WATERFORD 0
GALWAY UNITED 1
Dylan O’Connell reports
GALWAY UNITED HAD to dig deep at the RSC on Friday evening to grind out a 1-0 victory over Waterford.
A close range strike by Manu Dimas was the difference between the two teams and it means Galway are now level on points with Cork City at the top of the First Division table.
John Caulfield’s side dominated the first half in the south-east and they should have scored inside eight minutes but Stephen Walsh put a free-header wide.
After this, Conor O’Keeffe went very close to scoring with a cross and from Brian Murphy’s goal-kick, Galway won back possession.
A succession of quick passes played Alex Murphy into space and he curled the ball across the face of goal. Dimas was in the right place at the right time to turn this in and make it 1-0 to Galway.
Waterford had to rethink their game plan shortly after conceding as Junior Quitirna went off injured. He was replaced by Roland Idowu and this started a good spell for The Blues inside the opposition half, but they never got into a position to test Conor Kearns.
Then, Waterford got a free-kick and Shane Griffin sent the ball in, forcing a low save from the Galway goalkeeper. Kearns acted immediately to put a follow up out for a corner and this came to nothing.
Walsh should have doubled Galway’s lead in the closing moments of the first half, but he fumbled Killian Brouder’s cross in front of goal and a kick-out was given.
Waterford charged out after the break and four minutes in, a deep cross by Phoenix Patterson narrowly missed Idowu who was free inside the area.
Galway’s chances in the second always seem to fall at the wrong time, like an attempted bicycle kick from Rowe, which would have been spectacular if the ball did not narrowly miss him.
Cian Kavanagh responded to this with a fine strike from the edge of the area and this rose high and just over the intended target.
Waterford switched tactics after this and they tried to put long-balls over the Galway back-four. Diego Portilla and Kearns dealt with these by swatting away every attempt by The Blues to play route one.
A corner by Patterson was turned in by Louis Britton with ten minutes remaining and the ball smacked off the cross-bar. It then fell to Killian Cantwell and he hit it first time, again hitting the woodwork.
The referee signalled for four minutes added time and every blue jersey pushed into the Galway half. Kearns was needed once during extra-time and this was to punch away a free-kick.
Elsewhere in the First Division tonight, Cork City were held to a 0-0 draw by Bray Wanderers at Turner’s Cross; Wexford defeated Cobh Ramblers 4-2 while Athlone Town drew 1-1 with Treaty United.
Waterford FC: Brian Murphy; Darragh Power, Richard Taylor, Niall O’Keeffe, Shane Griffin, Yassine En-Neyah (Louis Britton 55), Cian Kavanagh (Tunmise Sobowale 81), Junior Quitirna (Roland Idowu 20), Kevin Joshua, Killian Cantwell, Phoenix Patterson.
Galway United: Conor Kearns; Conor O’Keeffe, Stephen Walsh, Killian Brouder, Diego Portilla, Mikie Rowe (Aidan McCarthy 60), Manu Dimas (Gary Boylan 77), David Hurley (Max Hemmings 90), Wilson Waweru (Charlie Lyons 90), Conor McCormack, Alex Murphy.
Referee: Alan Patchell.