Faherty supplies the finish to keep United flying high

Galway United 1

Bohemian FC 0

IT turns out you can make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. On a pig of a day at Eamonn Deacy Park on Saturday, Galway United recorded the most beautiful of results, a 1-0 win over Bohemian FC to move to third in the table as they continued their impressive start to the season.

Yes, it is early days yet, but United now have 10 points from five games and we’re still in March – last season, it took them 12 games, and into early May, before they hit double figures.

No one at the club is getting carried away with the start the side has made, but manager Tommy Dunne did admit after the full-time whistle on Saturday that, if his side continue to perform as they have done, they might have to sit down and re-assess the goals they set themselves at the start of the season.

“It took us the first phase of games to reach seven points last season, and we have 10 points after five this time. We have our goals, we might have to relook at them if things keep going but we are not getting carried away, we understand where we are at – it is early days yet, there will be plenty of swings and roundabouts over the course of the season,” Dunne said on Saturday.

“It was hugely important to bounce back from Derry, that defeat sickened us, conceding the winner in injury time. It was a big three points for us, but just as importantly, I was delighted with the workrate of the lads, they kept going on a very difficult day for football and that pleased me greatly,” Dunne said.

Injury deprived him of Stephen Folan in the heart of the defence; but Kevin Devaney (groin), Colm Horgan (calf), Gary Shanahan (hamstring) and Enda Curran (ankle) all passed late fitness tests, with the first three starting, while Curran was on the bench.

That was to facilitate the inclusion of Padraic Cunningham, who got his chance after bagging a 13-minute hat-trick against the Mayo League in the EA Sports Cup the previous Monday, and it was the Headford native who set-up the only goal of the game for Vinny Faherty with 12 minutes remaining.

The conditions were not conducive to any kind of passing game, with a swirling wind whipping through the ground – at one stage, the two corner flags at the Dyke Road end were blowing towards the Corrib, while the two flags at the other end were blowing back towards the car-park.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.