GALWAY 1-21 DUBLIN 1-12
Dublin’s wait to claim their first All-Ireland MHC title since 1965 continues after they were beaten by a very talented Galway side in Sunday’s decider at Croke Park.
The Tribesmen had the best two hurlers on the park on the day as the opportunism of Shane Maloney coupled with the dynamism and accuracy of midfielder Pádraic Brehony paved the way for Galway’s victory as the Dubs failed to do themselves justice after some excellent displays to reach All-Ireland Sunday.
Dublin had plenty of early possession but bar Colm Cronin’s third minute point, the opening score of the day, they failed to convert it into scores and as the half wore on Galway were the more dominant side as Dublin struggled to play with any fluidity or momentum.
With five minutes remaining in the opening half Galway led 0-5 to 0-4 but from there to the half-time whistle they held the upperhand and five unanswered points saw them move a commanding 0-10 to 0-4 clear by the interval.
A fine Aodhán Clabby point following good work from Cronin gave Dublin a good start to the second half but crucially any time Dublin threatened to raise a gallop Galway responded immediately to quell any hopes of Dublin building momentum.
A superb fetch and point by Ciarán Kilkenny in the 39th minute was the calibre of score that usually lifts a side but the Dublin cheers had hardly died down before Brehony was splitting the posts at the other end.
Heading into the concluding ten minutes the Dubs needed a goal to ignite a late, late rally but all routes to the Dublin goal were shut down by a very vigilant Galway rearguard whose touch and physicality held sway.
Maloney capped a fine individual display with a rocket of a goal in the final minute of normal time before Kilkenny blasted a free to the net.
SCORERS – Galway: S Maloney 1-9 (0-6f), P Brehony 0-4, J Flynn 0-3, A Tuohy, D Higgins, G O’Donoghue, J Carr, D Dolan 0-1 each. Dublin: C Kilkenny 1-3 (1-1f), P Winters 0-3 (0-2f, 0-1 65), C Cronin, A Clabby (0-1f) 0-2 each, M McCaffrey, C Costello 0-1 each.
GALWAY – S Mannion; C Diviney, P Killeen, P Mannion; A Tuohy, S Sweeney, J Hanbury; P Brehony, D Higgins; J Flynn, J Glynn, B Lane; G O’Donoghue, J Carr, S Maloney. Subs: K Cullinane for Hanbury (52), M Mullins for Higgins (52), D Dolan for O’Donoghue (55), P Flaherty for Carr (58).
DUBLIN – C Ryan; E Lowndes, C O’Callaghan, S McClelland; C Crummy, J Desmond, M McCaffrey; G Whelan, C Cronin; C McHugh, C Kilkenny, A Clabby; C Costello, E Ó Conghaile, P Winters. Subs: D Gormley for Desmond (ht), O O’Rorke for McHugh (44), C Boland for Winters (52),
REF – J Ryan (Tipperary).
