ALL-IRELAND UNDER-21 HC FINAL Galway 3-14 Dublin 1-10:A YEAR ago in Thurles it was Tipperary who doubled up on All-Ireland titles by adding the under-21 to the senior after demolishing Galway.
On Saturday night in Semple Stadium Galway were back to supplement the previous week’s minor victory with their 10th Cashel Cup. Both successes have been at the expense of Dublin for whom September could end up as a cruel month. Halfway through the four All-Ireland finals that the county had reached, the mantelpiece remains unburdened.
To be realistic, Dublin’s hopes would have been more heavily invested in the minors and Galway looked a class apart over the hour.
This particular cohort has endured a lot in the past few years, being pipped by a late Kilkenny goal in the 2008 minor final as well as 12 of those involved on Saturday having been at the bottom of the Tipperary landslide last year.
Manager Anthony Cunningham made the point that the survivors of 2010 had been the better hurlers on the panel and had kicked on strongly after a summer’s intensive coaching.
This was most visibly apparent in the way the forwards rotated and used the open spaces of Semple Stadium to optimise the pace of their attack. Whereas the half forwards had done the damage in the semi-final against Limerick, on Saturday it was the constant movement of the inside line that wrought havoc.
All three goals came from the full forwards. Dublin can feel aggrieved that the first, in the 11th minute, was a harshly awarded penalty, as lively Galway captain Barry Daly, who started at full forward, appeared to be falling when he ran into goalkeeper Ger McManus. Tadhg Haran, who had mixed fortunes with the placed ball – three first-half wides – made no mistake and the lead changed hands for the last time.
Dublin had started well, recovering from an early two-point deficit when Kevin O’Loughlin’s shot for a point bounced off the crossbar and was batted out by ’keeper Jamie Ryan. Tomás Connolly, brother of senior footballer Diarmuid, gathered to fire into the net. O’Loughlin added a pointed free to leave the Leinster champions 1-1 to 0-2 ahead.
They continued to be competitive in for nearly the whole first half but in truth it was just a matter of hanging on. Liam Rushe played well at centre back, winning ball and distributing it effectively, but overall the team was under mounting pressure.
Galway took scores fluently. Haran didn’t allow dead-ball problems to get to him and hit three points from play.
In the 28th minute corner back Ger O’Halloran sliced through Dublin’s midfield defences and passed to David Burke, who stretched, caught and turned, drawing the cover and popping out the assist to Davy Glennon.
The corner forward, whose fearless in taking on defenders earned him the TG4 man of the Match award, went wide and managed to flick the ball to the net beyond McManus for 2-6 to 1-4.
A minute or so later James Regan took possession, ran hard at the defence – riding out Bill O’Carroll’s flirtation with a red card – before finishing expertly.
The match was effectively over with Galway’s eight-point interval lead. Dublin fought hard but there was an aimlessness about their play – forwards bunching under haphazard deliveries – and they never managed to exert much pressure on the winners.
Galway hit a good few wides but calmly dispatched sufficient chances to shade the second half for a 10-point win.
The new departure of staging the under-21 final in Thurles wasn’t advanced by a poor attendance of 5,300.
Dublin fans, feeling the pinch of so many All-Ireland appearances, may have prioritised whereas the mass of Galway supporters remain unmoved as the county’s startling accumulation of underage titles perennially begs questions of the under-performing seniors.
GALWAY: J Ryan; D Connolly, N Donoghue, G O'Halloran; J Grealish, P Gordon, R Foy; J Coen, D Burke (0-3, 0-2 frees); C Cooney (0-1), N Burke (0-3, 0-2 frees), T Haran (1-3, 1-0 pen); J Regan (1-2), B Daly, D Glennon (1-2). Subs: R Burke for Gordan (18 mins), B Burke for Haran (41 mins), D Fox for Cooney (55 mins), N Quinn for N Burke (57 mins), D Cooney for D Burke (62 mins).
DUBLIN: G McManus; B O'Carroll, D Kelly, J Doughan; D Curran, L Rushe, M Quilty; C Gough, D Sutcliffe; D Plunkett, M Schutte, T Connolly (1-2, 0-2 frees); K O'Loughlin (0-5, all frees), N McMorrow (0-1), E Dillon. Subs: F Clabby for Kelly, S McGrath for Schutte (both half-time), R Mahon (0-2) for O'Loughlin (40 mins), B Quinn for Connolly (58 mins).
Referee: T Carroll(Offaly).
