Galway united for a new dawn as Dunne’s side make League debut

It was an absence of 852 nights, but it was worth the wait, even if the result wasn’t what was hoped – Galway FC made its League of Ireland debut against Longford Town in Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night in front of almost 2,500 people, comfortably the biggest First Division crowd over the weekend.

While the visitors took the spoils, courtesy of David O’Sullivan’s 70th minute strike, the night was never really about the result, but instead the return of League of Ireland football to one of the finest grounds in the country.

After much negotiating, and no little fall-out, the League of Ireland now has a Galway team, rather than a team – or teams – from Galway. A subtle difference in one sense, but a massive one in another, as was spelled out by an official attendance of 2,418 as Galway united for soccer.

It was November 4, 2011, when Galway United played what turned out to be its last-ever senior game, losing the second leg of the promotion-relegation play-off to Monaghan United. That game was attended by Michael D Higgins, who was then recently elected as President of Ireland; and the country’s First Citizen returned on Friday night to witness what will hopefully be a new dawn for Galway soccer.

A win would have been a dream start for Galway FC, but it wasn’t to be as the hot favourites for the title, Longford Town, eked out a narrow 1-0 win, but Galway FC have a chance to bounce back immediately when they host the Mayo League side in the EA Sports Cup in Eamonn Deacy Park tonight (7.45pm).

“It was a typical first game of the season, whoever scored first was probably the team that was going to go on and win it and unfortunately that was Longford, but there were a lot of positives to be taken, and a lot of things to look forward to,” said Galway FC manager, Tommy Dunne.

He admitted the absence through suspension of Stephen Walsh, Ryan Manning and Derek O’Brien left him short of options when trying to chase an equaliser, but that trio are expected to start tonight.

“We’ll have to freshen things up for Tuesday night, we picked up a few niggly injuries against Longford and you don’t want to over extend people too early in season. Of course the League Cup is important to us, but we’ve got to look at the league, players were pushing hard tonight, the first competitive 90 minutes can take the toll on the body, so I’ll make some changes for Tuesday night.

“That said, we are certainly not underestimating the Mayo League – their players will relish playing in Eamonn Deacy Park, and I’d imagine some of them will go into the game thinking if they play well, they might just catch our eye and maybe make the step-up to the League of Ireland,” he said.

As per competition rules, season tickets do not apply for Cup matches (FAI Cup or EA Sports Cup), so admission will be €10 for adults, €7 for students, OAPs and the unwaged, while children under the age of 12 who are accompanied by an adult will be admitted free of charge.

Meanwhile the Galway United Supporters Trust is running a bus to Friday night’s League game away to Waterford United in the RSC. The bus will depart from the Spanish Arch at 2.30pm – seats can be booked by contacting Dominick Walsh at 087 9163438 or Ronan Coleman at 087 6972823.