Damien Comer shows great sportsmanship as he wishes Tom Parsons well after horror injury
Galway's star full-forward Damien Comer led the tributes to Mayo's Tom Parsons who suffered a horrific injury in the sides' Connacht SFC quarter-final on Sunday.
While the Tribesmen defeated their biggest rivals for the third year in a row, last year's beaten All-Ireland finalists will once again have to navigate the qualifiers.
Galway edged the battle of attrition 1-12 to 0-12, backing up an impressive spring campaign which saw them reach the final of the National League.
The back door is a familiar path for Mayo in recent seasons, however, before they begin their All-Ireland Championship campaign, immediate attention is on Parsons who dislocated his knee in the second half of the game.
Obviously delighted to get the win today up in McHale Park. But rivalries aside, the very best wishes to @TomParsons_8 A horrific injury, Never nice to see that happen! Speedy recovery Tom.
— Damien Comer (@DamoComer) May 13, 2018
Best wishes to Tom Parsons. A man shows up to play a bit of sport, and just so cruel for something like that to happen
— Shane Stapleton (@ShaneSaint) May 13, 2018
Regardless of the result today or anything else from McHale Park . All the very best to Tom Parsons after sustaining a dreadful injury. Hopefully he will make a 100% recovery and get back fully fit. All GAA supporters wish him well. @MayoGAA
— Ray Silke (@raysilke98) May 13, 2018
Wishing Mayo's Tom Parsons the very best in his recovery from the horror injury he sustained against Galway today (the photos I've seen are too graphic to post). County rivalries go out the window at times like this. Good luck Tom and hopefully we see you back playing soon. pic.twitter.com/ec9UKVenl1
— AllIrishSport (@AllIrishSport) May 13, 2018
I spoke in Tom Parsons workplace during the week where he is a powerful ambassador for creating a culture of emotional wellbeing within his company. He was getting on a bus at 2pm to head West for training with Mayo & returning to Dublin at 2am the following morning.Heal well Tom
— Conor Cusack (@Conor14Cusack) May 13, 2018
Another Galway legend, Padraig Joyce, also wished the Mayo man well in what unfortunately looks like a long road to recovery.
I wish you a full recovery @TomParsons_8 and hope to see you back soon enough with @MayoGAA
— Padraic Joyce (@Padraic14) May 13, 2018
An injury time goal from Johnny Heaney ensured that Kevin Walsh's men progressed to the provincial semi-final where they will play Sligo.
Johnny Heaney with a cracker of a goal! pic.twitter.com/lblrvyMg6K
— The GAA (@officialgaa) May 13, 2018
A Connacht title would see Galway progress to the inaugural Super 8s, while the defeat in Castelbar means that Stephen Rochford's Mayo will now need to string four wins on the bounce to progress to the round robin series.
Galway will face the Yeats county for a spot in the Connacht final on June 3 while Mayo kick off their qualifier campaign the following weekend.
