The Dublin star was pure class as Galway were blown away in the second half.
Second gear. Third gear. Fourth gear.
The RTE panel of Sean Cavanagh, Colm O’Rourke and Pat Spillane couldn’t quite agree but they had no doubt that Dublin were far too good for a spirited Galway side at Croke Park.
You got the feeling that Galway’s big chance was blown when Stephen Cluxton, who was guilty of a clanger for Damien Comer’s goal, saved Eoin Brannigan’s penalty. That would have put Galway 2-1 to 0-4 ahead and really rattled the reigning All-Ireland champions.
But, like those Mayo own goals in the 2016 final, the westerners shot themselves in the foot. Brannigan went low and hard but Cluxton read his intentions and saved superbly.
Dublin led by two points by half-time but really dropped the hammer in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The out-gassed and out-classed Galway and were 12 points up in injury time before a goal from the ever-ready Shane Walsh made it a single digit victory.
Brian Fenton and Jack McCaffrey were key in Dublin’s win (their 27th unbeaten championship game in a row) and the RTE panel chose the latter as man-of-the-match. The Blues’ No.7 was humble as ever in his post-match interview and said:
“It’s fantastic. It’s what we play all year for – we want to come out here, have a bit of fun and play the match but, ultimately, win and get back to the final. So, we’ve done that!”
Man of the match Jack McCaffrey tells @MartyM_RTE that Dublin are "in a very good place" at the moment but admits Galway had them worried at half-time. #DUBvGAL #GAA pic.twitter.com/7swfhrUkK7
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) August 11, 2018
Typical of most of this Dublin side, McCaffrey deflected much of the praise that came his way.
If that was in keeping with most of Jim Gavin’s teachings, Colm O’Rourke picked up on one word that the Dublin boss is not often associated with. O’Rourke joked:
“He used the word ‘fun’, which is unusual to hear a Dublin player say.”
That remark certainly got the panel chuckling before they return to that gears debate.
Cavanagh and O’Rourke say Dublin went from third, in the first half, to fourth. Spillane argued that it was a second gear Dublin upping it to fourth in the second half.
Whoever gets to play the Dubs in the final may want to find sixth gear, and take their scoring chances more clinically.
