Results haven’t been what they could be, and performances probably fall into that bracket as well, but Galway United captain Greg Cunningham is not reaching for the panic button just yet.

The hopes of building on last season’s fifth-placed finish look a distant prospect as United find themselves in a bit of a slump, with just one win in seven games and a tumble down the table to eighth, just one spot above the relegation play-off spot.

They haven’t scored in their last two games either, but they will hope to park their league woes tonight when they host Tolka Rovers in the Second Round of the FAI Cup, with Cunningham saying the players are determined to use the game to bounce back to form.

“We are creating chances, I think the worrying sign is if you if you’re not creating anything, but we are. We just need it to fall for us and it’s just not at the minute.

“We just have to stick together and get through this sticky period, and hopefully the floodgates will open and we can get back to winning ways,” the former Republic of Ireland international said in the aftermath of last Friday’s 3-0 defeat away to Bohemians.

That was United’s heaviest defeat since losing the 2022 First Division play-off final to Waterford FC by the same scoreline, and the two sides will lock horns this night week in what will be a crucial game in the bid to climb away from the foot of the table.

Cunningham is very aware of the importance of the next few league games – following that game with The Blues, United will take to the road the following Friday night for a meeting in Turners Cross with basement side, Cork City – and he’s not shy in highlighting the importance of those games.

“There is frustration and disappointment in that changing room, because you know, we have got to be winning games that we aren’t at a minute, and that’s football sometimes.

“The boys are frustrated and fans are frustrated, and rightly so, it is just a case where we all have to just stick together. We have the cup game and then we’ve got [Waterford at home and] Cork away, which is in my opinion, is a must-win, the goal just needs to fall for us,” he says.

Tonight will see United face non-league opposition in the cup for the 20th time, and they will be hoping to avoid just a second defeat in that run: they lost 3-1 away to Cobh Ramblers – then a non-league side – in the first-round proper of the cup in February 1981, with the late John Herrick scoring for the visitors, who were at the time playing under the name ‘Galway Rovers’.

Pictured: Greg Cunningham in action against Aaron McEneff of Shamrock Rovers back in April. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.