A lot of the Galway United squad were swapping the training ground for the beach this week, and they will do so quietly satisfied at an impressive return from the first-half of the club’s first season back in the top flight in seven years.

With the league on a midseason break until Friday next, June 28, a number of United players were heading home from Eamonn Deacy Park last Friday to pack their bags for a trip to the airport the following day, and it is a break that assistant manager, Ollie Horgan, says they fully deserve.

“They certainly do, they have to have that break, have time with their families and friends, that is hugely important. They have been at it non-stop since January and they’ll be at it from tomorrow week [which is this coming Saturday] each and every day until whenever it is in November that we finish,” Horgan said in light of the 3-0 win over Drogheda United last Friday.

Some players, like Conor McCormack, were heading away for a few days with family. Others had a more, shall we say, ‘lively’ break planned: Garry Buckley was heading to Benidorm for his stag party, ahead of his wedding in November.

They will have embarked on whatever kind of trip they had planned in good form thanks to last Friday’s win. United had suffered back-to-back defeats going into the game, and with a visit to league leaders Shelbourne their first call of port when action resumes, it was important they didn’t slip-up against Drogheda.

Far from it: they put in their most impressive display of the season when brushing aside the challenge of the Louth club to leave them on 30 points from their first 20 games of the season, closer to the top of the table than the basement battle which many had tipped them to be involved in.

Pictured: Galway United’s Stephen Walsh celebrates scoring his first goal against Drogheda with teammates Conor McCormack, Ed McCarthy and David Hurley during Thursday’s Premier Division clash at Eamonn Deacy Park. Photo: Iain McDonald.