGee, M McHugh; J Brennan, F McGlynn, E McHugh; P McBearty (0-6, 2f), M Murphy (0-4, 4f), H McFadden. Subs - P Boyle for McGinley (BC), M Langan (0-1) for Brennan, M McElhinney (0-1) for McGlynn, K Lacey for Gillespie, C Thompson for McFadden, M O'Reilly (0-2) for E McHugh.

Ref - A Nolan (Wicklow).

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