![\"Dublin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/VILC7OBCDK5TGIYILUH76LWAZQ.jpg\")
Dublin manager Ger Brennan and Galway manager P\u00e1draic Joyce chat after the game. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\nNFL Division One: Galway 0-20 Dublin 1-15<\/p>\n
Dublin lost their precarious tenancy in Division One after a raucous match in Pearse Stadium concluded with their losing to Galway by two points. As was well advertised, they needed to win by four to survive.<\/p>\n
At various stages of the afternoon, each of three endangered counties \u2013 Galway, Armagh and Dublin \u2013 all occupied seventh place in the table. The frustration for Dublin will be that they actually held the required lead for about half the match but when the music stopped, they were trailing to Robert Finnerty\u2019s sumptuous 66th-minute two-pointer and heading into the second tier for the second time in four years.<\/p>\n
The match was marked by outbreaks of indiscipline. At the end of the first half, players got involved in a melee, which spread to the extent that Dublin manager Ger Brennan and Galway strength and conditioning coach Cian Breathnach-McGinn were taken aside and red-carded at the start of the second half \u2013 an outcome Brennan accepted as merited.<\/p>\n
They were followed by Dylan McHugh and Peadar \u00d3 Cofaigh-Byrne on black cards into the sin bin, which proved costly for the latter, who went on to pick up a 53rd-minute yellow card for a high challenge on Liam Silke, which led to his dismissal.<\/p>\n
The shocking news of Michael Lyster\u2019s passing was marked by a minute\u2019s tribute from the crowd of 9,274 before the start of the match and it was fitting that the popular broadcaster\u2019s county delivered a resilient and valuable victory on the day.<\/p>\n
Galway manager P\u00e1draic Joyce, a neighbour, paid tribute. \u201cNews broke through there as we were just gathering this morning to have our pre-match meeting. He\u2019s a club man of my own. He lived across the road in his home from the football pitch in Barnaderg there. So, yes, shocking news and hard to take.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust a great GAA man. But a lovely, lovely-natured man. Great character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the match, he said that it had been a positive campaign.<\/p>\n
Dublin manager Ger Brennan and Galway manager P\u00e1draic Joyce chat after the game. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d be delighted with the league. We were eight points out of all the games and blooded a lot of young lads. But the experience and exposure they\u2019ve got in these big games \u2013 even in a big environment there with the crowd, Dublin travelled really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a very fractious sort of game, tough, hard, probably on the edge of championship pace too. It\u2019ll stand to the boys going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dublin started well. Se\u00e1n Bugler shot a two-pointer after 16 seconds and they had the four-point lead up and running within three minutes. Galway were under pressure and then lost two of their key influences, Se\u00e1n Kelly and Matthew Tierney, to injury within the first half-hour.<\/p>\n
Joyce was unhappy with Tierney\u2019s sustaining a dead leg but more anxious about Kelly, who looked to have pulled a muscle.<\/p>\n
Dublin built a 0-12 to 0-7 half-time lead and survived a penalty awarded when Niall Scully took down Sean \u00d3 Maoilchiar\u00e1in. Hugh O\u2019Sullivan, who had kicked a two-point free, saved Finnerty\u2019s kick and referee Fergal Kelly ignored claims that the Galway man had been bundled over chasing the rebound.<\/p>\n
It led to the fracas before the break. Although this led indirectly to Dublin losing \u00d3 Cofaigh-Byrne, Joyce admitted it looked like his team were a man short at times.<\/p>\n
Their deficit was extended to six after half-time when the energetic Killian McGinnis squeezed over a point from a ball that he somehow kept in play. Just after \u00d3 Cofaigh-Byrne\u2019s dismissal, McGinnis got the game\u2019s only goal, taking the pass from Con O\u2019Callaghan, who had been introduced in the 46th minute, and finishing smartly.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Callaghan was clearly rusty and although he scored a point, he hit a couple of wides when hunting two-pointers at the end.<\/p>\n
![\"Dublin’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TGQ4OXMJTGFCQ5VT2JHX3JLIEM.jpg\")
Dublin\u2019s Killian McGinnis celebrates scoring the game’s only goal against Galway. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Brennan won\u2019t be happy that for a second weekend his team fizzled out in the second half. By his own account, conversion rates fell to 33 per cent after a sharp, purposeful first half.<\/p>\n
They managed just 1-3 after half-time on Sunday and shot eight wides. By the 58th minute, they had finished scoring altogether. <\/p>\n
Galway had the players to step up. Finnerty, unfazed by the penalty miss, top-scored with 0-8, having the better of his battle with Eoin Murchan. But the industry and refusal to let up burned off the Dublin challenge with seven unanswered points in the closing quarter of an hour.<\/p>\n
There were also major interventions by the tireless captain John Maher and Cian Hernon, who started at full back, but was moved up the field in the endgame to great effect with one steeple-jacking catch and two points.<\/p>\n
Brennan said he was happy that Dublin had learned from the campaign even if it had ended badly.<\/p>\n
\u201c[We\u2019re] trying to extend the amount of time whereby we\u2019re playing our systems for longer periods, recognising when the momentum is turning and trying to get ourselves back into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galway will be more upbeat heading into the championship, as Joyce said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lads will go in and just have a beer somewhere quietly and just realise where we\u2019re at in the league, what we\u2019ve done, what we\u2019ve got to improve on. We\u2019ve got a lot of training to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
GALWAY: C Flaherty; J McGrath, C Hernon (0-0-2), J Glynn; L Silke, D McHugh, S Kelly (capt); J Maher, M Tierney; S McGrath, K Molloy, C D\u2019Arcy (0-0-1); R Finnerty (0-1-6, 2f), O MacDonnacha (0-1-3, tpf, 2f), R Roche.<\/p>\n
Subs: S \u00d3 Maoilchiar\u00e1in (0-0-1) for Kelly (inj, 19 mins); P Conroy (0-1-0) for Tierney (inj, 29); C Mulhern for Molloy (32); L \u00d3 Conghaile (0-0-1) for Roche (45); D O\u2019Flaherty (0-0-1) for S McGrath (52).<\/p>\n
DUBLIN: H O\u2019Sullivan (0-1-0, tpf); D Byrne, N Doran, E Murchan; E Kennedy, B Howard, A Gavin; P \u00d3 Cofaigh Byrne, C McMorrow; R McGarry (0-0-2), S Bugler (0-1-3), N Scully; P Small, K McGinnis (1-0-3), C Kilkenny (0-0-1).<\/p>\n
Subs: N O\u2019Callaghan (0-0-1) for Small (inj, 12 mins); S MacMahon for Gavin (42), C O\u2019Callaghan (0-0-1) for N O\u2019Callaghan (45); L Smith for Byrne (58); J Lundy for McGarry (62); C O\u2019Connor for Kennedy (65).<\/p>\n
Referee: F Kelly (Longford).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NFL Division One: Galway 0-20 Dublin 1-15 Dublin lost their precarious tenancy in Division One after a raucous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359895,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[30883,2179,2181,42,95595,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-359894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-galway-gaa","tag-dublin-gaa","tag-ger-brennan","tag-headlines","tag-national-football-league","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}