Results

Walsh Cup

• Galway 1-21 Dublin 0-15
• Westmeath 0-15 Antrim 0-13

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Galway 1-21

Dublin 0-15

CROKE PARK BECKONS for Henry Shefflin and Galway after back-to-back Walsh Cup wins, securing their passage to the pre-season decider with a group game to spare.

Trailing by a point after a humdrum first-half, the three-time Walsh Cup champions cruised beyond a toothless Dublin in the second-half, outscoring them by 1-15 to 0-8 in that second 35 minutes or so to win at their ease.

With eight different scorers – free-taker Evan Niland helped himself to seven points while newcomer Declan McLoughlin struck the late goal – and as many substitutes brought on, it was a worthwhile trip to the capital for the Tribesmen.

Galway will be back on the last weekend of the month for the Walsh Cup final against as yet unknown opposition. They still have to play Antrim next weekend in their final group game but can’t be caught at the head of the table after wins over Westmeath and now Dublin.

Micheal Donoghue’s Dublin still have a group game against Westmeath to play next weekend.

The sides were level eight times up to 0-10 apiece after 48 minutes but a burst of five Galway points in a row put them in the clear and they never looked back.

It was virtually an entirely new Dublin team from the side that lined out against Antrim in last weekend’s 3-26 to 2-22 Round 1 win, also at Parnell Park.

Naomh Barrog’s Joe Flanagan, who struck 0-14 in that game, was the only player retained with the likes of 2022 captain Eoghan O’Donnell, Andrew Dunphy beside him in the full-back line, Fergal Whitely and Conor Burke all making their seasonal debuts.

O’Donnell, who closed out the 2022 inter-county season as a Dublin footballer, was stationed at full-back throughout and marked a series of Galway players as the visiting forward line rotated positions throughout.

As for Galway, they went with all but four of the starting team from the Round 1 demolition of Westmeath; Jack Grealish, Tiernan Killeen, Jason Flynn and Brian Concannon coming into the team.

It was a largely experimental Galway team in general with Grealish, Flynn and Concannon the only starters from last July’s All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Limerick retained in the starting lineup.

In cold conditions on a heavy pitch, it was a tough watch initially with the same amount of wides in the first-half, 13, as scores.

Cian O’Sullivan came on for the apparently injured Andrew Jamieson-Murphy and it was O’Sullivan’s second point of the half deep into stoppage time that gave Dublin a 0-7 to 0-6 half-time lead.

Flanagan, fresh from a strong debut performance against Antrim, struck three of those Dublin points, all from placed balls.

Niland contributed four of Galway’s six points in the opening half with all of those coming from placed balls.

The highlight of the half was arguably O’Donnell’s huge hit on Flynn in the 25th minute. Concannon played in Flynn but the big forward’s run towards goal was unceremoniously halted by a shuddering shoulder from O’Donnell. Dublin eventually won a free-out and a minor melee ensued though no cards were issued.

Dublin didn’t exactly collapse in the second – they played at about the same level and actually yielded a point more than their first-half tally.

It was just that Galway upped the ante, reeling off bursts of three and then five points in a row to open up a 0-15 to 0-10 lead after 55 minutes.

Dublin lacked penetration up front and a killer final pass and their only second-half point from play came in the 76th minute from Conor Donoghue.

Galway, meanwhile, found scores easier to come by and Tom Monaghan impressed when he came on, scoring 0-2, while Ronan Murphy finished with 0-3.

Donal O’Shea moved onto the frees after Niland’s 60th minute withdrawal and Portumna man McLoughlin snatched his goal in stoppage time after a searching ball in from Sean O’Hanlon squirmed into his path on the left.

Galway scorers: Evan Niland 0-7 (0-7f), Donal O’Shea 0-4 (0-2f), Declan McLoughlin 1-0, Ronan Murphy 0-3, Jason Flynn 0-2, Brian Concannon 0-2, Tom Monaghan 0-2, John Cooney 0-1.

Dublin scorers: Joe Flanagan 0-10 (0-9f, 0-1 65), Cian O’Sullivan 0-2, Andrew Jamieson-Murphy 0-1, Andrew Dunphy 0-1, Conor Donoghue 0-1.

GALWAY

1. Darach Fahy

2. Jack Grealish, 3. Jack Fitzpatrick, 4. Eoin Lawless

5. Tiernan Killeen, 6. Gearoid McInerney, 7. TJ Brennan

8. Ronan Murphy, 9. Sean Linnane

10. John Cooney, 11. Jason Flynn, 12. Donal O’Shea

13. Evan Niland, 14. Brian Concannon, 15. Martin McManus

Subs: Darren Morrissey for Lawless 14-18 blood, Tom Monaghan for Linnane 41-44 blood, Monaghan for Linnane 51, Morrissey for Fitzpatrick 51, Gavin Lee for Murphy 57, Mark Kennedy for Niland 60, Cian Mahony for Lawless 65, Declan McLoughlin for Concannon 67, Shane Ryan for Brennan 69, Sean O’Hanlon for Cooney 69.

DUBLIN

1. Sean Brennan

4. Mark Grogan, 3. Eoghan O’Donnell, 2. Andrew Dunphy

5. Conor Donoghue, 6. Conor Burke, 7. Paddy Doyle

8. James Madden, 9. Donal Leavy

10. Sean Currie, 11. Joe Flanagan, 12. Fergal Whitely

13. Alex Considine, 14. Paul Crummey, 15. Andrew Jamieson-Murphy

Subs: Cian O’Sullivan for Murphy 21, Cillian Costello for Leavy h/t, Daire Gray for Grogan 41, Diarmuid O Dulaing for Considine h/t, Chris O’Leary for Currie 49, Liam Murphy for Whitely 53, Glenn Whelan for Crummey 59.

Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow).