Tickets for Galway United's FAI Cup semi-final are almost sold-out
Just 600 tickets remaining for clash at Eamonn Deacy Park next month
Galway United's FAI Cup semi-final clash at home to Derry City next month is almost sold-out, with the club saying that just 600 tickets remained for sale as of lunchtime this Thursday.
John Caulfield's side will take on the Candystripes in front of the RTÉ cambers on Saturday October 10 (3pm), and tickets for the game went on sale online this week.
Tickets for the game are available from the club website, and from the club shop at Eamonn Deacy Park, which is open from 11am to 4pm Monday to Thursday. Tickets will also be on sale at the club's game at hoe to Bohemians in the Women's National League this Saturday (5pm,).
It will be United's second cup semi-final in four season, and will be the fourth time to meet Derry City in the cup, with all four games taking place in Galway.
The first was in 2003, when Alan Murphy scored twice in a 2-1 win at home in the Second Round. The Ulster side won the other two meetings, a Sean Hargan goal sealing a 1-0 win in a First Round tie in 2004; while Mark Farren scored the only goal of the game in a semi-final clash in 2008.
The two sides will have a dress-rehearsal for next month's semi-final this Friday night, when United make the trip to the Ryan McBride Brandywell in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
United have lost on just one of their last five visits to the Lone Moor Road ground since their return to the top-flight in 2024, and they have taken seven points from a possible nine against the Candystripes for far this season.
They are also on a run of three away wins on the spin after taking care of business in Oriel Park, Sullivan & Lambe Park and, most recently, The Showgrounds on Monday night, but they are facing a Derry City team that has found a bit of form under interim manager, Mark Connolly, following the sacking of Tiernan Lynch last month.
"Derry have turned the corner, they're on a good run of form," Caulfield said this week, adding that, while United have moved up to sixth in the table, he expects there to be a right battle to avoid finishing ninth and falling int the relegation play-off spot.
"I think it'll boil down to that ninth position who'll be in the playoff, and I think it looks like it's going to be a huge battle, and we want as many teams as possible dragged in to it," he said. A win on Friday night will lift United into the top half of the table, but depending on results elsewhere, they could win and still find themselves just three points off that play-off spot: as things stand, just four points separate Derry City (38) in 5th and Drogheda United (34) in 9th.
He said that "four or five [players] had done 13 to 14k" in last Friday's home defeat to Bohs, and said his options off the bench were limited, but he is hopeful that "one or two bodies might be back for Friday": Leigh Kavanagh has missed the last two games through injury, while Ed McCarthy has been an unused sub as he recovers from an illness that had also benched David Hurley for a time