Trip down memory lane – Galway FC host Wexford Youths in Eamonn Deacy Park

The Dyke Road could be unofficially renamed as Memory Lane this Sunday as Galway United/FC plays its first Sunday afternoon League of Ireland game at Eamonn Deacy Park for more than two decades.

There were FAI Cup semi-finals in 1999 (against Finn Harps) and 2000 (against Shelbourne), but you have to go back to Sunday March 14, 1993, for the last time a league game was played at the ground on a Sunday afternoon.

That game saw Galway United defeat St James’ Gate 4-0 in a season in which Tony Mannion’s side went on to win the First Division title and gain promotion to the Premier Division, and while the same title is out of reach this time around, promotion is very much to the fore for the latest players to represent Galway city and county in the national league.

Galway FC head into Sunday’s final league game of the season against Wexford Youths (kick-off 3pm) three points ahead of the team from the South East, and with a goal difference which is 14 better off than Sunday’s visitors.

That means Shane Keegan’s side need something of a miracle to overhaul the Tribesmen and book a place in the First Division play-off against Shelbourne, although Galway FC manager Tommy Dunne is taking nothing for granted ahead of Sunday’s game.

“We need to be professional and full focussed on Sunday’s game, I think people are jumping the gun saying we have made the play-offs, but Wexford can still catch us so neither me nor my players are taking anything for granted.

“We still have a job to do and we will approach this game like we would any other – wanting to win it. If we start thinking the job is done, we could slip in to some bad habits, and you are in danger if you do that.

“Wexford will give this a right go, they will come at us from the very start and we have to be clued-in from the first whistle. In one way that might work in our favour, but we have to make sure we are at the pitch of the game from the very start,” he said.

It will be an afternoon of nostalgia for older followers of Galway United, recalling the days of the old shed and the chicken-wire boundary fence; the rickety old dressing rooms and the moss-covered ‘al-fresco’ toilets, which had strategically placed concrete blocks you could stand on to ensure you didn’t miss any of the action!

Dunne is anxious to give today’s fans a memorable end to this season’s campaign, and continue their recent impressive run, which saw five straight wins before last week’s draw away to Shelbourne. He says that only for the same old failings of the season to resurface last Friday night in Tolka Park, his side should be looking for a magnificent seven of victories on Sunday.

“It was the story of our season on Friday night – we had plenty of opportunities to win the game, but just didn’t take them. If we took even half the chances we had over the season to win games, we’d have been right in the hunt for the title, but it wasn’t to be.

“Shelbourne are waiting in the play-offs for either us or Wexford, and they are a very good side. They have plenty of experience so if we do make the play-offs, we need to be heading into those games [over the next two weekends] in the best for possible.

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