Galbraith - Clean-sheet most important

Limerick winger Danny Galbraith believes the solid base that a balanced back four gives his side will provide the platform for having a good end to the season.

He was speaking after their scoreless draw with title favourites Saint Patrick’s Athletic at Thomond Park on Saturday evening, with the 23-year-old Scot saying their first clean-sheet in eight league games was “probably the most important thing”.
 

The hard-fought point also saw their four-game losing streak come to a close and Galbraith said that the team’s performance showed their “commitment” to the cause.
 

And the former Hibernian man – who was back in the starting lineup having recovered fully from a knock – went on to say that the Superblues can be a match for any team in the league once they have their strongest side on the pitch and a balanced defence.
 

“It was a good result. Obviously, it was important after the last few results that we turned things around,” Galbraith told LimerickFC.ie.
 

“I don’t think we could have put on a much better performance to show the commitment and what it meant to the team to get a positive result tonight.
 

“I think the clean-sheet is probably the most important thing. You look at the teams at the top of the league, the likes of St. Pat’s, and they keep a lot of clean-sheets.
 

“It’s something that unfortunately we’ve not been able to do on that many occasions this season. Starting from the back and keeping clean-sheets is the most important thing in order to build positive results.
 

“That was a big bonus tonight and the more clean-sheets we can get between now and the end of the season the better results we’ll get.
 

“I don’t think there was much in the game, to be honest. I would say we shaded the first half and possibly they shaded the second half towards the end.
 

“They’re flying high and you’d expect that towards the end of the game. They’re a confident team and have had a good run of results.
 

“It will take us a bit of time but hopefully when we start getting on a better run and picking up results, it will be us on the ascendancy and looking to get the winner.”
 

Asked if playing the league leaders was an extra motivation for his side, Galbraith added: “I think so, yeah. Obviously, you need to be motivated for every game.
 

“But when the league leaders come to town we want to show what we believe and that is that we can match any team in this league when we’ve got our strongest team on the pitch.
 

“We’ve had a lot of injuries and suspensions over the season – probably too many suspensions that have disrupted us, especially in the back four.
 

“We seem to have a good balance about that now and I think it showed tonight. We looked a lot more solid than maybe we have in previous weeks and that’s a good thing building towards the future.
 

“To get a point against the league leaders you would have to say is a good result. If that’s the best team in the league it shows that maybe if we can become a little bit more consistent that we can be right up there and be a match for anyone in any given game.”
 

Galbraith has been happy with the impact that recent signing Samuel Oji has made to the backline, with the former Arsenal youngster picking up the Man of the Match award against the Saints.
 

“Last week was his first game in a while but as every game goes by he’ll get fitter and stronger,” Danny said.
 

“He played really well tonight. It’s important that we have a good balance in the back four and having him beside Stephen Folan I think helped Stephen a lot as well. It has helped him be a bit more comfortable.
 

“All in all, I think he did really well and hopefully he’s going to be a good addition between now and the end of the season.”
 

Next up for Limerick is the visit of Shamrock Rovers on 24 September, with Galbraith admitting they would prefer not to have a prolonged break.
 

“It’s a big game and ideally we would like to go into another game straight away when we’re on a high,” he said.

“But when you’ve got a gap between games it’s important to get a positive result. It keeps the camp happy. There’s nothing worse than coming off a defeat and having to wait for two weeks to the next game.

“I think that will put us in a positive mood for training in the next couple of weeks and we can really focus to build up to the game against Shamrock Rovers.”