Galway progress to Leinster final with five-point victory over Dublin

Chaos and drama never quite materialised as Galway picked off what was at once a routine and rare Round 5 win to book a June 8 final clash with Kilkenny

Dublin progress to the preliminary quarter final. File picture: John Sheridan/Sportsfile

Leinster SHC Rd 5: Galway 0-29 Dublin 3-15 

With a Leinster SHC final place on the line, we anticipated fireworks at Parnell Park.

Chaos and drama never quite materialised though as Galway picked off what was at once a routine and rare Round 5 win to book a June 8 final clash with Kilkenny.

Galway had never beaten Dublin, in Dublin, in the Championship before, explaining the rare aspect of this historic win.

But they were also favourites beforehand and pretty much lived up to that billing with a surprisingly comfortable win that they cemented with a strong second-half performance.

The sides were tied at half-time, and again early in the second-half, before Galway pulled decisively clear, opening up a 12-point lead in the final quarter.

Free-taker Cathal Mannion maintained his strong scoring form for Galway with eight points overall though Brian Concannon's five from play, and Tom Monaghan's four points, were more impressive.

Galway had 10 different scorers in all and powered past a surprisingly errant and sloppy Dublin who clawed back two late goals from Sean Currie and Conal O Riain to put some gloss on the scoreline.

Galway are managed by Micheal Donoghue who was in charge of Dublin just last year, adding to the pre-match intrigue.

All is not lost for Dublin who have still locked down third position in the Leinster table and they will play Kildare or Laois, the Joe McDonagh Cup finalists, in an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final on the weekend of June 14/15.

Galway were installed as significant favourites beforehand though both teams arrived at Round 5 with similar records, both beating Offaly, Wexford and Antrim and losing to Kilkenny.

In Dublin's case, they lost to Kilkenny last weekend but won the second-half of that game, having turned what was at one stage a 16-point deficit into a two-point contest, and hoped to carry that momentum with them.

But they were sluggish to start and fell five points down as Galway struck five of the game's first six points to open up a 0-6 to 0-1 lead.

Boss Donoghue made sweeping changes to his Galway lineup from the side that put 6-27 beyond Antrim last weekend.

Padraic Mannion, Daithi Burke, David Burke, John Fleming and Cathal Mannion all came back into the lineup.

All eyes were on Cathal Mannion in particular after sniping a whopping 2-35 in his first three games of the campaign.

He didn't score from play though did register three first-half points from frees and assisted two early points for Brian Concannon.

Dublin were wasteful initially and rued eight first-half wides, the majority of which were struck in the opening quarter.

Dublin caught fire briefly between the 17th and 19th minutes, reeling off 1-3 without response.

Rian McBride struck the goal in the 17th minute after a surging run and lay-off by Sean Currie.

Brian Hayes played in Currie for a 19th minute point to put Dublin ahead for the first time, 1-4 to 0-6.

But it was tight and scrappy for the rest of the half and it was no surprise the sides hit the interval tied for the sixth time at 1-7 to 0-10.

They were level again for a seventh time shortly after the restart but when Galway took off they left Dublin as a speck in their rear view mirror.

Galway opened up with bursts of three and then four points in a row to leave Dublin fans with a sinking feeling.

And the Tribesmen hammered home their authority by outscoring Dublin 0-9 to 0-1 between the 53rd and 63rd minutes.

Galway were 0-28 to 1-13 clear at that stage and it was only those two late Dublin goals that took the look of a rout off this one.

Galway scorers: Cathal Mannion 0-8 (0-8f), Brian Concannon 0-5, Tom Monaghan 0-4, Conor Whelan 0-3, David Burke 0-3, Cianan Fahy 0-2, Sean Linnane 0-1, Anthony Burns 0-1, TJ Brennan 0-1, Conor Cooney 0-1. 

Dublin scorers: Sean Currie 1-6 (1-0 pen, 0-4f, 0-1 65), Rian McBride 1-1, Conal O Riain 1-0, Cian O'Sullivan 0-3, Conor Donohoe 0-1, Andrew Jamieson Murphy 0-1, Chris Crummey 0-1, Paddy Doyle 0-1, Brian Hayes 0-1.

GALWAY: Darach Fahy; Padraic Mannion, Fintan Burke, Daithi Burke; Cianan Fahy, Gavin Lee, TJ Brennan; David Burke, Sean Linnane; John Fleming, Tom Monaghan, Conor Whelan; Brian Concannon, Cathal Mannion, Anthony Burns.

Subs: Conor Cooney for Fleming 22-25 blood, Jack Grealish for Daithi Burke 48, Cooney for Burns 60, Tiernan Killeen for Fleming 60.

DUBLIN: Sean Brennan; Paddy Smyth, Conor McHugh, John Bellew; Conor Donohoe, Chris Crummey, Paddy Doyle; Conor Burke, Brian Hayes; Rian McBride, Cian O'Sullivan, Darragh Power; Sean Currie, John Hetherton, Andrew Jamieson-Murphy.

Subs: Ronan Hayes for Murphy 46, Colin Currie for Power 51, David Lucey for Bellew 55, Fergal Whitely for Conor Burke 58, Conal O Riain for Doyle 68-69 blood, O Riain for B Hayes 70.

Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).