Galway proved too strong for Kildare in this evening’s All-Ireland senior football championship first round meeting in Salthill.

It finished 3-21 to 0-17 at Pearse Stadium, where Rob Finnerty starred for the hosts with 1-9 over the 70 minutes as they bounced back from their Connacht final defeat to Roscommon two weeks’ ago.

Matthew Tierney’s goal after three minutes helped settle in the Tribesmen and they’d rattle Kildare’s net again seven minutes later through wing forward Cein Darcy.

The Lilywhites' response included Alex Beirne’s two-pointer and a Colm Dalton score that trimmed their deficit to two points by the 23rd minute. The scores of Finnerty and Shane Walsh (two-point free) pushed Galway five ahead again before Darragh Kirwan launched one over from beyond the arc at the other end and a point by Ben Loakman left the scoreboard reading 2-8 to 0-12 at half-time.

Padraic Joyce’s side hit two-pointers via Finnerty and Walsh in the opening minutes of the restart and then introduced Damien Comer to the fray.

Kirwan saw a point cancelled out by Cillian McDaid and, after that, Kildare would be left with it all to do once Finnerty got in for his side’s third goal.

Comer, Paul Conroy and McDaid added unanswered points ahead of Finnerty’s long range effort putting 13 between the sides with 10 minutes remaining.

Substitite Jack Robinson grabbed a couple of points for Brian Flanagan’s men down the home stretch, with Shane McGrath wrapping up the comfortable win for hosts with a point just before the hooter sounded.

A dominant second half performance powered Galway to a comprehensive triumph over Kildare🔥⚡️ #GALvKIL

FT Score@Galway_GAA 3-21@KildareGAA 0-17

FULL-TIME HIGHLIGHTS📽️👇 pic.twitter.com/Y2T9YVKadR

— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 23, 2026

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