All-Ireland SFC quarter-final: Dublin 1-25 Galway 1-21
Niall Scully stretched out his arms and bellowed a guttural roar towards a bouncing Hill 16. Another day of Dublin defiance in Croke Park was almost complete. A couple of minutes remaining, up by two, playing with an extra man and a tap over free on the way. After all that has happened to them this season, the Dubs endure.
Scully, who was immense throughout, was fouled by Seán Mulkerrin for the 68th minute free but it could have been any of the ragged Galway defenders at that stage as they struggled to withstand a Dublin onslaught in the closing stages of this All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.
In the last 15 minutes, Dublin outscored Galway 1-8 to 0-1. When John Maher bundled home Galway’s goal in the 55th minute to put them six points ahead, it appeared the contest had swung decisively in the Tribesmen’s favour.
But they managed just a single point thereafter and the game’s decisive moment would actually arrive on the hour mark.
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Dublin had responded positively to the Galway goal with points by Con O’Callaghan (2) and Paddy Small reducing the deficit but the Tribesmen still led by three when Scully arrowed a pass to Colm Basquel, sending him goalwards.
As he tried to sidestep Liam Silke, the Galway defender dragged Basquel down just outside the 20-metre line, denying a goalscoring chance. Black card. Penalty. Double whammy – a punch to the guts for Galway followed by an uppercut to the jaw.
O’Callaghan smacked his effort to Connor Gleeson’s left and while the Galway goalkeeper got a hand to it, the ball spun over the goal-line. Level. And Dublin would have a numerical advantage for the remainder of the game.
Shane Walsh, who had been held scoreless by Seán MacMahon until the Dublin defender was forced off injured, popped over his only score of the match in the 64th minute to edge Galway back in front. But that was to be their lot.
Scully, whose first two shots of the afternoon had sailed wide, blazed over a two-pointer moments later to put Dublin ahead again for the first time since half-time. And then the surge.
Basquel adds a point. At the other end of the pitch, Davy Byrne makes a great dispossession. Scully races forward again and gets fouled, his arms outstretched in celebration at the free. O’Callaghan pops it over.
Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne soars skyward and fetches the resulting kickout – the entire momentum of the game is with Dublin. Galway are all at sea. Newcomer Seán Guiden ices the game with a point in the dying seconds to put Dublin four ahead. The Hill is singing and swaying. Like the rare auld times.
“The challenge as a new management and a new squad is to find that blend between the experience and skill-set of the more experienced guys and blending that with the youthfulness, energetic freedom that comes with being a new guy into the panel,” said Ger Brennan afterwards.
“I thought all the fellas we brought in today, again, they really put in a huge shift. But again, I have to just acknowledge the work of the whole panel.”
For Galway, it is the latest season that ends with a massive amount of unfulfillment.
Their inability to get hands on the ball from kickouts, especially in the first half, was a significant factor in the flow of the game.
Overall, Dublin won 17 of their 23 kickouts while Galway won just 15 of their 31 restarts.
Pádraic Joyce cut a frustrated figure at the final whistle and speaking afterwards he argued some big decisions had gone against his side.
In particular, he was annoyed at the decision in the 65th minute when advantage was being played for a foul outside the large arc. The advantage play ended when Maher had been stopped inside the Dublin square. Galway had to take the free from where the initial infraction had been awarded.
“We have an advantage on a two-pointer that John Maher catches inside the big square,” said Joyce.
“He is clearly pulled to the ground from what I can see, and the free is not given because the referee told the linesman that it wasn’t a foul, so go back to the two-point free.
“Not taking away from what Dublin did at the end there. We can put a bit of blame on ourselves to score only once when we were six up and lose by four.”
Dublin were boosted at the start of the game by the availability of Con O’Callaghan and despite pulling up with a hamstring strain last weekend, the team captain led by example all afternoon.
The Dubs used him as a direct target inside and his physical presence and directness caused panic in the Galway rearguard throughout. O’Callaghan finished the game with 1-5.
“Con is a warrior,” said Brennan. One of many in blue here.
Seán Kelly did not start for Galway because of a shoulder injury and the opening stages of the game ebbed and flowed like a pair of chess players trying to figure out where the weak points were in the opposition’s defence.
It was clear early on that Galway were struggling in the kickout department and they lost ten of their own restarts in the first half. Dublin led 0-14 to 0-13 at the turnaround.
Galway did get a handle on the middle third in the second half where Cein D’Arcy got through a mountain of work and Finnian Ó Laoi was excellent on breaks.
They brought more intensity and energy in the third quarter and when Maher goaled in the 55th minute it put them 1-20 to 0-17 ahead.
But Dublin’s the game, and the season, turned in the fourth quarter. Dublin managed the extra man superbly, Ciarán Kilkenny orchestrating controlled passages of possession and up top Scully, O’Callaghan and Basquel making hay in the extra space.
At the end of his press conference, a smiling Brennan joked that perhaps Dublin’s All-Ireland semi-final against Kerry could be played in Parnell Park. In some ways, it’s hard to comprehend the trajectory of their form over the last fortnight.
But it was Scully’s reaction to the late free, his arms outstretched at the altar of the believers upon the Hill, that captured the story of their season.
Christ, the redemption of Dublin football continues.
Dublin: Evan Comerford; Seán MacMahon, Eoin Kennedy (0-0-1), David Byrne; Lee Gannon, Theo Clancy, Charlie McMorrow; Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Brian Howard; Ciarán Kilkenny, Niall Scully (0-2-0), Colm Basquel (0-1-2); Paddy Small (0-1-2), Con O’Callaghan (1-0-7; 1-0 penalty, 0-3f), Cormac Costello (0-0-4; 0-2f). Subs: Ross McGarry for Costello (49 mins); Josh Bannon for MacMahon (55 mins); Tim Deering for Kennedy (59 mins); Liam Smith for McMorrow (69 mins); Seán Guiden (0-0-1) for Small (65 mins)
Galway: Connor Gleeson; Jack Glynn, Cian Hernon, Liam Silke; Dylan McHugh (0-0-2), John Daly, Kieran Molloy (0-0-3); Paul Conroy (0-1-0), John Maher (1-0-0); Cein D’Arcy (0-1-2), Finnian Ó Laoi (0-0-2), Cillian McDaid (0-0-1); Robert Finnerty (0-2-2; 0-1f), Matthew Tierney, Shane Walsh (0-0-1). Subs: Damien Comer for McDaid (47 mins); Seán Mulkerrin for Molloy (60 mins); Shane McGrath for Ó Laoi (65 mins); Johnny McGrath for Conroy (67 mins)
Referee: David Gough (Meath)
