Shuffling the Galway FC pack

GALWAY FC manager Tommy Dunne is set to shuffle his pack for the visit of Finn Harps tonight (7.45pm) as he looks to turn some decent home form into what matters most – results.

Dunne has to plan for tonight’s game without the services of Stephen Walsh and Jason Molloy through suspension and injury respectively, but the feeling is he may make more than those two enforced changes for the visit of a side they defeated in the EA Sports Cup less than a fortnight ago.

“It will be a tough game, they were a solid side when we played them a couple of weeks ago, although we had made a lot of changes for that game, but we are confident in our own abilities.

“I have said it before, the home form is crucial and it is important we start winning our home games on a consistent basis, we have got to start getting those wins. We are five games unbeaten, we are playing well, and we are creating plenty of chances, but we’re not taking them so we have to sort that out,” Dunne says.

When asked if that suggests he will look to making more than those two enforced changes for tonight, the manager admits that “we might shuffle it around”. The absence of Walsh and Molloy does give him the option of playing Jake Keegan up front, with Ryan Manning in the number 10 role behind him, and having Derek O’Brien and Marty Owens raiding along the wings.

Keegan has impressed in his last few appearances from the bench – his introduction against Shamrock Rovers last week gave Galway FC more mobility up front, and it was the American who hit the equaliser.

Walsh saw red in that game for an elbow on Sean O’Connor and has been handed a three game ban – Longford Town’s Chris Deans has been given a five-match ban for a similar offence against Shelbourne, but it is believed the referee’s report from last Sunday noted that Walsh left the pitch immediately and did not question the referee, which worked in his favour when the league’s disciplinary committee met on Wednesday.

Molloy was also a casualty in Tallaght on Sunday, departing the action before half-time with a shoulder injury. An x-ray has shown there is no break, but Molloy has suffered bruising to his collarbone and is expected to be out for a couple of weeks.

Alan Murphy has returned to full-time training, but Dunne says he is about a month away from being up to speed with match-fitness and he doesn’t envisage his coach playing any part in the league before the mid-season break which begins on Saturday, June 14.

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