Galway comfortably sealed a provincial semi-final date with Offaly in three weeks by beating a listless Dublin at Tullamore, 2-28 to 1-17.

Jason Flynn (1-2) and Conor Cooney (1-3) netted in either half, Joe Canning weighed in with nine points and Conor Whelan with five, while the Dubs played with 14 men for half an hour due to the dismissal of Cian O'Callaghan.

Victory came at a cost to the national hurling league winners as they lost corner back Paul Killeen to a suspected cruciate ligament injury. But they were highly impressive all over the pitch today, with captain David Burke (0-3) and Aidan Harte also catching the eye.

There was a sense of inevitability about the outcome of this game from start to finish, as the Tribe seemed to be playing within themselves throughout while the losers - whose turnover of players in the last three years has been unsustainable - barely mounted a credible challenge.

Just three points separated the sides at the end of an entertaining opening period as the westerners took a narrow 1-10 to 1-7 advantage into the interval. Micheal Donoghue's men were looking home and hosed when leading by six deep into injury time but Ben Quinn's brilliant goal in the third added minute gave the underdogs a perfect pre-break fillip.

The sides were level after 16 minutes, 0-4 each, after Dublin landed three successive points from Eamon Dillon, Shane Barrett and Donal Burke.

David Treacy's point edged Ger Cunningham's men briefly in front but full forward Cathal Mannion replied to make it 0-5 each at the midway point in the first half. David Burke fired the league holders back in front on 18 minutes and Canning was completely unmarked as he easily made it 0-7 to 0-5 in the 20^th minute. Conor Cooney nailed Galway's fourth consecutive point.

Chris Crummey had registered first for the Dubs but Canning (free), Flynn and David Burke reeled off the winners' first three points. Galway led by nine points to seven with nine minutes left in the first half after Treacy clipped over a couple of frees either side of a Joe Cooney reply.

Daylight appeared between the teams for the first time in the 28^th minute when Flynn batted the ball to the net first time from off the ground after Conor Dooley had executed a brilliant save to deny Joseph Cooney from close range - 1-9 to 0-7. Flynn blazed another Galway goal chance over the bar and the Dubs had gone twelve minutes without a score before teenager Donal Burke fed Quinn, who drilled his shot past Colm Callanan to leave just three in it at the turnaround.

Quinn's goal was wiped out within four minutes of the restart thanks to points form Whelan, Canning and Conor Cooney, and any lingering hopes Dublin had of a fightback were eradicated by the 40^th-minute dismissal of O'Callaghan for a second yellow-card offence, the first of which had been foolishly picked up for barging into the back of Flynn after he'd netted in the first half.

Canning despatched the free and David Burke slotted Galway's fifth unanswered point since the resumption as the winners led by eight points after 45 minutes. Points from Dillon, Treacy (2) and Rian McBride kept Dublin ticking over but Canning (2) and Whelan were on target at the other end before the superb Conor Cooney slotted Galway's second goal at the end of the third quarter and followed up with an instant point as the Tribe led by eleven, 2-19 to 1-11.

It was akin to a training session from here to the end as Galway's place in the last four was secured and Dublin knew they were  Qualifiers-bound.

Galway - C Callanan; A Touhy, Daithi Burke, P Killeen; P Mannion, G McInerney, A Harte; J Coen, David Burke (0-3); J Flynn (1-2), J Canning (0-9, 5f), C Whelan (0-5); J Cooney (0-1), C Cooney (1-3), C Mannion (0-1). Subs: J Hanbury for P Killeen, N Burke (0-2) for C Cooney, S Loftus for J Coen, T Monaghan (0-1) for C Mannion, E Burke (0-1) for David Burke.

Dublin - C Dooley; C O'Callaghan, E O'Donnell, O Gough; C Crummey (0-2), L Rushe, S Barrett (0-1); N McMorrow, S Moran; D Treacy (0-5, 4f), B Quinn (1-0), E Conroy; R O'Dwyer, E Dillon (0-2), D Burke (0-3, 2f). Subs: R McBride (0-1) for E Conroy, F Whitely (0-1) for D Treacy, J Malone for N McMorrow, J Hetherton (0-2, 1f) for R O'Dwyer, D O'Callaghan for D Burke.

Referee - B Kelly.

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