Hectic schedule takes it's toll in play-offs final as Caulfield looks to the future
THERE was plenty of noise coming from the dressing rooms in the Belfield Bowl after the final whistle on Friday night, but it was all coming from rooms 4 and 5 at the far end of the corridor, which housed the victorious Longford Town squad.
It was a very different story just inside the front door of the clubhouse in rooms 1 and 2, where the Galway United players sat after their promotion hopes had just ended with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Midlands side in the First Division play-offs final.
About 10 minutes after they had entered the changing rooms, the door on room 2 opened and out stepped Galway United manager, John Caulfield. He looked to his left, raised a hand in acknowledgement, and then turned to his right, heading for the Longford Town dressing rooms.
The noise that had been travelling up the corridor suddenly abated as he knocked on the door and stepped inside. There was a brief silence, followed by a respectful round of applause, and then Caulfield stepped back into the corridor and walked down to the entrance of the building, just past the United dressing rooms.
“I just wished them well,” Caulfield explained when Tribune Sport asked what he had said to the victors.
“They deserved to win, they beat UCD last week and they beat us tonight. You have to hold your hands up, it is never nice to lose but you have to give credit where it is due and I just wished them well for next week because if they play like they did tonight, they have a chance of winning,” Caulfield said.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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