Galway FC assistant manager Tierney upbeat despite draw

Galway FC assistant manager Leo Tierney couldn’t hide his disappointment after the final whistle on Friday night, but said that when the management and players sit down to analyse the game this week, they will take plenty of positives from what was a good performance.

Manager Tommy Dunne made a quick exit from the RSC after the game, but Tierney stepped in to the breach for the post-match interview and he told Sentinel Sport that the failure of the side to capitalise on the many chances they created eventually came back to haunt them.

“We are hugely disappointed. We did more than enough to win the game, we created some very good chances but unfortunately we didn’t take them and sometimes if you don’t take your chances, it will come back to get you.

“You can’t legislate for that finish [from Kevin O’Connor], it was a super finish. He got the break of the ball and it was a very good finish, but we showed we played some good football, came back well from last week’s game, and really pleased with that, but three points would have been lovely,” he said.

While Galway’s eight-match unbeaten run was brought to an end the previous week by Longford Town, you could argue that Friday night’s draw was an even tougher result to take given the dominance of the visitors and the fact they were just 10 minutes away from a win, and against 10-men at that.

Martin Conneely’s goal apart, there was little to separate the two sides for the first 30 minutes or so, but Galway stamped their authority on the game late in the first half, and went on to completely dominate the second 45.

They hit the woodwork twice, and also spurned a number of one-on-one chances, and when you consider Waterford didn’t have an effort on goal until 25 minutes into the second half, it gives you an idea of the dominance of the visitors.

While the first reaction to Friday’s result was one of disappointment, it should be remembered that the draw means Galway are still unbeaten away in the league this season – a run of eight games – and Tierney says that is an impressive stat.