GALWAY United’s players will go from the sandy beaches of the continent to the plastic pellets of the 3G pitch at the Brandywell this Friday when they head north to face Derry City (7.45pm) as the league resumes after the mid-season break.

The majority of the United squad took the opportunity of a week off to head abroad and get some sun, and manager John Caulfield says that the players used the break not only to top-up the tan, but to recuperate from any small niggles they might have had, with an almost clean bill of health in the squad this week.

“Most of the lads went away, a few didn’t, but everyone reported back for training last weekend and the break did everyone some good, it allowed fellas to recover from little knocks.

“Jimmy [Keohane] is still out unfortunately, he had surgery on a broken bone in his foot, so he is out until the end of July. He is out of the cast, so hopefully he’ll be back training in early July with a view to playing maybe at the end of the month,” the United manager told Tribune Sport on Tuesday.

Keohane’s return is likely to come in the same month that the on-loan Cian Byrne returns to parent club, Bohemians. Byrne has been one of United’s best players since moving west a week into the new season in February, but with Bohs losing Sean Grehan, who they had on loan from Crystal Palace, the Gypsies have intimated they will be bringing Byrne back to the club to fill that gap.

“There has been nothing official yet. We have him signed on loan until the end of June, so he can play for us for the next few weeks, we have four games in that spell.

“I have seen bits in the paper, they [Bohs] are saying they are taking him back, but nothing officially has been communicated to us. He can’t go back to them until after June 30, but it is out of our hands,” Caulfield said.

While the loss of Byrne would be an undoubted blow, Caulfield and his management team will hope the arrival of fresh faces will more than make up for that. One new player has put pen to paper and was set to be unveiled as a United player at a Q&A session with Caufield and United’s women’s team manager, Phil Trill, in the city last night (Wednesday), with United hopeful of signing two more players in the coming weeks.

“We have completed the signing of a striker, and we are working on a midfielder and another player at the minute. Malcolm Shaw is the striker, he has been in training with us since the weekend and he is available immediately, so he will be in the squad for Derry, and will probably start on the bench.

Galway United’s Stephen Walsh who scored their winner against Derry City at the Brandywell last season. The teams renew league rivalry at the same venue on Friday night.