Report: Galway United 2 - 2 St Patrick's Athletic

A fantastic advertisement for League of Ireland football ended in deadlock as Galway United and St Patrick's Athletic played out a rip roaring 2-2 draw at Terryland Park this evening. League positions counted for nothing as Galway produced their best performance of the season against St Pat's, who lost ground in the chase for the title following Bohemians earlier victory.

Jeff Kenna made two changes from the team who lost on Monday night, with Seamus Conneely replacing the suspended Marc McCulloch and Vinny Faherty starting up front in place of Derek Glynn who dropped to the bench. Pat’s made three alterations to their line-up, as David Partridge, Joseph Ndo and Bobby Ryan made returns to the starting eleven.

The home side got off to an enterprising start as Mark Leech went agonisingly close with a 25 yard volley which scraped paint off the outside of the post with Barry Ryan beaten. The tempo was incomparable with the performance on against Cobh, as John Russell and Gary Deegan bossed the opening exchanges. But Galway didn’t have it their own way, as evidenced by five corners in the first ten minutes of which Pat’s had three.

Bobby Ryan almost profited from the third of these in the 12th minute when he volleyed over after a tame clearing header from Wes Charles. Charles shone in open play though, as he flew into challenges and led by example at the back. Some poor defending by Pat’s gifted Galway some opportunities, but in the main Kenna’s side were playing the better football of the two sides. Jay O’Shea had a shot on target easily saved by Ryan on 20 minutes, as the home fans gave the team the vociferous support their early efforts deserved.

Galway have struggled at home to make such dominance pay, but a goal of real class in the 24th minute changed that run of form. Derek O’Brien played a classy one-two with Vinny Faherty, who slid a perfect ball for O’Brien to run onto inside the area, and the Kerry native calmly slotted it to the bottom corner past the advancing Ryan.

But then it all turned sour very quickly for the Tribesmen. Ryan Guy raced away down the left flank and pulled a ball back for the inrushing Mark Quigley ninety seconds later. Quigley took a touch that seemed to give him little chance of getting away a shot, but he stretched out his left leg to volley a well-placed effort past Gary Rogers.

As undeserved as the equaliser was, it got even worse on 33 minutes when Quigley netted his third strike of the season against Galway. Guy was involved again, switching play with a raking ball for Ryan on the opposite wing. Ryan held the ball up as Stephen Brennan made an overlapping dart, but Ryan used him as a decoy and crossed for Quigley to loop a header which Rogers misjudged and, rooted to the spot, could only dive under the ball and Pat’s were somehow in front.

At this point, it was expected that they would stamp their authority on proceedings, but Galway remained tenacious and looked the more likely to add another digit on to the scoreboard. Deegan robbed Ndo on 37 minutes and played in Leech, who cut in from the left before forcing Ryan to save with his feet from a narrow angle.

A game hardly goes by with out a refereeing incident of note and this tie was to be no different. A flowing move involving Leech, Faherty, and Deegan saw the midfielder bear down on goal. A couple of challenges appeared to knock Deegan off balance, but he stayed upright and rounded Ryan. The referee was two yards away and looked certain to whistle any second. Another challenge came in, to which Deegan reacted late in falling over, but the decision by Dave McKeon was a yellow card for Deegan, to the amazement of everyone.

Galway restarted with the same purpose as before, as Leech and Faherty continued to pose a stern threat to the visitor’s rearguard. O’Shea cracked an effort straight at Ryan, before United got back on level terms with a contender for Goal of any month. Seamus Conneely played a smashing cross-field ball for O’Brien on half way. He fed Russell, who in turn played to the advancing Nooitmeer. A quick flick to the sidelines played in O’Brien, who crossed first time and Faherty got a toe to the inviting ball to knock past Ryan.

Deegan smacked a volley which had Ryan at full stretch, as Galway continued to dominate, snapping at every loose ball and forcing Johnny McDonnell into a number of changes as Damien Lynch replaced Ndo in the middle of the park and Glenn Fitzpatrick went on in place of Gary O'Neill.

The game was never less than frantic, even as it entered the last quarter. Leech came close to capping a fine display with the winner twice in the last ten minutes. First, on 80 minutes, he outwitted Jamie Harris on the edge of the box before lobbing a shot millimetres wide of Ryan's left hand upright. Then he broke away and confronted Harris once more but, after making space for a shot, was denied by the outstretched leg of the tall defender.

Leech curled another volley narrowly wide in injury time, but the game ended a draw, one that St Pat's will feel relieved to have come away with. A standing ovation for the home side at the final whistle for a performance that will hopefully ignite their season.

Galway United: Gary Rogers; Regillio Nooitmeer, Wesley Charles, John Fitzgerald, Seamus Conneely; Derek O’Brien, Gary Deegan, John Russell, Jay O’Shea; Mark Leech, Vinny Faherty.
Subs not used: Alvin Rouse, Ollie Fenn, Paul Sinnott, Jonathan Keane, Derek Glynn.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Barry Ryan; Stephen Brennan, David Partridge, Jamie Harris, Dessie Byrne; Bobby Ryan, Gary Dempsey, Joseph Ndo (Damien Lynch 64), Ryan Guy; Mark Quigley, Gary O’Neill (Glen Fitzpatrick 72).
Subs not used: Brendan Clarke, Noel Haverty, Alan Kirby.

Referee: Dave McKeon.
Attendance: 1,003
Man of the Match: Gary Deegan - owned the midfield.