Deadly dozen for O’Shea as Galway see off young Dubs

ALL-IRELAND MHC SEMI-FINAL GALWAY minor hurlers turned on the style to pull clear in the second half to comfortably account for Dublin by 15 points in their semi-final at Croke Park on Saturday.

The holders were buoyed by a well-taken goal from Niall Collins at the end of the first half and maintained that momentum upon the restart to completely dominate a Dublin side that failed to play anywhere close to its potential.

There was very little to separate the teams in a keenly contested first half that saw the teams level on nine occasions, thanks largely to the dead-ball prowess of Galway’s Donal O’Shea (who finished with 12 points) and Dublin’s Liam Dunne.

Both players enjoyed a perfect record from placed balls over the hour with O’Shea’s seven points in the first period just edging Dunne’s six.

Leinster champions Dublin looked fairly comfortable initially and kept their noses in front thanks to finely-taken points from Conor Murray, Pearce Christie and Dara Purcell.

EXCEPTIONAL

However, their scoring talisman Luke Swan was well marshalled by a Galway defence that improved as the contest evolved with Shane Jennings in exceptional form at full-back.

A fine Ciaran Foley point in the 30th minute looked to have ensured parity for Dublin at the interval but Collins gained possession close to goal and after racing past Finn Murphy, he fired a powerful shot beyond Jack Lambert from eight yards.

But as tight as the first half was, the second half was disappointingly one-sided as Galway midfielder Jason O’Donoghue began to control matters. Dublin, in contrast, seemed bereft of ideas and their confidence eroded, allowing their opponents to dictate the terms of engagement.

While the outcome was never really in doubt by the third quarter, Galway proved relentless and after Adam Brett seized on a Lambert error for Galway’s second goal in the 48th minute, Dean Reilly flicked home their third just over a minute later to guide the Tribesmen into their fourth All-Ireland final in five years.

SCORERS – Galway: D O’Shea 0-12 ( all fs), D Reilly 1-3, N Collins 1-2, A Brett 1-1, D Kilcommins 0-2, J O’Donoghue, O Flannery (St Thomas’) 0-1 each. Dublin: L Dunne 0-10 (9f, ‘65), C Murray, P Christie, C Foley, D Purcell, D McLoughney, A O’Toole 0-1 each. GALWAY– P Rabbitte; M Flynn, S Jennings, O Salmon; E Duggan, S Heary, S Quirke; J O’Donoghue, O Flannery (St Thomas’); D Kilcommins, S McDonagh, A Brett; D Reilly, D O’Shea, N Collins. Subs: O Flannery (PMP) for McDonagh (41), K Creaven for Collins (52), C Cunningham for O Flannery (St Thomas’, 57), I McGlynn for Duggan (58), C Keane for Reilly (61).

DUBLIN – J Lambert; F Murphy, E Carney, K Byrne; C Hogan, A O’Neill, I O’hEithir; D Leavy, D Power; C Foley, P Christie, C Murray; L Dunne, L Swan, D Purcell. Subs: S Fenton for Purcell (40), D McLoughney for Christie (47), A O’Toole for Murray (49), S Foran for Hogan (57).

REF – P Murphy (Carlow)