Tribesmen’s season resumes with home ties against Cabinteely and Athlone Town

THERE is a touch of the Charles Dickens to the return to action of Galway United this weekend as the SSE Airtricity League finally resumes its 2020 season, with United facing two home games in the space of four days.

Having gone through some Hard Times with a lack of action over the past 21 weeks, United get back into competitive action with the visit of league leaders, Cabinteely, in Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday, followed by basement side, Athlone Town, on Monday. Not so much ‘the best of times . . . the worst of times’ but rather ‘the best of teams . . . the worst of teams’. Both games have a 7.45pm kick-off.

The League of Ireland is one of the last leagues globally to return to the playing fields, and it is returning in a truncated form – the planned 27-game season has been cut to 18 games, but with results of games played before the introduction of Covid-19 restrictions will stand.

As a result, United already find themselves seven points behind the early pace-setters from Dublin, and while they do have a game in hand – Monday’s visit of Athlone Town – they can’t really afford to slip any further off the pace, given that the shortened season would make eating into that gap a tough ask.

It is hard to know how United are shaping up after the long lay-off, something that applies to every other club. They have played a number of friendlies in the past few weeks, beating Cork City 2-1 in Limerick, but losing to Sligo Rovers both in Sligo, and Eamonn Deacy Park.

They were also beaten 5-3 by an Athenry FC side that was preparing for an FAI Junior Cup quarter-final (which they won at the weekend), and given the fact the opened their season back in March with draws against both Wexford and Shamrock Rovers B (admittedly, in horrific weather), it is fair to say there won’t be too many Great Expectations amongst United fans.

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

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