A Golden Night to Remember for Galway United
The playoffs beckon for John Caulfield’s side
Galway United is a team on the charge in a city that believes greatness awaits. The fans were buzzing as the Tribesmen ran riot to hammer their promotion rivals UCD 4–1 at a bouncing Eamonn Deacy Park.
Manager John Caulfield has led the revolution that has now secured a consecutive playoff place off the back of this big win. They just missed out on promotion last year, but 12 months on they are looking ready to go a step further in their bid for League of Ireland football.
Caulfield was calm and assured after the game and he certainly isn’t getting ahead of himself yet. He knows there’s still four games to go in the league before the big games start.
Automatic promotion is just out of reach due to a poor start to the season, but Galway United found their form and have risen up the league table to now sit in second place.
But no slip ups will be allowed in the arena of playoff competition. The dip in form in the league could be rescued with a run of great performances, but one bad day in the playoffs and that’s it.
Caulfield knows the dangers of this, speaking after the game he was assertive in his tone about the possibility of facing UCD again in that playoff.
“UCD are one of the top sides and when the playoffs come it’ll be totally different cause you have the cup football then,” said Caulfield.
“It’s totally different, I know that. The most important thing for us is that we gave a very good performance. The crowd was incredible, the noise was fantastic. It was brilliant.
“That’s what you want, you want to make this place sort of a fortress. You want to hear the crowd singing and chanting all the way through. It lifted the lads and that’s what we need them to do.”
United had been caught in the middle of a scoring slump in previous weeks. Their recent results saw them drop valuable points in the fight for automatic promotion. Just one goal from three games saw them earn four points from nine.
That run of results was particularly disappointing considering they were the first side to beat Shelbourne all season immediately before this tumble. The gap between the sides was down to seven points with eight games to go. That is now 10 points with four remaining.
However, the battering of UCD should give the team some momentum going into the playoffs, and the final four league games gives Caulfield a chance to rest players and bring in some fresh faces before crunch time.
“[Conor] McCormack comes back from suspension and [Conor] Currans comes back from suspension so, it gives us more options for next week,” added Caulfield.
“But also there’s a few guys on the bench who didn’t play tonight who are coming back from injury.
“They’ll allow us to freshen things up a bit. The most important thing is that it’s just one game, we won, we’re in the playoffs and the next number of weeks we need to keep our form and drive on.”
Caulfield isn’t going to be taking it easy over the next few weeks. There was an obvious sense of relief at securing the victory over UCD, but his eyes aren’t focused purely on the playoffs just yet.
In fact, it wasn’t until a fellow reporter informed Caulfield of other results that he found out his side had mathematically earned their spot in the top five.
Instead, the primary objective was to beat UCD and jump ahead of them in the table for second spot.
On a night with such great strikes for the second and third goals, it was the fourth that Caulfield enjoyed the most for the simple reason that it finished off the game as a contest. It was at that moment he could relax — even just a little.
“I think they were good goals, I’d have to see them back. I know there were a couple of strikes but I think when we got the fourth goal the game was over cause at 3–0 we looked in charge,” reflected Caulfield after the game.
“We gave them a soft goal and there was still 15 minutes to go. But I think once we got the fourth goal then the game was wrapped up and that was the most important thing.”
That fourth goal was the side’s best example all night of great team play. A pass from midfield split open the UCD backline, playing through Shane Doherty and Padraic Cunningham.
Doherty had done superbly earlier in the night to bag the third goal with a magnificent strike from the edge of the box, driven hard and low into the bottom left of the net.
But this time he had the selflessness and awareness to square the ball to substitute Cunningham who tapped home the game’s final goal.
It was at this point of the night that United’s vocal supporter base began to chant with utmost confidence in their team.
“We are going up! We are going up!” they roared.
It’s been a long road back to the top for Galway United, but there is now a great feeling of pride as the City’s biggest football club marches its way confidently into the First Division playoffs.
