McMorrow and Dillon combine to torture Galway as slick
SPEAKING on national radio before last night’s encounter, former Dublin manager Anthony Daly spoke of the Jekyll and Hyde nature of both teams and their ability to confound.
Past performances, observed Daly, aren’t always a great indicator of future gains.
So it proved at Parnell Park where Dublin, fresh off a 14-point hammering from Tipperary, comfortably overcame a Galway side that hinted at a strong campaign under new manager Micheál Donoghue when they beat Cork.
Dublin, in fairness, had arguably most to gain from flipping the form book on its head and mining out a strong display for their first win of the campaign.
Free-taker David Treacy was the lead scorer again with 10 points while Niall McMorrow and Eamonn Dillon tortured a Galway defence that leaked a decisive 1-5 in the third quarter of the game.
Motivation and focus was evident in Dublin’s play from the off and they were full value for a threepoint half-time advantage.
In that opening half, attackers Dillon, David O’Callaghan and McMorrow buzzed with intent, helping to create openings for free-taker Treacy, who consistently split the posts.
Dublin had a new look to them. For a start, they welcomed back captain Liam Rushe after suspension while Darragh O’Connell and Daire Plunkett formed a newlook midfield.
Goal-scorer Seán McGrath also came into the team in place of Colm Cronin and for long spells the mix appeared just about right.
This was the seventh meeting of Dublin and Galway in just over 12 months and the tale of the tape is edged narrowly in Galway’s favour.
Still, it’s 2-0 to Dublin in 2016 having beaten Galway well in the Walsh Cup a month ago and followed up with a slick performance at the same venue.
Fergal Moore came into the Galway team for Daithí Burke who, for the second weekend running, was listed to start but didn’t.
Veteran Moore limped out with an injury early on, summing up Galway’s difficulties in that opening half. They trailed Dublin by 0-10 to 0-7 at the break
and scored just three points from open play in that time as Dublin dominated the middle third and created more.
Joe Canning did score one of those three points from play for Galway but was generally subdued and scored the rest of his tally from frees.
Still, Canning’s half-time withdrawal was unexpected as was the filleting of Galway’s defence in the third quarter of the game.
In that period, Dublin outscored Galway by 1-5 to 0-1 to take a decisive 10point lead in the game. The crucial goal came from McGrath in the 46th minute after a Mark Schutte lay-off. Ironically, McGrath was substituted moments later but his replacement, Cronin, scored almost straight away.
It was one of those evenings for Dublin when everything went their way and they could afford to take the foot off the gas late on. Galway finished slightly stronger with Cathal Mannion, now on the frees, among the scores though it was merely consolation at that stage.