Dublin are once again the Allianz League Division One champions after a highly entertaining four-point victory over Galway. Jim Gavin's men were made to work for their victory but in the end had four points to spare as a strong second-half showing sealed the win. The final score was 0-18 to 0-14.
Galway will take an enormous amount of encouragement from their league campaign which saw them go undefeated until the final. With the Corofin clubmen still to return as well as the likes of Michael Daly, the Tribesmen look in an extraordinarily promising position ahead of the championship.
Good win from Dublin .. they have the ability to grind it out and still have 5/6 to come back on. Galway will be hard bet in Castlebar. #gaa
— Conor.mortimer (😷)⚽️ (@Conmort) April 1, 2018
Right, finally time to take Galway just a little more seriously. #Dublin #GAA
— Ewan MacKenna (@EwanMacKenna) April 1, 2018
Trojan from Galway and they will learn from this. Everyone will. But man down, backs to the wall, not playing well and still win. Some team to be fair. Genuinely tough hard men. Well done the dubs 👏🏼 great matches today
— Tomás Ó Sé (@tomas5ky) April 1, 2018
Two winners out there. Galway will take a hell of a lot out of this League. #dubvgal
— Kieran Cunningham (@KCsixtyseven) April 1, 2018
Is there a human in the country capable of marking Damien Comer. I think not. He's like a bull amongst calves when he gets the ball. #DUBvGAL
— John casey (@Johncasey14mayo) April 1, 2018
The star of the show for the men from the west was Annaghdown's Damien Comer with a monstrous performance at the edge of the square.
Damien Comer let's it fly, landing it straight between the posts! pic.twitter.com/eFMubL75GB
— The GAA (@officialgaa) April 1, 2018
Comer's wit and aptitude drew three early Dublins fouls with both Johnny Cooper and Philly McMahon booked for offenses in the first half.
With 36,754 in attendance, Dublin overcame the sending off of Niall Scully after 50 minutes to power through with Brian Fenton, Paul Mannion and Dean Rock all impressive. Rock's seven points, six from set-pieces, ultimately proved the difference.
With Mayo in waiting for Galway, their attention will quickly turn to May as they look to reclaim the Connacht crown they last won in 2016.
