United leave troubles behind with thumping away victory

ATHLONE TOWN 0                     

GALWAY UNITED 4

Kevin Egan in Athlone

THE value of confidence was clearly apparent last Friday night in Athlone, as Galway United took advantage of an equally dejected opponent to record their second win of the season, doing so with increasing levels of flair and panache as the game wore on.

Some would say they played like a side that was freed of pressure and expectation, others would say they were flat-track bullies taking advantage of a hapless opponent that lacked confidence or a logical game plan, but either way it was a sea change from what United fans have seen from their team so far this season.

Whether this victory turns out to be the springboard for a run up the table through the middle third of the season or simply a positive blip in an otherwise bleak year remains to be seen, but this was certainly a case of Alan Murphy’s side getting a rub of the green in the first half and going on to take full advantage.  Certainly, Athlone will have felt very hard done by to have gone into the dressing rooms a goal down.

The statistics of the game tell a strange story. Athlone earned 11 of the 13 corners awarded, and the final shot count was 10-9 in favour of the hosts. Full backs Evan White and Dean Casey made great ground down the flanks and some of the crosses that were sent into the Galway United penalty area were right out of the top drawer.

The only problem was that it was the footballing equivalent of Gordon Ramsey serving a Michelin Star pork dish at a Bar mitzvah – the quality of the product is no use when it’s serving the wrong audience.

Throughout the game, Galway’s central defensive pairing of Cian Murphy and Stephen Walsh devoured those deliveries, while anything that went behind them was plucked out of the sky by Kevin Horgan, another physically imposing man.

Asking players like Dean Williams, Kaleem Simon and Shane Stokes to compete against that kind of physical strength and power was a baffling approach, as all three players are five foot ten or less, while two of the three would do well to move the needle on a weighing scales past ten stone.

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

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