United fans to take to the streets for start of season

Galway United fans are planning to ‘Reclaim the Dyke’ with a supporters’ march to Eamonn Deacy Park ahead of their opening game in the SSE Airtricity League First Division campaign against Shelbourne on Friday week, February 22 (7.45pm).

The club has written to every Galway club asking them to take part in the march, which will depart from The Plots in Woodquay at 6.30pm and head along the Dyke Road, recalling Galway Rovers/United’s early days in the League of Ireland, before the construction of the Quincentenary bridge, when supporters would walk together along the Dyke Road for their fortnightly Sunday afternoon game.

People are asked to gather at The Plots at 6.15pm and wear their own club colours for the march, which will be led by a group of drummers, as United bid to reconnect with the local soccer community after a number of years of disenfranchisement between the two.

On the pitch, the squad will be much changed from last year, with a small budget dictating that manager, Alan Murphy, has had to trawl the local pool of talent for signings. In all, 12 new faces have been added for this season, three of whom make a return to the club after absences of varying lengths.

Kevin Horgan (21) returns from a disappointing spell at Shamrock Rovers and will battle with another new signing, James Tierney (20), for the goalkeeper’s jersey. Horgan departed for Rovers ahead of the start of the 2017 season, and while he enjoyed a spell in the first team, a couple of blunders eventually saw him lose possession of the jersey, and his departure from the Dublin side came as no surprise.

Tierney returns to United from Lifford FC in his native Clare. He had spent a season with United’s U-19 team and was also a part of the first team squad at Eamonn Deacy Park in 2017, but didn’t make a single appearance.

He had a stint with Limerick junior side Pike Rovers and also featured for the Clare Oscar Traynor team after departing United, and he is likely to start the season as second choice goalkeeper, with Murphy saying that “there is a big future for James, but it will take a little development and growth from him”.

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

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