Galway FC heading down south

Galway FC's Stephen Walsh and Longford Town's Pat Sullivan in action during last Friday night's First Division tie at Eamonn Deacy Park. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.

placeholder image — Galway FC's Stephen Walsh and Longford Town's Pat Sullivan in action during last Friday night's First Division tie at Eamonn Deacy Park. Photo: Joe O'Shaughnessy.

DEFENDER Martin Conneely is a major injury doubt for Galway FC ahead of their SSE Airtricity League First Division clash away to Waterford in the RSC this evening, Friday (7:45pm).

Conneely was forced to withdraw from the action in the 61st minute in Galway FC’s 3-0 defeat to Longford Town and manager Tommy Dunne confirms that the 24-year-old, who has netted two league goals already this season, is a concern due to an Achilles tendon injury.

Galway FC are already without 18-year-old striker Ryan Manning after he sustained a hairline fracture of the wrist in the 1-0 victory over Wexford Youths three weeks ago and Dunne is not expecting Manning to return to action for some time yet.

That said, the club will be buoyed by the arrival of another front man, Enda Curran, from Derry City this week. If Galway native Curran can return to the form he showed when fielding in this Division with Salthill Devon, in particular, he will be a serious addition to FC’s set up.

Having also lined out for Galway United and Mervue United earlier in his career, last season Curran, who scored twice in a dozen appearances for Derry in the first half of 2014, played a key role in helping Athlone Town to secure promotion to the top flight at the end of last season.

“Yes, we have brought in Enda,” says Dunne. “He was available to us once the window opened on July 1. He is a good lad. He seems to have scored goals at this level before and he was up in Derry City for a while. We are now hoping he can settle in and get going fairly sharpish.”

With Galway FC failing to find the net against Longford – the loss ending an eight-game unbeaten run – Dunne is hoping that this was just a blimp. “At the start of the season we found it difficult to get goals and Friday night was the first time we hadn’t score for a while. So, we have to get back into the scoring vein again in all departments.”

At any rate, he agrees Galway FC must respond positivity to last weekend’s defeat. “There needs to be [a response]. We have to try to get a result in Waterford, which is a difficult place to go anyway. If we get a result in Waterford, and with Shels and Longford playing each other this weekend, it might be an opportunity to gain ground on one of them.

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