GALWAY United put the last remaining unbeaten record in the 2025 Premier Division season on the line this Friday when they head to Dalymount Park to take on a Bohemians side that comes into the game on the back of a 3-0 defeat in a Dublin derby against St Patrick’s Athletic a fortnight ago.

While the Gypsies were losing for the fourth time in six games, United were continuing their hex over Waterford, Vince Borden’s goal 10 minutes from time sealing a win that was United’s 199th victory in the top-flight since the two-tier league was introduced in the 1985/86 season.

Hitting the 200-mark at the spiritual home of Irish football would be something special – the Phibsboro venue was the home of the senior international side for almost a century, hosting its first senior men’s international in March 1904 between Ireland and Scotland, while the last full Irishmen’s international game played at Dalymount Park was a friendly against Morocco in September 1990.

United will travel to the northside of Dublin City in full confidence: they took four points from their two visits to ‘Dayler’ last season, though United manager, John Caulfield, warns that the Bohs side they will face Friday will be a very different animal to last season.

“Teams have changed the way they play against us compared to last year. Sides maybe took us for granted last year, thinking ‘ah, it’s only Galway United’, but it is a very different story this year.

“The league champions [Shelbourne] came here and changed formation and personnel to deal with us; away to Derry, up on their own patch and they changed formation to cope with us; our most recent game against Waterford, they changed formation.

“People are paying more attention to us this year, and we have to see that as a compliment. Bohs started the season really well, beating [Shamrock] Rovers in front of more than 30,000 people. They lost a couple of games after that, then hammered Waterford, but lost to Pats the last time out, they are looking for that bit of consistency and will be well up for it on Friday,” Caulfield told Tribune Sport this week.

It has been two weeks since United were last in action in the Premier Division, having had a week off after that 1-0 win over Waterford due to the international window, and Caulfield admits that, while it would have been no harm to have had another game the following week to build momentum, the break was also a benefit for his side.

“The first six weeks or so of the season were hectic, so it was no harm to get a break. We won against Waterford on the Friday, trained as usual for a few days and then gave the lads three days off and they were back in last Friday.

“After a win, you are looking to kick on, but we knew the break was coming, and it gave lads who have been injured an extra week to recover,” he said, before imparting some good news on that front.

Ed McCarthy has managed just 65 minutes of action across three games this season; Brendan Clarke has missed the last two games; while Conor McCormack hasn’t featured at all in this campaign, but all three are back in full training. Colm Horgan, however, remains on the injured list.

“The three lads are back in training, but it is a different matter as to if they will be back in the side. Badge [McCormack] only managed 45 minutes in preseason against Longford, he had an issue that flared up again, so while he is back training, he’s unlikely to go straight in to start a game,” Caulfield says.

Given the fact it is early in the season, the table is quite condensed: just two points separate the top five – with United sitting third, one point off the top – but Caulfield believes this next run of 12 games before the midseason break will see the table stretch out a bit.

“It is a key part of the season now, teams are settling in and there is a big block of games coming up with teams looking for a bit of consistency. A team that strings a couple of wins together could fly up the table, and we’ll be looking to be one of those teams,” he says.

Galway United Friends Co-Op are running a bus to the game, leaving from The Connacht Hotel at 4pm. Seats can be booked by contacting Micheál Murphy at 086 0829341 or Ronan Coleman at 087 6972823.

Pictured: The fit-again Brendan Clarke who could return to the Galway United team for Friday’s Premier Division clash against Bohemians at Dalymount Park.