Galway 1-22 Dublin 1-20
James Regan booted Galway to a second Walsh Cup hurling title with a dramatic 68th minute match winning goal.
Free-taker Jason Flynn top scored with 11 points at Croke Park but Regan was the game breaker with 1-04 including that vital kicked goal.
It sealed a second title for the Tribesmen though they achieved victory the hard way after falling eight down early on.
They were also without injured talisman Joe Canning as well as Conor Cooney.
It's the second year in a row that Dublin finished as runners up and Ger Cunningham’s side will kick themselves after starting so brightly.
It was tough to pick a winner beforehand with both sides struggling at times in their semi-finals.
Dublin overcame a sticky pitch against Laois last Sunday while Galway's late 1-03 against Carlow gave them a flattering nine-point win.
A feature of Galway's win over Carlow was their lack of scores from open play until late on and the pattern continued here.
Their first five points came from Flynn frees and they didn't manage a score from play until the 22nd minute.
Dublin, in contrast, were much livelier in attack with Shane Stapleton, a late replacement for Eamonn Dillon, tapping two over in the first 13 minutes.
Joey Boland then boomed one from distance followed by a point from Mark Schutte to put them 0-07 to 0-04 up.
Liam Rushe's brilliant 18th minute goal put real daylight between them for the first time.
Continuing his trial at full-forward, last year's centre-back raced onto a low ball in, gathered possession and cleverly lobbed it over the advancing goalkeeper.
The goal separated the sides at half-time when Dublin led 1-12 to 0-12.
Dublin had pulled six clear at one stage but a four-in-a-row of Galway points before the break steadied the westerners.
Dublin's interval lead was reduced to just a single point on three occasions in the third quarter.
Galway were much improved and Flynn's tenth converted free left them just 0-17 to 1-15 down with 20 minutes left.
Anthony Cunningham's Galway charges finally levelled it when Dean Higgins rifled over a 54th minute point from the right wing.
It set up a thrilling finale and both sides exchanged the lead in the run-in.
Dublin regained the advantage thanks to sub Danny Sutcliffe's 62nd minute point.
But 1-01 from Regan in the closing stages including that booted goal when the ball eluded Dubs 'keeper Alan Nolan proved decisive as Galway edged it.
Galway: C Callanan, R Burke, F Moore, J Coen, G McInerney, D Collins, P Mannion (0-01), J Cooney (0-01), E Burke, D Higgins (0-02), J Glynn, P Brehony (0-01), J Regan (1-04), J Flynn (0-11, 0-11f), B Molloy (0-01).
Subs.: C Flynn (0-01) for Burke, I Tannian for Molloy, P Killeen for Higgins, G Kelly for Brehony.
Dublin: A Nolan, S Durkin, P Schutte, S Barrett (0-01), S Lambert, P Kelly (0-01), C Crummey, J Boland (0-02), B Quinn (0-01), R O'Dwyer, S Stapleton (0-02), C Keaney, M Schutte (0-02), L Rushe (1-00), P Ryan (0-08, 0-6f).
Subs.: E Dillon for O'Dwyer, C Boland (0-01) for Stapleton, D Sutcliffe (0-02) for Quinn, D Plunkett for Boland.
Referee: S Cleere (Kilkenny).
