League Report: Dundalk 3 - 0 Galway United

A second half hat-trick from Dundalk ace Richie Towell brought a mundane Monday fixture in Oriel Park to life. Galway managed to contain Dundalk as far as half time, but the Lilywhites landed three killer blows in the second half to ensure they got the points they needed to stay top of the table ahead of the weekend’s fixtures.

The match began as expected, with Dundalk dominating much of the play with a quick tempo. But they did so without creating any clear cut chances.  Although they continued to dominate possession for most of the half, the Lilywhites’ urgency petered out and they were unimaginative going forward in the final third.

Having the ball and not doing anything with it can come back hurt teams. Galway almost managed to punish Dundalk for their barren spell as they came into the game much more midway through the first half. Connor Gleeson and Gary Shanahan looked sharp when they linked up.

On 28 minutes, Shanahan eked himself out some space, quite some way out, to get a rasping shot away that had pace but not the accuracy. It whizzed wide of Gabriel Sava’s goal. Moments later, he found himself in a one on one with Sava when he nicked the ball from Sean Gannon but he bundled Gannon to the ground in the process and Paul Mc Laughlin blew for a foul.

Galway were getting a real foothold in the game on the half hour mark. Uncharacteristic sloppy play from the Lilywhites gifted the Tribesmen the ball. The ball was in the air more often that crowds at the Carrick Road venue have become accustomed to and even found its way into the home net for the first time this season- only David O’ Leary’s effort was disallowed having robustly, and illegally, disposed Sava. Galway looked a little over-eager when they did get near on goal.

Darren Meenan had arguably Dundalk’s best chance of the first half when he got on the end of a Sean Gannon cross just yards out, but he glanced at it for Ger Hanley to make an easy catch.

Like the fading daylight, the game slipped away. Half time arrived with the game going through a quiet spell. As things stood at halftime, with Cork winning and Dundalk drawing, Cork topped the table on goal difference.

Oriel Park’s grand old floodlights were powered up for the second half and The Town finally sparked to life. Just two minutes after the restart David McMillian was fouled by Kevin Garcia. Towell made no mistake from the penalty and slotted it coolly into the right corner to give the Oriel faithful some much needed action.

Two minutes after the opening goal, an excellent probing run from Sean Gannon picked open the Galway defence and found Towell in space. Towell powered home from the edge of the box, possibly aided by a deflection, to make it two. All of a sudden Galway just weren’t at the races anymore.

By now, Dundalk’s thoroughbred, Towell, was at full gallop. On the hour mark, David McMilllian collected the ball at the edge of the box and thought about shooting himself as he jinked to get an angle before spotting Towell arriving from his left. He rolled the ball across the edge of the box and Towell swung a gorgeous curling shot out of Hanley’s reach and into the top corner of the net to complete his twelve minute scoring spree.

He almost had a fourth in the dying embers of the game when he swung at a ball crossing the six-yard box, but he just couldn’t connect.

To their credit Galway didn’t give up and continued bravely playing positively. With a two man forward line and a gutsy first half display they certainly didn’t give the impression of a team that came merely looking for a draw. But despite their brave effort they head back west with nothing.

Dundalk: Gabriel Sava; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland (Paddy Barrett 63), Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Richie Towell, Chris Shields; Darren Meenan, Ronan Finn (Stephen O’Donnell 88), Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (John Mountney 76).
Subs not used: Ben Kelly (gk). Kurtis Byrne, Shane Grimes, Jake Kelly.

Booked: Gannon (57).

Galway United: Ger Hanley; Colm Horgan, Kevin Garcia, Stephen Walsh, Marc Ludden (Sam Oji 56); Gary Shanahan, David O’Leary (Alex Byrne 69), Ryan Connolly, Jake Keegan; Enda Curran (Aintaine O’Laoi 72), Paraic Cunningham.
Subs not used: Conor Gleeson (gk), Cormac Rafferty, Paul Sinnott, Conor Barry.

Booked: Ludden (28), D. O'Leary (63).

Referee: Paul McLaughlin.

Attendance: 2,693

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Richie Towell (Dundalk)