Sports
Pressure on Galway FC to beat visitors Harps and keep play-off hopes alive
WHILE the majority of the focus in local sporting circles has been on the clash in the Sportsground tonight between Connacht and Leinster, there is arguably a more important game in Eamonn Deacy Park tomorrow night when Galway FC host Finn Harps in their second last home game of the SSE Airtricity League First Division (7.45pm).
Tommy Dunne’s side go into the game five points clear of Wexford Youths in the race for the final promotion play-off spot, and with two tough away fixtures coming up against Cobh Ramblers and Shelbourne before a final-day home clash with Wexford Youths, Dunne says a win is crucial tomorrow night.
“We have to win. Well, first, we have to make sure we don’t concede, that is the most important, but if we do that, I think we have plenty about us at the other end but we are under no illusions, it will be a very tough game,” Dunne said, and with some justification.
Harps are the one side Galway FC have failed to beat in the league this season, the three meetings all ending in draws, and the fact Harps have had two games in the past four days – including a 520-mile round trip to Cork in the FAI Cup – might work against Galway FC, rather than in their favour.
Ollie Horgan’s side are tough to break down at the best of times – they have only conceded more than one goal in four of their 24 league games to date – but the fact they had a long trip down to Cork at the weekend to take on Avondale United in the Cup, followed by a replay in Finn Park on Wednesday night, means they are even less likely to adopt an open brand of football.
“I think it is fair to say they will keep it tight and try to make it a spoiling match, so we have to work harder and make it a football match – if we do that, we should be okay. We have to increase our own tempo, make sure the game is played at our pace and not theirs,” he said
Dunne has spoken previously of the need for a ‘bully’ in his side, and when it is put to him that Saturday night is the kind of game he was thinking about when he expressed that need, the manager explains his thinking.
“I don’t necessarily mean a ‘bully’ who will go after their lads, I am more thinking of someone who will get the best out of our players, who will drive them on, demand more from them. They [Harps] are out of the play-off picture, so we have to make sure we impose our will on the game – the game is more important to us than it is to them, and we have to show that,” Dunne said.
With the FAI Cup taking centre-stage last weekend, Galway FC go into tomorrow’s game on the back of a two-week break, and Dunne said that can work two ways.
“The lads are rested, but we had a bit of momentum with three wins in a row and anyway, I always prefer to be playing week-in, week-out. You can say we are rested, but on the other hand they [Harps] will have a sharpness from two competitive games in a week,” he said.
It wasn’t complete rest for his squad, as they played a training game of three 30-minute sessions against Premier Division side Limerick FC last Friday, running out 4-3 winners.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
LESS than a third of a second proved the difference for one Galway rower who came up just short of a medal at the European Rowing Championships in Lake Bled, Slovenia last weekend.
Siobhán McCrohan of Tribesmen Rowing Club missed out on a podium finish by a whisker, finishing fourth in the lightweight single sculls on Sunday.
It was Ireland’s best performance at a meet where Irish rowers failed to take any silverware.
The Canadian born Claregalway resident was lying sixth after 1,500 metres of the final but she powered home with the fastest final 500 metres.
Her late rally came up just short of a medal by 0.27 of a second behind Czech Republic’s Kristyna Neuhortova who took bronze.
Gold medallist Ionela Cozmiuc of Romania dominated the race, and finished almost three seconds clear of silver medallist Evangelia Anastasiadou of Greece.
McCrohan qualified for the final after winning Friday’s repechage, which she led from the start, and she had finished second in her heat.
A two-time Galway Sports Star recipient, McCrohan was making her return to international action for the first time since 2016, according to Rowing Ireland.
Describing her as an “incredible woman”, Tribesmen Rowing Club said that it was proud of McCrohan’s efforts and she was “inspiration to us all”.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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Galway United 3
Athlone Town 1
THERE are games in every season which will never live long in the memory, and this was one of them for Galway United, despite John Caulfield’s side extending both their winning run at home, and their lead at the top of the First Division.
The league title now looks a formality after United stretched 12 points clear at the top of the table thanks to this win, and Waterford’s draw with Longford Town 24 hours later, and with this Bank Holiday weekend’s double round of fixtures marking the half-way point in the season, United can begin the long goodbye to the bottom tier.
This made it nine wins on the spin at home, a run which began with the play-off semi-final win over Longford Town at the end of last season. They have now won 15 of their 16 games this season – they finished last season with 17 wins from 32 games. This is just different gravy altogether.
There is still one issue that someone at the club really needs to address and that its the antics, for want of a better word, on the bench. Caulfield has already served a one-match ban for being sent off and his assistant manager, Ollie Horgan, has served a one-match ban for five yellow cards.
Club coach Chris Collopy is now one booking away from a ban of his own after a yellow card on Friday night – and Caulfield also went into the referee’s notebook. There seems to be a clampdown from match officials throughout the league on backchat from the bench – and some of the men in black have completely lost the run of themselves when dishing out cards like they were sales reps from Hallmark.
That said, if you know how fragile these officials are, then stop giving them the excuse to flash a yellow or red at the bench, especially for petulant outbursts and rattle-throwing that we have seen at times throughout the two divisions from grown men who should know better.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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By Pádraic Ó Ciardha
THE away jerseys and the Factor 50 will both be in the bag this Saturday as the Galway senior footballers take their first trip out of Connacht in this championship campaign and head to Cusack Park in Mullingar to take on Dessie Dolan’s Westmeath.
After the torrid rain and, let’s be honest, torrid enough football that marked the Tribesmen’s opening game in Group 2 of the All-Ireland SFC against Tyrone, the Galway management, players and supporters will be hoping for something a bit more seasonal to kick off the June Bank Holiday weekend.
A win on Saturday (5pm) will keep Galway on track for top spot in the group and a direct path to an All-Ireland quarter-final, something that would make a repeat of last year’s journey all the way to the decider a whole pile easier.
Pádraic Joyce’s men should be heading into the game full of confidence as well. Even if the three-point win over Tryone a couple of weeks ago wasn’t the easiest on the eye, the way Galway managed the game should have pleased the manager.
Once the rain drenched Pearse Stadium before throw-in in that one, and especially once Tyrone were reduced to 14-men, it was always going to be a case of minimising the mistakes for Galway and keeping the opposition at arm’s length. Yes, Galway probably went too far in terms of caution and, yes, they failed to go for the kill when they had the chance, but they had a handle on their opponents throughout and whenever Tyrone looked like clawing their way back level, Galway came up with a response and protected their lead.
Saturday should offer the Tribesmen the opportunity to open up a little more and, hopefully, they’ll respond by going for the jugular when the chance presents itself.
That being said, Joyce will have warned his players against taking Westmeath lightly. There’s no denying that when the draw was made, last year’s Tailteann Cup winners were seen as the probable whipping boys in a very tough-looking group. Last Saturday’s performance against Armagh will have made people sit up and take notice, however. Having led for most of the match, Westmeath were very unlucky to come out of the Athletic Grounds empty-handed with Conor Turbitt’s late goal propelling Armagh to a 1-13 to 1-12 win.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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