QUALIFICATION for European football next summer is a real possibility for Galway United as the Premier Division season enters its final stretch, and the next two weeks will be key to seeing how long the Tribesmen can stay in the fight for a continental jaunt.

Having been without a game in two weeks, John Caulfield’s side face two matches in four days next week – and as he points out, it is actually four games in 11 days, as his side also have two games the following week.

“You go from having no game in a fortnight to four games in 11 days, it is a lot, but we’ll prepare for each game as it comes and hopefully we can deliver the kind of performances we have been doing in the last few games,” he told Tribune Sport this week.

The first two games in that hectic schedule are both at home next week, starting with the visit of defending league champions Shamrock Rovers this coming Monday September 16 (7.45pm); followed by the visit of league leaders, Shelbourne the following Friday, September 20 (7.45pm).

“We have to have the confidence that we can put in a good performance in each game, and I think we have done that in the last few games, against Pats at home and Rovers away, and against Shels in the Cup.

“We have probably overachieved this season, we will be criticised by some for not scoring enough goals, but we have given every one a game, and it is great for us to be competing at the top end of the table.

“There is a group there battling to be in the top three and we are right in that mix. Rovers are coming on Monday, they have won the league the last four seasons and have qualified for the group stages of the Conference League, and we are battling with them at the top end of the table.

“Pats under [Stephen] Kenny have put together a good run, Sligo and Waterford are still in the mix, maybe it is a bridge too far for Bohs, but there is that group five teams in the hunt, and if one of them can string together five or six wins, that will probably be enough,” he says.

Pictured: Galway United’s Edward McCarthy on the charge in their recent home Premier Division win over Derry City.