Galway United's top flight adventure continues tomorrow evening at Eamonn Deacy Park when Tommy Dunne's side host Longford Town (7.45pm kick off ).
It has been a busy week for United, who defeated Drogheda by 1- 0 last Friday before losing 2-0 to Cork City at Turners Cross on Tuesday.
The stirring success over Drogheda United was achieved despite the harsh first-half dismissal of Sam Oji. Already leading, courtesy of a fine Enda Curran goal, United then coped after a controversial red card from referee Graham Kelly.
The spirited way Galway battled was impressive as Drogheda left utterly frustrated. Following the Drogheda triumph United travelled Leeside, but Cork's potent and physical outfit claimed the spoils with Karl Sheppard and Alan Bennett scoring for John Caulfield's team.
Galway boss Dunne was hugely encouraged by the Tribesmen’s performance against Drogheda.
“It was a fantastic three points to get against Drogheda,” Dunne says. “It was important we got off the mark for everybody involved - the squad, staff, and our supporters who were immense. They pulled our boys over the line in the last 10 minutes. They were brilliant.
“For us as a group I didn’t feel we had been too bad in the first two games. It wasn’t that the other teams were overly better than us, it was just little things we needed to learn from. There are different aspects and different occasions in games where you feel you have to be a little bit more professional by playing the percentages at this level. We didn’t do that in the first two games. Overall the character and work rate in the team got us over the line allied with the support we had.”
Galway also registered a first clean sheet of the campaign when beating Drogheda.
“The clean sheets are important,” says Dunbne. “ We emphasised that before the game. If you’re going to do anything as a team, you cannot be conceding soft goals. If you’re doing that you will give yourself an uphill battle. In the premier division if you’re chasing a game more often than not you will get turned over. From our point of view keeping a clean sheet in the circumstances was fantastic.”
Competitive in all four top flight matches so far, Dunne believes United's youngsters must maintain high concentration levels during the rest of the year.
“I think the first two games in the league emphasised that our concentration levels have to be higher at different times in games. The lads understand they have to be right mentally. I say this to the players. ‘At the end of the season you won’t be physically drained, you will be mentally drained because of having to concentrate for 90 minutes week in, week out’.
" I always feel the more right decisions you make, the better your chance of winning. Against Drogheda players were making the right decisions and doing the right things generally during the course of the match. We got three points, we were delighted, but it is only three points.”
Tony Cousins' Longford are the next side to visit the west and Dunne hopes United can be more clinical on the banks of the Corrib. “We’ve got to make Eamonn Deacy Park a fortress as much as we possibly can. We want people to get out of here with nothing. That is our aim for the season, but over the course of a season there will be ups and downs.
“I hope the people who came to the Drogheda game will drag one or two more with them. The atmosphere towards the end of the game was fantastic. The one things is they won’t be bored. I can guarantee them that.
“These guys in our squad will give them absolutely everything. They will give them sweat and blood. I think they are worth supporting. They might make mistakes, they might do silly things at different times, but they will give you their heart and soul. You cannot buy that.”
