All-Ireland SFC: Galway 2-14 Dublin 1-18
They’re not done for yet. Dublin got back to winning ways after Tom Lahiff clipped over the decisive score with the last kick of this All-Ireland SFC round-robin clash against Galway at a sun-drenched Pearse Stadium.
Just seconds after the hooter sounded in Salthill, Niall Scully found Lahiff in a pocket of space inside the arc and the St Jude’s clubman slotted over a neat point to earn Dublin the narrowest of victories over the four-in-a-row Connacht champions.
Dublin demonstrated real character and desire coming down the stretch as the victory looked to have been snatched from their grasp just moments earlier when they got blown for overcarrying. From the resulting free Galway worked the ball up the field and Matthew Tierney fisted over an equalising point.
However, from the crucial next kick-out Stephen Cluxton found Lahiff in the middle of the field and the visitors – who three weeks ago suffered a first Leinster SFC defeat in 15 years – built a patient attacking play that ended with Lahiff pointing.
“It was a huge kick-out [after Galway’s equaliser],” admitted Dublin manager Dessie Farrell. “There was a big press coming from Galway, they have big men out around that middle third and it‘s very difficult to find the pockets.
“You could see they had the bit between their teeth and were going for it. In fairness to Stephen he picked out Tom Lahiff and we secured possession. Ultimately, I think the game was won in that single play there.
“Once the hooter went, I always felt we’d get a shot off. Whether it was going to go over or not is another thing. In fairness to Tom again, great composure at the end, steadied himself and slotted it over.”
And while it was Lahiff – a second-half sub – who kicked the winning score, Ciarán Kilkenny was the real difference maker in this contest as the Castleknock man rolled back the years to produce a display of heroic leadership.
It was almost impossible to say where exactly Kilkenny played as he popped up all over the pitch – scoring, setting up his team-mates for scores, catching kick-outs, making defensive tackles. He was central Dublin’s victory.
“He was a warrior out there. He got cramp early enough in the second half, generally when a player gets cramp there’s only one thing happening – he’s coming off in a matter of minutes,” added Farrell.
“We’d a slip written for him, but he was able to dig it out and keep going and keep going. It‘s very unusual to see that, but that‘s the type of boyo he is.
“He was excellent. Con [O’Callaghan] was really good in the first half too, a lot of the young lads as well. We’re down to the serious stuff now at this stage, a lot of the young players did really well. Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne in the middle I thought had a great game as well.
“On days like this, brave men are wanted and we had a lot of lads standing up.”
Both teams made changes from their officially listed sides with six alterations to Dublin’s starting 15 – Alex Gavin, Seán Bugler, Seán MacMahon, Killian McGinnis, Cormac Costello and Brian O’Leary all started.
Galway made one personnel change with Cian Hernon replacing Jack Glynn. Johnny McGrath was given the man-marking detail on O’Callaghan while Liam Silke picked up Cormac Costello.
At the other end of the field David Byrne marshalled Shane Walsh while Seán MacMahon marked Rob Finnerty.
Given the talk of their demise over the last three weeks, it was probably important Dublin started positively and they led 1-9 to 0-8 at half-time.
The goal was a fortuitous one but nonetheless well taken by Costello, who seized on a mistake by Silke to slot the ball low beneath Connor Gleeson in the 20th minute.
But Galway started the second half like a whirlwind, scoring 1-2 inside the opening two minutes of the restart to go from four behind to one in front.
The goal came just 15 seconds into the second half. Galway won the throw-in and Cillian McDaid launched a skyscraper in on top of Matthew Thompson, who outfielder Byrne, turned and struck the ball beyond Cluxton.
The home side seemed to have grabbed the initiative but under the baking sun Dublin responded well to curb Galway’s momentum, with points by Costello and Brian O’Leary nudging them back in front.
Lorcan O’Dell had a superb second half during which he scored three points while Dublin had their homework done on Paul Conroy and nullified the 2024 Footballer of the Year’s impact. Both Conroy and Walsh were eventually taken off, though Dublin did have to play the last 25 minutes without O’Callaghan, who picked up a leg injury.
The Dubs had built a 1-16 to 1-12 lead with 15 minutes remaining when Galway scored a messy goal. A McDaid shot dropped short to the right of the Dublin posts but before it went wide Tierney flicked it back across the face of the goal where Finnerty raced in and palmed home.
A good score by John Maher levelled the game on the hour mark before Costello edged Dublin back in front in the 66th minute.
Dublin tried to manage the game out from there but the late turnover for overcarrying provided Galway with what appeared to be a score that would see the game finish level.
The Dubs had other ideas, though.
“It‘s a tough one to take,” said Pádraic Joyce. “Especially because we had got ourselves into a position to win the game. I think we just dealt with the high pressure situations in Castlebar but we didn’t really do that tonight.
“We gave the ball away three times in our last seven attacks which isn’t like us in fairness.
“Look, people talk about Dublin being beat and out of it [after losing in Leinster], they’ve seven or eight of the best footballers in the country you’ve ever seen.
“We knew that, okay. People are doing podcasts and all sorts of stuff, unfortunately some mud on the walls will stick sometimes. But we knew internally ourselves it was going to be a huge battle, we said it to the lads before the game.
“We were expecting a huge battle from a serious team, a well-coached team, so we knew that. It came down to the kick of the ball, we said it before and it was going to come down to that and it did. They came out the right side of it and we didn’t.”
GALWAY: Connor Gleeson; Johnny McGrath (0-0-1), Seán Mulkerrin, Liam Silke; Dylan McHugh, Seán Kelly, Cian Hernon; Paul Conroy, John Maher (0-0-1); Cein Darcy, Matthew Tierney (0-0-2), Cillian McDaid (0-0-1); Matthew Thompson (1-0-1), Robert Finnerty (1-1-4, 1f), Shane Walsh (0-1-0).
Subs: Peter Cooke for Thompson (41-53 mins); Kieran Molloy for Conroy (53); P Cooke for Kelly (53-60); Daniel O’Flaherty for Hernon (54); P Cooke for Walsh (60); Tomo Culhane for Darcy (65); John Daly for Silke (67).
DUBLIN: Stephen Cluxton; David Byrne, Theo Clancy, Seán MacMahon; Ciarán Kilkenny (0-0-2), Seán Bugler (0-0-3), Brian Howard; Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Killian McGinnis (0-0-2); Lorcan O’Dell (0-0-3), Con O’Callaghan (0-0-3), Alex Gavin; Colm Basquel, Brian O’Leary (0-0-1), Cormac Costello (1-0-3, 2f).
Subs: Tom Lahiff (0-0-1) for O’Callaghan (45 mins); Niall Scully for O’Leary (50); Cian Murphy for Gavin (54); Greg McEneaney for McGinnis (60); Luke Breathnach for Bugler (61).
Referee: David Gough (Meath).
