League Preview: Galway United -v- Drogheda United

GALWAY UNITED

Galway United chase a third win on the bounce in aid of their title challenge as they welcome fellow promotion-contenders Drogheda United to Deacy Park (kick-off 7.45pm).

The Tribesmen beat league leaders UCD in their last home game before a relatively comfortable 2-1 win at Cabinteely last time out.

Robbie Williams and Conor Melody were on the scoresheet for Shane Keegan's side before Keith Dalton pulled one back late on in contentious circumstances.

"We've won four of our last five games, so we will be hoping to try and keep that going against Drogheda,” Keegan told the club's media team.

"Our performance against Cabinteely wasn't good enough, but we managed to scrape the three points.

“It probably balances out after the Finn Harps game, where we felt we were decent and came away with nothing somehow.

"There is no doubt that the level of performance that we reached against UCD is what we'll need to reproduce to get a positive result against Drogheda. We will be looking to improve on the performance in Cabinteely.

"We will have to be at our best against Drogheda. We delivered it against UCD when it really mattered a couple of weeks ago and there is no doubt we need to deliver it again.”

Keegan has a full deck to choose from with the exception of Aaron Conway, who misses out with a knee problem.

DROGHEDA UNITED

Drogheda arrive in Galway level on points with their opponents in second place but with a healthier goal difference.

They too recorded their second win on the bounce last week as they overcame Wexford 2-0 at United Park.

Drogs won 8-1 at Wexford earlier in the season but it was a much tighter encounter this time, with goals from Chris Lyons and Sean Brennan sealing the win.

“They’re a full-time team with a squad full of quality players so obviously it’s going to be a real test for us,” manager Tim Clancy told the club's website.

“We don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation as the home game a few months ago where we really had to go chasing it so a bright start will be really important.

“There’s only a handful of points between four or five sides in the table and we want to still be in the mix as the season goes on.”

Clancy has a full squad to choose from with no injuries or suspensions.

Referee: Adriano Reale

MATCH STATS

The sides have met once so far this season, as second-half goals from Mark Doyle and Luke Gallagher cancelled out Eoin McCormack's first-half double at United Park.

BETTING

Galway United evens; Draw 23/10; Drogheda United 21/10.

PREDICTION

Galway United 1 – 1 Drogheda United

Galway United

Injured: Aaron Conway (knee).

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

Drogheda United

Injured: None.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.