Galway United get nothing from dour tie in Drogheda

Galway United 0

IF imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Galway United will have been blushing all the way home on the bus last Friday night after falling victim to one of their own specialist tactics.

The home side took the three points from a dour, dire game thanks to a goal five minutes into the second-half which was straight from the United training ground – the Galway United training ground.

Awarded a throw-in roughly in line with the edge of the visitors’ penalty area, Drogheda’s Owen Lambe launched his throw towards the near post.

Vince Borden met it, but could only head it more centrally towards the United goal, where Conor Keeley got a more telling touch, flicking the ball on, and Fuhad Kareem cut in from behind Jeannot Esua to poke the ball past Evan Watts and into the net.

It was a rare piece of goalmouth action in a game that, on balance, probably deserved to end in a draw: if we’re honest, it wasn’t so much a game that neither side deserved to lose, rather one that neither side deserved to win.

The visitors had a legitimate gripe about Malcolm Shaw’s fifth minute effort being chalked off for offside, but apart from the goal that was and the goal that wasn’t, neither goalkeeper was really tested across the 90 minutes.

In a way it was hardly surprising, given that both sides had lost scoring threats in recent weeks. Moses Dyer has heading off down the Dyke Road, with Cambodia believed to be the destination for a man who packed in a hell of a lot in his brief time at the club – 10 goals in 20 games, and a marriage that was suddenly rebranded as an engagement – though at the time of writing, that Asian move hadn’t actually gone through.

Things are more definitive for Drogheda, as Douglas James Taylor has swopped Drogheda for Dalymount Park, though with just two goals this season, his absence won’t be as big a blow for the Louth side, despite what they might say.

United showed two changes to the side which had drawn 1-1 with league champions Shelbourne a week earlier, with Borden and Bobby Burns coming in to the side in place of Killian Brouder, who dropped to the bench; and Cian Byrne, who has returned to Bohs after his loan spell at United ended at the end of June.

For a minute after Damien MacGraith blew his whistle to start the game, it looked like United had reverted to a traditional back four, but soon enough, Esua had pushed up to more of a wing-back role as United played with the aid of a mini hurricane at their backs in the opening 45 minutes.

They looked good in that opening half, and created a few half-openings, but the only real sight of goal was their first sight of goal, coming five minutes into the action.

Pictured: Galway United’s Malcolm Shaw who had a goal disallowed in Friday night’s Premier Division away defeat to Drogheda.