Dublin seniors make it six-in-a-row as Under 20s are edged out
By Daire Walsh
There were mixed fortunes for Dublin’s footballers at Croke Park today.
Whereas the county’s senior outfit made it six All-Ireland championship titles on the bounce with a 2-14 to 0-15 victory at the expense of Mayo, Tom Gray’s U20 side fell short against Galway in their national decider – played as a curtain-raiser to the main event at GAA HQ.
Niall Scully (Templeogue Synge Street) and Robbie McDaid (Ballyboden St Enda’s) featured from the start for the Metropolitan seniors, who enjoyed a whirlwind start against James Horan’s westerners.
Just 13 seconds were on the clock when Dean Rock palmed home a sweeping move for the fastest goal ever recorded in an All-Ireland final.
Mayo bounced back to lead by two points in the second-quarter but thanks in no small part to a green flag effort from Con O’Callaghan, the Blues brought a 2-6 to 0-10 cushion into the interval.
Dublin had a numerical disadvantage for the opening 10 minutes of the second period, after McDaid was issued with a black card just before half-time. In his absence, Scully found the target for the holders but Mayo were a single point in arrears (2-9 to 0-14) with just 15 minutes remaining in normal time.
Yet Dublin powered forward after the second half water break, outscoring their opponents 0-5 to 0-1 to remain on top of the Gaelic football ladder. Ballyboden attacker Colm Basquel was introduced off the bench in the closing stages, while his club-mate Michael Darragh Macauley and St Jude’s ace Kevin McManamon claimed their eighth All-Ireland titles as part of the match day squad.
Earlier in the same venue, Dublin suffered a one-point defeat (1-11 to 0-13) at the hands of Galway in a tense All-Ireland U20 showpiece.
There was plenty of local interest in this Sky Blues underage side, with Mark Lavin (Lucan Sarsfields) and Lorcan O’Dell (Templeogue Synge Street) contributing a combined tally of six points.
Thomas Davis’ Adam Waddick lined out at centre half-back and while Dublin fought to the bitter end, the Tribesmen had established a 1-9 to 0-6 cushion by the 37th-minute and remained in the ascendancy from that point onwards. This represented a second successive final defeat for Dublin, following their reversal to Cork in last year’s decider.