United’s relegation troubles deepen after latest loss to Rovers

Galway United 1

Shamrock Rovers 2

IN a relegation battle as tight as this year’s, one poor decision can be what makes or breaks a club’s season, and on Friday night with Galway United needing a win desperately to keep up with their rivals, one key ruling by referee Anthony Buttimer had the normally calm Shane Keegan seeing red.

United would take the lead through a Ronan Murray penalty for a handball on 26 minutes, before eventually coming out on the losing side following a late brace from Gary Shaw – however, it was the decision not to send off Roberto Lopes for handling the ball which Keegan felt was the critical blow to his team’s chances.

“His explanation (Anthony Buttimer) to me was ‘I didn’t feel it was a scoring chance’. Why would the centre half punch the ball if he didn’t feel I need to punch it here or the guy behind me is going to head it into the back of the net?”

“It’s just a horrendous decision. It’s cost us what I think is a nailed on three points if they’re down to ten men and we’re one nil up,” said Keegan

Rovers were looking for their 18th win in-a-row against the Tribesmen and the general pattern of all three points coming with relative ease looked to be what was on the cards going on the opening few minutes. Stephen Bradley’s men dominated possession with Ryan Connolly looking like he knew all the secrets to cutting open his former side, only for the offside trap to deny him twice.

United didn’t even enter the Rovers’ half until the seventh minute, but really should have taken advantage when they did as Tomer Chencinski failed to clear a Marc Ludden throw in, but sadly there was no Galway player quick enough to react to his mistake.

The visitors were getting plenty of possession down the left wing, Graham Burke and Trevor Clarke constantly cutting inside and creating chances, and it was through this pair that Rovers came closest to opening the scoring as Clarke threaded in a fine ball into the path of Burke whose shot from a tight angle was well saved by Conor Winn on 14 minutes.

Despite the early Rovers dominance, United were slowly getting into the game as David Cawley and Gavan Holohan began winning the battle around the middle of the park, effectively keeping Rovers at bay while creating chances at the other end.

Holohan was linking up very well with new signing Jonah Ayunga, and the two were causing havoc through the middle, the best of their chances coming when Holohan managed to wonderfully tackle Connolly before playing in the Kenyan international for a one on one effort that was skied over from close range.

Keegan’s charges were well on top at this stage and were rewarded for their effort on 26 minutes when a Kevin Devaney cross was deemed to be handled in the box by Roberto Lopes, resulting in a penalty and a yellow card for the Dublin defender.

Ronan Murray would duly smash the ball home to put United in the very rare position of leading their illustrious Dublin rivals. However there was some debate afterwards whether Lopes’ handball deserved more than a yellow, particularly from Keegan.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.