Galway goal blitz sends Dublin down

Gaelic Games round-up: Four second-half goals secured Division One A status for Galway’s hurlers as Dublin were relegated following…

Gaelic Games round-up:Four second-half goals secured Division One A status for Galway's hurlers as Dublin were relegated following a 0-19 to 4-21 defeat in today's relation play-off replay in Portlaoise.

It was Joe Canning who displayed exquisite finishing skills once again, scoring two goals, the first from a free to put Galway 1-6 to 0-8 ahead after 23 minutes.

They held on to that one-point lead at the break (1-11 to 0-13), but a brilliant second from Canning after 50 minutes opened the floodgates, with Davy Glennon taking advantage of a mistake from Dublin goalkeeper Gary Maguire to score their third six minutes later.

David Burke claimed their fourth goal on 64 minutes to make it 4-19 to 19 points, with Canning and Glennon adding the final two scores to seal an emphatic victory.

READ MORE

If goals avoided the Dublin hurlers, they were certainly not scarce for the county’s under-21 footballers as they secured a place in the All-Ireland final with a 3-11 to 0-14 victory over Cork in their semi-final clash in Portlaoise.

St Brigid’s Philip Ryan took the man of the match honours for a personal tally of 2-3, 2-2 of which came in the first half as Jim Gavin’s side came back from a four point deficit to lead 2-5 to 0-7 at the break.

Cork’s chances of getting back into the game received a fatal blow just after the restart when Jack McCaffrey scored Dublin’s third goal to increase their lead to seven points and they held on to complete a comfortable win.

Dublin will now meet Roscommon in the final after they beat Cavan 2-7 to 2-2 in Longford to win through to their first under-21 decider since 1982.