1. Cathal Mannion’s magnificent display
The undoubted star of the show in Tullamore this evening was Galway star Cathal Mannion. The Ahascragh Fohenagh hitman terrorised an overworked Dublin defence and with ten minutes and five seconds on the watch, he had scored a hat-trick of goals.
Mannion, who made his League debut against Dublin earlier this year, has burst onto the 2015 championship scene with a bang. He bagged 0-3 in last Sunday’s Croke Park stalemate and shot the lights out today, scoring 3-3.
His first two goals in the opening four minutes were carbon-copy efforts as Mannion went for the jugular each time from the 20m line, finding the bottom right hand corner of Alan Nolan’s net. Paul Schutte is renowned as one of Dublin’s best defenders but on his return from injury, he was roasted by Mannion.
Dublin switched Cian O’Callaghan across but Mannion scored his third goal from Colm Callanan’s booming puckout. Mannion, 20, grabbed the headlines with three goals but his three points were sumptuous efforts too. A star is born.
2. Joe Canning back to life
We wondered earlier if we would see a different Joe Canning in the replay. The Portumna superstar delivered a much-improved display, with two first half points followed up by 2-1 in the second half.
The full-forward showed a far greater hunger and appetite for work around the field, and the presence of Cathal Mannion and Jason Flynn alongside Canning in a free-scoring inside line lessens the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
His two goals were brilliantly-taken, the first batted home with the Dublin cavalry converging and the second a brilliant catch over the head of Chris Crummy from Iarla Tannian’s booming delivery, followed by a cracking finish.
Having reportedly played with 16 stitches in his hand last Sunday, Canning looked much freer today but after one passage of play in the first half, he was wincing in pain. A two-week break before the Leinster semi-final gives Canning more time to recover and Laois or Offaly could be in for some real punishment.
3. Dublin’s defensive set-up
We wondered if Dublin boss Ger Cunningham would drop Liam Rushe back into defence, particularly if Peter Kelly was ruled out through injury. Kelly didn’t start because of his hamstring problems but Rushe stayed further up the field and the Sky Blues were desperately short of presence and leadership at the back.
Gaping holes were ruthlessly exploited by Cathal Mannion, Joe Canning and Jason Flynn and by the time Cunningham reacted, the game was over. Galway goalkeeper Colm Callanan’s puckouts also exposed Dublin’s deficiencies.
The Kinvara netminder varied them brilliantly, with Galway’s half-forward line dominant under aerial ball when Callanan went short. When he opted to go longer with the aid of the breeze, Dublin were lacking that dominant figure to stand under the bombardment.
Galway went to town on Dublin and with 18 minutes on the watch, they were as many points clear. If Kelly remains an injury doubt for the qualifiers, Rushe looks like getting the call to drop back and if he does, it could be a permanent switch back to defence.
4. Dublin’s substitutions
Boss Ger Cunningham brought on Paul Ryan to take Dublin’s second penalty in stoppage time at the end of the first half. David Treacy had missed the first and he was the man sacrificed.
Treacy was already low on confidence after screwing the penalty wide, and he was badly off-target with another free. In hindsight, the more costly miss was at Croke Park last Sunday, when Treacy fluffed his lines at a time when he could have put the Dubs two points clear late on.
Ryan scored six points in the second half, five from placed balls and another from play, but he was curiously substituted in the 69th minute, with Conor Dooley coming on. Having failed to break into a starting championship team this season, Ryan is another Dublin player short on confidence.
There’s always a sense of embarrassment when a player who has been brought on earlier in the game is subbed off without injury being the reason. And Ryan cut a desolate figure as he trudged to the touchline.
Cunningham can claim that his changes worked to an extent, as subs Ryan, Eamon Dillon and Cian Boland managed 1-9 between them. He also started Darragh O’Connell ahead of experienced Johnny McCaffrey in midfield, and the former Kerry star scored two points from play in the first half.
5. Off-day for Schutte
We predicted that Padraig Mannion would pick up Mark Schutte today, and that proved to be the case. With Cathal doing his stuff at the one end of the pitch, brother Padraig was busy snuffing out danger at the other.
Schutte escaped for just one point in the entire game, a consolation effort in the second period. In the first half, the Cuala man had just the one shot at goal, an admittedly fine effort that struck Colm Callanan’s left hand upright.
Schutte will now know that he’s a marked man following his Allianz League heroics, and those three points from play last Sunday. But after terrorising Johnny Coen at GAA HQ, he had a much tougher time on Mannion.
Galway boss Anthony Cunningham took note and deployed his terrier-like defender in a man-marking role. It worked a treat although the supply of ball heading in Schutte’s direction left a lot to be desired.
