Encouraged by two wins on the spin, Galway United will be hoping to test runaway leaders Cork City at Turners Cross in tomorrow evening's SSE Airtricity League premier divisions joust (7.45pm ).
Shane Keegan’s improving Galway outfit followed up their success over Limerick FC with a convincing 4-1 triumph over Drogheda United last Friday.
Attacking midfielder Gavan Holohan was the star of the show, netting a delightful hat-trick. Alex Byrne and David Cawley were other prominent figures in central midfield for the Tribesmen, which pleased Keegan.
“It’s no coincidence that since we’ve moved Gavan’s position, we’re on the back of two wins and a draw in those three games, absolutely outstanding finishes,” Keegan says.
“We’ve tweaked the system, and probably the main reason for tweaking the system was Gavan. He was quite often playing as one of two deep midfielders alongside David Cawley, he can play there no problem, but there’s no doubt that to get the most out of him, we needed him in the attacking third.”
That was most definitely the case in the Drogheda match with Holohan causing the visitors all sorts of problems throughout the 90 minutes.
Keegan was pleased United were able to take the full complement of spoils ahead of a demanding trip to the banks of the Lee. “No disrespect to Limerick or Drogheda, we had eyed this up from the time the Dundalk game was moved,” Keegan says. “It’s probably the only time this season we had back-to-back games at home that we felt were both winnable.”
With three teams being relegated, it remains an interesting campaign, but United are now hopeful of avoiding the drop. Holohan, man of the match in the Drogheda encounter, believes United can finish the season strongly. “It didn’t really matter who got the goals, it was a must-win for us, we knew that going into the game,” he says. “The league is so tight right now, you can’t have any slip ups because teams are taking points from everybody.
“We just have to concentrate on ourselves. We have to get the job done. It was a good performance, we’re building a bit of momentum and confidence, so hopefully we can keep kicking on.”
Earlier in the campaign United were not clinical enough, but the recent triumphs over Limerick and Drogheda have been satisfactory.
“It was probably something that was catching us in the first half of the season,” Holohan admits. “Especially because we were creating so many chances and missing so many, and we were getting punished at the other end and and we weren’t getting the results we deserved.
“We’ve been very clinical in the last two games, and long may it continue. Hopefully we can keep scoring and picking up results.
“That’s back-to-back wins, it’s going to be a tough game down in Cork next week, even though they’re running away with the league.
“Knowing the staff and players down there, they’re going to be bang up for it, and we will need to be as well. We’ll go down and have a crack to see what comes of it.”
