Galway United brought crashing back to earth

Galway United 1

St Patrick’s Athletic 4

NOT so much coming back down to Earth with a bang, but with a shuddering, squelching wallop. Galway United were looking to follow-up their 5-0 thrashing of Bray Wanderers with a positive result against St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night – instead, they suffered their heaviest defeat of the season.

They were given a footballing lesson by a St Pat’s side that was head and shoulders above their hosts in every area of the pitch, and to compound a miserable night for the home side, they were reduced to 10 men with two minutes remaining when Alex Byrne was showN a straight red card for a reckless tackle on James Chambers.

By that stage the damage had already been done, and while the pain felt by Chamber looked minimal, it could have a longer lasting impact on United as Byrne’s automatic suspension leaves the side woefully short of cover at the back ahead of this Friday’s trip to Derry City.

With Marc Ludden injured, Colm Horgan was once again shuffled over to cover for him at left-back, with Byrne introduced in the other corner but his dismissal means United will be without him, Ludden, Kevin Garcia, Andy O’Connell and Killian Cantwell for the trip to the Brandywell.

That might be a blessing in disguise if it means leaving Horgan in his customary right-back slot – one of the side’s best-performing players last season, he has struggled when switched to the other corner this season and that was in evidence again on Friday night, when the first two goals for the visitors had their origins in that part of the pitch.

The blame is not solely his – he was not afforded much cover by Jake Keegan in front of him on the left wing, another player who is struggling to come close to the heights of last year, but none of that should take away from a classy performance by the Richmond Park side.

United should have taken the lead in the seventh minute when Ryan Connolly put Gary Shanahan in on the right, but with the unmarked Enda Curran shouting for a pass at the far-post, Shanahan opted for the shot which was smothered by Conor O’Malley.

Both sides were trading punches without ever landing a blow until the visitors launched yet another attack down their right flank in the 24th minute, a move which resulted in them taking the lead. Former Galway United player Aaron Greene played a one-two with Conan Byrne before letting fly from just inside the box.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune