Amid the Friday chaos at the Markets Field, Galway United kept persevering. The grit was rewarded with three goals inside a blistering 15 minute spell to defeat Treaty United.
On Monday, at Eamonn Deacy Park United eventually shrugged off Longford Town courtesy of goals from David Hurley and Max Hemmings.
Hurley is a central figure in the United team and dovetails nicely with the captain and talisman Conor McCormack.
“I always want to put my stamp on the team, but as long as we are getting results that is the main thing," Hurley says about United’s efficiency in the 2022 SSE Airtricity League first division campaign.
“I'm happy, myself and Conor have a good relationship inside there, even with the whole team we are clicking at the moment. You can probably see it in the performances, we are playing a bit better than we had been at the start. It is showing in the results now - thankfully.
“We had two tough games against two tough teams. We knew we had to do the business really, Cork beat both teams. So we need to keep up with them, we need to keep putting points on the board, to keep the consistency.”
Nine wins and two draws have been registered in the opening dozen matches of the campaign. That type of form bodes well.
“Definitely, that is what we strive for,” Hurley replies. “We strive for consistency and high standards - if you keep them you get results. The two performances probably weren't our best performances, but they are still wins - that is what matters.
“Even in some of the games when we didn't get a result when we did deserve one, but that is football. We just need to make sure we get results.”
The former Cobh Ramblers midfielder is thoroughly enjoying his second season with United. “Probably coming into full-time football it is different because it is the standards every week you need to be putting eight or nine out of 10 every week instead of being nine out of 10 one week and being five out of 10 the next week,” he says. “It is about consistency, once you win one game or when one game is over it is straight on to the next game then. That is what it is about.
“We are all pooling together at training every day. A big thing is we are probably all friends which is a big thing because you go out on the pitch and you know the phrase 'you'd nearly die for each other' - that is what you do, you all want to battle for each other. It is really showing on the pitch, that we are working hard for each other getting results.”
Tomorrow Hurley returns to St Colman’s Park for a clash against his former club, Cobh Ramblers. “Being there for five years it is bittersweet going back,” Hurley says. “It is a place where I have some good memories, but then when you get down there it is about getting a result for Galway this time.”
Hurley is embracing being part of John Caulfield’s set-up, opting to move from his native Cork. “Even in my first year I probably had a bit of growing up to do, doing the cooking, washing, all of that stuff, I'm probably a bit more settled down this year now,” Hurley says. “I was able to get at it straight from the start. You can see we are right up there on the table from the start, last year we took a while to get going. I think it is benefiting now.
“It is a good league, you know that when it gets into the last round of fixtures you need to be there or thereabouts. Last year we probably gave ourselves too much to do, there was too much of a gap to reduce. This year it is about being right in there for the last round of fixtures, then we will see where it goes from there.”
Hurley’s United journey continues.
**Listen to the full interview with Galway United midfielder David Hurley on this week’s ‘Cian on Sport’ podcast available on Soundcloud, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
