League Report: Galway United 5 - 3 Bohemians

Galway United and Bohemians served up a game at Deacy Park that had just about everything. They will do it all again on Monday night in the EA Sports Cup, but it is highly unlikely that the same level of drama and incident will be repeated.

 

The opening exchanges were lively with Galway United taking the lead through Jake Keegan on 11 minutes thanks to Ryan Connolly's quick thinking, midway inside the Bohs half; he clipped a quick free to Keegan and his looping header gave Delany no chance.

 

The lead was short lived with Paddy Kavanagh's opportunistic instinctive strike a goal of the month candidate on 15 minutes.

 

Galway got their lead back six minutes later in controversial circumstances. Referee Buttimer awarded the home team a penalty - it seemed he was the only person in the ground who thought it was a foul. The Bohs bench were livid and with some justification. However protests never work and this incident was no execution, with Enda Curran slamming the penalty to the back of the net.

 

Padraic Cunningham got in on the act five minutes later; he robbed the ball, ended up all alone and clear and he calmly beat Delany from the edge of the box to nudge Galway two goal clear

 



The 'swings and roundabouts' of this game took a further twist on 36 minutes when Ryan Connolly's ill judged challenge in the box led to Dean Kelly's spot kick pulling Bohemians back onto the game.

 

The half ended, however, with Galway in the ascendency - Garcia and Cunningham had great opening halves while overall the home side looked like a well organised unit, with the visitors a little shell shocked.

 

The second half continued in the competitive vein of the opening half but with all the drama saved for the closing ten minutes.

 



Bohemians introduced the legendary striker Jason Byrne on 58 minutes in an attempt to get back in the game, but their problem was they could not get the ball to him in any dangerous positions.

 

Shortly before that Bohs replaced centre back Prendergast, who had a nightmare all evening trying to cope with Padraic Cunningham.

 

Galway United brought Gary Shanahan into the game on 71 minutes, replacing Kevin Garcia, who left the field to a standing ovation for his efforts.

 

The closing ten minutes were pulsating with three goals and a red card raising the noise levels from the 1,106 patrons. Galway went further ahead on 82 minutes when Padraic Cunningham, in an advanced position held the ball up, fended off two defenders, rolled the ball back to Ryan Connolly who despatched it to the roof of the net - a goal worthy of any occasion.

 

Bohemians showed they were 'not dead yet' four minutes later when out of the blue Adam Evans latched on to a loose ball and scored low in the corner form the edge of the area. Almost immediately however their night ended when Dean Delany was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge and Enda Curran slammed the ball in to the net, past the stand in keeper Anto Murphy.

 

Bohs came into this game as firm favourites but they were outplayed in many aspects of the game. They certainly could not cope in any way with the young Padraic Cunningham who is growing in confidence with every outing. Despite a litany of injuries Galway are showing real maturity for a young squad. Cormac Raftery had a great game at right back while Colm Horgan was again sublime on the left side.

 

They will both return to this venue again on Monday (in the EA Sports Cup), the crowd will be less, the game perhaps having less significance - but it will be a fascinating contest nonetheless.

 

Galway United: Connor Gleeson; Cormac Raftery, Colm Horgan, Paul Sinnot, Stephen Walsh; Jake Keegan, David O'Leary, Ryan Connolly, Kevin Garcia, (Gary Shanahan 71), Padraic Cunningham; Enda Curran.
Subs Not Used: Conor Winn gk), Jason Molloy, Antaine O'Laoi, Conor Barry, Marc Ludden, Sam Oji.

Booke: Curran (75).

 

Bohemians: Dean Delany; Dylan Hayes, Derek Prendergast (Dave Mulcahy 54), Anto Murphy, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Patrick Kavanagh, Robbie Creevy (Jason Byrne 58), Roberto Lopes, Adam Evans, Keith Buckley; Dean Kelly (Marc Griffin 70).
Subs Not Used: Lee Stacey (gk), Karl Moore, Kealon Griffin, James O'Brien.

Booked: Buckley (60), Kavanagh (66).
Sent Off: Delaney (87).

 

Referee: Anthony Buttimer

Attendance: 1,106

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Padraic Cunningham (Galway United FC)