Galway United -v- St. Patrick's Athletic

• Alan Dooley
• Thu, Sep 17 2009


Galway United welcome St. Patrick's Athletic to Terryland Park tomorrow night (kick off: 7.45pm) for a televised game which should provide some decent clues as to whether either of these sides will get sucked into the dreaded "bottom three".

Had the results of the earlier three encounters between these sides been reversed, Galway would now sit on the bottom of the table while St. Pat's would be safely planning their Premier campaign for next year. In reality, the nine points acquired by Ian Foster's side leave them possibly only a couple of wins from safety as they begin their final series of matches, and Jeff Kenna under pressure following Tuesday's cup exit at the hands of Waterford United.

The FAI Cup exploits of potential play-off opponents in mid-week strongly underlined the need to avoid this possible end-of-season banana skin. Over the last four rounds of the league, Sligo, Drogheda, and Bray have all gained more points than these two teams, who both linger above them without any resounding sense of superiority. A draw tomorrow night will not aid either's cause.

Neither side, though, specialise in sharing the spoils. St Pat's have not drawn a single away League fixture all season while Galway have only drawn two at home. All of the Inchicore side's away wins (4) have come via 1-0 score-lines, and with Galway shot-shy and goalless when the live cameras appear in Terryland, a low-scoring affair is predicted.

Ian Foster's selection options have been weakened by four suspensions which have robbed him of Sean Kelly, Cian McBrien, Dave Cooke, and Jason Molloy. Kelly's defensive qualities are the hardest to replace, with the likelihood that Alan Murphy will probably drop back into the middle after refinding some old goalscoring form in recent weeks. Aaron Greene has provided an extra dimension up front with his pace, but clean sheets are now the most precious commodity at this time of the year and Galway so far have only managed six; Barry Ryan and co need to tighten things up at the back if Galway are to steer clear of the drop.

Jeff Kenna also has suspensions to overcome, with Damian Lynch and Dave Partridge ruled out. With a short recovery period to contend with, the former Galway boss may make further changes in an attempt to deny United a clean sweep of victories and prove the Richmond Park detractors who were calling for his removal wrong.

extratime.ie Prediction: A narrow Galway win. 1-0.