Dunne delighted with victory but not getting carried away

Galway United recovered from a goal down to defeat St Pats 3-1 at Richmond Park on Friday evening and after the game Galway United manager Tommy Dunne spoke to Extratime.ie about his side’s performance.

“We came up here hoping that we could pick up something from our first game”, Dunne explained.

“It was a tough match. We knew it was going to be a tough game - in fairness to St Pats they were strong, they created chances. But our goalkeeper pulled off a fantastic save when it was at 1-1.

“We conceded a sloppy goal just after half-time, but after that then we created some chances and listen we were delighted to get the result. Any time we come up to Dublin if we can pick up a result, it’s fantastic and I look at the three points coming here as a bonus.”

After conceding within 90 seconds of the restart, Dunne was disappointed that his side had not fully switched on after the break, but he was also delighted to see them respond quickly after going behind.

“That was [disappointing], sometimes with a group your concentration levels have to be switched on all the time from start to finish and sometimes that doesn’t happen.

“It was a great equaliser. Vinny Faherty done fantastically well, but I have to say in the second-half we were very strong on the break again. I still say that they were a decent outfit [and] for us it's a good three points, but we won't be getting carried away. I think people have to be careful that the one thing you don’t do is get carried away after it.”

Despite drawing level within ten minutes of going behind, the visitors were then forced to defend relentlessly to deny the barrage from the home side and the Galway boss knew his side would be up against it to hold the EA Sports Cup winners at bay and he believes there's still plenty for his side to work on going forward.

“We knew coming here that we were always up against it, but listen, we showed that maybe we need a little bit more work in our team, there were certain areas of the pitch that needed to be better and to be honest with you so hopefully we’ll get that sorted.”

With little over ten minutes remaining, Conor Winn pulled off what could turn out to be the save of the season to deny Christy Fagan a second goal for the host and soon after Galway took the lead when Ryan Connolly picked out John Sullivan in acres of space inside the penalty area and the Tribesmen boss was delighted with his new signings headed finish.

“It was a great ball and a hell of a finish. It was a great finish, powered [the header] home with power and strength. For me that was fantastic, he’s a good lad and he played extremely well - nice and strong in the middle of the pitch, but for us overall we just have to push on and try if we can be consistent and try to pick up results consistently. Listen its three points it’s a good start, but that’s all it is.”

A noisy travelling support made the trip from the west of Ireland to Richmond Park to watch their side in competitive action for the first time since November and Dunne was delighted to be able to give them something to cheer about.

“We had a good group of fans, they have been great. They travel fantastically well for the game tonight and last year they supported us brilliantly so we’re delighted with them and delighted that we could give them something to cheer about. They didn’t have a huge amount to cheer about on the road last year. We have our first home game next week so we have to be ready for that.”