Cork City 2

Galway United 2

IT is a long way from the fourth Thursday in November, but Galway United had cause to hold its own Thanksgiving in Turners Cross last Friday as goals from the side’s two US stars rescued a point for the visitors.

It was a somewhat disjointed display from United, who deservedly twice found themselves in arrears, but on both occasions they dug out an equaliser, the first coming from Pat Hickey, the second from Vince Borden.

It was a reward for the guts and determination shown by the Tribesmen in front of a packed Turners Cross: an official figure of 5,031 was announced for the game, with a good 300-plus United fans having made the trip to the south side of Cork City.

They forked out an eye-watering €25 admission price, but it was worth it in the end as they saw their side overcome a sluggish display on a horror-show of a pitch that was so soft that at one stage, a sliding tackle produced a divot so big, you’d lose a child in it.

United handed a debut to just one of four new signings, with Moses Dyer starting up front alongside Stephen Walsh as the visitors went with the 3-4-1-2 formation they had tried out in preseason.

There were four more new faces on the bench, with Max Wilson coming on for the last seven minutes of the game to make his debut, leaving goalkeeper Evan Watts, along with Daniel Stynes and Sean Kerrigan, waiting for their first appearance.

Speaking after the game, the United manager admitted that he had to make two late changes to the starting XI he had been planning on fielding, which certainly didn’t help matters: “On Wednesday we had a different team, but yesterday [Thursday] we had to make two changes, a bit of sickness, we hope to have two or three bodies back next week,” he said.

The home side had a far more unsettled look, with only seven of the team that won the First Division title in 2024 starting, as Tim Clancy handed debuts to four new faces: goalkeeper Tein Troost; Bernardo Couto and Freddie Anderson in defence; and midfielder Rio Shipston.

The visitors won the first battle of the night as Greg Cunningham – who managed 90 minutes when on Wednesday it looked like he wasn’t going to be playing – correctly predicting the coin toss and asking for a switch of ends, denying City their preferred option of attacking the Shed End for the second-half.

It did mean the home side had the kick-off, and they almost capitalsied immediately, Seanie Maguire somehow finding himself clear on goal to shoot past Brendan Clarke inside 10 seconds, but his effort hit the outside of the post.

Pictured: Galway United’s Patrick Hickey who scored their opening goal in Friday night’s Premier Division clash against Cork City at Turners Cross.