Veteran duo take the reins at Utd

Date Published: {J}

Cian O’Connell

Longserving duo John ‘Jumbo’ Brennan and Tommy Lally have been handed the difficult task of preparing Galway United for the last two months of a trying season after the departure of manager Sean Connor was finally confirmed last Friday night.

Victories have been scarce for Galway both on and off the field in 2011, but the spirited manner in which a point was taken against Dundalk on Friday has injected a small drop of hope and the Management Committee running the club are trying to focus on preserving the club’s top flight status.

Ronan Coleman, Secretary of the MC, is encouraged that Brennan and Lally will take charge of first team affairs. "We certainly feel that we can make progress because Jumbo Brennan and Tommy Lally are two people with a huge association with football in Galway and with Galway United. They have both been involved this season and we feel it will be a seamless transition.

"Jumbo and Tommy have together contributed to football over many years in Galway and their experience will be invaluable because they will understand the players and we believe that we can make progress. Jumbo and Tommy will know that Galway United have always operated in a backs to the wall type way and we are battling against the odds now, but it is a challenge they are sure to embrace."

Sean Connor and Galway United parted ways by mutual consent following the Dundalk draw and the former boss is aggrieved by a number of issues. "I don’t want to harp on and talk too much about it, but silly things have gone on. Training pitches weren’t cut, things that were unprofessional.

"Some of the stuff I have been forced to put up with has been downright unprofessional. I have stuck at my job, I had loads of things thrown at me, but I stuck at my job. I did my job week in, week out when sometimes we hadn’t even had goals to train with. A lot of the time the pitch hasn’t been cut, we have trained ankle high without even having the pitch lined."

Coleman disputes those suggestions stressing that Galway United have been assisted throughout a cruel campaign by both junior clubs and local businesses.

"During the year a number of facilities have been made available to us by junior clubs, NUIG, and pitches at APC and HP. We have a very good working relationship with NUIG, who have been extremely good to us. Over the last few weeks East United have been very helpful towards us and junior clubs in Galway overall have been very accommodating. We had a number of training pitch options."

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.