ROBERT FINNERTY knew Galway had to bring their ‘A’ game after watching Cork give Kerry the fright of their lives. The Kingdom were hot favourites to brush their neighbours in Saturday night’s Munster SFC semi-final at Páirc Uí Chaoimh. But the Rebels had other ideas - and produced an astounding performance to send the game to extra-time. Joe O’Connor’s wondergoal rescued the reigning Division 1 champions, who edged a thriller 3-21 to 1-25. A stunned Finnerty watched on as he geared up for Roscommon’s Connacht semi-final visit to Pearse Stadium on Sunday. Cork’s performance proved Padraic Joyce’s men could take nothing for granted. Finnerty starred with 0-8 in a 1-24 to 0-18 win. He was worried before the game, but his display surged them into another provincial showpiece against arch-rivals Mayo. He said: “Yeah, of course. I was watching Cork and Kerry on Saturday night, seeing Cork kind of shock Kerry, I was like ‘we really need to be on our game tomorrow.’ “No doubt those Roscommon lads were watching that game thinking ‘we hope we do this tomorrow to Galway, go win that game.’ “Roscommon always fancy themselves against us. We’ve seen that. They have beaten Galway over the years a lot of those players in big championship games. “They’ve gone close. Look, we didn’t take our eye off the ball at all. Obviously, we wanted to win the game, which we did thankfully. It is nice to get a performance as well. “That is where we want to be. Roscommon and Mayo are both tough opposition. There was only a point in it last year, a massive game so we are probably looking at something similar again.” Finnerty lit up Galway’s attack in Salthill and stood up in Shane Walsh’s absence, who missed out with a back problem. Damien Comer was held in reserve until the second half after sitting out the bulk of their NFL campaign with a groin injury. But the rest of Joyce’s team soared to banish the Rossies in style, as reigning Footballer of the Year Paul Conroy fired 0-5 from midfield - including two two-pointers. The St. James’ man and John Maher lorded the middle as Matthew Tierney scored 1-3, and Finnerty gushed at their displays to set up a Connacht final showdown with Mayo at MacHale Park on May 4th. He said: “I always go out and try to give my biggest performance. Some days you will be hot, some days not so much. “Some days even when I am with Shane and Damo inside, you might be the one on fire or whatever, it takes turns. A lot of playing inside is about having relationships with people on the ball. “When you have someone and you know where they are going to kick it, they know your movement, that is massive. We obviously don’t have to learn that from scratch. “I thought Matthew Tierney was unbelievable, that took a lot of heat off me. The midfielders were class. I was looking out in awe at some of their catches. The way they caught those balls was unbelievable. “Paul’s two pointers were massive. We saw that last year, he was kicking long range for fun but there weren't two points to be rewarded for it. "That shows how good he is at them when he is willing to take them when they are low-percentage. “We were down a few bodies. I think the squad we have at the minute is massive. It’s on the next person to step up every time. Lads who got the chance did that as well which is great.” CLASS CLUB Finnerty is at the core of SIX Salthill-Knocknacarra stars in Joyce’s squad as they chase four Connacht SFC titles in a row next month - and a first All-Ireland since 2001. Maher, Daniel O’Flaherty, Cathal Sweeney and Tomo Culhane fly the flag along with new boy Matthew Thompson. Thompson was a promising underage soccer star at Salthill Devon and Galway United before concentrating on GAA. He skippered Galway’s under-20’s last year before making his SFC debut against New York, and kept his jersey for Sunday;s clash. Thompson, 20, repaid Joyce’s faith with a stellar display and Finnerty beamed at his clubmate’s progression on the big stage. He said: “It is savage. Obviously, John, I grew up playing with John underage, that is one thing but then having Daniel, Cathal, Matthew and Tomo as well, it is unbelievable. "Six of us from the club, it is unheard of really. Special times for the club. “Matthew actually played a lot of soccer growing up. He always had the makings of a serious footballer but he went with soccer for a long time. “Then I think when he came back to play with us in Salthill, it was just about getting as many games into him as possible. “Everyone in the club knew he had serious quality. He was always going to come through. “The last two years he has been unbelievable for our senior team and the under-20’s. Now he is getting his chance, he is really taking it.”