Galway United hit with injury-time sucker-punch in league defeat

United looked like forever having at least one unbeaten home record as a sing-dong affair entered the first of three minutes of injury time when Tyreke Wilson pounced on a loos ball about 20 yards out to drill a low shot past the despairing dive of Evan Watts and inside his left-hand post to snatch a 1-0 win for the Louth side.

There were ugly scenes after the final whistle, both squads coming together to exchange ‘pleasantires’ outside the Dundalk penalty area, behind which the Dundalk fans were gathered, the Louth side no doubt enjoying every minute of their own form of justice for being dragged almost the length of the country for the game.

The game was moved to Cork after a saga that has been running for weeks and is well documented elsewhere, a move which was an inconvenience to both sides.

United put on subsidised buses for fans travelling down form Galway, but one of those fell to the peril of moving a home game 200kms away from: the second bus to depart from Galway suffered a puncture about half way along the journey, leaving those fans having to wait for the first bus to drop its cargo to Turners Cross, before turning back for the stranded supporters.

There was an incredible atmosphere in the Turners Cross area in the hours leading up to kick-off, with a clear blue sky and some big yellow thing in the sky radiating heat down on the thousands of people in the area.

They weren't going to the match, mind you: Kingfishr were playing in Musgrave Park, about a three minute walk around the corner, and that's where the vast majority of people navigated towards.

Some still found their way into the home of the Munster FA - an official attendance of 454 was announced.

On the team front, both Francely Lomboto and Kris Twardek were absent from the match-day squad: Lomboto had picked up an injury in the warm-up for the Shelbourne game a fortnight ago, but there had been no mention of a difficulty for Twardek when Tribune Sport spoke to John Caulfield on Monday, hut the winger was spotted in the ground wearing a protective boot.

He had said Arthur Parker was in contention to start after owing out with a hamstring injury, and the on-loan youngster was named at right-back in one of two changes from that 1-1 draw with Shelbourne. Conor McCormack coming in for Mattie Wolfe was the other change.

United started well, winning the early physical battles, but Dundalk were the first to threaten, going close twice within the space of 60 seconds. A right-to-left ball picked out Daryl Horgan's run into the box in the 7th minute for his first touch of the ball. It was a heavy touch, however, and Parker nipped in to play the ball off the league's Player of the Month for May, and out for a goalkick.

His second touch a minute later saw him drill a shot across the face of goal and wide after the ball, fell to home from Evan Watts' fine save to keep out Eoin Kenny's 25-yard effort.

United did threaten with a counter-attack led by Aaron Bolger in their first attack of note, in the 10th minute. He played Lee Devitt in on the left, but the over-lapping full-back tried to pick out Jimmy Keohane inside rather than take on the shot, and the cross was cleared for a corner that came to nothing.

Horgan was the expected threat for the Louth side, twice getting in deep on the left to drill a ball across goal, but a sliding Danny Mullen was unable to get on the end of either delivery.

Dave Hurley tried his luck from just inside his own half in the 21st minute, evoking memories of his wonder-goal from half-way against St Patrick's Athletic last season, but this time the ball held up in the wind and dropped into the hands of a retreating and relieved Enda Minogue.

While there was no doubting Horgan's attacking prowess, his positioning offered little support to left-back, JR Wilson, and it was down the Dundalk left side that United looked most menacing, with Parker embarking on a number of probing runs, but United's final product was a let-down.

It did take a badly-timed tackle from Rob Cornwall to snuff out a charge towards goal by Stephen Walsh, the centre-back picking up a yellow card for his effort just outside the box, but again, the delivery from the set-piece was easily cleared by the visitors.

Minogue had to get down smartly to smother an Ed McCarthy shot which came at the end of a mazy run by the Limerick man; who then had a shot blocked for a corner in the 41st minute.

That came after a blistering run from Parker that must have tested that injured hamstring of his, a 60 yard dash which left Declan McDaid for dead before his ball into the box fell for McCarthy, who was denied by his former United team-mate, Aodh Dervin.

The 'home' side had a couple of pops at goal in the opening 90 seconds of the second-half but neither Conor McCormack's header, or McCarthy's 20-yard effort, were on target.

Watts showed great agility to deny Mullen at his near post after a shimmy and reverse pass by Horgan had exposed the United defence, a defence that soon took on a completely new look when United made a quadruple substitution just past the hour mark, with Al-Amin Kazeem and Wasiri Williams coming in for Parker and Lee Devitt; while Frantz Pierrot and Axel Piesold were also introduced, with McCarthy and McCormack the ones to make way.

The new-look took time to settle, and Dundalk almost took advantage, JR Wilson getting in behind Kazeem moments after his introduction to dink a ball to the back post where Mullen was unmarked, but he sent his free header wide from close range.

United's stranded fans finally made it to the ground just as the clock ticked into the 75th minute, just in time to see Nicolas Chateau make his second appearance of the season as United made their fifth and final change an attacking one.

It looked set to be the only thing of note they would witness, and they proably wished it was, as Wilson pounced in the first minute of injyury time to nick it for Dundalk.

Galway United: Watts; Parker (Kazeem 61), Facchineri, Brouder, Devitt (Pierrot 61); Bolger, McCormack (Williams 61); Keohane, Hurley, McCarthy (Piesold 61); Walsh (Chateau 79).

Dundalk: Minogue; T Wilson, Burns, Cornwall, JR Wilson; Dervin; McDaid (Buckley 72), Teahan, Kenny, Horgan (Groome 90); Mullen (Tracey 72).

Referee: Kevin O'Sullivan (Cork).