Galway fighback ensures a share of the spoils with Dublin

Galway are through to the Leinster SHC final, just about as everyone expected, but the manner of their progression was far from anticipated with Henry Shefflin's men remarkably coming from 12 points down to rescue a Croke Park draw.

Trailing by 10 points at half-time and 12 early in the second-half, it looked as if a surprise win for Dublin was on the cards which, potentially, could have sent Micheal Donoghue's men through to the June 11 final themselves.

But, a decade after their last provincial triumph, Dublin couldn't hold on and were reeled in during a frantic final half hour or so as Galway did just about enough to escape.

Truth be told, Shefflin will be fuming with his team's first-half performance and the 16 wides they blasted overall but the second-half display at least gives them vital momentum heading into the decider against Kilkenny.

Evan Niland's 10 points were crucial and it looked, for a matter of seconds at least, as if he may be the matchwinner when the free-taker shot Galway ahead in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

But there was one last kick from a Dublin side that largely collapsed in the second-half in the form of a Donal Burke point from a free which meant the game ended in stalemate.

It all means that Dublin finish third in the table and will advance to an All-Ireland preliminary quarter-final.

They will kick themselves because a memorable first-half when almost everything went Dublin's way looked as if it had laid the platform for a famous win.

Dublin were certainly the dominant team at that stage and their natural pace suited the big pitch.

But they got a big helping hand from a Galway side that made an alarming number of errors.

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