GALWAY United’s hopes of emulating their run to the semi-finals of last season’s FAI Cup couldn’t face a bigger obstacle this Friday after being handed the toughest possible Last 16 draw: a trip to the league leaders, Shelbourne, in Tolka Park (7.45pm).

It will be United’s third trip to the ramshackle Drumcondra venue this season, and they will need a different outcome to those two previous visits if they are to advance to the quarter-finals of this year’s competition.

“It is the draw of the round,” Galway United manager, John Caulfield, said this week.

“We know we are up against it. We have been very good at home this season and we need to bring that form to Tolka Park on Friday. I think we have done well this season, there were really just two games where I feel we didn’t perform and the 2-0 defeat up there in the league was one of those, so we know we have to be better than that game,” he said.

United eased into the Last 16 with a 6-0 drubbing of Longford Town, while Shelbourne fell over the line against Bray Wanderers. That was their only win in their last four games, and they go into Friday’s clash on the back of a 2-1 defeat away to Sligo Rovers last weekend, and United are wary of a potential backlash from Damien Duff’s side.

“You have to be in top form when you go to Tolka Park. You know, for a long time there this season they have looked unbeatable, so their last couple of results will just be a blip, and we have to be ready for them and assume they will be back in top form.

“The games between us have been tight this season: we beat them in Eamonn Deacy Park, and conceded a poor goal in our first game against them up there to lose 1-0. We weren’t at it the last game, which was effectively over by half-time, so we have to make sure we stay in the game, and we need to be better than we were back at the end of June.

“They got a good point against Derry, and they came up against a very good Sligo performance last week. They are still top of the league, but we have looked at them and we think we have identified a few areas we can target,” he said.

Pictured: Vincent Borden and Jimmy Keohane of Galway United leading this attack against St Patrick Athletic’s Jason McClelland during Sunday’s Premier Division clash at Eamonn Deacy Park. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.