Galway FC on the brink of clinching promotion after late first leg exploits

GALWAY FC’s match-winning hero against UCD in Belfield has a simple game-plan for Friday night’s second-leg of the promotion final in Eamonn Deacy Park (7.45pm): “Keep a clean sheet and we’re promoted.”

Ryan Manning struck a 90th minute winner on Monday night in the first-leg of the promotion final, a goal that came just 60 seconds after Paddy Barrett had equalised for the Tribesmen to put them in the driving seat to cap a fairytale debut season in the Airtricity League by winning promotion to the Premier Division at the first time of asking.

Speaking to Tribune Sport after the final whistle, the Republic of Ireland U-19 international said the side deserved at least a draw from the game given their second half performance, but acknowledged that securing the win has given the side a great chance of securing promotion.

“We left it late to get a few goals but over the course of the game I thought we deserved a goal. The first half they had one or two chances and scored early, but in second half I felt we got in a good few times and were unlucky not to score early on.

“But then at the end one came and then the second one just happened to fall for me in the box and 2-1 is a good result to take back to Terryland on Friday. But if those goals didn’t come at the end and we had lost 1-0, we’d be saying we only need one goal to get back in it. That is the situation for UCD now, but a clean sheet is all we need, it’s as simple as that,” Manning said.

Galway FC were second best for the opening 45 minutes on Monday night, but they were a side transformed after the half-time break as they had their hosts pinned in their own half for the vast majority of the second-half.

It was a stunning turnaround, but assistant manager Leo Tierney – who was directing operations from the dugout as Tommy Dunne served the second of a two-game ban – said there was only some minor adjustments needed for that change in fortune.

“We just sorted out a few little issues at half-time that we felt were causing us a problem, and the lads were super in the second-half. I thought in the first half we looked a bit tired because we had travelled for two tough games and they were at home, but once we got over that and started playing again, we were very good.

“The key message was composure – we needed to keep our composure, and play the way we have been playing all season. We knew if we kept playing we would create chances, and once we settled down and we kept playing as a team – because we are a team, and that’s what we’re all about – we created chances, and thankfully we took two of them,” he said.

Paddy Barrett set them on the way to a dramatic win with an 89th minute header, and he said the players knew they were capable of a better performance than their first-half showing.

“We came in at half-time and sat down and just needed not to panic. We new that from Friday night when we went one down, we knew not to panic as we have the ability to come back, and once we play like we can play, we’ll always create chances and thankfully we created the chance late on and scored,” he said.

Tommy Dunne is taking a cautious tone for Friday night, saying that the tie is only at the half-time stage yet, but he praised his side’s belief in rescuing last Monday night’s game.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.