No stopping the Dubs as Gavin lands 9th national title
Galway put up fair fight but champions are still masters of killing off big matches
AND so it continues; Dublin’s desire to keep chewing up history shows no sign of abating. The significance of their fifth Allianz League title inside six years meant they have become the most decorated team the game has ever witnessed in a single decade.
This represented their 17th major title, when added to five All-Irelands and seven Leinster titles this decade, which has taken sustained success to another level. That is one more title than the great Kerry teams of the 1930s and 1970s managed, and there is still the bones of two years left to go before time is called on this one.
The more this continues, the more ridiculous are the claims of those who believe what we are is witnessing some kind of freak weather front, when the reality is that this represents full-on climate change; the kind that could scorch the football earth.
Of the team that started in Gavin’s first spring success — a one-point win over Tyrone in 2013 — only five started yesterday. This is not the beginning or the end of anything, this is the constant the rest of the game has to try and get its head around.
Galway, to their immense credit, did that better than most but were left in the same bewildered state as so many unfortunates before them.
There was no torching here in front of the 36,754 that defied a bitterly cold day — as some doom merchants had peddled — but what will cut deep with Kevin Walsh’s team is that with 15 minutes remaining, this was there for them in more ways than one.
They had stopped the bleeding — three turned over Ruairi Lavelle kickouts had been cashed in for three Dublin points in as many third-quarter minutes, but a brace of Shane Walsh points (including an outrageously converted free) and another from Barry McHugh had the teams locked together at 0-12 apiece.
They were also playing against 14 men — Niall Scully having picked up two yellow cards inside five minutes — for the final 20 minutes with the wind at their backs.
From there, they should have won and, most likely, they would have, had they been playing against anyone else.
But what is staggering about the champions is their ability time and again to go deep when they have to, but never at the cost of losing their heads.
Their control here in the final quarter flirted with perfection, driven on by Brian Fenton in particular, who linked play with purpose and effect as Dublin struck out for the winning line.
In truth they would have got there quicker but for the brilliance of Lavelle, who made three pointbank saves; the best a finger-tip effort to deny a Dean Rock piledriver in the 59th minute.
Their attacking menace, as ever, was a constant with Paul Mannion, Ciaran Kilkenny, sub Colm Basquel and Rock to the fore, but it was their composure at the other end that continues to set them apart.
Damien Comer was the one Galway player they could not stop — he was marked by four different players and brought to ground three times in the opening 19 minutes, for converted frees that went a long way to securing parity at the break, 0-8 apiece.
His threat was a constant and when he fired over a booming kick in the 65th minute, the margin was down to one 0-15 to 0-14.
It provided Galway with renewed ambition and in the final minute of regular time, they pushed up aggressively on a Stephen Cluxton kick-out in what felt like a huge moment, but he somehow found a pin-hole of space to find Con O’Callaghan’s hands.
It reminded us once more why they have become football’s ultimate killing machine.
And what chills about this latest success is that it was achieved in the absence of household names such as Cian O’Sullivan, Jack McCaffrey, Paul Flynn, Bernard Brogan, Diarmuid Connolly, while O’Callaghan saw less than 30 minutes of game-time this spring.
From here, even allowing for the lengthiness of Brogan’s absence, they will only get stronger.
That said, Galway showed — as Mayo have previously — that if you have the courage of your convictions, you don’t always have to end up as road kill when you play Dublin.
Result aside, they performed admirably — Cathal Sweeney and Johnny Heaney (before the latter tired) backing up the efforts of Lavelle and Comer.
They will head for Castlebar on May 13 without having their spirit crushed or momentum stolen.
That’s called getting away light when you play Dublin.
DUBLIN: S Cluxton; P McMahon (J Small 70+3), M Fitzsimons, D Byrne; J McCarthy (E Lowndes 35), J Cooper, J Small (E Murchan 39); B Fenton, MD Macauley (C O’Callaghan 69); N Scully, P Mannion (S Carthy 68), B Howard; K McManamon (C Basquel h-t), C Kilkenny, D Rock. Scorers: D Rock 0-7 (5f, 1 ’45), P Mannion 0-3, C Kilkenny, C Basquel 0-2, P McMahon, J Small E Lowndes, N Scully 0-1.
Yellow cards: P McMahon 13, MD Macauley 20, N Scully 46 & 50.
Red cards: N Scully (50). GALWAY: R Lavelle; D Kyne, S A O Ceallaigh, E Kerin; C Sweeney, G Bradshaw (J Duane 70), S Kelly; C Duggan, P Conroy (P Sweeney 68); P Cooke (T Flynn 67), E Brannigan, J Heaney (G O’Donnell 62); B McHugh, D Comer, S Walsh (A Varley 70).
Scorers: B McHugh 0-6 (5f), D Comer 0-3, J Heaney, S Walsh (1f) 0-2, P Conroy 0-1. Yellow cards: P Conroy 20, J Heaney 25, S Kelly 46, E Kerin 70, D Comer 71. Referee: A Nolan (Wicklow).