Keady pleased with hard fought Galway win

GALWAY WFC’s win against Wexford Youths comes as a welcomed change for manager Nigel Keady whose side has struggled to hang on to points the past few games.

Speaking to Mike Rafferty, Keady said: “The performances haven’t been bad the past few weeks but the results have been disappointing. Great to get a win, it’ll move us up another place in the table, so it’s good.”

It started off with both teams cancelling each other out and intercepting each other’s attacks. However, Galway emerged from the dugouts at half-time with a drive to win that reflected in their performance on the pitch.

“The first half was a bit scrappy, I suppose, we battled hard. We played good football, got in their faces as much as we could and without creating a lot of chances had a lot of possession of the ball in the right areas of the pitch.”

The second half saw Sinead Taylor come to Galway WFC’s rescue when she buried her penalty in the back of the net.

Keady said: “Fantastic work by Lyndsey McKey on the wing, cut into the box. I suppose we got the decision going our way this time which was good.

“Got the penalty and Sinead smashed it our way which keeps her our top scorer.”

The Galway side were playing without two key players- Becky Walsh and Grainne Farrell - which opened up opportunities for younger and more inexperienced players such as schoolgirl, Aoife Walsh.

“That’s the hardest part: not playing; not having games for the players that aren’t playing. In fairness, many of them who’ve come in have stepped up to the mark.

“It was good to see that, especially young Aoife Walsh, she’s only 16 years of age. It’s a big step up for the likes of those players and she did well today.”

Galway WFC haven’t been putting away as much as goals as they were earlier in the season, but Keady said that hasn’t been his main focus.

“We’ve put a lot of emphasis in the last number weeks on sorting out our defence and stuff - the start of the season we were a bit open, giving teams a lot of chances. I suppose our passage of play needs to be better.

“We’ve had great chances from the likes of Lyndsey McKey and Sinead Taylor. When they get chances they will take them, that’s the hardest part of football is creating chances. We’re working on the other part and I think we have been better at it.”

Galway WFC next face DLR Waves away on Feb 23.