Galway's 2017 All-Ireland winning manager Micheal Donoghue master-minded the exit of his native county from this year’s title race when his Dublin side booked their place in the Leinster SHC final with a 2-27 to 1-24 victory at Pearse Stadium.
A straight red card to Galway’s All-Ireland winning captain from seven years ago David Burke after just 16 minutes proved decisive as Dublin used the extra man well to send Henry Shefflin’s side crashing out.
Dublin came from five points adrift when Burke was sent off for a late challenge on Fergal Whitely, which Cork referee Colm Lyons deemed worthy of a red card, to cut the deficit to two at the break and then they pulled away after the restart when they had the strong wind behind them.
Dublin, forced to start without hamstring victim Cian O’Sullivan, won the toss and opted to play into the strong wind in the opening half, and were in a very strong position when they went in trailing by just two points at the break at 0-19 to 2-11.
Galway shot ten wides with the wind but by the break eleven different scorers — everyone from the full-back line forward — had hit the target for Shefflin’s men.
But they suffered three big blows in that opening half, with Dublin hitting for goals at the start and towards the end of the half, while the dismissal of Burke changed the dimension of the game.
At that stage Galway were leading by 0-09 to 1-02 but in the next eight minutes Dublin outscored them by 0-06 to 0-02, with Donal Burke leading the way for Dublin.
They enjoyed a huge boost after just 40 seconds when Brian Hayes set up Sean Currie for the opening goal when he finished the rebound after Darach Fahy had saved his initial effort.
Burke hit 1-06 for Dublin in the opening half, all but two points of it from play, striking a huge blow three minutes from the break when he finished low to the net after being set up by Dara Purcell.
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Dublin took control after the restart and hit Galway for six points without reply in the opening eleven minutes with Chris Crummey, who finished with 0-04 from wing-back, leading the way along with Burke.
Galway were unable to cope with Dublin’s pace and aerial power and the Tribesmen managed only three pointed frees from Evan Niland in the opening 27 minutes of the second half.
Dublin hit 0-11 in that segment and by the end 14 players hit the target as they picked off some great scores.
Galway drafted in Johnny Glynn, who had come back from America for this year’s championship, but he lasted just four minutes before going off with a shoulder injury.
Galway, trailing by 2-22 to 0-22, got a glimmer of hope from another substitute when Declan McLoughlin blasted home a goal after 62 minutes.
But the Dublin response was good. Darragh Power, drafted in when O’Sullivan was ruled out, brought his haul to three points and when Tom Monaghan replied for Galway, Dublin hit the next three points from skipper Paddy Smyth, Conor Donoghue and Colin Currie to kill off any notion of a revival as they ran out deserved winners.
Dublin will now face Kilkenny in the Leinster final while Galway’s hurling season is now over and it remains to be seen if Shefflin remains in charge after his third campaign came to a disappointing end.
Dublin: Seán Brennan; John Bellew (0-01), Eoghan O'Donnell, Paddy Smyth (0-01); Chris Crummey (0-04), Conor Donohoe (0-01), Paddy Doyle; Brian Hayes (0-01), Conor Burke (0-01); Danny Sutcliffe (0-01), Donal Burke (1-10, 0-03f, 0-02 ’65)), Sean Currie (1-00); Fergal Whiteley (0-01), Darragh Power (0-03), Ronan Hayes (0-01).
Subs: Colin Currie (0-01) for Whiteley (17-19), Dara Purcell (0-01) for Whitely (47), C Currie for Purcell (57), Mark Grogan for R Hayes (68), Liam Murphy for B Hayes (73).
Galway: Darach Fahy; Jack Grealish, Daithí Burke, Fintan Burke; Adrian Tuohey (0-01), Padraic Mannion (0-01), Cianan Fahy (0-02); David Burke (0-01), Seán Linnane (0-01); Gavin Lee (0-01), Jason Flynn (0-01), Joseph Cooney (0-02); Conor Whelan (0-01), Conor Cooney (0-03), Evan Niland (0-08, 0-06f).
Subs: Cathal Mannion for Linnane (44), Johnny Glynn for Flynn (44), Tom Monaghan (0-02) for Glynn (49), Declan Mc Loughlin (1-00) for J Cooney (60), Ronan Glennon for C Fahy (67).
Referee: Colm Lyons (Cork).
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