Galway Unted will be delighted to have been handed a home tie for their opening game of the 2026 Premier Division season, but there will be huge disappointment – tipping over into frustration – at not being given a headline opponent for the historic first-ever game at Pearse Stadium in the summer.

Drogheda United will be the visitors to Eamonn Deacy Park for the first game of the season on Friday February 6, but the FAI have missed a trick in relation to United’s games in Pearse Stadium when Eamonn Deacy Park will be unavailable due to drainage works being carried out at the Dyke Road venue in June and July.

At its monthly County Committee meeting back in September, Galway GAA unanimously backed a request from United for the temporary use of Pearse Stadium while works are being carried out at Eamonn Deacy Park, a decision which then received the backing from the authorities in Croke Park.

United would have hoped for the likes of one of the four Dublin clubs for that first game in June, or the Connacht derby, given the historic nature of the occasion, and the number of away supporters that those five teams would bring for the game.

The league’s authorities were, after all, able to manipulate the fixtures list to see Bohemians host Shelbourne on the final day of the season in what will be the final game at Dalymount Park before the grand old ground is flattened and redeveloped.

The connection there is the fact that the first-ever game played at the Phibsboro venue was a meeting between the two northside clubs in 1901, but while the FAI were able to recognise the significance attached to a ground in Dublin, there is the sense that it has shrugged its shoulders at the sense of occasion out West.

The FAI has already approved the temporary move, and provided a letter of support confirming as much, so it was well aware of United’s summer move, and it will be Dundalk who will provide the opposition at the home of Galway GAA in June.

That game will take place on Saturday June 13, although the fixture list released on Tuesday has the game set for Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday June 12: in fact, all of United’s home games during the period in question have been listed as taking place in Eamonn Deacy Park on a Friday night, when in fact they will be played on a Saturday evening in Pearse Stadium, with the move to a Saturday believed to be in relation to the difficulties home and away fans would have in accessing Salthill on a Friday evening.

Pictured: Francely Lomboto has rejoined Galway United for the 2026 season after brief spells at Sligo Rovers and Glenavon.