Inept United blown away by rampant title chasing Cork

Galway United 0

Cork City 5

THERE might have been a rush of applications for the vacant manager’s job at Galway United last week, but after Saturday night’s inept display against Cork City, it wouldn’t be a surprise if there was a similar panic to withdraw them this week.

You can accept being beaten by a better team, there is no shame in that, but the apparent lack of effort shown by United’s players on Saturday night is simply not acceptable. Yes, Cork are in stunning form, and had stuck five past United in what proved to be Tommy Dunne’s last game in charge a fortnight ago.

But Dunne is gone now, so the players can’t blame the manager for their ‘efforts’ on Saturday night, as the visitors recorded their biggest-ever win over the Tribesmen to throw the title race wide open.

Maybe it was a case of the players knowing they didn’t have a manager to answer to, they didn’t fear getting a rollicking for their night’s work, but if that is the case, surely they could have shown a bit of self respect, a bit of pride both in themselves and the jersey they wear. Not the case.

On numerous occasions players did shirk a tackle; let a City player cruise past them without tracking the run; play eyes-closed football with aimless passes straight to an opposition player. That’s not good enough.

United showed with their performances at the start of the season that they are much, much better than their display on Saturday night, and while the season might have nothing left to play for, there are contracts for next season up for grabs. On Saturday night’s evidence, there won’t be too many of them handed out.

You do have to give credit to the visitors for a brilliant display of football, with former United man Karl Sheppard running riot down City’s right flank, setting up four of his side’s goals on a night when visiting goalkeeper, Mark McNulty, set a new club record of 19 clean sheets in a season, surpassing Phil Harrington’s old record with six games still to play.

They were in front after just 75 seconds, and once they had taken the lead, there was only ever going to be one result. The question was, how big would the winning margin be, and while they finished five goals clear, it could have been even more, only for City to take their foot off the pedal, preserving energy for Tuesday night’s crunch clash away to Dundalk.

Alan Bennett looped a clearance into the United half which was flicked on by Gavan Holohan for Sheppard to run on to, and he crossed for Stephen Maguire who steered the ball home with a diving header from six yards as the United defenders jogged back into the penalty area.

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