Galway United defy the critics with a valuable draw against Shels

With neither side having troubled the respective goalkeepers up to that point, the men between the sticks had to earn their crust in the remainder of the game, particularly Evan Watts, who ensured his

side made the trip home with a point thanks to a couple of cracking saves.

John Caulfield went with the exact same match-day 20 from the opening night defeat to Drogheda United, and he stuck with the same split as well in terms of starters and subs.

The visitors won the toss and opted to defend the goal behind which a sizeable continent of United fans were located. That gave the home side the kick-off, and they dominated both possession and territory from the start, attacking their visitors down both flanks. They got plenty of crosses in from out wide, but the majority of deliveries were poor, failing to clear the first man.

United had a brief foray into the Shels penalty area around the five-minute mark with a couple of free-kicks – the first of which earned Kameron Ledwedge the first booking for the match – but neither delivery found their intended target as the Reds defence cleared both times.

For all of that dominance, however, Watts was rarely troubled in the United goal. Shels did manage half a dozen shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes, but just one was on target, and that was deflected for a corner before it ever came near Watts.

In fairness, Wessel Speel had an equally redundant opening half at the other end, with the only real talking point from the first half being the 40 th minute departure of Shels captain, Paddy Barrett, with an injury.

Lee Devitt had United’s only shot on goal a 20-yard effort two minutes from the break that fizzed wide, but United will have been happy with their lot at the break.

The second-half started on the same footing, with Shels as good as camped in the United half, and after 10 minutes of incessant pressure, Caulfield had seen enough, taking off the front two of Stephen Walsh and Francely Lomboto.

United kept roughly the same shape with the changes: Kris Twardek came on for Lomboto in a straight swop; while Conor Barratt’s introduction for Walsh saw Jimmy Keohane push up front alongside Twardek, with Barratt slotting into midfield.

Shels reacted with triple change of their own five minutes later, before the game exploded into life in a chaotic 60-second spell.

Dave Hurley made the hard yards down the right from a throw-in before cutting in along the endline and pulling the ball back for Twardek, who smashed it home. The cheers hadn’t died down in the away end when Speel thwacked the ball forward after the restart was played back to him.

The ball bounced just short of the United penalty area, and Rodrigo Freitas got between William and the ball, drawing a soft foul, and Harry Wood sent Watts the wrong way with the spot-kick.

That prompted a Shels onslaught for the final 30 minutes, but Watts was in brilliant form, pulling off

a string of top-drawer saves.

United had a couple of half chances of their own as Twardek and fellow sub, Ed McCarthy, caused the home side’s defence some problems with their direct running, but in the end they had to settle for what was a thoroughly-deserved point, with Freitas booked in injury time for trying to con referee Kevin O’Sullivan into awarding him, and Shels, a second penalty.

Galway United manager John Caulfield sounded a note of defiance in Tolka Park on Friday night after watching his side battle to a thoroughly-deserved draw against a side that lifted the league title just two seasons ago.

The Tribesmen soaked up wave after wave of pressure from the hosts before taking the lead with a brilliantly-worked goal just after the hour mark; but no sooner had they taken the lead, they gifted their hosts a way back into the game.

The 'gaffer' was annoyed at that slip in concentration, but the main message coming from the away dressing room was one of pride and determination.

“I said to the lads after the game, 'you are a new team, no one's giving us us a chance, everyone says we're going to be relegated, and we need to fight for everything', and, you know, we need to show that hunger every week.

“I said to the lads after the game, 'you are a new team, no one's giving us us a chance, everyone says we're going to be relegated, and we need to fight for everything', and, you know, we need to show that hunger every week.

“If we do that, we get better. We're off the mark now, we got a point where no one gave us a chance. Look at the crowd, and the number of fans we brought: even though everyone's slagging us off, saying we'll finish bottom of the table, we still have massive numbers, and they are right behind the team.

“No one gave us a prayer to get a result tonight, we said all week, we had to fight, we had to work and work and work."

Shelbourne: Speel; Casey, Barrett (inj, Bone 40), Ledwedge; Wood, Henry-Francis, McEnery, Lundgren (Kelly 76), Jarvis (Boyd 60); Mbeng (Caffrey 60), Martin (Boyd 60).

Galway United: Watts; Parker, Williams, Brouder, Facchinieri, Devitt; Bolger (Woulfe 82), Hurley, Keohane (McCarthy 73); Walsh (Barratt 55), Lomboto (Twardek 55).

Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan (Cork).