Bluebell United 0

Galway United 7

Keith Kelly at Tolka Park

GALWAY United not only avoided a potential FAI Cup shock, they did so in record-breaking fashion on Sunday when breezing past the challenge of Leinster Senior League side, Bluebell United, in glorious sunshine in Tolka Park.

The victory was United’s biggest-ever in an FAI Cup tie – they did stick eight without reply past Salthill Devon in the group stages of the League Cup in the 1994/95 season – and was also the biggest win by a First Division side in an FAI Cup tie since the second tier of the league was introduced in 1985/96.

No-one will get carried away with a win over a non-league outfit, but considering previous United iterations had struggled against a similar level of opposition – they needed penalties to see off the mighty Killester United in 2017, and fumbled to a 2-1 win over Collinstown two years later – this ruthless annihilation of their hosts shows a very different mindset in the 2022 United model.

A Stephen Walsh double in the space of 90 seconds in the late stages of the first-half meant the tie was over by half-time, though in truth, it was a 190-second spell much earlier in the game which dictated just how the afternoon would finish.

United made three changes to the side which had beaten Athlone Town 3-1 in the league the previous week, including handing a debut to new signing, Bastien Hery, after his midweek loan move from Finn Harps that saw Gary Boylan go in the opposite direction.

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

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