Hat-trick man Murray bails poor United out of trouble

Galway United 3

(After extra time)

Galway Utd won 7-6 on penalties

RONAN Murray wrote his name into the Galway United history books on Sunday when he became the first player in the club’s history to score a hat-trick in the FAI Cup as the Tribesmen booked their place in the last 16 of this year’s competition.

However, those are the only positives to report from an horrific performance as the Premier Division side struggled terribly against their Leinster Senior League hosts, who will rightly feel huge disappointment at not providing the shock of the round, as they were the better side for long stretches of the game.

Keegan admitted that it was as close as you can get to it being a “humiliating day” for his team, and he said the only saving grace was that the performance came in the FAI Cup, and not in the league where United are fighting for their top-flight survival.

“It was close enough to being a humiliating day. To play that poorly and not be ultimately punished, we are absolutely blessed. If we delivered that performance against Finn Harps last week, we’d be as good as done. In that respect, I suppose we picked a good day to be so poor, in that we got away with it a little bit,” he said after the game.

Murray may have claimed the match-ball – or not, as the case turned out, with the home side refusing to give him the traditional memento to mark his achievement – but not one United player can escape criticism for an abject performance that really should have ended in a greater level of embarrassment than being taken to penalties by a non-league side.

The tone for the game was set early, the visitors falling behind after just 80 seconds, and it could have gone from bad to worse 11 minutes later when the home team had a shot taken off the line.

It took until the 72nd minute for United to equalise with something of a gift, when referee Paul Tuite awarded a somewhat soft penalty. Murray converted, and then edged United in front five minutes later.

That should have been that, but Conor Winn’s position as undisputed first-choice goalkeeper was cemented in the 82nd minute with an absolute howler from Charlie Burns to gift the home side an equaliser.

Murray fired United back into the lead a minute from time – surely a team of professionals would see out the last minute plus injury time? Nope. Killester equalised again deep into injury time with the visiting defence marked absent yet again.

Full report in this week's Connacht Tribune.