Mahon celebrates win while Keegan left dejected after opening day defeat

Drogheda United got off to a perfect start on their return to the League of Ireland Premier Division with the Louth side overcoming Galway United 1-0.

The match was the cliché game of two halves and manager Pete Mahon admits they were lucky to come away with the three points.

“We were lucky to come in nil all, at half time, to be honest,” the Dubliner said, speaking after the game.

“They hit underneath the bar, our goalkeeper made two brilliant saves and a few balls came across our penalty area.

“On another night they could have gone in and it would have been a totally different game but once we got into half time and it was still nil all I thought we played a bit better in the second half but having said that there was room for improvement.”

Drogheda, as well as Galway, have been tipped to battle against relegation this season and Mahon recognises the challenge ahead.

“We’re in the Premier Division now and when you look at the fixtures list we’ve Pats at home next week and so it’s not going to get any easier, and it certainly wasn’t easy tonight,” Mahon said said.

“Everybody’s tipping ourselves and Galway to be down there in the relegation battle during the season but we’ll see about that because I think they’ve got some very good players, some very experienced players at this level and the two boys up front [Murray and Faherty], they’ll get goals between them there’s no doubt about that,” he added.

Galway United manager Shane Keegan was the unhappier of the two after the game. After an impressive pre-season the Laois man’s first competitive game in charge of The Tribesmen didn’t go to plan.

The Tribesmen piled on the pressure in the first half but couldn’t manage to get on the score sheet. Galway seemed to struggle with their finishing on the night before seemingly running out of ideas later in the game.

“For 45 minutes, apart from putting the ball in the back of the net, I couldn’t have been happier with them. I thought we were really, really outstanding in the first half to be honest,” Keegan said after the game.

“Anybody watching our pre-season would have seen Ronan Murray who looked a really clinical finisher. Ronan, amongst others will be disappointed that he didn’t find the back of the net tonight. Every now and then you just have a night where it doesn’t seem to go in for you.

“We did run out of ideas, we created eight in the first half and one in the second there’s no way around that,” the former Wexford manager said.

Although clearly dejected after the loss on Friday night, the Galway United manager was able to put the loss into perspective.

“It’s going to be hard to sleep for me tonight, it’s going to be hard to sleep tonight for the boys.

“There wasn’t a whole lot I could say after the game that could change that. The only crumb of comfort I could give them is that against all odds we went on a run in the 2015 First Division at Wexford and on the opening day of the season we were bet by Cabinteely, we turned around and won the First Division so I don’t think one game made a season.”

Read Paul Corcoran's match report from the game here.