There is an old saying in sport that “you have to lose one to win one”, but if you were to live by that mantra, then Galway United are due a win in the greater scheme of things sooner rather than later.

The club has seen its last three promotion attempts end in defeat, losing the play-off final to Longford and Waterford in 2020 and 2022 respectively, with a semi-final loss to Bray Wanderers sandwiched between those two.

Those defeats hurt at the time – hell, they still hurt – but David Hurley says the experience gained from those failed attempts is all part of the process of trying to climb out of the First Division this season.

United’s odds to do so shorten every week: John Caulfield’s side are on a thrilling nine-match winning run, having completed the first round of matches by beating every other team in the league, and Hurley says the lessons learned from those previous failed campaigns have played their part in this run.

“We have a good dressing room, and probably just learning from the experience from the last couple of years has helped us. We probably weren’t consistent enough really, you can’t be looking too far ahead in this league, as the next game is always the most important one.

“The experienced lads drill that in to us, we know from the last few years that it will be a tough game. There were times in the last few years where we won a game in the first round, and we came to the third or fourth round of games and you end up drawing or losing the game

“We know you can’t look at past results, it is just that game. You play the game on its merits, you work hard and hopefully get the result. Kerry will be a completely different team to the one we played earlier this season, for a lot of them it is their first time playing League of Ireland, but they have nine games under their belt now and will be a completely different animal,” he warns.

Hurley (25) joined United from Cobh Ramblers ahead of the 2021 season, so he knows all about the disappointment of the play-offs, but like the rest of us, he has been impressed with United’s start to the season, without getting carried away.

“We have a lot of scoring threats, and we are solid at the back as well, but we need to keep working on that. It will be a completely different experience in the second round of games, players will have been playing together, teams have been gelling, so we need to work hard to keep it going,” he says.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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