Galway FC draw a blank against Finn Harps

The bit of momentum created by Galway FC was checked by Finn Harps on Friday night as two well-organised sides cancelled each other out in scoreless draw.

Tommy Dunne named the same team that started the win over the Hoops ‘B’ side the previous week, but the outcome was very different this time around as the visitors really struggled to break down a very well-drilled outfit that came in to the game having kept four clean sheets in their past five games – Ollie Horgan’s side mightn’t score many goals, but they don’t concede too many either.

There was no fault in the visitors’ effort, but the application left a little to be desired as they struggled to deal with the pressing game of the home side. Harps had obviously done their homework, with Keith Cowan giving Jake Keegan a feeling of claustrophobia, so tight did he stick to him; while the home side pushed high up the pitch every time Ger Hanley was in possession to deny the visitors their usual tactic of playing the ball out from the back.

The visitors also struggled to get a foothold in the centre of the park, while Jason Molloy and Gary Shanahan never got in behind their opponents. Shanahan at least did try to take on Ciaran Coll a couple of times, but his delivery was poor, and in the end they resorted to lumping high balls into the Harps penalty area, which was just meat and drink to the centre-back pairing of Cowan and Packie Mailey.

“Sometimes physicality seems to be a bit of an issue for us at times. We are not the biggest of teams, but we have to get used to that, as physicality is part of the Irish game.

“If you’re not playing your game, then you have to battle. For us today we battled hard but for me it was just being able to get that goal and make them come out a little bit more – they were pressing us but they might have taken more chances and we might have done them on the break,” Dunne said after the game.