O’Donnell seals win for below par United

Date Published: {J}

Drogheda United 0

Galway United 1

Keith Kelly

If Galway United are to climb the table and push for European football – and a glance at the league table suggests that is not as far-fetched as it sounds – then they are going to have to win games in which they play poorly. Which is exactly what they did on Friday night in Drogheda.

United were below par in the first half and were worse in the second, but they took all three points thanks to a moment of brilliance from Stephen O’Donnell, and 90 minutes of sheer class from Barry Ryan, Jamie McKenzie and Rhys Meynell.

Both teams started sluggishly, the cobwebs from the two-week mid-season break not fully swept away, but as the game wore on it was clear Sean Connor’s side needed something more substantial than a feather duster to jolt them into action.

They struggled for long periods, with Drogheda shading the first half and completely dominating the second, and yet United held on for a valuable win – their first in six league games – to open up a nine point gap between them and their hosts on Friday night.

The league has now reached its half-way point, and it has been a strange campaign for all sides – while United moved nine points clear of Drogheda on Friday, they also moved within nine points of league leaders St Patrick’s Athletic on the night, though that gap was extended to ten following the Inchicore side’s draw with Sligo Rovers on Saturday night.

It is shaping up as the tightest league in a number of years, with three points separating the top five sides, leading the likes of Connor to suggest a tilt at a European place is not out of the question – at this stage, eight of the ten teams in the division are in with a realistic chance of doing just that.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.