Galway United -v- Cork City

• Alan Dooley
• Fri, Jul 03 2009


Galway United and Cork City meet tonight at Terryland Park (kick-off 7.45 pm) with both clubs in desperate need of a win to ease worries that their early season good fortunes were nothing more than a false dawn.

Galway are bottom of the form table at the moment with only a solitary draw (at home to Drogheda) to show from their last five games, with Cork not far ahead of them with four points in the same period. Ian Foster will be aware that the slide towards the relegation spots must soon be arrested, especially with a resurgent Drogheda now looking a more viable proposition in the ten-team league. Cork have also been on the slide since Jason Byrne earned Bohemians a vital win on Leeside and now sit five points behind the reigning champions.

Monetary worries are also to the fore of both club's thoughts, with the home side offering reduced-price ticket packages and half-season tickets in an effort to entice the crowds back. Cork seem to have the more pressing concerns, though, with further rumours of player unrest emerging yesterday and a resolution with the Collector General still unconfirmed.

The return to action on the pitch should then be a welcome relief for both, although Foster and Doolin do have selection headaches to deal with. Alan Murphy and Shane Fitzgerald may make a return to Foster's squad but will hardly start after a long period of inaction. Derek O'Brien remains a doubt with hamstring trouble after missing the fruitless trip to Tallaght, while Dave Cooke is suspended and Sean Kelly, thankfully recovered from injury, must sit out due to the terms of his loan deal.

The influential Joe Gamble should return to the heart of the Cork midfield alongside Colin Healy, but Doolin will have to plan without Shane Duggan (suspended), Billy Dennehy (hamstring), and Robert Mezeckis (ankle).

Cork won the first encounter between the sides at Turners Cross when Doolin employed Faz Kudozovic out wide to good effect, the Bosnian crossing for Billy Dennehy to grab the only goal. The home side impressed in the first half of that game, but Galway matched them after the break without threatening an equaliser. The strength of the Cork backline could prove vital, but with United's Jay O'Shea looking to impress a reported scrum of scouts on the lookout at Terryland Park tonight, a rare win over the Rebels may yet be on the cards for The Tribesmen.

extratime.ie Prediction: Score draw.