FAI CUP Preview: Galway United FC -v- North End United

• Simon O'Gorman
• Fri, May 29 2015




 

GALWAY UNITED FC

Friday night’s FAI Cup game against Wexford side North End United will see the opening of Galway United’s impressive new dressing rooms as Eamonn Deacy Park continue’s to develop into one of the League’s most attractive venues. And Tommy Dunne’s men are odds on favourites with the bookies to overcome their Junior level opposition.

 

Galway have performed well in Cup competition during their two seasons of existence as Galway’s newly minted club of unity. Last year, as well as winning promotion to the Premier Division via the Play Offs, they reached the quarter-finals of the EA Cup and got to the third round of the FAI Cup before going out to eventual League champions Dundalk.

 

This term they have done even better. They are still in the EA Cup with a semi-final against Dundalk scheduled for early August and hopes are high that the Tribesmen can also put together a decent run in the newly monikered Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup.

 

Galway’s recent league form is also on the up. Having mustered just three wins from the opening round of eleven league matches, Galway have added two more from the first three matches of the second round of games. An impressive 2-0 win against Derry at the Brandywell was followed by a dramatic 5-3 win over Bohemians at Eamonn Deacy Park.

 

Currently seventh in the table, one key to Galway’s ambitions this year is the excellent form of striker Enda Curran who has notched eight league goals in 2015, while his strike partner Padraic Cunningham tops the club’s cup scoring chart with three.

 

So far, all of Galway’s 2015 Cup exploits have been performed on home soil and the expectation must be that this latest chapter will see them through to the next round of a competition that has not been won by a Galway club since 1991.

 

NORTH END UNITED

One of twelve non-league clubs in the second round of this season’s FAI Cup second round, Wexford club North End United are not fancied by the bookmakers to make any further progress when they meet Galway United on Friday night.

 

Odds of 12/1 can be secured by ambitious punters who think North End might overcome Premier Division opponents Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park but the Wexford side have plenty of LoI experience in their ranks and should perhaps not be dismissed as lightly as the bookies suggest.

 

League veteran Gary Dempsey is among the North End ranks as well as Shane and Kyle Dempsey, Lee Aust and former Manchester City trainee Paul Murphy.

 

North End were emphatic victors in the last round of the competition when they beat MSL side UCC 4-0 at the Mardyke and they have also took Wexford Youths to penalties in their narrow Leinster Senior Cup defeat back in February.

 

North End come to this fixture having retained their Wexford Premier League title in 2014/15 and qualified for the FAI Senior Cup when they reached the semi-finals of the Junior Cup where they were eventually beaten 2-0 by Liffey Wanderers in April.

 

Referee: Robert Hennessey

 

 

MATCH STATS

Galway have scored eight Cup goals in 2015 although leading scorer Enda Curran has yet to register a goal in cup competition.

 

The FAI Cup has only ever been won once by a Galway club, when Galway United beat Shamrock Rovers 1-0 in the 1991 final at Lansdowne Road.

 

In their brief two-year history, Galway have yet to lose a Cup game at Eamonn Deacy Park.

 

 

BETTING

Galway 1/6; Draw 11/2; North End 12/1.

 

PREDICTION

3-1 home win

 

 

Galway United

Injured: Kevin Garcia (knee), Andy O’Connell (ankle).
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.

 

North End United

Injured: Not available.
Doubtful: Not available.
Suspended: Not available.