Salthill Devon 0

Galway United 4

By Mike Rafferty at Eamonn Deacy Park

THE FAI Senior Cup draw set up Galway United and Salthill Devon for a novel local pairing and in a strange way both were winners when the expected outcome materialised at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night.

Sure, League of Ireland Premier Division side United eased past non-league Devon to qualify for the last eight of the FAI Cup. In the process, they scored four goals for the first time this season, kept a clean sheet for the second game in succession and got a confidence boost from their performance.

From a Devon point of view, their main contribution to the game was from a defensive one and while the concession of an early goal might have deflated them, they stuck to their task manfully on an occasion when a four goal defeat was acceptable.

Salthill’s 4-5-1 formation meant a very lonely existence for striker Enda Curran. A limited service went in his direction given that central midfielders Mark Ludden and Alex Byrne sat very deep to try and protect an overworked back four.

With Devon defending in depth in the central positions, that allowed United to attack at will down the flanks where Jeannot Esua on the right and Robbie Burns and Rob Slevin on the left paraded up and down all evening.

Indeed, the duel of the evening was the head to head involving Esua and Devon left full Ben Molloy with the young outstanding defender more than holding his own against his highly rated opponent.

It all allowed Galway United to play a different style to the usual more direct game and they acquitted themselves well. Indeed, John Caulfield’s charges were on the front foot from the off and in the first of ten opening half corners, Jimmy Keohane crashed a David Hurley delivery off the crossbar.

The same duo were on set piece duty when United took the lead on 11 minutes as Garry Buckley applied the close range finish for his first goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage. The early indications were that Salthill Devon goalkeeper Arek Mamala was on top of his game and getting down low to push away a Patrick Hickey header was a top drawer save, before he used his legs to thwart Keohane as another goal beckoned. The goalkeeper was soon airbourne again to fly across and keep out an Axel Piesold shot.

From a threatening point of view it was all about United, but the Devon back four of Darren Collins, Ben Molloy, Paul Scally and Calym Crowe continued to offer stiff resistance. In front of them Alex Byrne was revelling in the big game atmosphere, as alongside Mark Ludden and Timmy Molloy, they continued to try and cut out the United traffic through the middle.

Pictured: Darren Collins of Salthill Devon is tackled by Galway United’s Rob Slevin.