WNL Preview: Galway WFC -v- Castlebar Celtic

Galway WFC -v- Castlebar Celtic, Eamon Deacy Park

19/04/15, Kick-Off: 14:00

Match Referee: Marc Lynch

Galway WFC

The home side come into Sunday’s Connacht Derby on the back of an unlucky defeat thanks to a late Raheny United goal. The host’s shown that despite have a young side there is a bright future in the coming seasons.

Extratime.ie spoke to Galway Keeper Christina Hughes about the late defeat at the hands of Raheny.

“The Raheny result sums up our season we just can't seem to get results. They're a great team and great teams play for the full 90 minutes and that's something we have to learn for next year. It was a very hard result to take for everyone as we felt at times during the game we had the upper hand.”

On Sunday Galway will be aiming to ensure they finish the season with a final victory at home against local rivals.

“I expect Sunday to a battle to be honest. Whenever we play each other nobody gives an inch, which leads to an end to end game. So far this season this fixture has produced many goals. Hopefully from my perspective it won't be the same on Sunday.”

Galway have never shun away from the fact results have not always gone there way this season, Hughes explains to Extratime.ie that Galway are a young side and next season they aim to show they are not just there to make up the numbers.

“We have been pretty honest regarding the end of this season and are using it as a building block for next season so competition is high within the squad to showcase ourselves for next season.

“We have gone toe to toe with the best in the league in the last two fixtures which highlights we are playing at a higher standard than our current league positioning shows. We are an extremely young team and when we play to our potential we should hopefully get results. We soon have to start making potential into league points however.”

Castlebar Celtic

The visitors are aiming to continue their run of very good form this weekend when they make the 75km trip to Galway WFC for the Connacht Derby.

Castlebar are on a run of two straight victories after recording impressive back to back home wins against Cork City Women 4-2 victory and Peamount United 2-1.

Extratime.ie spoke to Castlebar’s Aoife Herbert about Sunday’s game and their run of strong form.

“We really want to finish the season strong, with the last two wins, there is a confidence in the camp that we can get the job done against Galway.

“The squad is definitely excited, we want to finish with as many points as possibly. It is always tough when we play Galway, the games are always physical and fast paced this weekend I would expect nothing less. Galway are a good side, building all the time.”

Herbert also spoke to Extratime.ie about the ups and downs that Castlebar have suffered this season.

“Originally we thought we might have a shot at 4th place, but now we are just focused on getting our last three points and finishing with a win. We have had an up and down season with some very good and not so good performances, so we definitely want to finish on a high and get out of Galway with a win.”

Today it was also announced that manager Adrian Carberry would be departing his role as Castlebar manager after Sunday’s game.

“It’s been a brilliant experience. I consider it a great help to me as a coach. I’ll always remember the cup final at the Aviva Stadium although we didn’t win and I hope the club will always remember it.

“I feel the best thing is for me to move on. I’d like to thank everybody at the club for giving me the opportunity to work with elite players. I’ve enjoyed working with a great group of people. We hope to go out on a high note. There’ll always be something in a derby game. They are a proud team who’ve made great improvements,” Carberry explained.

Match Stats

The two sides have clashed on two occasions this season with both games producing 11 goals between them.

The sides drew 2-2 in their most recent meeting in Celtic Park.

Castlebar came out on top in a 7 goal thriller 4-3 in Eamon Deacy Park last October.