Monday, September 16, 2024

All-Ireland SFC: Galway stun Dublin to reach last four

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Dublin were boosted by the return of James McCarthy and Jack McCaffrey and by the 14th minute, the All-Ireland champions had opened up a four-point lead.

Brian Fenton stormed through the heart of the Galway defence to take a pass from Con O’Callaghan and his first time shot fizzed over the bar.

Ciaran Kilkenny doubled Dublin’s lead three minutes later before Sean Bugler and Cormac Costello got their names on the scoresheet.

A Walsh free broke the Dubs scoring sequence, but two more scores from Costello, one a free and one from a 45, only helped to stretch Dublin’s advantage to five.

Galway stayed in touch thanks to Walsh and John Maher, but again, once Galway got within an arm’s length of their opponents, Dublin found another gear.

Firstly, Bugler cut in from the right to knock over his second of the evening before a Costello free opened up a five-point advantage, however, on the cusp of half-time, a Walsh free for Galway saw the Westerners trail by four at the break, 0-11 to 0-7.

Galway started the second period on the front foot and the half was only a matter of seconds old when McDaid pointed for the Tribesmen.

Joyce’s men went on the dominate the third quarter but a succession of wides from Walsh, Conroy and Comer meant that Galway weren’t able to show their dominance on the scoreboard. As you would expect, Dublin took full advantage through John Small and O’Callaghan to fire the Dubs into a three-point lead.

But Galway refused to throw in the towel and helped by Walsh, McDaid and Cein Darcy, Galway drew level before a dramatic late finish saw them book an All-Ireland semi-final spot while dethroning the champions in the process.

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