Team boss Dunne warns Galway United must lift tempo for visit of Cork City
GALWAY United manager Tommy Dunne concedes his side will have to improve dramatically on their FAI Cup dispay last weekend if they are to secure any sort of result against Premier Division contenders Cork City in their SSE Airtricity League game at Eamonn Deacy Park this evening, Friday (7:45pm).
United barely squeezed by non-league side North End in their FAI Cup opener at home last weekend and Dunne is the first to recognise that a display like that will be nowhere near good enough against Cork City this evening.
“You are always looking to improve anyway,” says Dunne. “However, from our point of view, we need to make sure we don’t dwell on that display [last weekend] too much and just get going. We just need to take each game on its own merits and play the best we possibly can. On Friday, we are at home. We are going to be looking to get three points and it as simple and straight-forward as that.”
High-flying Cork City currently lie second in the table – six behinds behind leaders Dundalk and with a game extra played. To date, their league tally is nine wins, five draws and one loss, that a 2-1 defeat at home to Dundalk in April.
City top goalscorer Billy Dennehy had put his side ahead against the champions on the half hour mark in that contest but two goals either side of the interval from Richie Towell rescued a result for the visitors.
Since then, Cork have registered three wins and two draws in the league, with their last league fixture against Shamrock Rovers a scoreless draw at home a fortnight ago. This, no doubt, was a setback to John Caulfield’s charges as they desperately seek to hang on to the coattails of the league leaders.
Consequently, they will be targeting maximum points from this clash against Galway United but that, too, can bring its own pressures. “Yeah, they obviously need the points,” agrees Dunne. “They know they have to win pretty much every game to catch up with Dundalk.
“In saying that, they are still in a strong position for the simple reason they are a strong team. From our point of view, we have just got to make sure we give it everything we can on the night because we need to be at our best if we are looking to beat the likes of Cork and teams like this.”
Galway’s league record against Cork City would suggest they will have it all to do. When the sides last met at Turners Cross in March, Cork won 2-0 and United have won just one of their previous 21 meetings against the Leesiders. Overall, Galway United’s record against Cork is played 51, won 11, drew 11 and lost 29.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.