ROBBIE SAVAGE

Finnerty's late winner sends Dubs down

- BY GARRY DOYLE

DUBLIN lost their discipline, a five-point lead, a game of football and ultimately their Division 1 status in Salthill.

And so a day that for long stretches looked like defining Ger Brennan's first league campaign in a positive light ended in relegation. By halftime, Dublin led by five points.

Then everything shifted. Galway were awarded a penalty. Rob Finnerty took it; Hugh O'Sullivan saved it.

Somehow that incident led to a prolonged bout of pushing and shoving between a dozen players (above) and amid the chaos, Ger Brennan was sent off following an altercation involving Galway's Cian Breathnach-McGinn.

At the same time, Dublin midfielder Peadar Ó Cofaigh-Byrne and Galway’s Dylan McHugh were black-carded.

It was a moment that fractured the game and Dublin never fully regained their footing.

O Cofaigh-Byrne’s day unravelled further when a second yellow card in the 53rd minute reduced Dublin to 14 men. Even then, they still held a five-point lead approaching the final quarter. There was still time, still control — or at least the illusion of it.

But control is fragile when discipline disappears.

Galway, to their credit, sensed it. They emptied the bench and, more importantly, changed the tempo. The shooting sharpened, the movement quickened, and the belief followed.