Hanley the hero as Galway United advance

Galway United 0

Dundalk        0

After extra time – Galway United won 4-2 on penalties

GOALKEEPER Ger Hanley was the hero for Galway United on Monday evening as his two penalty shoot-out saves helped the club book its place in a domestic cup final for the first time in 18 years.

Hanley – brought into the side due to the upcoming suspension for Conor Winn – saved the first two Dundalk spot-kicks, from Ronan Finn and David McMillan; and Colm Horgan sealed United’s spot in the decider against St Patrick’s Athletic next month when blasting their fourth penalty into the roof of Gabriel Sava’s net.

United will now hope to continue the run of home games when the venue for the final is picked: Tommy Dunne’s side have accounted for Finn Harps, Cockhill Celtic, Bohemians and now Dundalk on their path to the final, with each of those ties having been played in Eamonn Deacy Park.

The venue for the final is normally decided by the toss of a coin, but with competition sponsors EA having both their Worldwide Customer Experience and Digital Platform centres based in Parkmore on the outskirts of the city, allied to the fact the Eamonn Deacy Park is a superior ground to Richmond Park, there is a big shout to grant United the privilege of hosting the final on Saturday, September 19.

Both United and Dundalk named less than full-strength sides for Monday’s semi-final, but while that was a conscious decision by visiting manager Stephen Kenny, Tommy Dunne’s hands were tied in his team selection.

He was missing Enda Curran, Marc Ludden, Ryan Connolly and Padraic Cunningham through injury; and with Winn suspended for this Friday’s visit of Derry City after his red card against St Pats last Friday, the United manager went with Hanley for between the posts.

Dundalk were a mix of youth and experience, with only Sean Gannon, John Mountney, Ronan Finn and Darren Meenan regular starters for them in the league, but they still had bags of experience and were able to spring David McMillen and Galway native Daryl Horgan from the bench in the second-half.

United’s bench was less stellar, with Dunne only able to name four substitutes; and of those, three were U-19 players (Conor Melody, Aaron McConnell and goalkeeper Kevin Horgan) and had a combined one minute of senior experience between them thanks to Melody’s late cameo in Richmond Park on Friday night.

Full report in this week’s City Tribune.