Galway rediscover that old magic

NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION ONE: Galway 3-12 Dublin 0-13:LAST YEAR, Galway played some spell-binding league and championship football and once again yesterday, they slipped into that high-class entertainment mode.

Dublin exited Pearse Stadium faster than some of the home crowd, rushing to catch a five o’clock flight back to the capital which would fast-track them away from a sobering afternoon in Salthill.

Suddenly, the feel-good atmosphere generated by the fireworks and floodlights and the tasty fare served up against the All-Ireland champions Tyrone seemed a very distant memory for Dublin. They were forced to play second fiddle throughout this match and looked mesmerised at times by the nimbleness and imagination of Galway’s attack lines once again conducted by Messrs Meehan and Joyce.

So Galway’s unholy record against Dublin teams – no win at all against the Dubs since 1980 (in Croke Park) and no success within their own borders since 1965, when they won in Tuam Stadium – was ended emphatically here.

“It has been a long time coming,” said Galway manager Liam Sammon afterwards, clearly not even remotely bothered by the dusty statistics.

The goals that Galway conjured left the visitors in a desperately bleak place at half-time. It wasn’t just that they trailed by 3-7 to 0-5. In the bigger picture, nothing was working. None of the forwards had scored from play by this stage and it wasn’t as if they could even turn to the comfort of missed chances: Dublin had just two wides.

The defensive unit was under ferocious pressure, with David Henry falling back to more familiar country in an attempt to restore some order to an increasingly troubled division.

Dublin could argue that the origin of Galway’s first goal was debatable: Paul Conroy won a penalty when Paddy Andrews was whistled for pulling him down in the big square but it was a tough call on the defender. Michael Meehan’s penalty was taken with supreme confidence and the home team never looked back from here.

For the first half hour, Dublin were in touch on the scoreboard but all over the field, they were presented with growing evidence that Galway were about to erupt: Cormac Bane landed three wonderful points and Gareth Bradshaw cut loose for what could have been the second goal on 23 minutes. That was warning enough – Dublin manager Pat Gilroy made his first change after half an hour but that did not prevent the breakthrough: Padraic Joyce played a ball through for Meehan and his wonderfully casual flicked pass sent Sean Armstrong clear. The crowd were still ooh-ing over the pass when the ball hit the net.

Five minutes later, Dublin’s misery was complete: Paul Flynn found himself isolated after claiming a thankless pass and was stripped of possession. Dublin, in attack mode, had no time to recover. Joyce raced towards goal, froze two defenders with a dummy pass and then set Conroy up for a tap-in from close range. Game, set and match.

“We mixed the good and the bad in the first half,” Sammon said. “We were slow to start and Adrian made two brilliant saves early on. But once we got going, I thought we showed a lot of class up front.”

The visitors opened snappily, with Ciarán Whelan landing a quick point and then Barry Cahill bursting through flimsy Galway cover to draw a fine save from Adrian Faherty. Three minutes later, Whelan had a clear look at goal but the Claregalway man also deflected his attempt.

Had Dublin executed either of those chances, it might have been different. They can also point to a spirited response in the second half, when they produced six points without reply, primarily through the boot of Bernard Brogan. When Henry clipped a good point on 58 minutes, Dublin trailed by six points.

But despite their honesty, Dublin were playing against a team who were operating in cruise control. In fact, Galway came tantalisingly close to breaking the Dublin defence several times in the second half, with just the final pass overcooked. Whelan thundered down in front of a stand and let fly with a ferocious shot that earned his team another point but then Galway reeled off three in a row, Paul Conroy’s left footed effort the pick of that bunch.

GALWAY:A Faherty; N Coyne, F Hanley, D Meehan; G Bradshaw, D Blake, D Mullahy; J Bergin, G O'Donnell; S Armstrong (1-2), P Joyce (0-2), C Bane (0-4); P Conroy (1-1), M Meehan (1-3, one free), M Lydon. Subs: F Breathnach for O'Donnell (23 mins), D Dunleavy for Bane (50 mins, yellow), D Reilly for D Meehan (59 mins), S Kavanagh for Dunleavy (68 mins).

DUBLIN:S Cluxton; P Andrews, D Bastick, A Hubbard; B Cullen, G Brennan, B Cahill (0-1); C Whelan (0-3), P Flynn; D Henry (0-1), T Diamond, J Brogan; C Keaney (0-2, frees), J Sherlock, B Brogan (0-6, four frees). Subs: D Murray for Hubbard (30 mins), K Bonner for Diamond (half-time), D Connolly for Sherlock (half-time), R McConnell for Flynn (half-time), B Kelly for Cullen (48 mins), S Ryan for Cahill (52 mins, yellow).

Referee:R Hickey (Clare).