Manning on mark as Galway FC edge out Wexford hosts

Galway FC 1

 IN the end, it turned out to be a good Friday for Galway FC, but for the first hour or so we were given a glimpse into the world of Phil Connors, the TV weatherman character played by Bill Murray in the film Groundhog Day who finds himself in a timeloop, forced to endure the same day over and over again.

Just like the games against Shamrock Rovers B and Shelbourne, Tommy Dunne’s charges were the better side and dominated possession and territory in Ferrycarrig Park, but were failing to make that dominance count on the scoreboard.

It looked like being another night of hard-luck stories, a night of ‘what-ifs’ and ‘if onlys’, with the fare on offer in the footballing outpost that Mick Wallace built being interchangeable with previous outings, but that all changed in the 61st minute when Ryan Manning showed great awareness to loop a header into the net for a goal that was enough to settle a poor quality tie

It says a lot that considering the visitors’ superiority, it was goalkeeper Conor Gleeson who was their best player on the night, the youngster putting in another cracking display between the sticks to add to his growing reputation as a shot-stopper of note.

When you are struggling for goals at one end, you need to ensure you’re keeping them out at the other and Gleeson was once again outstanding, pulling off three saves of the top-drawer variety before Manning made that crucial breakthrough.

And so the first round of games is complete and sees Galway FC with the reasonable return of nine points from seven games, with two wins, three draws and two defeats to their credit. It could – and should – be a healthier return, but there are some serious flaws in the attacking third of the pitch that need to be ironed out.

They had plenty of possession on Friday night, particularly in the second-half, but the goal aside, Doyle really had little to do, a combination of bad finishing and, yes, bad luck, proving to be Galway FC’s downfall.

“We’re still creating chances, but we just have to be a little bit more fluent and try to get more to finish. We have to encourage more players to get in there, but your general play has to be good to allow fellas get in to the box,” Dunne said after the game.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Sentinel.