Dublin cruise to win last ever U21 football title
An Aaron Byrne goal three minutes from the end of normal time sealed Dublin their fourth U21 All-Ireland FC title since 2010 in this last ever game at this level.
Eight points down, a struggling Galway side threatened a comeback when Cillian McDaid scored the first goal that Dublin have conceded in this championship. His fellow wing-back Kieran Molloy added a point and the game became a contest again.
Byrne could have ended the affair only to palm the ball into the hands of Galway goalkeeper Ronán Ó Beoláin and then Ruairí Greene at the other end hit the butt of the post when set up by McDaid.
Byrne, though, made no mistake when offered a second chance having been assisted by Eoin Murchan and while Colm Brennan forced a scrambling goal in additional time Galway’s goose was cooked. A late penalty was awarded to Dublin and Con O’Callaghan had the luxury of pointing it.
With the wind turning in Dublin’s favour for a second time in the second half, they started superbly to extend their lead to four points and then O’Callaghan finished off a goal move that had been initiated by the excellent Brian Howard winning a mark from a Galway kick-out.
The swirling wind favoured Dublin more in the first half, Galway having won the toss and choosing to face it. Sure enough, Dublin made their advantage count in the opening stage and were two points to no score up after five minutes.
However, there was no explosive start. Had an unmarked Colm Basquel done better with his shot in the ninth minute when he was found by O’Callaghan, there might have been but Ó Beoláin snuffed it out expertly.
Dublin were racking up the wides and their attacking figurehead O’Callaghan was finding Seán Andy Ó Ceallaigh a difficult man to break. A brace of Basquel points in the space of three minutes put Dublin 0-4 to 0-1 up after 18 minutes but it was hardly representative of how they had dominated proceedings up until then.
Galway grew into the game and a Michael Daly goalbound shot was blocked in the 19th minute before Eoin Finnerty soloed strongly and swung over a point seconds later. As Ó Ceallaigh was pulling balls out of the sky at the other end, his team-mates were garnering inspiration from him and McDaid stepped up to send over their third score in the 22nd minute.
Glenn O’Reilly added his second points in the 23rd minute to double Dublin’s lead but a Peter Cooke free, after Cillian O’Shea had upended Greene, was the final score of the half, which Dublin would have been disappointed not to be further ahead than 0-5 to 0-4.
C. O’Callaghan (1-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 pen); G. O’Reilly (0-3); A. Byrne (1-0); C. Basquel, D. O’Brien (0-2 each); D. Gavin, B. Howard, S. Smith (0-1 each).
C. McDaid (1-1); C. Brennan (1-0); M. Daly, E. Finnerty, P. Cooke (free), P. Mannion, K. Molloy, C. Brady (0-1 each).
E. Comerford; D. Byrne, S. McMahon, D. Monaghan; C. O’Shea (jc), E. Murchan, C. Murphy; A. Foley, B. Howard; D. O’Brien, G. O’Reilly, A. Byrne; T. Fox, C. O’Callaghan (jc), C. Basquel.
D. Gavin for A. Foley (inj, 13); D. Spillane for T. Fox (39); C. Sallier for G. O’Reilly (45); A. McGowan for S. McMahon (60); P. Small for C. Basquel (60+1); S. Smith for A. Byrne (60+1).
R. Ó Beoláin; L. Kelly, S.A. Ó Ceallaigh, R. Greene; C. McDaid, D. McHugh, K. Molloy; P. Cooke, C. D’Arcy; P. Mannion, M. Daly, S. Kelly; R. Finnerty, E. Finnerty, D. Conneely.
C. Brady for R. Finnerty (h-t); C. Brennan for C. D’arcy (37); M. Boyle for D. Conneely (39); E. Lee for S. Kelly (44); A. Ó Laoi for P. Mannion (54); P. Ó Curraoin for K. Molloy (60).
Referee: C. Branagan (Down).
