The losing habit continues as Galway United fall to 13th defeat on the trot

Date Published: 20-Jun-2011

Shamrock Rovers 4

Galway United 0

Daire Walsh

Galway United’s woes in the Airtricity Premier Division continued in the Tallaght Stadium on Friday night, as a Billy Dennehy-inspired Shamrock Rovers ensured that The Tribesmen remain rooted to the bottom of the top-flight table.

This was United’s 12th straight defeat in the league, and 13th in total when you include the FAI Cup defeat at the hands of Dundalk, and they have a real fight on their hands if they are going to avoid the relegation play-off at the end of the season – the team that finishes bottom of the Premier Division will play the team that finishes third in the First Division for the right to play in the top flight in 2012.

With just four substitutes listed on the night, Sean Connor’s side were once again short on resources for their trip to the capital, and they opted to begin with a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Eduardo Dusi operating just in front of the back four, with the tenacious Mikey Gilmore once again occupying the lone striker role.

This tactic was deployed in order to stifle the Rovers’ middle-third, and was working quite well early on because, even though Michael O’Neill’s charge were well on top in terms of possession, they failed to test Greg Fleming in the United goal during the opening 10 minutes.

Indeed, it was Dusi who had the first shot of the contest on 13 minutes when he received the ball from a neat Bobby Ryan pass, though his subsequent effort was well held by Hoops ‘keeper Alan Mannus.

Nevertheless, this did serve as something of a wake-up call to the champions, and they responded brilliantly by opening the scoring just two minutes later courtesy of midfielder Stephen Rice, who slotted home coolly from eight yards after controlling a ball over the top from Gary Twigg.

This was certainly a blow to the United challenge, especially when you take into consideration how well they played during the opening 15 minutes. They suffered a further blow on 21 minutes when Rory Gartland had to leave the field of play with an injury, with Ronan Caldwell stepping in to fill the void on the right side of midfield.

By this point, Rovers could well have added to their advantage, only for Fleming to pull off a fantastic point-blank save from Gary O’Neill on 18 minutes, while Dennehy had a goal ruled out for offside just shy of the 20-minute mark.

United did have a good chance of their own just a minute after Caldwell’s arrival though, when the lively Gilmore intercepted the ball inside the Rovers area following some lax defensive play, but his left-footed drive from a tight angle didn’t have the right direction to trouble Mannus.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.