Four see red as Galway overcome Dublin in Salthill
Tempers flare between Dublin's Seán Gallagher and Brian Hayes with Ronan Glennon of Galway in the final moments of the game
Galway will be without skipper Conor Whelan and previous captain Daithi Burke for their showdown with All-Ireland champions Limerick in Pearse Stadium next Saturday after both received straight red cards in the closing stage of a bizarre Allianz League clash in Salthill.
Limerick referee Johnny Murphy incurred the wrath of both sets of management after dishing out four red cards and 11 yellows in a well-contested but far from dirty encounter.
The win secures a place in the top flight of the league next season for Galway but they finished this one with just 12 players after Whelan and 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 a much improved Dublin side faded in the final quarter when they were outscored by 0-10 to 0-1 in the final quarter, with Conor Cooney leading the way with an exhibition of free-taking.
The teams will meet again in Salthill in 11 weeks in the championship when Galway’s 2017 All-Ireland winning manager Michéal Donoghue will hope his Dublin side can be sharper in attack.
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.
C Cooney 0-11 (0-10 frees), T Monaghan 0-4, C Whelan 1-0, J Cooney 0-3, G Lee 0-2, D Burke 0-1, C Fahy 0-1, C Mannion 0-1.
D Burke 1-9 (1-0 pen, 0-6f, 0-2 ‘65s), C O’Sullivan 0-3, D Ó Dúlaing 0-1, C Donoghue 0-1, R Hayes 0-1.
D Fahy; J Grealish, F Burke, P Mannion; A Tuohey, C Fahy, Daithi Burke; David Burke, S Linnane; G Lee, T Monaghan, J Cooney; C Cooney, C Whelan, J Flynn.
B Concannon for Flynn (43), C Mannion for Lee (55), R Glennon for David Burke (60), E Niland for J Cooney (64), D O’Shea for Linnane (67).
E Gibbons; J Madden, P Smyth, D Gray; C Burke, C Crummey, C Donohoe; B Hayes, D Power; S Currie, R Hayes, D Burke; D Sutcliffe, C O’Sullivan, D Ó Dúlaing.
M Grogan for Gray (23), F Whitely for Sutcliffe (49), D Purcell for Ó Dúlaing (56), P Crummey for Currie (62), S Gallagher for Power (67).
Johnny Murphy (Limerick)
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