Date Published: 02-Jun-2011

Keith Kelly

THE party atmosphere had started on the pitch in Lansdowne Road and continued all the way back to Galway on the team bus, so there was only ever going to be one song which Galway United Joey Malone was going to serenade the crowd with.

Thousands of people had flocked to the Cathedral car-park to welcome home the new FAI Cup champions following their 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers, and Malone didn’t need much encouragement from the crowd to launch into Simon & Garfunkel’s, The Boxer.

“I like to get up and sing a few songs at parties and karaoke nights and that, and that was one hell of a party, so there was no way I was going to miss out on joining in on the sing-song that went on long into the night,” Malone told Tribune Sport this week.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Galway United’s one and only FAI Cup win, Johnny Glynn’s goal four minutes from time firmly cementing the date of May 12, 1991, into the United history book. In a neat symmetry, United get their 2011 Cup challenge underway this Sunday when they travel to Oriel Park to face Dundalk (kick-off 3pm), a side with which Malone had won the 1988 Cup, and who he left to join United as a player-manager at the start of the 1990/91 season.

“I was 33 at the time and had an option to stay for another year with Dundalk, but Galway offered me the role of player/coach and at that stage of my career, I felt it was the right move to make.

“That season is still very fresh in my mind, and I really thought that, after winning the Cup, we could push on the following year and challenge for the league title, but unfortunately things just didn’t work out like that which is very disappointing as I still think to this day we could have made a push for the title,” he says.

Malone says there was the bones of a very good local squad at United when he first met the players before the start of the season, and he name-checks the likes of Peter Carpenter, Tommy Keane, Kevin Cassidy, Johnny Glynn, Eamon ‘Chick’ Deacy and honorary Galway man Derek ‘Buck’ Rogers, but he felt the spine of the side needed a bit of strengthening.

“I came down and had a look at the squad and there were some very good local players there, but I felt the time needed a bit of experience and strength so I brought in John Cleary and Larry Wyse, who I had played with at Dundalk. I was also lucky enough to get Paul Campbell on loan from St Patrick’s Athletic, and those three brought a good balance to the side.

United had struggled the season before, finishing eighth in the 12-team Premier Division in a campaign that saw them suffer a 9-1 humiliation at the hands of Derry City in the Brandywell, a defeat that remains the heaviest ever suffered by a United side.”

However they did show some of their potential in both Cup competitions, only losing to the eventual winners of both competitions at the quarter final stage, Bray Wanderers in the FAI Cup and Derry City in the League Cup.

“It was unusual for what I’d call a ‘country’ team to have so many good local players in the side at the same time, but I just felt we needed a little bit extra, which is also why I brought the likes of Stephen Lally and Noel Mernagh back from the junior game in Galway.

“A lot of those players for the Cup-winning side went on to great things in their career, and I have to say Tommy Keane was probably the best player I ever worked with. He was a hard worker, had a great touch and was brilliant in training, and it is just a pity he went to Sligo the following year rather than stay with Galway, as I think he would have come on even more had he stayed with us,” Malone said.

It was the decision of the new Board of Directors that took over the running of the club following the win not to back his plans for improving the team that led to his resignation not once, but twice, the following season, but Malone insists that is just a small blot on a hugely memorable stint as United manager.

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