Senior footballers conclude league with victory over Galway

Sun, 25th October 2020

FL DIVISION 1 ROUND 7

DUBLIN 2-15 GALWAY 0-15

Dublin concluded their league campaign with a win on the road when defeating Galway by two clear goals in Sunday’s clash at Pearse Stadium, Salthill.

The Dubs finish up in second spot in the Division 1 table behind league champions, Kerry, who secured the title with their victory over Donegal on Saturday.

The counties – Dublin and Kerry – drew in their Round 1 clash back in January when 42,502 were in attendance when David Clifford’s point in the tenth minute of added time earned the Kingdom a share of the spoils, highlighting how tight it was at the top.

“A pleasing performance,” said Dublin manager Dessie Farrell post-match. “We are happy enough with it but there is plenty to work on, for sure. There is still a bit of ring-rustiness and we’re trying to shake that off in advance of the championship.

"There is a lot of experience in the squad and we are trying to introduce some new blood as well, so it is a case of getting that cohesive dynamic that I think is going to be important for us going forward.

"The endeavour is definitely there and I think generally we just need a sense of cohesiveness," added Dessie.

Dublin trailed the Tribesmen by two points at half-time, 0-9 to 0-7, after playing into a strong wind which caused problems off kickouts in particular.

However, had been economical in front of goal and looked in good stead ahead of the second half.

A scoring surge leading up to the second half water break saw Dessie Farrell’s men make their move for victory as they tallied 1-3 in six minutes, then after the short interval Paddy Small converted a mark after fielding a pass from Con O’Callaghan.

Con O’Callaghan hit Dublin’s second goal in the fourth minute of injury time when the Dubs turned defence into attack to telling effect.

With Galway pressing late on Stephen Cluxton, Dublin captain once again for the upcoming championship, directed a kickout toward sub Tom Lahiff who deftly deflected the ball to fellow sub Kevin McManamon whose quick, long handpass put Con into space.

The Cuala forward made ground before attempted a fisted point effort, his shot came back off the right upright and he rifled the ball to the net. A minute later he added a mark.

After Dublin's scoring burst Galway responded with a Jason Leonard score but importantly Dublin replied with the next score - Ciarán Kilkenny cleverly engineering space before kicking a point off his left.

However, the crucial goal arrived in the 50^th minute, when after scores from Paddy Small (mark) and Dean Rock (free), following good tackling by Ciarán Kilkenny, sub Seán Bugler raised a green flag.

Cormac Costello, another sub, did the initial work and Bugler came onto his handpass before making no mistake, finishing emphatically to the Galway net.

Three minutes later Bugler following up with a fine point from play as Dublin attacked with pace and when Paddy Small added a mark after the water break the visitors were 1-12 to 0-12 ahead.

In the opening half the long-range accuracy of Paul Conroy, from play and frees, had the hosts 0-7 to 0-4 in front entering the last ten minutes of the half.

Check out the highlights from our Senior Footballers’ Allianz League win over Galway this afternoon#UpTheDubs pic.twitter.com/t8qCfosxP6
— Dublin GAA (@DubGAAOfficial) October 25, 2020

But points from Paddy Small, his second well judged strike of the half, Con O'Callaghan, after Brian Fenton had done well to first retain and then regain possession and finding David Byrne, and a Dean Rock free from 30 metres following a foul on Ciarán Kilkenny, had the sides level.

Galway though tagged on two Conroy frees to lead by two at the half-time break, 0-9 to 0-7.

SCORERS – Dublin: D Rock 0-6 (0-4f), C O’Callaghan 1-2 (0-1m), S Bugler 1-1, P Small 0-4 (0-2m), C Kilkenny 0-2. Galway: P Conroy 0-8 (0-6f), R Finnerty 0-2 (0-1f), A Varley (0-1m), S Walsh, G O’Donnell, J Leonard, L Silke 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: S Cluxton; C Murphy, D Byrne, M Fitzsimons; E Murchan, J Small, R McDaid; B Fenton, J McCarthy; B Howard; E Lowndes, C Kilkenny; P Small, C O’Callaghan, D Rock. Subs: S Bugler for Lowndes (ht), C Costello for McCarthy (46), T Lahiff for Howard (63), K McManamon for P Small (68), P McMahon for Murphy (71).

GALWAY: B Power; S Mulkerrin, S Kelly, J Foley; L Silke, G O’Donnell, J Heaney; C D’Arcy, T Flynn; P Kelly, P Conroy, J Leonard; R Finnerty, A Varley, I Burke. Subs: M Barrett for Flynn (31), S Walsh for Burke (ht), G Sice for Finnerty (ht), C McDaid for O’Donnell (53), G Bradshaw for P Kelly (59).

REF: D Coldrick (Meath).