United host first of their play-off rivals looking to build on display from last weekend

Galway United’s path to playing in the top flight next season is probably on that will taker them through the play-offs, with leaguer leaders Shelbourne eight points ahead with six games remaining.

The old cliché of ‘there are no easy games’ will certainly apply to those two-leg play-off semi-finals, as there has been little to separate the four sides most likely to end up in the dogfight to get out of the First Division: United, UCD, Treaty, and Bray Wanderers.

In the little mini-league between those four sides, both United and Bray have an average of 1.5 points from games against their play-off rivals this season; and both Treaty and UCD have just over 1.1 points from their encounters with fellow promotion hopefuls.

What could be key is that United are the only side who have a game left against all of the other three ‘pretenders’ to the runner-up spot in the division and so are best-placed to lay down a marker for the business they mean, starting with tonight’s visit of Treaty United to Eamonn Deacy Park (7.45pm).

Even more crucially, United will host each of those three sides – UCD are the visitors on Friday September 24, followed by Bray on Friday October 8, giving United the perfect opportunity to land a psychological blow before the nail-biter that is the long winded play-offs, which will see the First Division side having to come through four games (two-leg First Division semi-final, and a one-off First Division final and promotion/relegation final with the 11th-placed team from the Premier Division).

To do so will take guts and character, and United head coach, Lisa Fallon, says last weekend’s result and performance against Cabinteely showed that her players have both attributes in abundance.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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