This is quickly turning into a remarkable All-Ireland Senior Football Championship campaign for Dublin who, for the second weekend running, have taken out a serious Sam Maguire Cup contender in a memorable Croke Park contest.
Donegal fell after extra time in Round 3 and Galway were overwhelmed by Dublin’s blue wave in the closing quarter of this rip-roaring quarter-final.
Trailing by six points with just 13 minutes remaining after John Maher’s goal for Galway, Dublin suddenly burst into life to seal a 10-point turnaround in scoring terms by full-time.
In all, Dublin outscored Galway by 1-08 to 0-01 in that closing period with Con O’Callaghan scoring the 61st minute goal, from a penalty kick, that really had the Sky Blue army believing.
Man of the Match Niall Scully weighed in with a timely two-pointer as well, nudging Dublin a point ahead with that raking 65th minute kick, and contributing to two more late scores by O’Callaghan and sub Seán Guiden.
Galway simply had no answer for the Dublin onslaught and winced as the Leinster finalists laid waste to their kick-out in the closing minutes, underlining their overall dominance in that area of the game.
Aside from Costello and O’Callaghan, there were important cameos from the likes of David Byrne, Brian Howard and Ciarán Kilkenny as all of Dublin’s big players produced when it mattered most.
And supporters must be excited by the prospect of what can be achieved not just next month when they return to Croke Park for an All-Ireland semi-final but in future seasons too as Guiden, Josh Bannon, Tim Deering and Liam Smith are all rookies that came on.
But it’s the end of the line for a Galway side that faded badly having had plenty of time to prepare after reaching the last eight the direct way, with wins over Kildare and Westmeath.
Dublin’s Championship challenge was hanging by a thread after back-to-back losses to Westmeath and Louth in May.
But the return of boss Ger Brennan from a 12-week suspension, picked up after an incident against Galway in the League, was the spark that ignited their campaign.
After beating Cavan and Donegal, the fear was that three consecutive weekends of Championship activity may lead to fatigue but it certainly wasn’t apparent in Dublin’s play. If anything, they grew stronger as the game reached its crescendo.
They were boosted by the availability of King Con who came off against Donegal in extra time last weekend with what looked like a hamstring tweak.
As the game settled, O’Callaghan was picked up by Cian Hernon with Jack Glynn following Cormac Costello and Paddy Small shadowed by John Daly.
Dublin edged the first half 0-14 to 0-13 and were grateful to O’Callaghan for 0-03 from play.
Galway struggled to secure their own kick-outs
Small and Scully nailed a two-pointer each while Eoin Kennedy got on the end of a breakaway move for an important score.
Galway struggled off their own kick-outs, finding a maroon jersey with just eight of Conor Gleeson’s 18 first-half kicks. Evan Comerford, meanwhile, finished the half with an 80% success rate from ten restarts.
Galway kept themselves in the game with timely two-pointers, from Rob Finnerty, Céin Darcy and Paul Conroy.
But the strong sense at half time was that the game was simmering and still waiting to really come to the boil.
Galway applied a little extra heat after the restart, largely controlling the third quarter to take a 0-18 to 0-16 lead with 20 minutes to go.
Finnerty, capitalising on space outside the arc, struck his second two-pointer of the game in the 39th minute and McDaid, Finnian Ó Laoi and Céin Darcy chipped in with singles.
Now Comerford was the one struggling to find blue shirts with his kick-outs from the Davin End.
It all looked to be going Galway’s way as the final quarter came into view, Maher’s 55th minute goal leaving them sitting pretty with a 1-20 to 0-17 lead.
Shane Walsh took on Seán MacMahon in the buildup to the goal and got a shot away that was partially blocked, allowing Maher to slide in and convert from close range.
Somehow, Galway only scored another single point, from Walsh in the 64th minute.
As their kick-outs malfunctioned and Dublin upped the intensity all around the field, the game turned decisively.
Dublin’s cause was helped by the black card picked up by Liam Silke for the 60th minute foul on Colm Basquel, leading to the penalty that O’Callaghan converted.
Now Dublin had the momentum, the extra man and they weren’t about to pass up that sort of opportunity to finish off the game and clinch a golden ticket to the Championship’s last four.
Dublin: Evan Comerford; Seán MacMahon, Eoin Kennedy (0-01), David Byrne; Lee Gannon, Theo Clancy, Charlie McMorrow; Peadar Ó Cofaigh Byrne, Brian Howard; Niall Scully (0-04, 2 tp), Ciarán Kilkenny, Colm Basquel (0-04, 1 tp); Paddy Small (0-04, tp), Con O’Callaghan (1-07, 1-0 pen, 0-03f), Cormac Costello (0-04, 0-02f).
Subs: Ross McGarry for Costello 49, Josh Bannon for MacMahon 56, Tim Deering for Kennedy 59, Seán Guiden (0-01) for Basquel 65, Liam Smith for McMorrow 69.
Galway: Conor Gleeson; Jack Glynn, Cian Hernon, Liam Silke; Dylan McHugh (0-02), John Daly, Kieran Molloy (0-03); Paul Conroy (0-02, tp), John Maher (1-00); Céin Darcy (0-04, 1 tp), Finnian O Laoi (0-02), Cillian McDaid (0-01); Rob Finnerty (0-06, 2 tp), Matthew Tierney, Shane Walsh (0-01).
Subs: Damien Comer for McDaid 47, Johnny McGrath for Glynn 60-64 blood, Seán Mulkerrin for Molloy 61, Shane McGrath for Ó Laoi 65, McGrath for Conroy 67.
Referee: David Gough (Meath).