Galway FC hit the FAI Cup trail

LEAGUE action takes a backseat this weekend for Galway FC as they travel to Belfield on Friday night to take on Premier Division side UCD in the Second Round of the FAI Cup.

While an away draw against a top-flight side is hardly ideal, Tommy Dunne’s side go into the game full of confidence on the back of a brilliant 4-2 away win against First Division leaders Shelbourne last Friday night, and the manager says his side are well capable of causing a Cup upset.

“It will be a tough game, but we are going there to win – I just hope we can give them a good game, and maybe cause an upset. It is a step-up for us in terms of quality, but we are going into the game on the back of a good run, so if we can get it right defensively, there’s no reason why we can’t get the win,” Dunne says.

It will be his side’s fourth consecutive away game, and comes on the back of 5-1 and 4-2 wins over Cobh Ramblers and Shelbourne on the league, although sandwiched in between those two games was a defeat on penalties to Wexford Youths in the quarter-finals of the EA Sports Cup.

“If you look at it over 90 minutes, we are eight games unbeaten, so the lads are in great form, they’ve trained a couple of times this week and are really looking forward to testing themselves against a top-flight side,” Dunne says.

After early-season struggles in front of goal, Galway have scored nine in their last two league games and Dunne is delighted that the goals are now starting to come from all areas of the pitch – Connemara defender Martin Conneely scored twice from set-pieces on Friday night, his first-ever goals in the League of Ireland.