Sporting Fingal 2 - 0 Galway United

• Niall Farrell
• Sat, May 29 2010


Sporting Fingal ended their run of two matches without a win with a 2-0 victory over a poor Galway United team at the Morton Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Ronan Finn and substitute Eamon Zayed scored the goals that gave Fingal the win.

Galway, missing five first team players, were pinned back in their own half for most of the match and enjoyed few chances. Fingal had a strong opening ten minutes that set the tone for the rest of the half.

Despite their superiority in every area of the pitch, Fingal couldn’t find a finish worthy of an opening goal in the first half. The Tribesmen were forced to line out with youngster Daire Geraghty in goal as Barry Ryan and stand-in Rhys Meynell were both absent.

Geraghty was forced to make an awkward clearance on 14 minutes as he could only palm a soft shot away. Geraghty then cleared with a volley just outside his area.

The Galway ‘keeper was called into action seven minutes later, as Geraghty made a fantastic point-blank save from a Ger O’Brien header. For the remainder of the half, Galway were rarely let off the back foot. Fingal claimed six corners in the first half, but still couldn’t make the breakthrough.

Glen Crowe had a chance a minute before half-time, but the former Bohemians striker pulled his shot wide after Keith Quinn caught Galway on the break.

Five minutes after the restart, another ex-Bohs player denied Crowe. Thomas Heary made a brave sliding tackle a yard away from the goal line to prevent his former teammate from tapping the ball past Geraghty.

On 53 minutes, Finn got the opener for Fingal with a 30-yard strike. Lorcan Fitzgerald won the ball after Paul Sinnott’s pass fell short of its intended target. Fitzgerald passed the ball short to Finn, who duly smacked the ball past the helpless Geraghty for his fourth goal of the season.

In the minutes following the opening goal, it looked like Fingal might rack the goals up against Galway, as the enjoyed free passing and a number of shots on goal. Galway had a genuine chance after an hour of play, as Gary Curran managed to miss an open goal after Brendan Clarke dived to parry Anto Flood’s shot.

The match took on a thrilling end-to-end nature, as Fingal raced up the pitch to attempt to get a second goal and Galway tried to hit the on the counter-attack. On 61 minutes, Keith Quinn expertly chested the ball down to present Alan Kirby with a golden chance for a strike at goal. Kirby’s shot fell wide, though.

Sporting did get their second goal on 76 minutes, through substitute substitute Eamon Zayed. Zayed turned inside Thomas Heary in the Galwegian penalty area, and the extratime.ie columnist smashed the ball past Daire Geraghty in goal. The remaining sixteen minutes saw Fingal push for a third goal, but it finished 2-0 to the Ravens in the end.

Sporting Fingal: Brendan Clarke, Ger O’Brien, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Shaun Williams, Shaun Maher, Brian Gannon, Conan Byrne, Ronan Finn, Glen Crowe (Eamon Zayed ’62), Alan Kirby, Keith Quinn (Shane Barrett ’80).
Subs Not Used: Darren Quigley, Kevin Dawson, Colm James

Galway United: Daire Geraghty, Paul Sinnott, Jamie McKenzie, Thomas Heary, James Creaney, Tom King (Jason Molloy ’75), Gary Curran, Stephen O’Donnell, Ciaran Foley, Bobby Ryan, Anthony Flood.
Subs Not Used: John Keane, Cian O’Brien.

Attendance: 611
Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Dublin)
Extratime Man of the Match: Lorcan Fitzgerald