United out of tune in home loss to Harps

Galway United 1

Finn Harps 2

GALWAY United might be set to strike oil off the field following reported investment from a Saudi businessman, but they hit a different kind of brown liquid last Friday night as they slumped to a third defeat in four games in a dreadful 90 minutes of football.

An hour into the game and the calls started coming from the fans that it was time for Shane Keegan to go, but the fault doesn’t lie solely with the manager, as once again his players failed to produce anything resembling an acceptable performance.

If this was the level of their ability, then you could shrug your shoulders and accept that a higher level is not possible, but as they showed against UCD last month, this bunch of players are capable of far better than they have produced in the last few weeks.

Speaking after the game, Keegan insisted that he hadn’t ‘lost’ the dressing room, a point confirmed by a couple of players Tribune Sport spoke to since the final whistle, but something is terribly wrong at the moment. The concern is, Keegan seems at a loss to know how to turn it around.

He said after the game he felt Harps were no better than his side. “I don’t think we were any worse than they were, but they were clinical, we weren’t . . . I don’t think it was a performance that deserved to lose the game” was his summation. It was an appraisal that was in the minority.

United started well enough, showing intent and purpose for the first five minutes, but the visitors soon got on top, and took the lead in the 11th minute. United cleared the second of two successive Harps corners, but no-one pressed the ball, allowing Aidan Friel time to control and look up.

He spotted the lazy walk of the United players away from goal, and pinged a ball over their heads for Jesse Devers to run on to. The former United man hit it on the dropping volley with the outside of his right foot, and while his connection was poor, he got enough on the ball to nudge it past the advancing Connor Gleeson, and Robbie Williams was unable to get back and hook it off the line.

United finally started to play in the final 10 minutes of the half, and it coincided with Alan Murphy – anonymous up to then – finally getting into the game. Apart from a 20 yard shot midway through the half which was always rising, United’s record league scorer failed to have much of an impact, but as the side went more direct towards the end of the half, Murphy came more in to it.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.