Galway 3-14 Dublin 1-10: Galway's young guns had too much firepower for Dublin as the Tribesmen secured the All-Ireland under-21 hurling title in Thurles this evening, bringing more silverware west of the Shannon after the minors' success at Croke Park last weekend.
After losing out to Tipperary 12 months ago, Anthony Cunningham’s side would not be denied at Semple Stadium on this occasion despite suffering an early setback when Thomas Connolly fired home for the Metropolitans after a mix-up in the Galway defence.
That strike was cancelled out by a powerfully struck Tadhg Haran penalty and further goals before half-time from Davy Glennon and James Regan put Galway in a commanding position. The Tribesmen were able to pick off their scores after the interval and although Dublin managed to just about stay in touch, with Kevin O'Loughlin contributing five scores to their tally, they rarely threatened to peg the eventual winners back.
“Our prem-match game plan worked. Our plan was to hit number 15 as often as we could and it paid off,” a beaming Glennon, who was named man-of-the-match, said after the final whistle. “Thankfully today before half-time we got three goals and that finished Dublin off. All we had to do was keep tipping off points in the second half.”