United season starts in earnest

Date Published: 17-Mar-2011

CIARAN TIERNEY

After all the uncertainty over whether or not the club would even field a team this season, it is fair to say that the staff at Galway United would have viewed this Friday night’s home game against UCD as the first ‘must win’ fixture of the Premier Division campaign for quite some time (7.45pm).

Realistically, United were always likely to struggle against St Patrick’s Athletic at home (0-3) and Dundalk away (2-3) in the opening two games after team manager Sean Connor was forced to cobble a squad together in the space of just two weeks.

The players had barely met each other before the St Pat’s game and were not given a prayer for the trip to Oriel Park. But they earned many plaudits for fighting back twice before former United player Shane Guthrie killed them off with a sickener of a goal four minutes from time.

United deserved an unlikely point from the Dundalk tie, which made the long journey home all the more frustrating, but their performance on the road should boost confidence for a showdown with a UCD side who have also seen a host of changes in personnel since last season.

United’s hard-working approach rattled the home side last weekend, while the performances of winger Karl Moore and Shaun Kelly gave hope for the coming campaign. There was also some delight in seeing Alan Murphy come off the bench after a lengthy lay-off due to injury.

“It was a good performance, but it was hard to get knocked out like that so late in the game,” admitted assistant manager Gareth Gorman on Wednesday. “To be fair to the lads who have come in, they have been up to the task and have tried hard in the two games.

“We are going in the right direction, but it is going to take a bit of time. The biggest problem we have had is our fitness, because we just didn’t have a pre-season like other clubs. There was plenty of honesty in our performance in Dundalk, if only we could believe in ourselves.”

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