Tribesmen ease past brave Dubs
Flynn has Galway ticking as back to back Leinster bid comes into view
GALWAY 0-26 DUBLIN 2-19
GALWAY have three weeks to wait before their Leinster hurling final, but despite almost being shocked by Dublin, on the back of a fourth straight Championship win it will be hard to halt Micheál Donoghue’s All-Ireland champions.
This was Galway’s ninth consecutive Championship win. So far this summer Offaly, Kilkenny, Wexford and now Dublin have fallen in front of the powerful Liam MacCarthy Cup holders with 12, eight, nine and one points between the respective teams.
Galway have never won back-toback Leinster titles and you’d imagine that is the first target for the Tribesmen in the next few weeks.
Galway now face Kilkenny in the Leinster hurling final on 1 July, and Jason Flynn’s free-taking fired Donoghue’s side to victory over Dublin at Pearse Stadium.
Two goals from sub Paul Winters in the second half had actually given Dublin the lead, which they held until six minutes from time, but David Burke and Flynn got Galway over the line.
By the break Dublin trailed by seven points, but the introduction of Winters turned this game on its head. His two goals in the space of six minutes lifted Pat Gilroy’s charges and inspired them to take the lead, but in the end Galway’s experience at winning big games saw them over the line.
There was no Joe Canning, Adrian Tuohey, Johnathan Glynn or Johnny Coen as Donoghue gave his fringe players a run in Salthill, and for long periods it appeared as if the decision had worked a dream. But the manager will be thrilled to see his side come out on top of such a tight finale and the 70 minutes could prove to be the perfect preparation for the decider.
Without Joe Canning, who was named among the substitutes but then withdrawn before throw in, Flynn was handed the free-taking duties and by half-time he had fired five points for his side as they led by seven at the break.
It was Joseph Cooney who got Galway off the mark in the first minute, and after Paul Ryan’s free, Sean Loftus marked his first Championship start with a point from midfield before Conor Whelan hit his first.
Whelan was one of Galway’s top forwards in their run to the All-Ireland last year, but now he could be regarded as their most important player. Marked from the start by Eoghan O’Donnell, Whelan won more than his fair share of ball on the ground and in the air and his point in the ninth minute from the right sideline was majestic.
Three minutes later he somehow climbed highest in a group of players to fetch James Skehill’s puckout and laid on an assist for Cathal Mannion to score. He didn’t stop fighting for possession throughout.
To be fair Dublin stayed close to Galway for the first quarter, and they probably should have been level or ahead, only for the nine first-half wides they hit. Three of them came from Ryan frees, and before the break he was replaced by David Treacy from placed balls.
But by that stage Galway were well in control. Padraic Mannion, Whelan, Flynn and Conor Cooney hit four scores without reply, while Treacy’s first point meant Dublin trailed 0-16 to 0-9 at the break.
This encounter looked to be petering out into a straight forward Galway vitory, but Dublin emerged for the second half with a real pep in their step. Points from a Rian McBride sideline cut and Cian Boland was the perfect start, and when Skehill missed a long delivery half-time sub Paul Winters squeezed the ball over the line from a tight angle.
Dublin still trailed by three point though, but by the 48th minute they were ahead.
Flynn’s free settled Galway after the goal, but they failed to make a further impact on the back of that score.
Instead Gilroy’s side hit their second goal of the game and once more Galway looked suspect at the back.
It was Jake Malone’s long delivery into space that freed Winters, but when the Galway defence opened up in front of him he buried a blistering shot into the roof of Skehill’s net. Still a point behind, it fell to goalkeeper Alan Nolan landed to give Dublin the lead with two long range frees.