Dublin 1-18; Galway 2-14
As Mark Twain might have said, reports of Dublin’s demise appears to have been greatly exaggerated as Galway found out to their cost in this absolutely riveting All-Ireland SFC round-robin Group 4 contest at Salthill on Saturday evening.
In a game that twisted one way and then the other, it looked like Dublin may have lost their opportunity when talisman Con O’Callaghan had to go off injured after 45 minutes - but the gods of sports have a funny way of mocking us.
This they did by creating conflicting narratives before Con’s replacement Tom Lahiff emerged with the ball some 30m out after the hooter had sounded to turn and kick the winning point with the final shot of the game.
What a denouement to a game! And what a prospect it throws up as the All Ireland series continued to surprise over the weekend with Cavan going down to Castlebar and beating Mayo by 1-17 to 1-14. Who said Mayo were happy to lose the Connacht final because they would land in an easier group by doing so. They now have to beat either or possibly both Tyrone and Donegal to advance depending on how Cavan do against their Ulster opponents.
But back to Salthill and the dazed look on Galway manager Pádraic Joyce’s face at the final whistle told you he wasn’t expecting this reversal. His only beacon of hope is that he can get the nearly always injured Damien Comer back into the team or onto the subs bench because clearly, there is something missing if they want to go one better than last year when they lost out to Armagh in the All Ireland final.
Dublin were still smarting from the Leinster semi-final defeat by Meath when they ran out onto the pitch on Saturday - and it took onlookers less than a minute to realise that they were out to make amends for that dreadful showing.
They went after the Galway kick out which forced Connor Gleeson to go long and in Padraig Ó Cofaigh Byrne, they had a skyscraper of a man to catch anything high turfed into midfield.
With Ciaran Kilkenny possibly playing the best game of his life - and that is saying something when you consider what he has done over the past decade or more - and with Sean Bugler back and driving his team forward, Dublin drove on like men possessed in the first half and led by 1-9 to 0-8 at the interval despite playing into a strong wind.
The goal came from opportunist Cormac Costello, who took advantage of great dispossession work by Colm Basquel to run 30 yards and shoot low past a spread-eagled Glennon in the home net.
Defensively, the blues did well too, only conceding two orange flags to a wind-backed Galway from Shane Walsh and the impressive Rob Finnerty, who would also find himself on the end of a second half move which yielded Galway’s second goal.
This score came after an explosive second half start by the Tribesmen when a Cillian McDaid Hail Mary virtually from the throw in was was brilliantly fielded by Matthew Thompson after 13 seconds who almost in one movement landed and shot to the back of the net to raise the biggest cheer of the day among the maroon clad fans in the 20,000 crowd.
When Finnerty and Thompson added points to nudge Galway ahead shortly afterwards, it looked like Dublin’s plan might be upstaged.
However the marauding Kilkenny intervened and set up the fast moving Lorcan O’Dell for the first of his three second half points - and this gave Dublin the confidence to go for glory.
Once more the concession of a goal - this time one that could have been avoided, seemed to undo them with Finnerty at the end of work that involved McDaid, John Maher and Matthew Tierney.
Maher then stepped up to level the game while Dublin kicked two awry from the feet of sub Niall Scully and Costello, who rushed his effort and pulled it wide.
However, the same man stood up and hit the target immediately to make amends but Tierney fisted over to level matters again.
A draw might have been a fair result but it wasn’t in the Dublin lexicon on the day and they held possession around the Galway arc until the hooter sounded. This meant that if they scored, there was no way back for Galway… and that is precisely what they did with Lahiff earned his 15 minutes of glory with the winner.
That all set up the final play, and when it mattered most, Dublin worked the ball over and back until Galway lost their shape, allowing Lahiff to strike the winner.
Dublin: S Cluxton; S MacMahon, T Clancy, D Byrne; S Bugler (0-3), Brian Howard, Alex Gavin; Ciarán Kilkenny (0-2), Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne; Killian McGinnis (0-2), Lorcan O'Dell (0-3), Cormac Costello (1-3, 0-2f), Brian O'Leary (0-1), Colm Basquel, Con O'Callaghan (0-3), Subs: Tom Lahiff (0-1) for O'Callaghan (45), Niall Scully for O'Leary (50), Cian Murphy for Clancy (53-55, temp), Cian Murphy for Gavin (55), Greg McEnaney for McGinnis (60), Luke Breathnach for Bugler (62).
Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath (0-1), L Silke, S Ó Maoilchiaráin; D McHugh, S Kelly, C Hernon; P Conroy, J Maher (0-1); C D'Arcy, S Walsh (0-2 (tp), C McDaid (0-1); M Thompson (1-1), Rob Finnerty (1-6 - 1 tp, 1f), M Tierney (0-2) Subs: P Cooke for Thompson (40-52, temp), K Molloy for Conroy (53), Cooke for S Kelly (53-60, temp), D O'Flaherty for Hernon (55), Cooke for S Walsh (60), T Culhane for D'Arcy (65), J Daly for Silke (67).
Ref: D Gough (Meath).
GAA RESULTS
All-Ireland SFC Round 1
Dublin 1-18 Galway 2-14
Kerry 3-18 Roscommon 0-17
Cavan 1-17 Mayo 1-14
Down 3-27 Clare 1-16
Munster SHC round 4
Limerick 3-26 Cork 1-16
Tipperary 1-30 Waterford 1-21
Leinster SHC Round 4
Wexford 2-17 Offaly 1-17
Galway 6-27 Antrim 1-14
Kilkenny 5-19 Dublin 3-21
Tailteann Cup Round 2
Wicklow 0-21 Laois 0-16
Limerick 1-18 Antrim 0-10
Kildare 3-19 Tipperary 1-11
Offaly 1-18 Waterford 1-13
Sligo 2-19 Leitrim 1-18
Westmeath 0-26 London 1-10
Carlow 2-16 Wexford 1-19
Fermanagh 2-19 Longford 0-7
Joe McDonagh Cup Round 4
Carlow 7-23 Westmeath 4-22
Down 2-26 Kerry 2-19
Kildare 4-20 Laois 1-18
Christy Ring Cup Round 5
Derry 2-30 Wicklow 1-13
London 4-20 Tyrone 1-13
Donegal 0-28 Meath 3-14
Nicky Rackard Cup Round 5
Mayo 3-16 Fermanagh 1-22
Roscommon 4-17 Louth 0-20
Armagh 0-23 Sligo 3-13
Lory Meagher Cup Round 5
Leitrim 2-15 Cavan 1-10
Monaghan 2-20 Longford 2-20
Lancashire 0-26 Warwickshire 4-13
GAA FIXTURES
Saturday 24 May
All-Ireland SFC Round 1
Donegal v Tyrone, Ballybofey, 7pm
Armagh v Derry, Athletic Grounds, 5pm
Louth v Monaghan, St Conleth's Park, 4.45pm
Meath v Cork, Pairc Tailteann, 3pm
Lory Meagher Cup semi-final
Monaghan v New York, Parnell Park
Sunday 25 May
Leinster SHC Round 5
Wexford v Kilkenny, Wexford Park, 2.00pm
Dublin v Galway, Parnell Park, 2.00pm
Offaly v Antrim, O'Connor Park, 2.00pm
Munster SHC round 5
Limerick v Clare, Gaelic Grounds Limerick, 4pm
Cork v Waterford, Páirc Uí Chaoimh, 4pm
