BLUE MURDER
Costello stars as Dubs belatedly get off mark
CORMAC COSTELLO made a pressing case for regular inclusion as Dublin got their title defence up and running at the second attempt.
The star of the 2016 All-ireland final replay was restricted to just one start in last year’s Championship despite impressing as a sub.
He got his chance to line out last night at Croke Park and kicked six points while Dean Rock and Paul Mannion dovetailed superbly.
Rock finished with 1-6 while Mannion put in a huge shift as Dublin turned on the style in the second half.
There was just a point in it at the break but Dublin outscored the Connacht champions by 1-9 to 0-2 after the restart.
It allowed Dublin fans in the 14,502 crowd to park last weekend’s opening round defeat to Monaghan and look to the trip to Kerry with confidence.
On their first outing at Croke Park since the All-ireland final, Dublin played to a similar pattern, offering Galway some early hope before burning them off with ease.
Jim Gavin’s side didn’t take the lead until the 30th minute but remained in pole position from there on.
Up to then, they had had their work cut out to contain a Galway side impressively led by Cillian Mcdaid and Peter Cooke.
The duo scored two points each with Mcdaid, who left AFL side Carlton last autumn, particularly influential.
It took a terrific block from Jonny Cooper to deny the former Galway U-21 star on another occasion while Brian Fenton put in a huge challenge to force Johnny Duane into a wide.
It wasn’t until the 11th minute that Dublin scored their first point, a Mannion beauty from the left wing.
It seemed to ignite the holders because Sean Bugler, a debutant in the first team alongside young Kilmacud
Crokes defender Liam Flatman and Ryan Basquel, split the posts soon after followed by a point from Rock.
Suddenly Dublin were up and running and they twice drew level before taking narrow 0-6 to 0-5 lead into the interval.
Costello thought he had scored his third point just before the break but his effort was confirmed as a wide by Hawk-eye.
The second half was all Dublin and Galway will kick themselves for not putting up a greater fight having opened their Division 1 account a week ago by defeating Cavan.
They were beaten all around the pitch as Dublin opened up with some excellent football and Costello in particular.
Rock and Mannion combined well in attack too while it was the experienced Paul Flynn that played in the ball for Rock to snipe his goal (inset).
Boss Gavin took the chance to hand former U-21 talent Darren Gavin a debut as a sub while Conor Mchugh came on late on to allow Mannion milk the cheers of the surprisingly small crowd.