Murphy leads Galway to another minor success

Galway 1-21
Dublin 1-12

FORTUNATE to have beaten Clare after extra time in the semi-final, Galway were comfortable winners over Dublin in the All-Ireland minor hurling final at Croke Park on Sunday.

They led from the early stages and were full value for their victory on a day when team captain, Shane Moloney turned in a magnificent display, contributing 1-9 of his side’s tally.
The win marked manager Mattie Murphy’s sixth success at this level, a remarkable achievement for the Gort man, who is well known in Clare hurling circles having coached a number of local sides over the years.
Galway have won nine All-Ireland minor titles and Murphy has managed them to six of those successes. His first minor success was in 1992 and further titles followed in 1994, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2011.
Sunday’s team included Gort’s Gerard O’Donoghue, whose father hails from Tubber, at corner-forward. He helped set up a number of scores for the team and he also contributed a point. His clubmate, Michael Mullins was introduced during the course of the game.
Adrian Tuohy from the Beagh club lined out at wing-back, having switched from wing-forward where he played against Clare. He plays his minor hurling with Michael Cusack’s Club, an amalgamation of Beagh and Kilbeacanty. Tuohy also got on the scoresheet on Sunday.
Team captain Shane Maloney, from the Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry club, was outstanding and emerged as the game’s top scorer with 1-9. In the semi-final win over Clare, he contributed 0-10. It is his third successive season as a member of the Galway minor team and Sunday’s win marked his second All-Ireland at this level.
Another of the stars on Sunday was clubmate, Padraig Brehony, who lined out at midfield from where he scored 0-4. He was also one of their stars in the semi-final win over Clare.
Dublin scored first in Sunday’s final and, in the early stages, there was little between the teams. With five minutes remaining in the half it was 0-5 to 0-4 in favour of the winners, who went on to finish the half strongly and score five unanswered points to go to the break 0-10 to 0-4 in front. From here on, they always looked the likely winners as they dominated in most departments.
Despite the inclement weather conditions, the players and management received a huge reception on their return on Monday evening. Manager Mattie Murphy and his Gort clubmates were warmly applauded when the squad members were introduced at the square in the town.

Galway: Shane Mannion; Cormac Divinney, Paul Killeen, Padraic Mannion; Adrian Tuohy (0-1), Sean Sweeney, John Hanbury; Padraic Brehony (0-4), Dean Higgins (0-1); Jason Flynn (0-3), Jonathon Glynn, Billy Lane; Gerard O’Donoghue (0-1), Jack Carr (0-1), Shane Maloney (1-9, captain).
Subs: Keelan Cullinane for Higgins, Michael Mullins for Hanbury, Darragh Dolan (0-1) for O’Donoghue and Paul Flaherty for Carr.