HAVING failed to break one lousy club record last weekend, Galway United head for the Showgrounds this Saturday looking to snap another pathetic run when they face basement side Sligo Rovers (7.45pm).

The Tribesmen looked in fine fettle heading into last weekend to end a 25-year run without a home win over Shamrock Rovers in the top-flight, only to fail to capitalise on first-half dominance to suffer a 13th consecutive defeat at home to the Hoops.

If you thought that was a bad run, wait until to get a load of this: United head to Sligo on Saturday looking for a first league win at the home of their Connacht rivals since 1996, as it is 29 years since Mark Herrick and John ‘Jumbo’ Brennan scored the goals in a 2-0 win for United in their Premier Division meeting with Sligo Rovers in the Showgrounds.

It was a rare good-news story in a disappointing season for United, which saw them finish bottom of the table, but it stands as the last league win under the shadow of Ben Bulben. There was an FAI Cup victory there in 2003, when Kieran Foley and current coach, Alan Murphy, scored in a 2-1 success, if you want to take solace from that, but such relief is tempered by that quarter-final win being one of just four wins over 90 minutes in the 50 meetings of the sides in Sligo.

Much like last weekend, it is difficult to think of United being in better shape to end that run this weekend. Their hosts are bottom of the table with a sieve-like defence: they have conceded 19 goals already, which is one more than the top three of Drogheda, St Pats, and United combined.

They have lost the spine of last year’s squad that finished one place and three points behind United in the final league table: six of their starting XI from the 2-2 draw with United in Eamonn Deacy Park on the penultimate game of last season have left the club.

However, United will be well warned to avoid any complacency on Saturday night: they might be as porous as a colander in defence, but only St Patrick’s Athletic have scored more than Sligo in these early stages of the league, and just as United will be craving a crack at their provincial rivals, the home side will fancy the Connacht derby as a perfect chance for a pick-me-up.

“Sligo Rovers, to be fair, are in a false position, having watched them with the football they play and the chances they create. We need to respond and train well to try and get something there,” United assistant manager, Ollie Horgan, said in the aftermath of last Friday’s gutting defeat at home to Shamrock Rovers.

Pictured: A minute’s applause was held in memory of the late John Herrick by both teams and supporters at Eamonn Deacy Park last Friday before the Premier Division game between Galway United and Shamrock Rovers. Herrick was a former United player and manager. Photo: Joe O’Shaughnessy.