Dublin haven’t been in a Leinster final since 2014.
The boys in blue are in flying form this season, but even after their impressive win over Antrim in the quarter-final, nobody really thought they were going to beat this Galway side.
On paper, Galway looked to be in a different class, but it was only two years ago that they suffered a defeat at the hands of Dublin.
Captain Danny Sutcliffe covered very blade of grass in Croke Park, scoring 0-3 and putting in an unbelievable effort to inspire his side and get them over the line.
However, you can’t escape the fact that Galway were their own worst enemy today, particularly on the shooting front.
Shane O’Neill’s side will rue the 14 wides they struck, given there were only 4 points in it by the end. If a fraction of these had been on target then it could have been a different result entirely.
Six of those wides surprisingly came from talisman Joe Canning. Usually he’s so reliable, especially with the dead-ball, but even the greats have their off days.
During that period he was also involved in no less than three goal chances, but failed to capitalise on any of them.
Dub goalkeeper Nolan deserves a large chunk of the credit as he pulled off a series of saves, including two early on as Galway started by going for goals, which obviously didn’t land.
On the other hand, the Dublin side was much more efficient and clinical on the scoring front. Although they reduced Galway’s deficit to just two points, they just couldn’t kick on from there.
The game finished Dublin 1-18 1-14 Galway.
