Galway United swing into action after false start to campaign last weekend

A week later than planned, Galway United will get their 2020 First Division campaign underway this Saturday when they travel to Dublin to take on Shamrock Rovers’ B side in the Tallaght Stadium (3pm).

Last Friday’s scheduled league opener against Athlone Town was postponed due to a waterlogged surface at Eamonn Deacy Park, with enough rain having fallen in the last month to strengthen the case for dropping the ‘s’ in the term ‘the West of Ireland’.

No new date has yet been announced for that fixture, but there is a suggestion that it could be played on the May Bank Holiday Monday, May 4. That would give United three consecutive home games, as it would be sandwiched by games at home to Shamrock Rovers II – as the FAI is calling them – on Friday, May 1, and Wexford on Friday, May 8.

It is difficult to find a time to play it before then, meaning United will not have a home league game until Cabinteely – who hammered Bray Wanderers 4-2 last weekend – head We(s)t on Friday March 13, which won’t please people who suffer from Paraskevidekatriaphobia.

United will have a home game three days earlier, when they host Athlone Town in the First Round of the EA Sports Cup on Tuesday, March 10, but a four-week wait for a first home game in the league is a tough ask. That said, the two league games before that do give United a chance to build a head of steam before the visit of a side that finished fourth last season, a whopping 24 points ahead of United.

United make the long trek to the south east to take on Wexford on Friday, March 6, but first up is a trip to Tallaght on Saturday for what could be a tricky test.

When Shamrock Rovers 2nd XI were confirmed as taking part in this year’s First Division, the other nine clubs made a lot of noise about the unfairness of their involvement, and there was even talk of teams refusing to play Shamrock Rovers Shadows.

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

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