Dublin manager Niall Ó Ceallacháin has said that Saturday's impressive win over Galway in Salthill hasn’t really moved the dial that much on their Leinster ambitions.
The 3-16 to 0-21 win does guarantee the side a spot in the All-Ireland knock-out stages at the minimum, but if – as assumed – Galway beat Wexford next week, Dublin are still going to require at least a draw at home to Kilkenny next weekend.
"It’s really unusual to play a game in a competition when it doesn't have a huge bearing on the outcome (of the Leinster final)," Ó Ceallacháin told RTÉ Sport after their victory out west.
"No matter what happened today, win, lose or draw, the assumption was that we’ll have effectively a Leinster semi-final next weekend.
"Winner takes all so in a sense, while that was really pleasing in a number of ways, it has absolutely no bearing on next weekend and being in a Leinster final or not.
"Great for us, but we need to refocus immediately."
Ronan Hayes and John Hetherton made decisive contributions from the bench; Hayes finished with 1-02 while Hetherton set up Brian Hayes for the late winning goal.
"It means a lot, a huge challenge to come down here – not many teams come down and win at Salthill," Ó Ceallacháin continued.
"The line made a huge difference, Ronan and 'Hedgo’ (Hetherton) there, in key moments they showed well. They gave a different threat."
Galway boss Micheál Donoghue was left to rue a poor shooting return in the difficult conditions that prevailed at Pearse Stadium.
"Conditions were hard, we created a lot of opportunities, we had 41 shots but our efficiency was only around the 50%, which isn’t the standard to win a game.
"As I said to the lads there, you’re going to have to take the ups and downs and we just need to regroup and get ready again for next weekend."
Watch Dublin v Westmeath in the Leinster Football final (2pm) and Armagh v Monaghan in the Ulster Football final (4.15pm) on Sunday from 1.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1
Watch The Saturday Game and The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport
