Dublin raced out of the traps early with Lee Gannon striking a fine point from play inside the opening minute. This however, only served to spring Galway to life as the tribesmen fired over the next three, the pick of which was a fine effort from long range by Dylan Shaughnessy.

Slowly the Dublin forwards began to find their feet and the decisive moment of the opening quarter came when Mark Sweeney scored the games first goal. Sweeney pounced on a loose ball and barraged right through the heart of the Galway defense before firing home on the run. This left it 1-02 to 0-03.

From here both sides grew into the game and exchanged points, with Mark Kennedy for Galway and Dublins Michéal Murphy striking over impressive scores. The sides went into the water break with the bare minimum between them 1-04 to 0-06.

Murphy again with a monster score after the restart looked to be sending Dublin towards the break on top. However, John Cooney latched onto some indecision in the Dublin back line to raise a green flag for the tribesmen and level the game at 1–06 a piece.

The game then took on a seesaw nature with some fine scores from both sides. In the closing stages of the first half Dublin just edged ahead thanks in no small part to a fine point from Darach McBride and a monster free from goalkeeper Eddie Gibbons. Both of these scores saw the Dubs return to the dressing rooms 1-11 to 1-09 up.

Galway started the second half much better with 3 points on the trot including one after some good interplay and a finish from Mark Kennedy. This burst had left the westerners with a solitary point lead from seemingly nowhere. Dublin responded in kind with another excellent score from McBride a virtual copy of his first half effort. Again, neither side could pull away from the other with a further score for Dublin from Murphy being cancelled out by similar one from Galway’s Ian McGlynn.

Frees from Dónal O’Shea would send Galway into the second half water break with a 2 point cushion. Soon after the restart Dublin were back on level terms and a pattern was beginning tk emerge. Enda O’Donnell went on a rampaging run before setting up Gannon for his first of two quick scores. This was soon to be followed by another double this time from Dara Purcell to send the Dubs on their way. Despite some late tension and a late chance of a goal for Galway frees from the ever accurate Murphy eventually saw the capital side prevail by 1-20 to 1-18.

Scorers for Dublin: Liam Murphy 0-7 (0-7f), Dara Purcell 0-4, Lee Gannon 0-4, Mark Sweeney 1-0, Micheal Murphy 0-2, Darach McBride 0-2, Eddie Gibbons 0-1 (f).

Scorers for Galway: Donal O’Shea 0-8 (0-6f, 0-1’65), Mark Kennedy 0-6, John Cooney 1-0, Dylan Shaughnessy 0-1, Ian McGlynn 0-1, John Fleming 0-1, Fionn McDonagh 0-1.

DUBLIN: Eddie Gibbons; Tommy Kinnane, Andrew Dunphy, Alan Murphy; Enda O’Donnell, Kevin Burke, Iain Ó Heither; Mark Sweeney, Darragh Power; Darach McBride, Michael Murphy, Lee Gannon; Dara Purcell, Kevin Desmond, Liam Murphy. Substitutes:Michael Conroy for Kinnane (33), Donal Leavy for O Heither (45), Luke McDwyer for O’Donnell (50), Ciaran Foley for Desmond (52), Billy Ryan for Power (60+4).

GALWAY: Darach Fahy; Eoin Lawless, TJ Brennan, Jason O’Donoghue; Diarmuid Kilcommins, Conor Flaherty, Dylan Shaughnessy; Adam Brett, Ian McGlynn; Conor Walsh, Mark Kennedy, Sean Neary; John Cooney, John Fleming, Donal O’Shea. Substitutes: Fionn McDonagh for Brett (40), Sean McDonagh for Cooney (48), Oisin Salmon for O’Donoghue (58),

Referee: David Hughes (Kilkenny).