Galway 1-22

Dublin 1-20

Niall Kelly reports from Croke Park

JAMES REGAN NIPPED IN two minutes from time to clinch the Walsh Cup for Galway and deny Ger Cunningham his first honours as Dublin boss.

The sides were level and seemed destined for extra-time when Regan pounced on a moment of hesitation from Dubs keeper Alan Nolan.

The man of the match flicked the ball past Nolan before finishing to the net with his boot and effectively sealing Galway’s first win in the competition since 2010.

Neither side was at full-strength for the Croke Park curtain-raiser which was played out in front of a small crowd before the Division 1 football league clash between Dublin and Donegal.

Cunningham sent Liam Rushe in at full-forward once again and it paid dividends in the 18th minute when the St Pat’s man scored the game’s opening goal.

Rushe flicked the ball past Galway keeper Colm Callanan to score, and when Paul Ryan added a pointed free a minute later, the Dubs led by seven early on, 1-8 to 0-4.

But Galway finished the half strongly and outscored the Dubs by 0-5 to 0-2 to close on much sounder terms.

They trailed 1-12 to 0-12 at the break and while Jason Flynn — who finished with 11 pointed frees — kept the Dubs within arm’s distance, it wasn’t until the 56th minute that they took the lead again, Padraig Mannion with a point to make it 0-20 to 1-16.

Danny Sutcliffe was Dublin’s most lively threat when he came off the bench for the final 15 minutes, chipping in with two points.

But it was Regan who broke the deadlock decisively and claimed the spoils for the Tribesmen.

Scorers for Dublin:  P Ryan 0-8 (6f), L Rushe 1-0, S Stapleton, J Boland, M Schutte, D Sutcliffe 0-2 each, B Quinn, P Kelly, S Barrett, C Boland 0-1 each.

Scorers for Galway: J Flynn 0-11 (11f), J Regan 1-4, B Molloy, D Higgins, P Brehony, J Cooney, C Flynn, D Higgins, P Mannion 0-1 each.

DUBLIN

1. Alan Nolan

2. Shane Durkan
3. Paul Schutte
4. Shane Barrett

5. Simon Lambert
6. Peter Kelly
7. Chris Crummy

8. Joey Boland
9. Ben Quinn

10. Conal Keaney
25. Shane Stapleton
12. Mark Schutte

13. Ryan O’Dwyer
14. Liam Rushe
15. Paul Ryan

Substitutes:

11. Eamonn Dillon for O’Callaghan (HT)
23. Cian Boland for Stapleton (56)
22. Danny Sutcliffe for Quinn (56)
20. Daire Plunkett for J Boland (65)

GALWAY

1. Colm Callanan

2. Ronan Burke
3. Fergal Moore
4. Padraig Mannion

5. Johnny Coen
6. David Collins
7. Gearoid McInerney

8. Joseph Cooney
9. Dean Higgins

10. Eanna Burke
11. Jonathan Glynn
12. Padraig Brehony

13. James Regan
14. Jason Flynn
15. Brian Molloy

Substitutes:

18. Colm Flynn for Burke (32)
20. Iarlaith Tannian for Molloy (53)
19. Paul Killeen for Higgins (64)
21. Gerard Kelly for Brehony (70)

‘I didn’t want to be too influenced by it’ – Ger Cunningham on the Anthony Daly book