Conor Cooney produced an exhibition of free-taking as Galway secured top-flight league hurling next season as they finished strongly to see off Dublin in a fiery contest which produced four red cards and eleven bookings.
Galway finished the game with just 12 players after captain Conor Whelan and the previous skipper Daithi Burke got straight red cards in the closing minutes, while corner-back Jack Grealish got his marching orders earlier for two yellows.
Dublin lost Ronan Hayes to a second yellow card seven minutes after Grealish's dismissal but Galway finished strongly, outscoring Michéal Donoghue's side by 0-10 to 0-01 in the closing quarter.
Galway, having played against the breeze, led by 1-10 to 1-08 during a lively opening half in which six players were booked and one black-carded.
Galway made the most of their early chances to lead by 0-04 to 0-01 after ten minutes after Dublin shot three wides in the opening three minutes.
Cian O’Sullivan caused the Galway defence plenty of bother and he pointed after Donal Burke landed a free to cut the gap to the minimum after 14 minutes.
Gavin Lee and O’Sullivan exchanged points but then Conor Cooney burst through three defenders before setting up his captain Conor Whelan who blasted to the net to lead by double scores at the end of the opening quarter by 1-05 to 0-04.
Conor Cooney extended the lead with a free but then at the other end his St Thomas’ teammate Fintan Burke was black-carded for pulling down Diarmuid Ó Dúlaing and Burke slotted the resulting penalty to the corner of the net.
Dublin pushed on and outscored Galway by 1-04 to 0-03 while they had the extra man, with Hayes edging them in front for the first time on the half hour to lead by 1-08 to 1-07.
Joseph Cooney, a late replacement for Evan Niland, grew more into the game and he brought his haul to three points before the break, with Gavin Lee’s second effort leaving them ahead by 1-10 to 1-08 at the interval.
Points from Burke and O’Sullivan drew Dublin level three minutes after the restart and for the remainder of the third quarter the sides exchanged points four times.
Galway lost corner-back Grealish to a second yellow card after 45 minutes, while Dublin also went down to 14 when Hayes was also sent off for a second booking after 52 minutes.
Galway pushed on and two pointed frees from Conor Cooney either side of one from centre-back Cianan Fahy left the Tribesmen leading by 1-17 to 1-14 after 60 minutes.
Galway continued to dominate and five more pointed frees from Cooney made it ten points in a row without reply as the Dublin challenge faded, with Donoghue’s men failing to score from the 48th minute to when Burke landed a ’65 in the third minute of added time.
Galway drafted in Brian Concannon and Cathal Mannion for their first action of the league, bringing to 30 the number of players Henry Shefflin and his management have used in the competition so far this year.
Galway: Darach Fahy; Jack Grealish, Fintan Burke, Padraic Mannion; Adrian Tuohey, Cianan Fahy (0-01), Daithí Burke; David Burke (0-01), Sean Linnane; Gavin Lee (0-02), Tom Monaghan (0-04), Joseph Cooney (0-03); Conor Cooney (0-11, 0-10f), Conor Whelan (1-00), Jason Flynn. Subs: Brian Concannon for Flynn (43), Cathal Mannion (0-01) for Lee (55), Ronan Glennon for David Burke (60), Evan Nilan for Joseph Cooney (64), Donal O’Shea for Linnane 67).
Dublin: Eddie Gibbons; James Madden, Paddy Smyth, Daire Gray; Conor Burke, Chris Crummey, Conor Donohoe (0-01); Brian Hayes, Darragh Power; Sean Currie, Ronan Hayes (0-01), Donal Burke (1-09, 1-0 pen, 0-06f, 0-02 '65s); Danny Sutcliffe, Cian O’Sullivan (0-03), Diarmaid Ó Dúlaing (0-01). Subs: Mark Grogan for Gray (23), Fergal Whitely for Sutcliffe (49), Dara Purcell for Ó Dúlaing (56), Paul Crummey for Currie (62), Seán Gallagher for Power (67).
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Limerick).
