Galway 1-23

Dublin 1-15

John Fallon reports from Pearse Stadium

GALWAY BOOKED A place in the top flight of the league next season when they finished strongly to see off Dublin in a fiery contest where there were eleven yellow cards and four dismissals at Pearse Stadium.

Galway finished the game with just 12 players after captain Conor Whelan and the previous skipper Daithi Burke got straight red cards in the closing minutes, while corner-back Jack Grealish got his marching orders earlier for two yellows.

Dublin lost Ronan Hayes to a second yellow card seven minutes after Grealish’s dismissal on a day when both sets of management had their issues with Limerick referee Johnny Murphy in what was a heated but not dirty encounter.

It was a much improved display from Dublin as manager Michéal Donoghue returned to his native county but their inability to pick off chances again proved costly as Galway wrapped up at least third place in the Division 1 Group B standings with Conor Cooney leading the way with an exhibition of free-taking in a haul of 0-11.

Galway, having played against the breeze, led by 1-10 to 1-8 during a lively opening half in which six players were booked and one black-carded.

Galway made the most of their early chances to lead by 0-4 to 0-1 after ten minutes after Dublin shot three wides in the opening three minutes.

Cian O’Sullivan caused the Galway defence plenty of bother and he pointed after Donal Burke landed a free to cut the gap to the minimum after 14 minutes.

Gavin Lee and O’Sullivan exchanged points but then Conor Cooney burst through three defenders before setting up his captain Conor Whelan who blasted to the net to lead by double scores at the end of the opening quarter by 1-5 to 0-4.

Conor Cooney extended the lead with a free but then at the other end his St Thomas’ teammate Fintan Burke was black-carded for pulling down Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing and Donal Burke slotted the resultant penalty to the corner of the net.

Dublin pushed on and outscored Galway by 1-4 to 0-3 while they had the extra man, with Ronan Hayes edging them in front for the first time on the half hour to lead by 1-8 to 1-7.

Joseph Cooney, a late replacement for Evan Niland to become the 28th player to see action for Galway in this year’s league, grew more into the game and he brought his haul to three points before the break, with Gavin Lee’s second effort leaving them ahead by 1-10 to 1-8 at the interval.

Points from Donal Burke and O’Sullivan drew Dublin level three minutes after the restart and for the remainder of the third quarter the sides exchanged points four times.

Galway lost corner-back Jack Grealish to a second yellow card after 45 minutes, while Dublin also went down to 14 when Ronan Hayes was also sent off for a second booking after 52 minutes.

Galway pushed on and two pointed frees from Conor Cooney either side of one from centre-back Cianan Fahy left the Tribesmen leading by 1-17 to 1-14 after 60 minutes.

Galway continued to dominate and five more pointed frees from Cooney made it nine points in a row without reply as the Dublin challenge faded, with Donoghue’s men failing to score from the 48th minute to when Burke landed a ’65 in the third minute of added time.

Galway drafted in Brian Concannon and Cathal Mannion for their first action of the league, bringing to 30 the number of players Henry Shefflin and his management have used in the competition so far this year.

But they ended this game with just a dozen on the field after skipper Conor Whelan was sent off after 65 minutes, while previous captain Daithi Burke also got his marching orders for a heavy challenge in the dying moments.

Scorers for Galway: Conor Cooney 0-11 (0-10 frees), Tom Monaghan 0-4, Conor Whelan 1-0, Joseph Cooney 0-3, Gavin Lee 0-2, David Burke 0-1, Cianan Fahy 0-1, Cathal Mannion 0-1.

Scorers for Dublin: Donal Burke 1-9 (1-0 pen, 0-6f, 0-2 ‘65s), Cian O’Sullivan 0-3, Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing 0-1, Conor Donoghue 0-1, Ronan Hayes 0-1.

Galway:

1 Darach Fahy (Ardrahan)

2 Jack Grealish (Gort), 3 Fintan Burke (St. Thomas’), 4 Padraic Mannion (Ahascragh Fohenagh)

5 Adrian Tuohey (Beath), 6 Cianan Fahy (Ardrahan), 7 Daithi Burke (Turloughmore)

8 David Burke (St. Thomas’), 9 Sean Linnane (Turloughmore)

10 Gavin Lee (Clarinbridge), 11 Tom Monaghan (Craughwell), 24 Joseph Cooney (Sarsfields)

12 Conor Cooney (St. Thomas’), 14 Conor Whelan (Kinvara), 15 Jason Flynn (Tommy Larkins)

Subs:

• 22 Brian Concannon (Killimordaly) for Flynn (43)
• 25 Cathal Mannion (Ahascragh/Fohenagh) for Lee (55)
• 21 Ronan Glennon (Mullagh) for D Burke (60)
• 13 Evan Niland (Clarinbridge) for Joseph Cooney (64)
• 20 Donal O’Shea (Salthill/Knocknacarra) for Linnane (67)

Dublin

1 Eddie Gibbons (Kilmacud Crokes)

2 Jame Madden (Ballyboden St. Enda’s), 3 Paddy Smyth (Clontarf), 7 Daire Gray (Whitehill Colmcille)

8 Conor Burke (St. Vincents), 6 Chris Crummey (Lucan Sarsfields), 5 Conor Donohoe (Erins Isle)

12 Brian Hayes (Kilmacud Crokes), 18 Darragh Power (Fingallians), 15 Sean Currie (Na Fianna)

10 Ronan Hayes (Kilmacud Crokes), 11 Donal Burke (Na Fianna)

13 Danny Sutcliffe (St. Judes), 14 Cian O’Sullivan (St. Brigids), 23 Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing (Commercials)

Subs:

• 25 Mark Grogan (Kilmacud Crokes) for Gray (23)
• 24 Fergal Whitely (Kilmacud Crokes) for Sutcliffe (49)
• 21 Dara Purcell (Kilmacud Crokes) for Ó Dúlaing (56)
• 22 Paul Crummey (Lucan Sarsfields) for Currie (62)
• 9 Seán Gallagher (Naomh Barrog) for Power (67)

Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick)

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