Galway falter in the face of Dublin's driving finish

Padraic Joyce's side exit All-Ireland race with regrets

Dublin 1-25

Galway 1-21

Galway's championship ambitions were washed away by a late Sky Blue surge at Croke Park as Dublin struck 1-8 to and conceded a solitary point in the closing 13 minutes of the weekend's final All-Ireland Senior Football Championship last eight tie.

Niall Scully turned in a man of the match performance and captain Con O'Callaghan shrugged aside his fitness concerns to finish with 1-7, including a match-levelling 61st minute penalty that followed Liam Silke's black card.

Ger Brennan'smen backed up their unexpected win over Donegal and made light of playing three weekends on the bounce to power into a semi-final with Sam Maguire Cup holders Kerry. Mayo and Louth will form a novel pairing at the penultimate stage.

The Galway players and management paid a poignant tribute to the late Paul Clancy by lining up to form the number 10 before throw-in. They suffered a major blow to their chances with the loss of the in-form Seán Kelly who was unable to feature due to injury.

Dublin's dominance on kickout possession was a central theme of the match and Galway were flattered to go in just 0-14 to 0-13 arrears. Two-pointers from Rob Finnerty, Céin D'Arcy and Paul Conroy kept the Tribesmen on Dublin's coattails while Dylan McHugh was on target twice from wing-back.

Despite shooting six wides to Galway's none, Dublin edged matters with Paddy Small and Scully both kicking twos and O'Callaghan proving a menacing figure on their inside line, winning frees and landing scores himself.

Galway's best spell arrived in the opening 20 minutes of the second half as another Finnerty two and further efforts from Cillian McDaid, Finnian O Laoi and D'Arcy were followed by two on the bounce from Kieran Molloy. It got even better when John Maher forced home their goal after Evan Comerford took the sting out of a Shane Walsh shot.

Galway were well positioned with a 1-20 to 0-17 lead. From there, however, it unravelled as points from O'Callaghan (two) and Small preceded their all-important levelling penalty with nine minutes of normal time remaining.

A man up, Dublin's momentum proved unstoppable late on as a Scully orange flag answered a go-ahead Walsh point and was followed by Colm Basquel, O'Callaghan (free) and sub Seán Guiden efforts in a remarkable 10-point turnaround.

DUBLIN: Evan Comerford; Sean MacMahon, Theo Clancy, Davy Byrne; Eoin Kennedy (0-1), Lee Gannon, Charlie McMorrow; Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne, Brian Howard; Ciaran Kilkenny, Niall Scully (0-4, two 0-2 scores), Colm Basquel (0-4, one 0-2 score); Paddy Small (0-4, one 0-2 score), Cormac Costello (0-4, 0-2 frees), Con O’Callaghan (captain, 1-7, 1-0 penalty, 0-3 frees). Subs: Ross McGarry, for Costello, 49 mins; Josh Bannon, for MacMahon inj., 55 mins; Tim Deering, for Kennedy, 59 mins; Sean Guiden (0-1), for Small, 65 mins; Liam Smith, for McMorrow, 69 mins.

GALWAY: Connor Gleeson; Jack Glynn, Cian Hernon, Liam Silke; Dylan McHugh (0-2), John Daly, Kieran Molloy (0-3); Paul Conroy (0-2, 0-2 score), John Maher (captain, 1-0); Céin D'Arcy (0-4, one 0-2 score), Finnian Ó Laoi (0-2), Cillian McDaid (0-1); Rob Finnerty (0-6, two 0-2 scores, 0-1 free), Matthew Tierney, Shane Walsh (0-1). Subs: Damien Comer, for McDaid, 47 mins; Johnny McGrath, for Glynn (temporary), 60-64 mins & for Conroy, 67 mins; Seán Ó Maoilchiaráin, for Molloy, 61 mins; Shane McGrath, for Ó Laoi, 65 mins.

REFEREE: David Gough (Meath).

HERALD SPORT MAN OF THE MATCH:

Niall Scully (Dublin).