Galway United welcomed Cork City to Eamonn Deacy Park in their first pre-season game at the ground. With the season fast approaching, both teams were looking to turn up the heat in pursuit of success.
An entertaining first ten minutes saw both teams go head-to-head, with the away side enjoying a more favourable share of possession. United went the closest, with some excellent link-up play finding David Hurley with space on the edge of the opposition box. He promisingly lofted the ball into the box, but a lack of maroon shirts allowed the City defenders to clear.
Cork were searching to break the deadlock themselves, with Tunde Owolabi looking to use his blistering pace to latch onto the consistent supply of passes played over the top of United’s defence. However, the Tribesmen were not apprehensive, playing some positive football to carve out a few half-chances, much to the encouragement of the home fans.
With ten minutes left in the half, Cork City found themselves with ten men temporarily after a strong challenge sent a trialist tumbling into the home dugout. Galway looked to capitalise on their brief advantage, but a 20-yard effort from
Manning floated over.
The second half sprang into action as both sides demonstrated their intent to win with feisty tackles and direct play. Cork went close 55minutes in after an edge-of-the-box volley whizzed over the crossbar, but the lively Manning drove forward for United with some real intent. His mazy run earned the home side a free kick on the edge of the penalty area, but Conor McCormack’s effort was fired into the Cork City wall.
Manning would have another attempt from the edge of the box just five minutes later. His free kick curled towards the top right corner, but the travelling fans sighed with relief as the effort flew wide.
With Galway looking the more threatening of the two sides, Cork opted for a quadruple substitution. It was one of these substitutes that forced BrendanClarke into a smart stop in the 70th minute. Some sharp movement from Matt Healy gave him space to fire off an attempt, but this seemed to be the climax of their brief spell of pressure.
United reacted with a series of their own changes, which included the introduction of two new trialists. With 15 minutes left on the clock, United were fouled again on the edge of the box. McCormack rolled the ball into the stride of Mikie Rowe, who let off a thunderous effort that seemed destined for the top right corner. The Cork City ‘keeper, Tobi Oluwayemi, pulled off a fantastic outstretched save and parried it away.
With just five minutes left on the clock, one of United’s trialist picked up the ball in the centre circle and danced through numerous Cork defenders before showing tremendous vision to pick out Ibrahim Keita. The French striker delicately directed the ball into the path of Francely Lomboto, who unleashed a fierce strike on the turn, but it flashed wide of the post.
The game ended in a stalemate, yet both sides displayed some encouraging play that is sure to excite fans for the season ahead.
TEAMS
GALWAY UNITED (John Caulfield, Manager)
B. Clarke, C. Horgan, K. Brouder, R. Slevin, O. O’Reilly, C. McCormack, V. Borden, E. McCarthy, D. Hurley, R, Manning, R. Manley
CORK CITY (Colm Healy, Manager)
T. Oluwayemi, C. Coleman, T. Owolabi, A. Bolger, R. Keating, B. Coffey, A. Winbo, J. Honohan, Trialist, K. Čustović, J. Häkkinen
