Galway blow Dubs away

Galway 3-14Dublin 1-10

CIARAN TIERNEY AT SEMPLE STADIUM

Hail the men who have delivered a delightful double! A group of boys who have been no strangers to heartbreak and frustration in underage hurling finals really came of age in Thurles on Saturday night as Galway captured their tenth All-Ireland U-21 crown with a comprehensive victory over an outclassed Dublin side.

Six days after the minors enjoyed an equally comfortable victory over the same opponents at Croke Park, this year’s crop of U-21s could hardly have dreamed of putting together such a convincing all-round team performance that a 10 point margin almost flattered the Dubs in the end.

Perhaps Galway supporters have become disillusioned by so much underage promise failing to materialise into senior success for over two decades, but this was a performance to treasure in its own right for the maroon contingent in the 5,352 crowd.

They outfought their opponents from start to finish, winning aerial ball, battling to win ‘dirty’ or 50-50 balls, lodging wonderful long clearances out of defence, and taking their chances with a determination and conviction which put this year’s Galway seniors to shame.

Their battling qualities were epitomised by corner forward and man-of-the-match Davy Glennon when he moved back to help out his full-back line in the dying minutes. The game was well won, but a fired-up Galway never relented and the Dublin challenge was in tatters long before the end.

If we worried about where the goals would come from, they had banished those fears by having three on the scoreboard by half-time. Glennon and James Regan might not have been prominent against Limerick last month, but they were in blistering form here.

And young Tadhg Haran of Liam Mellows might not have been totally on-song with his free-taking, missing four in the first half, but his brave decision to go for a goal from his 10th minute penalty gave the entire team a lift. He had a fine haul of 1-3, including three inspirational scores from play, by the time he was hauled ashore 11 minutes into the second half.

If we worried that rival centre back Liam Rushe, candidate for Young Hurler of the Year, would have a field day then the towering Niall Burke had other ideas. He might not have found the target as regularly as in the semi-final, but Burke battled to keep Rushe out of the game.

If we wondered how the backs would cope, well, it was hard to find one among them who did not come up with an inspirational performance against a shell-shocked Dublin attack. The performances of Niall Donoghue at full-back, Ger O’Halloran in the corner, and Jason Grealish, in particular, were outstanding. These were dream performances in an All-Ireland final from a team who were humiliated on the same stage 12 months ago.

It was some night of redemption for the eight lads who were on the wrong side of a 25 point hammering by Tipperary last year and they settled well into the game, with two excellent early scores from Regan and Haran.

But Dublin were back in front in the third minute, when a long-range effort from corner forward Kevin O’Loughlin came back off the crossbar. Goalie Jamie Ryan batted it away from the danger zone, but Tomas Connolly was on hand to hit the rebound to the net. An O’Loughlin free then gave the Dubs a two point lead.

But the movement of the Galway lads was notable at this stage and captain Barry Daly, who began the game in the full-forward line, produced a storming run in from the left corner only to be hauled down by Dublin net-minder Ger McManus. Bravely, Haran drove the penalty low past the three men on the line, after McManus was yellow carded.Daly caused havoc in the Dublin defence in that opening quarter and Regan finished off an excellent move involving Conor Cooney, Haran, and Glennon to put the Tribesmen 1-3 to 1-1 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

Clearly, the men in maroon had not been rattled by Dublin’s early goal, as Donoghue, Grealish, and Rory Foy produced a series of inspirational clearances.

O’Loughlin cut the gap to the minimum from a free on the left and then replied to a brilliantly struck Haran score from out near the sideline, but Dublin had to wait until the 23rd minute for their first point from play – a good score under pressure from full-forward Niall McMorrow to level the issue at 1-4 apiece. 

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.