Credit: Michael P Ryan (ETPhotos)
League Preview: Shamrock Rovers -v- Galway United
- Dave Donnelly
- Mon, May 22 2017
SHAMROCK ROVERS
Shamrock Rovers will look to put a 3-1 defeat away to Derry City behind them when they welcome in-form Galway United to Tallaght Stadium on Monday night (kick-off 8pm).
The Hoops went into the game in confident mood following back-to-back wins in Dublin over Dundalk and Bohemians but came unstuck in Buncrana.
Graham Burke looked to have sent Stephen Bradley's side in level at the break only for Barry McNamee to add to Aaron McEneff's early goal.
McEneff made sure of the points from the spot in injury time to leave Bradley's charges with seven defeats from their opening 14 fixtures.
“It’ll be a tough game [against Galway],” he told the club's website. “We knew that when we went down there and played them. I think it shows how good our win was down there at that time.
“People didn’t give us much credit for it then, they thought we should go down there and win but they’ve shown since that they’re a difficult side to play against.
“It’ll be no different tomorrow but if we play the way we have been playing I’m sure we’ll be OK.
“It was disappointing to take that on Friday because I thought we deserved more but there wasn’t a lot wrong. We just need to tighten up and do what we’ve been doing going forward.”
Bradley will definitely be without Paul Corry who continues to manage his recovery from a serious knee injury, while Roberto Lopes and Trevor Clarke are carrying knocks.
GALWAY UNITED
Galway made it nine games without defeat on Friday as goals from Ronan Murray and Vinny Faherty saw the Tribesmen come from behind to defeat Finn Harps 2-1.
Most impressively, that unbeaten run has included a 2-1 win over champions Dundalk and a creditable 1-1 draw away to league leaders Cork City.
Shane Keegan's side will arrive in Tallaght with huge confidence however the three-day turnaround will be a tough test for their squad depth as they could potentially be without top goalscorers Ronan Murray and Vinny Faherty.
"Away to Rovers is up there with one of the toughest games you'll have all season,” Keegan told the club's website.
"The undefeated streak does give a tremendous confidence to the players and at the moment they feel like they can take anybody on and go toe-to-toe with them. That will be the case on Monday night.
"We're out of the bottom three on goal difference, but at the same time, it keeps our momentum going. We're on a great run, we've got three games to go until the mid-season break.
“The challenge is can we get to the break unbeaten. It might put a bit of daylight between ourselves and those bottom three spots.
"As we've seen this year, it's remarkable how tight the division is. I think any team in the bottom half is capable of beating the teams in the top half.
“We showed that against Dundalk, Bohemians showed it against Bray. If we could keep our run going, it would be brilliant."
Stephen Folan, David Cawley, Faherty and Marc Ludden are all doubts following Friday's game while Murray is suspended after picking up five yellow cards.
Referee: Derek Tomney.
MATCH STATS
The sides have met once so far this season, with a Gary Shaw brace either side of Ronan Murray's equaliser earning Rovers the three points at Eamonn Deacy Park in March.
They met three times in the league last season with the Hoops claiming a clean sweep of victories, 2-0 and 4-2 at home each side of a 1-0 win in Galway.
BETTING
Shamrock Rovers 8/13; Draw 13/5; Galway United 9/2.
PREDICTION
Shamrock Rovers 3 – 1 Galway United
Shamrock Rovers
Injured: Trevor Clarke (knock), Roberto Lopes (ankle).
Doubtful: Paul Corry (knee).
Suspended: None.
Galway United
Injured: None.
Doubtful: David Cawley (ankle), Vinny Faherty (knee), Stephen Folan (calf), Marc Ludden (ankle).
Suspended: Ronan Murray
