Callanan stars as Galway beat Dublin to reach All-Ireland minor semi-final

TIGHT TUSSLE: Conaill O'Sullivan of Dublin and Galway's Rhys O'Connor battle for the sliotor. Pic: Kieran Ryan-Benson

All-Ireland MHC quarter-final: Galway 3-18 Dublin 2-18.

The Galway minor hurlers booked their place in the All-Ireland semi-final with a three-point defeat of Dublin in an absorbing contest at Semple Stadium on Monday.

Dublin were going for a clean sweep over Galway, having knocked them out of the senior and under-20 championships in recent weeks but Kenneth Burke’s minor side struck back for the Tribesmen.

Free-taker Brian Callanan was the scorer-in-chief but in a game sprinkled with high-quality scores, Ciaran Leen and Harry Holmes were also on form for the Tribesmen while Cathal Barrett impressed for a Dublin side that went down fighting.

The first three points of the game were frees from the stick of Brian Callanan, as the Dublin defence struggled with the movement of Harry Holmes and Cillian Roche.

It was the Callanan show in the early stages with the powerful forward taking an Eoghan Mulleady pass in his stride before finishing with conviction for the game’s first goal after five minutes.

Wing forward Cathal Barett settled Dublin into the game with a fine score from the sideline and they followed this up with a great team point. Killian Costello did the rest after good team play involving Tom Higgins and Fionn Daly.

Dublin were growing into the contest and it took a sharp intervention from Galway full back Dara Burke to deny them a certain goal in the 11th minute. Ciaran Leen pointed for Galway before Tom Higgins and Fiachra Codd responded with brilliant scores for Dublin. The standard of score-taking from both sides was highly impressive.

Harry Holmes and Ciaran Leen (two) scored points for Galway before Cathal Barrett responded with a carbon-copy of his first, from the right sideline, under the stand and with utmost composure. Wing back Tommy Cullen raided forward for another Dublin score from distance.

The high standard of shooting continued with Galway corner forward Jamie Ryan scoring a beauty from the sideline before Cillian Roche got in for a goal, much to the delight of his fan-club in the stand.

As it was for the first goal, Mulleady again provided the decisive pass.

Jonah Donnellan hit a long range free for Galway but Dublin got a lifeline just before the break, when Cathal O’Flynn’s delivery deceived Galway goalkeeper Sean Kelly and went straight into the net. Rory Flannery tacked on a free just before the break to leave the deficit at six.

Brian Callanan scored a fine point on the resumption before some sloppiness in the Galway defence gave Rory Flannery the opportunity to score two frees in a row. Jonah Donnellan won an inspirational free for Galway before the industrious Fiachra Codd scored his second for Dublin. A neatly taken Darragh Kilduff goal reduced the gap to two before Harry Holmes came storming into the game with a brilliant goal of his own, before winning the free that put Galway five up once again.

Cillian Roche and Sean Moran scored crucial points for Galway but Dublin certainly couldn’t be accused of throwing in the towel. Sub Conaill O’Sullivan set up a nervy finale with two fine scores but frees from Callanan finished off the job for Galway.

Scores for Galway: B Callanan (1-8, 5 frees), H Holmes (1-1), C Roche (1-1), C Leen (0-3), J Donnellan (0-2, 1f, 1 '65'), J Ryan, R O’Connor, S Moran (0-1 each).

Scorers for Dublin: R Flannery (0-8, 7f, 1 65), C O’Flynn (1-1), D Kilduff (1-0) F Codd (0-2), C O’Sullivan (0-2), C Barrett (0-2), T Higgins, K Costello, T Cullen (0-1 each).

GALWAY: S Kelly; C Maloney, D Burke, R Burke; R O’Connor, J Donnellan, G Maher; R Murphy, S Moran; C Leen, E Mulleady, J Ryan; C Roche, B Callanan, H Holmes.

Subs: B Fox for O’Connor (46), R Cahalan for Ryan (52), D Simmerer for Mulleady (57), S Keane for Roche (60).

DUBLIN: P Ryan; M Byrne, S Dunphy, R Duffy; C Quinn, C O'Flynn, T Cullen; J Norris, F Codd; C Barrett, T Higgins, F Daly; D Kilduff, R Flannery, K Costello.

Subs: E Ferguson for Codd (42), C O’Sullivan for Daly (45), E Brennan for Higgins (49), B O’Mahony for Barrett (52).

Referee: Nicky O’Toole (Waterford)