Luckless Utd have nothing to show for cracking effort

Galway United 0Shamrock Rovers 1

Keith Kelly

DICK Turpin is alive and well and wears the green and white hoops of Shamrock Rovers, if the evidence from Terryland Park on Sunday night is anything to go by, when Galway United dominated for long stretches against the league leaders, but finished the game empty handed after Gary Twigg’s latest act of goal-poaching.

United didn’t give their visitors a sniff for the first hour or so, making the most of an immaculate surface to play the more attractive football, but a lack of cutting edge up front cost Sean Connor’s side dearly, as United were certainly value for a point, and there would have been little scope for argument had they taken all three.

Instead United only have a display of passion and commitment to cling to for comfort, something which has been sorely missing in recent games, and the question has to be asked as to why they can’t play like this every week, as the evidence of Sunday night showed they are a match for anyone when they put their ‘game face’ on.

The difference in rest times for both sides clearly made a difference – United had a nine-day break since their last game, while Rovers had been in Europa League action on the Thursday night – and Sunday’s game also showed the difference Stephen O’Donnell makes to the side.

The city native was missing for the Connacht derby with Sligo Rovers the previous weekend through suspension, and United never got a foothold in midfield in the Showgrounds without him. It was a different story on Sunday night as he and Ciaran Foley bossed the middle of the park as United’s players put the latest financial concerns at the club to one side to put in one of their best displays of the season.

“I am not too distraught because when you get that sort of effort and commitment and style of football from your team it really does perk you up. We have had a tough couple of weeks, the players and me myself personally - it has been frustrating because I have been actively trying to cut my wage bill,” Connor said afterwards. 

Anto Flood is one of the players cut free in a bid to reduce the wage bill, and he was sorely missed on Sunday night. Karl Sheppard put in a huge amount of work, but too often he dropped deep or out wide to forage for possession, and when he invariably found himself with the ball, there was no-one in the box waiting for the cross.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.