Dublin did what Dublin do, scarcely looking troubled as they brushed past Galway and into another All-Ireland final.
It’s their fourth September date on the bounce, their sixth in eight seasons. They are unquestionably the best team of the past decade, maybe longer, and the gulf in class between themselves and Galway in this semi-final was huge.
The Tribesmen had a strong spell in the middle of the first half, the direct ball in to the edge of the square causing the Dubs no end of hurt at the time, but beyond that they were left gasping for air.
There was only two in it at the break but in the third quarter the four in-a-row chasing Dubs really went to work, outscoring the Connacht champions ten-to-two.
From here it was a procession and Galway, in their first semi-final since 2001, clearly lost heart as the Dubs ran riot.
There were just 54,716 souls in Croke Park for this one, the lowest for an All-Ireland semi-final since Kerry beat Mayo in 2011, a sign perhaps that the Tribesmen’s fans decided to stay away with an All-Ireland hurling final to look forward to and that Dubs supporters have grown used to success.
After the break, Dublin boss Jim Gavin ran the bench, with Cormac Costello replacing Dean Rock, who was subdued. Rock’s free-taking usually leaves him exempt from the curly finger from the line, though there was no sentiment here.
Costello took over the frees, landing one in a three-point haul. Paul Flynn and Kevin McManamon got 0-03 between them off the bench.
As with most other teams, their opponents hadn’t the ammunition on the line to counteract this and as the minutes ticked by, the lead increased.
There are several aims when playing Dublin in Championship football and the first two are not to get blown out of the water in the opening quarter and the second is still to be in the game at half-time.
Galway ticked both of those boxes and went back up the tunnel trailing by just two at the break, 1-09 to 1-07. They could have been ahead too, letting two solid gold goal chances pass them by.
The Dubs started stronger and their quick, accurate passing into fleet-footed inside forwards found them cutting through the Tribesmen’s normally suffocating defence.
First Paul Mannion clipped a brilliant point after cutting in from the end-line and then Rock clipped two frees, the second of which he was fouled for after he collected a sharp ball in from Jack McCaffrey right to the edge of the square.
Things were looking ominous for the Connacht champions at this stage, particularly with the Boys in Blue putting the big time squeeze on keeper Ruairí Lavelle’s kick-outs.
To his credit, he found his men more often than not, but restarts took an age and the ball was won under pressure meaning that attacks were starting off on the back foot.
But then this game burst into life when Ciarán Duggan sent a clever ball in towards his captain and full-forward Damien Comer, who jumped with two defenders.
Dublin keeper Stephen Cluxton dashed off his line, didn’t get near the action and he watched as Comer’s fisted effort sailed into his unguarded net.
Damien Comer fists a brilliant goal to draw Galway level! Highlights on the Sunday Game at 9.30pm on @RTE2 #DUBvGAL #GAA pic.twitter.com/ArRUGsdAIy
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) August 11, 2018
Cluxton went short from the kick-out, but corner-back Eoin Murchan was turned over on the 20-metre line and Comer will be disappointed that his toe-poke couldn’t beat the keeper, who did well to hustle and close down the space.
On 11 minutes, Galway had a penalty when Jonny Cooper pushed Comer, whose physical presence and hunger to burst through towards the black spot was really hurting Dublin. Eamonn Brannigan took the spot kick and saw it pushed around the post by the Dublin keeper.
The game was completely opened up by this stage and Lavelle started to get the ball out quicker off the tee.
It was another razor-sharp move that got the Dubs their goal on 27 minutes, McCaffrey sending the ball in, Niall Scully shovelling it on and Con O’Callaghan diving to palm it home past full-back Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh, who nearly did enough to keep it out.
Con O'Callaghan with a goal for Dublin! pic.twitter.com/zvqJQ0RvjW
— The GAA (@officialgaa) August 11, 2018
Dublin were given a further defensive headache when Cian O’Sullivan, their sweeper and go-to man for short kick-outs, went off injured after 27 minutes, replaced by Michael Fitzsimons.
McCaffrey, Fenton and O’Callaghan, who had been going through a quiet spell in his young Dublin career, were all excellent in the second half.
The pressure Galway were under was displayed after 56 minutes when their defenders made three desperate block downs to prevent scores, only to see McManamon collect the last rebound, work space and find Costello to fire over.
Right at the death, Shane Walsh got a consolation goal for Galway, though even that didn’t paper over any cracks.
Dublin: Stephen Cluxton; Eoin Murchan, Cian O’Sullivan, Philly McMahon; Jonny Cooper, James McCarthy, Jack McCaffrey Brian Fenton (0-02), John Small; Niall Scully, Ciarán Kilkenny (0-03), Brian Howard (0-01); Con O’Callaghan (1-03), Dean Rock (0-05, 0-04f), Paul Mannion (0-04).
Subs: Michael Fitzsimons for O’Sullivan 27 mins; Cormac Costello (0-03, 0-01f) for Scully 43 mins; Kevin McManamon (0-02) for Rock 55 mins; Michael Darragh Macauley for Murchan 56 mins; Darren Daly for Small 65 mins; Paul Flynn (0-01) for McCaffrey 67 mins.
Galway: Ruairí Lavelle; Declan Kyne, Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh, Eoghan Kerin; Cathal Sweeney, Gareth Bradshaw, Johnny Heaney (0-01); Ciarán Duggan, Thomas Flynn (0-01); Shane Walsh (1-05, 0-03f), Seán Armstrong, Seán Kelly; Ian Burke (0-02), Damien Comer (1-01), Eamonn Brannigan.
Subs: Michael Daly (0-01) for Armstrong 46 mins; Peter Cooke for Brannigan 49 mins; Gary O’Donnell (0-01) for Sweeney 55 mins; Adrian Varley for Heaney 58 mins; Kieran Molloy for Kerin 65 mins; Johnny Duane for Bradshaw 67 mins.
Referee: Barry Cassidy (Derry)
