Utd aim to take lesson from the past into Students’ exam

Alan Murphy faces his first big test as a manager when he takes his Galway United side to Dublin this evening to take on table-toppers UCD (7.45pm), looking to build on the momentum that two wins from two has given the side since United’s record league scorer took charge earlier this month.

The fixture list was somewhat kind to Murphy, in that his first two games were against lowly Athlone Town and Cobh Ramblers, but UCD will present a very different kind of test, and it is one Murphy says he and his players are ready for.

“The lads have been really looking forward to the game all week in training. It doesn’t come any tougher, as the table shows – away to the league leaders. We will give UCD the respect they deserve, they have some very good players and are top of the table for a reason, but we will concentrate on our own game, not theirs,” Murphy told City Sport yesterday.

The new United manager offered an interesting insight into life in the United dressing room earlier in the season regarding the preparation for matches, and it is a scenario he is determined not to fall into.

“We can’t be worrying about the other team – it is about ourselves, our own game. I think, too many times earlier in the season, we were beaten inside our own four walls, not by the other team.

“There were games in which we simply didn’t turn up, and if you don’t turn up, you won’t win the game. We have to get ourselves ready, sort out our own approach, and while you give the opposition the respect they deserve, you don’t spend all your time worrying about them,” he said.

United’s best performance this season was in the 2-0 win at home to UCD in May; while United were the better team for much of the 1-1 draw between the sides in the UCD Bowl back in March, but Murphy says those games will have no relevance tonight.

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