Pressure on Galway FC to beat visitors Harps and keep play-off hopes alive

Tommy Dunne’s side go into the game five points clear of Wexford Youths in the race for the final promotion play-off spot, and with two tough away fixtures coming up against Cobh Ramblers and Shelbourne before a final-day home clash with Wexford Youths, Dunne says a win is crucial tomorrow night.

“We have to win. Well, first, we have to make sure we don’t concede, that is the most important, but if we do that, I think we have plenty about us at the other end but we are under no illusions, it will be a very tough game,” Dunne said, and with some justification.

Harps are the one side Galway FC have failed to beat in the league this season, the three meetings all ending in draws, and the fact Harps have had two games in the past four days – including a 520-mile round trip to Cork in the FAI Cup – might work against Galway FC, rather than in their favour.

Ollie Horgan’s side are tough to break down at the best of times – they have only conceded more than one goal in four of their 24 league games to date – but the fact they had a long trip down to Cork at the weekend to take on Avondale United in the Cup, followed by a replay in Finn Park on Wednesday night, means they are even less likely to adopt an open brand of football.

“I think it is fair to say they will keep it tight and try to make it a spoiling match, so we have to work harder and make it a football match – if we do that, we should be okay. We have to increase our own tempo, make sure the game is played at our pace and not theirs,” he said

Dunne has spoken previously of the need for a ‘bully’ in his side, and when it is put to him that Saturday night is the kind of game he was thinking about when he expressed that need, the manager explains his thinking.

“I don’t necessarily mean a ‘bully’ who will go after their lads, I am more thinking of someone who will get the best out of our players, who will drive them on, demand more from them. They [Harps] are out of the play-off picture, so we have to make sure we impose our will on the game – the game is more important to us than it is to them, and we have to show that,” Dunne said.

With the FAI Cup taking centre-stage last weekend, Galway FC go into tomorrow’s game on the back of a two-week break, and Dunne said that can work two ways.

“The lads are rested, but we had a bit of momentum with three wins in a row and anyway, I always prefer to be playing week-in, week-out. You can say we are rested, but on the other hand they [Harps] will have a sharpness from two competitive games in a week,” he said.

It wasn’t complete rest for his squad, as they played a training game of three 30-minute sessions against Premier Division side Limerick FC last Friday, running out 4-3 winners.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.