Galway erase minor heartbreak with All-Ireland U20 victory over Dublin
Tomo Culhane of Galway, left, celebrates with team-mate Matthew Tierney. Photo by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Tomo Culhane overcame last year's All-Ireland minor final misery with a starring display to help secure the EirGrid All-Ireland U20 title for Galway.
The powerful full-forward fired 1-6 at Croke Park to help erase some of the memories of Galway's 2019 minor final loss to Cork, an occasion on which he scored 0-10.
It was a commanding Galway display this time with county senior Matthew Tierney also excellent and scoring what proved to be the winning point from a 59th minute free.
Dublin trailed by six following Culhane's third-quarter goal and fought back to reduce the gap to just one on two occasions late on.
But they couldn't get any closer and succumbed to their second final defeat at the grade while Galway, beaten by Dublin in the 2017 U21 final, secured their first win since 2013.
Galway were strengthened by the return of several key players following a Covid-19 affected semi-final win over Kerry back in October.
County senior Paul Kelly, Cathal Sweeney - who was replaced through injury after 18 minutes - and Culhane all came into the team while Dublin returned captain Rory Dwyer to their lineup.
Dwyer was an ever-present throughout the Leinster championship in spring but only appeared as a sub in the All-Ireland semi-final win over Tyrone following an injury.
Tierney moved to full-forward for the throw-in and worked a clever mark just seconds into the contest to set up Galway's opening score.
Ciaran Archer, the reigning U20 Player of the Year who came into the final with 1-23 to his credit following a remarkable 10-35 in the 2019 campaign, spun away from his man to snipe a Dublin point, levelling it at 0-1 apiece.
The exciting start suggested an open and entertaining encounter and that's largely what followed with Galway edging the opening exchanges and opening up a 0-4 to 0-2 lead.
Tierney and Culhane scored two points each and Ryan Monahan, an All-Ireland intermediate club winner at Croke Park with Oughterard early in the year, had a superb goal chance but overcarried.
Dublin responded with points from Mark Lavin, a consistent performer throughout their six-game campaign, and Brian O'Leary, a finalist in 2019, to tie it up at 0-4 apiece at the water break.
Dual player Lee Gannon was impressive for Dublin and set up a Luke Swan point but it was their only point for the rest of the half and Galway took a deserved 0-8 to 0-5 lead at the interval.
The Connacht champions outscored Dublin by 0-4 to 0-1 in the second quarter with scores from Culhane, Tierney, and Matthew Cooley leaving them in a strong position.
Culhane stretched the lead to four early in the second half and then struck a 37th-minute goal that left Galway in a strong position, 1-9 to 0-6 ahead.
Tierney did the running in the build-up to the goal before eventually laying off to Culhane whose shot deflected in off Dwyer.
Dublin did everything in their power to get back to parity and points from Adam Fearon, Mark Lavin, and Lorcan O'Dell reduced their arrears to the minimum a couple of times late on but they couldn't get any closer.
T Culhane (1-6, 3 frees, 1 mark), M Tierney (0-4, 1 mark, 1 free), M Cooley (0-1).
M Lavin (0-4, 1 free), B O'Leary, L O'Dell, A Fearon (0-2 each), C Archer, L Swan, L Gannon (0-1 each).
C Flaherty; J McGrath, S Fitzgerald, J Glynn; C Monahan, T Gill, C Sweeney; C Raftery, C Hernon; P Kelly, M Tierney, R Monahan; P Kelly, T Culhane, M Cooley.
J Kirrane for Sweeney (18); A Greene for Hernon (34); E Mannion for Cooley (46); D Cox for Paul Kelly (53); W Seoige for Culhane (61).
J O'Neill; C Tyrrell, A Rafter, J Bannon; R Dwyer, A Waddick, L Gannon; A Fearon, M O'Leary; M Lavin, L O'Dell, S Lowry; C Archer, L Swan, B O'Leary.
K McKeon for Lowry (46); P Purcell for Fearon (64).
P Faloon (Down).
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