Hat-trick hero Cathal Mannion leads Galway demolition of Dublin

Galway powered into the Leinster SHC semi-finals with a 5-19 to 1-18 demolition of Dublin in O’Connor Park.

Cathal Mannion scored a stunning hat-trick in the opening 11 minutes, with Joe Canning adding two more after the interval as they cruised to a first ever victory over the Dubs in the Leinster Championship, and first provincial success in Tullamore.

Dublin had no answer to the Tribesmen’s red-hot full-forward line, which finished with an incredible tally of 5-15.

Galway played with the advantage of a strong breeze in the first period and they got off to a blistering start, scoring 3-10 in the opening 18 minutes.

Less than 60 seconds were on the clock when Padraig Mannion found brother Cathal in oceans of space and the corner-forward fired a low shot past Alan Nolan.

His second goal arrived just three minutes later. Jason Flynn broke down the ball and Mannion was the quickest to react as he found the same bottom corner of Nolan’s net.

A shell-shocked Dublin were awarded a penalty on five minutes when Treacy was fouled by a combination of Colm Callanan and Johnny Coen.

However, full-forward Treacy failed to hit the target and Galway responded with an unanswered 1-7 in 10 minutes, Mannion clinching his hat-trick after Callanan’s puckout flew over the Dublin defence.

Dublin moved Liam Rushe back as a sweeper in an attempt to quell Galway’s free-scoring forwards, and they scored four points in succession.

Galway replied through Flynn, who scored his sixth and seventh points of the afternoon, before the Dubs were awarded a second penalty in injury time when Ryan O’Dwyer was impeded.

Paul Ryan was promptly introduced off the bench but his penalty was superbly saved by Callanan, Ryan having to settle for a point from a ’65 as tempers flared at the end of a crazy first half.

Any hopes of a Dublin comeback were put to bed within seven minutes of the restart. Canning showed Michael Carton a clean pair of heels and dinked the sliotar over the onrushing Nolan, and he bagged a second goal after beating Chris Crummy in the air and finishing confidently.

Substitutes Ryan and Eamon Dillon kept plugging away for Dublin, Ryan chipping in with seven points while his quick thinking teed up Dillon for a consolation goal with six minutes remaining.

Galway: C Callanan; J Coen, J Hanbury, P Mannion; D Collins, I Tannion, Daithi Burke; J Cooney, A Harte (0-1); A Smith (0-1), C Donnellan (0-1), J Glynn; C Mannion (3-3), J Canning (2-3), J Flynn (0-9, 7f).

Subs: David Burke (0-1) for Cooney (43), P Brehony for Donnellan (46), F Moore for P Mannion (56), G Lally for Coen (57), D Glennon for Smith (65).

Dublin: A Nolan; C O’Callaghan, M Carton, P Schutte; C Crummy, C Keaney, S Durkin; D O’Connell (0-2), S Lambert (0-1f); R O’Dwyer (0-1), L Rushe (0-1), D Sutcliffe (0-1); D O’Callaghan, D Treacy (0-2, 1f), M Schutte (0-1).

Subs: P Ryan (0-7, 3 ’65, 3f) for Treacy (35), E Dillon (1-1) for O’Callaghan (ht), C Boland (0-1) for O’Dwyer (50), J McCaffrey for Carton (52), C Dooley for Ryan (69).

Ref: B Gavin (Offaly)