Galway United -v- St Patrick's Athletic

• Andrew Cunneen
• Mon, Jun 20 2011


Galway United play host to Pete Mahon’s St. Patricks Athletic on Tuesday evening in the Airtricity League Premier Division. A win for the Saints is crucial to keep them within touching distance of their Dublin rivals at the top of the league, while Galway would appreciate a win in this one to aid them in their attempt to avoid the drop. (Kickoff 7.45pm)

The last meeting between these two was something of an epic encounter with Galway finding themselves up by two goals inside the opening twenty minutes. The joy was short-lived however as goals from Daryl Kavanagh and Paul Crowley levelled it up before the half time whistle. McMilllan, Doyle and North helped seal the win with a goal each to record a 5-2 win at Richmond Park.

This fixture was the opener for both sides in their 2011 campaigns; Pats winning 3-0 thanks to goals from Murphy, Evan McMillian and Pender back in March.

Pete Mahon has his side well organised and scoring freely while maintaining defensive discipline at the same time. Daryl Kavanagh has been an inspired signing, becoming a regular in the Pats lineup. The Saints hammered Drogheda by four goals to one in their last outing in the division; Kavanagh scoring here once again.

Galway on the other hand are having an awful season, one that any supporter of the Tribesmen will be finding hard to endure. Sitting bottom of the division with just five points, injuries have also affected their progress, their latest victims being ex-Limerick player Sean Kelly who is suffering from a long term injury and Shane Keogh who has suffered a broken bone in his foot.

Galway have lost their last thirteen games on the bounce and have yet to win at home. United’s only win of the season came in Dalymount Park, defeating Bohemians by a goal to nil.

Sean Connor is hoping for a turnaround in fortunes this week. "It's another difficult game, we seem to be getting no luck with injuries and suspensions. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves, we've just got to keep going and hopefully our luck will turn.

Pete Mahon has more reason to be positive about his side’s chances on Tuesday night. He said: “This will be a tough ‘aul match that we will have to approach with caution. Galway have to win a game sometime and we have to try and make sure that it’s not tomorrow.

“We’re heading into the third round of the league now and I have a set number of points in my head that I’d like us to reach that would put us in with a great chance going into the last series of games.

“That’s a long way away though and I have no problem using the old cliché that we’ll take every game as it comes starting tomorrow in Galway. We have a few injuries and few knocks but we’ve seen over the past few weeks that we have players that can come in and do a job for us when other lads are out.”

Galway United:
Injured: Sean Kelly (knee), Shaun Maher (achilles), Joe Yoffe (ankle), Jonathan Keane (knee), Shane Keogh (foot).
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Stephen Walsh.

St. Patricks Athletic:
Injured: Conor Kenna (knee), Derek Pender (foot).
Doubtful: Brian Shortall, Dave Mulcahy, Derek Doyle.
Suspended: Ian Bermingham.

Referee: Damien Hancock.
Paddy Power Odds: Galway United 9/1; Draw 9/2; St. Pats 1/4.
Extratime prediction:Injuries galore, and poor form Galway against a Pete Mahon side with Daryl Kavanagh on fire; 0-4 away win.