Senior Footballers Fall To All-Ireland Quarter Final Defeat To Galway

DUBLIN 0-16 

GALWAY 0-17 

Dublin's hopes of progressing to the last four of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship were dashed at Croke Park on Saturday evening, as they succumbed to Galway by the narrowest of margins.

The Dubs could have few complaints as they failed to fire on all cylinders in the second-half, scoring just five points, and Galway took full advantage with late points by substitutes Johnny Heaney and Tomo Culhane confirming their famous victory.

The late changes that saw the experienced trio of James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey and Paul Mannion replace Tom Lahiff, Paddy Small and Colm Basquel from the start was a signal of intent by Dessie Farrell and it had a largely positive effect as Dublin enjoyed a 0-11 to 0-7 half-time lead.

However, they struggled to match that forward threat after the break and the longer the contest evolved, the greater was Galway’s belief with Con O’Callaghan missing a late chance to force extra-time.

While Galway opened the scoring through Matthew Tiermey’s ‘mark’ in the 2^nd minute, Dublin weren’t too long in finding their collective stride as Paul Mannion levelled matters with a right-footed effort three minutes later.

Con O’Callaghan (mark) and Shane Walsh traded points in what was a hugely entertaining start before O’Callaghan turned provider in the 7^th minute, assisting Brian Fenton for a facile score.

The Dubs doubled their lead within three minutes as Ciarán Kilkenny reacted quickest to split the uprights after John Small had been blocked and the procession towards the Galway goal continued courtesy of a smart Seán Bugler score in the 13^th minute.

When Cormac Costello turned sharply a minute to extend Dublin’s lead to four points, that ensured that six different scorers had contributed on the scoreboard, reflecting the difficulties that Galway were experiencing in containing their free-flowing opponents.

Walsh stalled Dublin’s momentum briefly when converting a free at the end of the first quarter but Costello hit back with a brace of points from placed balls to move the holders five points clear by the 21^st minute.

However, while far from their best and with their captain Seán Kelly forced off through injury, Galway remained in contention as Dublin lost a degree of precision to their play, and both John Maher and Walsh took advantage of some promising positions to edge their side to within three points.

O’Callaghan’s second score from a ‘mark’ and Bugler’s second score from play saw Dublin regain their control towards the break with late frees from Costello and Walsh ensuring the Dubs a deserved four-point interval lead.

Once again, it was Galway that made the brighter start as Cillian McDaid fired over within thirty seconds of restart but a strong incision by first Bugler, and then McCaffrey allowed Kilkenny to restore Dublin’s four-point buffer by the 40^th minute.

Some poor decision making in the final third was beginning to undermine their lead however as Walsh clipped over his third point from play in the 43^rd minute before McDaid added another smart score to leave just two points between the teams.

That lead was halved by the 50^th minute as Paul Conroy was afforded too much space close to goal but Dublin were indebted to John Small a minute later as he arrowed over a cracking point from a ‘mark’ for just their second score of the half.

An excellent O’Callaghan score pushed Dublin three clear by the 56^th minute but a resilient Galway kept eating into their arrears through McDaid, Céin Darcy and Dylan McHugh to leave the teams deadlocked at 0-15 apiece by the 65^th minute.

It was at this point that Heaney and Culhane availed of crucial turnovers to hand Galway the buffer they needed as O’Callaghan converted a late free in added time.

Scorers – Dublin: C Costello (2f, 1 ’45), C O’Callaghan (1f, 2 marks) 0-4 each; S Bugler, C Kilkenny 0-2 each; J Small (mark), P Mannion, B Fenton, R McGarry 0-1 apiece. Galway: S Walsh 0-7 (4f); C McDaid 0-3; M Tierney (mark), D McHugh, P Conroy, J Maher, C Darcy, J Heaney, T Culhane 0-1 apiece.

Dublin: S Cluxton; E Murchan, S MacMahon, M Fitzsimons; B Howard, J Small, J McCaffrey; B Fenton, J McCarthy; N Scully, S Bugler, C Kilkenny; P Mannion, C O’Callaghan, C Costello. Subs: C Basquel for Mannion (48), R McGarry for Scully (54), T Lahiff for McCaffrey (59), P Small for Costello (66), L O’Dell for Murchan (71).

Galway: C Gleeson; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; D McHugh, L Silke, S Mulkerrin; P Conroy, S Kelly; M Tierney, J Maher, C McDaid; R Finnerty, D Comer, S Walsh. Subs: C Darcy for Kelly (22), L Ó Conghaile for Finnerty (47), J Heaney for Tierney (54), C Hernon for Fitzgerald (60), T Culhane for Walsh (65).

Referee: Seán Hurson (Tyrone).