Galway United to resume season behind closed doors at the end of July

THE 2019/20 League of Ireland season is set to resume at the end of the month, but games will initially be played behind closed doors.

The National League Executive Committee announced on Tuesday that the league will return to action on Friday, July 31, but with a shortened format of two rounds of games in both the Premier Division and First Division.

All 19 clubs across the two divisions had been involved in negotiations for the resumption of the only league in Europe that had yet to return to action, but they failed to agree on issues such as relegation and promotion.

As a result, the NLEC took the decision out of the hands of the clubs, and its proposal will now go to the board of the FAI for ratification.

The NLEC’s proposal is that both divisions will be reduced to an 18-game season, and the results of games that were played before the season as suspended will stand. That spells bad news for Galway United, who drew their opening two games of the season – a 1-1 draw away to Shamrock Rovers II and a scoreless draw away to Wexford – and so already find themselves seven points behind early pace-setters, Cabinteely, who opened their season with three wins from three.

The NLEC has decided to stick with the format for promotion and relegation as scheduled at the start of the 2020 season. One club will be automatically promoted to the Premier Division from the First Division, with one club automatically relegated.

A play-off will also take place between the ninth placed Premier Division club and the winner of the First Division play-off series involving the teams that finish 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th in the First Division. The winner of this play-off will be promoted to the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League for the 2021 season. The new fixture list will be announced in due course.

Meanwhile, the curtain may have come down on the local soccer season, but the adult provincial cup competitions are set to resume later this month, which will see 12 Galway clubs in action.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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