Galway United head into daunting final stretch of games
Tribesmen host Shamrock Rovers this evening and head to Waterford on Monday
Galway United's players need to put the disappointment of last weekend's cup exit behind them as they face a four-game battle to save their League of Ireland top-flight status, starting with a double header this weekend.
In what looks a daunting run of fixtures to end the season, John Caulfield's side host champions-elect Shamrock Rovers this evening (Friday), before heading to the south-east on Monday to take on a Waterford side that has been transformed since the appointment of Graham Coughlan in May. Both games kick-off at 7.45pm.
The Tribesmen are four points clear of both Waterford and Drogheda, with both United and Waterford having four games to play, and Drogheda left with three. After this weekend double-header, United host St Patrick's Athletic on Friday next, October 23, before what could be a final day showdown away to Drogheda on October 30.
John Caulfield's side does not want to be heading to Louth needing a result to avoid the relegation play-off, but it is difficult to see where they can pick-up points before then, especially if there is a repeat of last Saturday's first-half performance.
Then again, having covered United for 30 years and more, you learn to embrace that tired old cliche to "expect the unexpected": we all expected a real pop at Derry last week, and look how that turned out, so the grim outlook about the next two games could prove just as wide of the mark.
Caulfield was obviously disappointed with the result last Saturday, but has no fears about his players getting their heads right for the quartet of games that will define their season.
"From the start of the season, our goal was always stay in the Premier Division. Starting the season, everyone's tipping us to go down because of all the changes we had in the club, but we're in a position where with four games to go we need a couple of points to keep us up, hopefully we can do that.
"A lot of our players left last season to get better wages elsewhere, and we need to rectify that, but at the same time, we have a new group of brilliant lads, [against Derry] we needed our best game, and we didn't bring it, and that was just it," he said.
Attracting top talent, not just out west, but outside the historical land area of The Pale (Dublin, Louth, Meath and Kildare) has always been a problem, and Caulfield's comments seemed to suggest a conversation will be had with Brian and Luke Comer to dig deeper into the pockets ahead of next season, but any such appeal will be moot if United follow fellow Connacht side Sligo Rovers into the 'Discover Ireland' First Division for 2027.
Ed McCarthy and Matty Wolfe are in line for a start this evening against a Shamrock Rovers side that edged closer to a sixth league title in seven years with a 2-1 win over Bohemians on Monday night. The post-match brawl in Tallaght has cost the visitors the services of Naj Razi and the Nottingham Forest-bound Michael Noonan for the trip west after their red cards, but given their squad depth, they'll scarcely be missed.