Derry City 1

Galway United   1

By Mike Rafferty at the Ryan McBride Brandywell

The first shock of the Friday evening at the Brandywell came with the Galway United team selection which saw five changes from the side that shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw with Shelbourne in their League of Ireland contest earlier in the week.

Obviously, injuries had taken their toll which resulted in a much-changed team, and this from a management that are renowned for keeping changes to the minimum. With the initial shock over, the visitors certainly took some time to settle into the contest as a Derry side who had secured just one win from four outings certainly were blazing a trail towards the United goal for the opening quarter.

Without a doubt it led a charmed life as the hosts did almost everything well except hit the target, while the visitors’ rearguard battled with the usual qualities that has marked their game.

Having withstood the Derry onslaught, United gradually began to find their feet and while opportunities were scarce, they did make a breakthrough when new signing Moses Dyer found the net from close range a minute from the break.

The second-half produced a different encounter, as United had by now grown into the game, while the home side appeared to lose the early intensity they brought to the contest. A rather fortuitous penalty allowed Derry back into the game early in the second-half, and apart from that, they seldom troubled United in the remainder of the game.

The visitors had a great late chance to win the contest when Jimmy Keohane had an effort batted away by Brian Maher in additional time.

Brendan Clarke’s absence through injury was a rarity – it was the first United game he missed since joining ahead of the 2023 season – but it was an occasion seized upon by Evan Watts and while the young custodian who is on loan from Swansea was not overburdened with work, one smashing early save kept his side in the game.

Bobby Burns, Ed McCarthy, Garry Buckley, and Dyer were the other fresh starters on the occasion, as Clarke, Keohane, David Hurley, Stephen Walsh, and Greg Cunningham were those missing.

There are moments during the course of any game that are significant and there were certain markers from this contest. Firstly, Derry had scored just three goals in their opening four games and despite their early dominance in this encounter it was clear that a pattern was emerging, as they struggled to hit the target.

Despite being the joint second highest scorers, maybe the same could be directed at United from open play, as this was the third game in succession that they got their goal from a set-piece. The score could be described as against the run of play – but of course you take them when you get them.

Pictured: Moses Dyer opened his account for Galway United when firing them into a first-half lead away to Derry City on Friday.