Galway United come off second-best against league leaders
Mattie Wolfe second-half header gives home side hope but Hoops take all three points
Galway United’s 20-year wait for a win over Shamrock Rovers will go on for another few weeks at least after the league leaders and defending champions ran-out 3-1 winners in Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night.
The home side certainly traded on parity for large stages of the game, but you can’t afford to fall behind to a team like Rovers after just 90 seconds; and if you do just that, then you certainly can’t gift them a second goal, as United did just past the midway point of the first-half.
Mattie Wolfe did pull a goal back two minutes into the second-half, but it proved to be a mere consolation as the visitors bagged a third goal with 18 minutes remaining to seal the win.
Already without Gianfranco Facchineri and Arthur Parker, United were dealt a further blow on the morning of the game when Killian Brouder was ruled out with a hamstring injury, meaning three of the first-choice back four were missing for a game against a side United hadn't beaten in the league since 2006.
The visitors were missing World Cup-bound Pico Lopes, as well as Cory O'Sullivan; while Galway native, Rory Gaffney, travelled with the Rovers squad but was sporting a protective boot on his left foot as he deals with picking up a post-surgery infection in connection with an Achilles tendon injury.
United’s hopes of improving on their poor record against their visitors were hit less than 90 seconds in when goalkeeper Ed McGinty's clearance was flicked inside by Ola Sobowale to Jack Byrne in the centre-circle, and he played a first-time pass wide to Michael Noonan.
The teenager cut inside, and with Byrne's supporting run drawing a couple of defenders, the space opened up for him to race into before firing past Evan Watts from just inside the penalty area.
The fear for United was that, with a patched-together defence, it was a sign of things to come, but instead the Tribesmen responded brilliantly, going on to dominate the next 20 minutes or so.
They carved out a couple of scoring chances as well, Ed McCarthy seeing a shot charged down in the 8th minute; and Dave Hurley curling an effort for the far post centimetres wide in the 15th minute.
However, Rovers soaked up the pressure before delivering a sucker-punch to their hosts, doubling their lead thanks to a howler from Watts.
Ola Sobowale's cross the from right deflected off McCarthy and towards the United keeper, who moved to his right to gather, but he somehow let the ball through his hands, and it hit the base of the far post before falling to Adam Brennan to tap into the unguarded net from a yard out.
It was harsh on the home side, but it understandably drained their confidence as Rovers began to stroke the ball around, almost toying with the men in maroon who were now being starved of possession.
They did have a couple of pots at goal in the dying embers of the half, McCarthy volleying wide from 20 yards and Aaron Bolger directing a 25-yard effort straight at McGinty, but the half-time whistle couldn't come quick enough for John Caulfield's side.
United made two changes at the break, introducing Frantz Pierrot and Mattie Wolfe for Kris Twardek and Al-Amin Kazeem as United went with three at the back and two up top in an effort to get back into the game. It took just two minutes for the changes to work.
Pierrot was instrumental in United winning a corner, chesting down a Wasiri Williams clearance and laying it off to Hurley, whose shot was deflected over for a corner by Lee Grace.
Hurley took the set-piece from the right, and his near-post delivery was met by Wolfe, who buried a header past McGinty to inject some hope into the home side.
United had to wait until, the hour mark for their second corner of the half, and it almost delivered their second goal. Hurley was again the supplier, this time from the left, and this time it was Wasiri Williams who rose highest to head goalwards, but Dan Cleary was perfectly placed to head the ball off the line.
It was all United at this stage, and Pierrot tried the spectacular with a bicycle kick after being picked out by McCarthy, but his effort was well wide.
John McGovern, who scored twice in Rovers' 4-1 drubbing of Drogheda United on Bank Holiday Monday, drilled a 25-yard effort over Watts' crossbar in just the second attack of note for Rovers in the second-half, but with United committing men forward, more and more space was opening up for the visitors to exploit, and they did just that in clinical fashion in the 72nd minute.
Brennan made the yards down the left, with his header cleared by Conor McCormack. It fell for Jack Byrne, who played the ball to Sobowale on his right, and he smacked a shot back across goal and inside the far post to restore the Hoops' two-goal lead.
In a show of strength the rest of the league can only be envious of, Rivers then threw on the attacking trio of Dylan Watts, Aaron Green, and Graham, Burke - no such thing as packing the defence and adopting a 'what we have, we hold' approach from the visitors.
A couple of fresh United substitutes both went close to pulling a goal back: Lee Devitt's deflected shot in the 82nd minute was seemingly destined for the back of the net, but the wrong-footed McGinty pulled off a wonder save to deny him; and Enda Stevens threw himself in front of a close-range Axel Piesold shot a minute later.
Galway United: Watts; Barratt (Devitt 79), Williams, McCormack, Kazeem (Wolfe h-t); Hurley (Chateau 79), Keohane; Twardek (Pierrot h-t), Bolger, McCarthy; Walsh (Piesold 71).
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty; Cleary, Grace, Stevens; Sobowale, Healy, Byrne (Watts 75), Brennan (Asamoah 798); Ozhianvuna (Malley 82), Noonan (Burke 75), McGovern (Greene 75).
Referee: Kevin O'Sullivan (Cork).