A record audience of 56,114 saw Dublin claim their third TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship in a row with targets in Sin??ad Goldrick and Hannah O’Neill crucial to their victory over Galway.
Neither team analyzed the moist conditions at Croke Park, however Galway closed with seven minutes remaining for duo Sin??ad Aherne and Noelle Healy to kick the safety factors.
Tim Rabbitt’s negative looked to win a second All-Ireland in their history, but five wides supposed the Leinster champions never jeopardized.
The drizzle meant the underfoot conditions were extremely slippery Though the rain never lashed down in Croke Park, managing errors and turnovers from the attack were regular and shooting at target turned into a lottery sometimes.
Before throw-in it was demonstrated that Dublin full-forward Healy wouldn’t begin with and it was. And while they could create chances their eight attempts either dropped broad or brief.
The first opportunity came the way of Galway when R??is??n Leonard’s free in the proper drifted wides – she missed an identical effort later while Dublin captain Aherne also missed the goal at the end.
Together with both management teams seeking to obtain the border with scores so rare, there was lots of changing of places. Galway watched ??ine McDonagh start at midfield, although she spent some time while Sarah Conneally also roamed deep into search of ownership for the Connacht champions.
The search for its score lasted as Niamh McEvoy and Tracey Leonard struck the pole, while Olwen Carey needed to elongate her restricts to cut out Conneally’s pass, which could have sent McDonagh in on target.
But ultimately the opening score came after 22 minutes and it was no surprise to see it scored in a slightly way. Before Goldrick gathered possession in the front of the Galway target aherne, O’Neill and Jennifer Dunne were all involved. Two Galway defenders collided and Sarah Lynch obstructed Goldrick’s shooter, but it looped on the mind of Lisa Murphy into the internet.
Galway certainly deserved a score for their attempts and five minutes by half-time Olivia Divilly fought difficult to collect a loose ball. The ball worked its way into Conneally, who curled in the right on a point and settled herself.
Even the half-time score of 1-0 to 0-1 from the favour of Dublin has been added to straight from the restart if Lyndsey Davey clipped over a point, but the grading continued to be hard with both R??is??n and Aherne Leonard off target again.
A late hit on Ciara Trant made a yellow card for Mair??ad Seoighe at the minute and in the 39th minute the three-in-a-row fantasy of Dublin took a step nearer to reality. Niamh McEvoy delivered Davey scuttling in along the end line and her pass allowed O’Neill to hand into the net at the back post.
There was plenty of fight though it took them 14 moments to collect them, and they scored the next three points of this match. Tracey Leonard kicked two frees, while R??is??n Leonard introduced her first of the game to close the gap.
However, as soon as Galway set one score between the groups Dublin pushed on. Aherne curled an excellent stage with five minute remaining before Healy pointed to complete the job and completed the ball the length of this field.
Scorers such as Dublin: N Healy 0-1, S Goldrick 1-0, H O’Neill 1-0, L Davey 0-1, S Aherne 0-1.
Scorers for Galway: T Leonard 0-2 (2f), S Conneally 0-1, R Leonard 0-1.
Dublin: C Trant; ?? Rutledge, N Collins, M Byrne; A Kane, O Carey, S Goldrick; L Magee, S McGrath; L Davey, N McEvoy, C Rowe; H O’Neill, J Dunne, S Aherne (c).
Subs: N Healy for Dunne (h-t), C O’Connor to get McEvoy (43), O Whyte for O’Neill (51), R Ruddy for Kane (55), N Heatherton to get Rowe (60).
Galway: L Murphy; S Burke, S Lynch, O Murphy; N Ward, L Ward, S Molloy; B Hannon, ?? McDonagh; O Divilly, M Glynn, M Seoighe; R Leonard, S Conneally, Glynn Leonard (c).
Subs: F Cooney for Conneally (43), C Cooney to get Murphy (46), L Coen to get Seoighe (48), A Trill for R Leonard (57), M Coyne for Hannon (58).
Referee: Brendan Rice (Down).
Sky Sports’ games coverage continues on Monday evening, the girls soccer final on Sky Sports Arena at 7pm!
You could also stay up to date with all the action by following us @SkySportsGAA and get all of the latest news, previews and interviews at www.skysports.com/gaa.