GALWAY United have hit the midseason break in incredible shape, sitting 10 points clear at the top of the table having won 17 of their 19 games, but John Caulfield warns that there is still plenty of work to do when the side return to training this coming Sunday after their week off.

United finished last season on 60 points from 32 games, scoring 56 goals and conceding 29. They already have 52 points from just 19 games this season, and have hit 53 goals, while conceding just eight, the last two of which were both penalties, but while the United manager is obviously pleased with the first half of the season, he insists that even greater levels of work will be required from now until October.

“If you win 17 out of 19 [games], you have to be happy, but there is a long way to go. Waterford or ourselves, one of us is going to win the league, whoever does goes straight up. We are well aware they have spoken that they will bring in a number of players during the break [transfer window in July], they will be much stronger.

“The most important thing is we don’t get carried away, we keep our focus, and keep putting points on the board,” the United boss said after watching his side head into the midseason break with a 2-0 win over Wexford FC on a pitch that was both rock hard, and specially narrowed ahead of the arrival of United to the south-east.

“They narrowed the pitch by four yards, it was only narrowed this morning [Friday], even the Wexford people around us were surprised by that, but they have to use every advantage.

“The only good thing for us is our training pitch is similar to that in terms of distance, so we were used to that. We spoke before the game that no matter was is thrown at us, we are in control and we have to deal with the conditions. If people want to narrow the pitch or widen the pitch, we just have to deal with it, there are no excuses, you can’t say ‘we dropped points because the pitch was narrow’, we have to deal with that,” he says.

In one way, you could be forgiven for lamenting the fact that the preseason break has landed, given the form United are in, but the manager understands the need for his players to get some down time and refresh, both in terms of the physical side of things, and the mental side as well.

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

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