Sports
Tommy Dunne’s side need to put cup final defeat behind them for visit to Tallaght Stadium
One of the hardest things in football is to bounce straight back from a cup final defeat, but that is exactly what Galway United must do when they head to the Tallaght Stadium on Friday night to take on Shamrock Rovers in the league (8pm).
United take on the Hoops just three points off the bottom of the table, and making the club’s first domestic final in almost 19 years will be forgotten if Tommy Dunne’s side make an immediate return to the First Division.
There are just six games left in the season for United, including meetings with two of the three sides below them in the table – Limerick and Sligo Rovers – so their destiny is very much in their own hands.
Six points from those two games – both of which are at home – coupled with some kind of return from the games with Bray Wanderers and the last-day meeting with St Patrick’s Athletic should ensure safety, and their cause would be helped by taking at least a point in Tallaght on Friday.
That would be a tall order at any time – United have lost their last 10 successive league games against the Hoops, including 2-1 and 3-0 reversals this season – but that run has got to end sometime, and Dunne will be hoping that time is Friday night.
It is almost a decade since United last won a league game against Shamrock Rovers, Derek O’Brien scoring the only goal of the game when the sides met in what was then known as Terryland Park in October 2006. In the 20 games since, United have managed just two draws. Hardly the kind of stat that gives confidence ahead of Friday night.
Dunne is definitely without Marc Ludden, who serves a one-match ban for the accumulation of five yellow cards: the suspension actually kicked in last weekend, but the FAI rules state a player will not miss a cup final for a suspension picked up for five yellow cards.
David O’Leary was less fortunate: he missed the defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic due to having picked up eight yellow cards so far this season – it seems the naughtier you are, the heavier the punishment.
However, ban served, O’Leary is back in contention for Friday night, thought he is likely to start on the bench. Ludden’s absence will see Colm Horgan shifted to left-back and Cormac Rafferty coming into the side in the other corner, but it may not be the only change Dunne makes from his cup final starting XI.
Sam Oji was suffering from flu all last week, and then picked up a hamstring strain on Saturday night. Taking a realistic look at things, Dunne may decide not to risk the central defender this Friday, and instead draft in Stephen Walsh to the heart of the defence to give Oji time to recover full health ahead of the visit of Sligo Rovers next Friday.
That Connacht derby was scheduled to be played last weekend, but was obviously postponed due to United’s involvement in the EA Sports Cup Final. Next weekend the FAI Cup takes centre-stage, with the competition at the quarter-final stage, but with both United and Sligo interested ended in the Cup by Dundalk in the Second and Third Rounds respectively, it provided the perfect slot for the postponed game to be rescheduled.
As for matters this Friday night, United will be hoping to do what only St Patrick’s Athletic have managed this season, and that is to win in the league in the Tallaght Stadium. That will be a tall order against a side sitting third in the table, and with one eye on finishing second behind Dundalk, who are 11 points clear at the top and would need a collapse of Devon Loch proportions to throw the league title away at this stage.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
Galway 2-18
Antrim 1-10
John McIntyre in Darver
WE are little the wiser about the All-Ireland credentials of the Galway minor hurlers after their routine victory over a committed Antrim outfit at the Louth GAA Centre in Darver on Saturday.
Making their debut in the Leinster championship in the first of three round-robin group fixtures, Galway got the job done without setting off too many fireworks in a more competitive tussle than anticipated.
Though Fergal Healy’s charges didn’t look anything exceptional, there were mitigating factors, not least an extensive casualty list, the tiring long journey to the Louth venue, and it being their first outing of the championship.
Yet when Antrim full-forward Orrin O’Connor sent a low shot to the opposition net in the 49th minute, it left only six points between the teams (1-15 to 1-9). This wasn’t the expected script as Galway were not having things all their own way.
There was no sense of alarm, however, either on the field or on the sideline, as the Westerners quickly responded to that Antrim green flag with an unanswered 1-3 to leave them in good heart for this Saturday’s encounter with Laois at O’Moore Park.
For decades, Galway minors were accustomed to playing their first championship match in August and while their debut in the title-race has been brought forward in recent years with the introduction of All-Ireland quarter-finals, now having to start their campaign in late March does take a little bit of getting used to.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Kerry 3-11
Galway 0-17
Ivan Smyth at Tuam Stadium
GALWAY ladies footballers suffered their first defeat of 2023 as Kerry secured first blood with these sides set to meet again in the League final on April 15.
Despite both teams being assured of qualification for the decider at Croke Park before throw in, this was an entertaining affair with Kate Slevin’s eight point haul not enough to prevent Galway suffering their second successive defeat to Kerry after also losing out to to the Kingdom in the opening round of the championship last year.
Ultimately, Galway will be disappointed to lose this one. They led this game 0-7 to 0-2 but from the 22nd to the 48th minute, Kerry outscored their hosts 3-8 to 0-4 with the Tribeswomen falling eight points behind in the final quarter. Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh slotted 2-3 in the opening 30 minutes before being replaced at half time with the Kerry camp stating afterwards that the three time All-Star’s substitution was a pre-planned move.
With Galway shipping 2-3 and scoring just a point from the 22nd minute to half time, joint manager Fiona Wynne admits the side’s concentration in the moments before the break needs to improve: “We saw something similar when we played Cork in Pearse Stadium. We seem to be going very well and were well on top ,but towards the end of the first half in both scenarios we did get caught. Really happy with how we reacted to going behind against Cork. A little bit to do after today but it’s something we definitely have to look at.”
Chellene Trill, making her first start of the year, was given the arduous task of tracking the Corca Dhuibhne clubwoman. The Claregalway defender played well, storming out of defence twice with possession in the early stages but Ní Mhuircheartaigh at times was double teamed and still managed to kick scores that few others could.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
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.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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.
Westport 21
Creggs 19
Kevin Egan at the Sportsground
SOMEWHERE around the West of Ireland right now, there’s probably a newspaper report that would describe the dramatic scenes at the end of last Sunday’s Connacht Junior Cup final as bearing resemblance to the plot of a Hollywood movie.
If you travelled to the Sportsground to support Westport in their bid to win a first Junior Cup since 2015, that description might feel apt this week. However if you travelled in hope of watching Creggs end their 30-year drought in this famous competition, the manner in which the Galway-Roscommon border club had their double dreams shattered felt almost Shakespearean; like a cruel tragedy where it wasn’t enough to simply plunge the knife into the tragic hero, but there also had to be a considerable element of irony, and of expectations being flipped on their head.
As newly-crowned league champions, Creggs went into this game as favourites, and that weight of expectation was only encumbered further by the firm astroturf surface and the relatively benign conditions (notwithstanding a first-half downpour, but 80 minutes of good weather in Galway is too much to expect in July, never mind March).
Their skill and craft, particularly in the back division, was expected to slice open the West Mayo side, who many expected to struggle in the latter stages of the contest. Instead, it fell to a hugely promising young back from Westport, 18-year-old full back Cormac Lyons, to strike in the fifth minute of stoppage time and cancel out what looked like a match-winning try and conversion from Shane Purcell just six minutes earlier.
That Creggs would have trouble coping with the sheer power of the Westport pack was no surprise, and for the opening 15 minutes, the club that has recently become known as “The Bulls” did everything they could to live up to that name.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
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.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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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