Match Preview: Derry
City v Galway United (7th March 2025)
Derry City FC v. Galway United FC, League of Ireland
Premier Division Round 5, Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, Friday 7th
March 2025, kick-off 7.45pm (LOITV)
After losses against both Waterford and St. Patrick’s
Athletic in the past week, Tiernan Lynch will be hoping that his side bounce
back to gain points at home to an unbeaten Galway United on Friday. With just
one goal scored from open play this season, the Candystripes have the task of
breaking down one of the League of Ireland’s most resolute defences and getting
the better of the team who had the second best defence in the Premier Division
last season. The fixture list isn’t getting any easier for City, who are
desperate for a second win of the season.
Derry City:
It was a Friday night to forget for Derry City as they
slumped to a home defeat against Waterford. As a suspended Tiernan Lynch
watched from the gantry, his City side were struck with the sucker punch of two
first half goals to contend with going into half-time. The first came nine
minutes in, when left-back Kyle White found himself in acres of space up
against an out-of-position Ciaron Harkin in the Derry box. The 20 year old
latched on to Conan Noonan’s pass and dummied it past the defender before
toe-poking into the bottom corner to give the away side a deserved 1-0 lead. That
lead was doubled six minutes before the break. Another delivery from Conan
Noonan, this time and in-swinger from a free kick, deflected and found its way
to the feet of defender Kacper Radkowski. The Polish centre half took one touch
before firing low and past Brian Maher at his near post – one which City’s
number one won’t want to see again.
Derry had chances throughout the game on Friday night,
despite a lacklustre first half and scattergun second. Liam Boyce had two
opportunities in the first half, one a header comfortably gathered by Stephen
McMullan and the other coming from a Dom Thomas cross. Thomas’ low, left-footed
ball in was flicked by a diving Boyce and went tantalisingly over. Boyce wasn’t
to know this, but that was going to trouble the keeper if left. Gavin Whtye, on
his first start for the club, found the linesman flag denying him a debut goal
when his left-footed volley in the box was deemed to be offside. The second
half was more positive for City, who played with more energy and strove to make
attacking inroads. When substitute Ben Doherty was felled by Navajo Bakboord in
the box, Pat Hoban stepped up to net his 200th career goal and pull
one back for City. That should’ve been grounds for a comeback, but guilt-edged
misses from Robbie Benson and Mark Connolly squandered hopes of taking any
points from the game. A Conan Noonan shot cleared off the line really should’ve
saw Waterford three to the good. With regards to the referee, no comment.
With St. Pat’s grabbing their first win of the season in an
entertaining 4-3 win over Sligo Rovers, Derry City’s players looked to have a
long weekend ahead of them before travelling to Inchicore on Monday night. The
first half performance on Friday left a lot to be desired. City failed to test
Stephen McMullan to any real degree, whilst Waterford’s direct passing through
the centre of the park led to the first goal and exposed previously seen
weaknesses in the Derry defence. Keith Long won the tactical battle, with balls
over the top to 36 year old Pádraig Amond seeing him outpace both of City’s
centre-halves at times in the second period. The Candystripes also struggled to
break down Waterford’s low block, something which we saw last season. The
dreaded sideways passing crept into City’s play as they looked for openings
which rarely appeared. In more positive terms though, it was Ciaron Harkin’s
first Derry City start in three years and three days following an ACL injury
hell and he played with good desire despite not operating in his natural
midfield role. Danny Mullen also returned to the squad following an injury in
preseason whilst last season’s top goalscorer Pat Hoban notched his first of
the campaign. Kevin Holt looked solid in the air on Friday and his ability on
the ball, particularly being left-footed, gave balance to the defence. He
looked particularly calm whilst in the middle of a back three. Ronan Boyce
missed out through injury, whilst new signing Hayden Cann failed to make the
bench.
After suffering injuries and suspensions to key players in
their win over Sligo Rovers four days prior, St Pat’s looked a weakened side
going into Monday night. Starting in a 4-4-2 formation, Chris Forrester was
their only recognised central midfielder in their squad. If you thought this
would have given Derry City an advantage though, you’d be wrong. In fact, if
you made a list of things that could have gone badly in that match, it’d
probably be quite accurate to what did actually happen.
After starting brightly, holding most of the ball and
putting together some decent passing moves, Derry City were behind after a
quarter of an hour. Aidan Keena broke past Mark Connolly and evaded the
slipping Kevin Holt before playing in Mason Melia, who went down in the box
after feeling contact from Ben Doherty. To be fair, it looked more of a penalty
in real time than it did on the replay, the referee clearly thought this too as
he appeared to ignore Pat’s penalty claims before pointing to the spot seconds
later. Dubious call number one of the night. Keena stepped up and finished
expertly to see his side take the lead. Minutes later and City had penalty
shouts of their own waived away when the ball ricocheted up off the arm of John
Redmond, strong protestations from the Derry players and even an ‘oooh’ from
the commentators. Dubious call number two from our match referee in a moment
that the LOITV editors found unnecessary to show a replay of – interesting.
The remaining half hour of the first half came and went but
the match was thrown back into life two minutes into the second period. After a
heavy touch by Mason Melia in the centre circle, Carl Winchester hit the 17
year old with a strong tackle, taking both ball and man. Once again, the
referee put his hand to his top pocket to pull out a yellow card. After being
surrounded by protesting Pat’s players, he removed his hand from his top pocket
and showed Winchester a straight red card. A harsh decision, the third in the
‘dubious’ category of the night. Twenty minutes later and the game was wrapped
up. Jake Mulraney found space to carry the ball from the right flank into the
centre of the pitch. Just as Keena received the ball on the half-turn, he was
downed by Adam O’Reilly. This time it was a fair enough penalty and was
converted cooly by Aidan Keena for his fifth in four games. Some player to be
fair to him.
Across the two games last weekend, Derry City failed to
impress. Two losses from two and four goals conceded left a lot to be desired.
The two against Waterford were defensive errors, the first saw Kyle White sneak
in behind Ciaron Harkin and the second saw Brian Maher beaten at his near post.
Against a weakened St. Pat’s, both goals came frustratingly from penalties. As
per the X account @gametwohalves, Derry City had an expected goal tally of 3.33
on Friday night, their highest since a 4-1 win over UCD in May 2023. Whilst I’m
not big into xG readings, it shows that chances were created and simply not
finished. A clinical edge would’ve seen us nab three or four against Waterford.
The St. Pat’s game was a different story. The referee’s performance aside, City
created very little. Joseph Anang didn’t have a save to make and a speculative
effort from distance from Adam O’Reilly in the second half was City’s closest
chance. We’ll need a big improvement on Friday to get points out of a Galway
United side who held Shelbourne to a draw on Monday night and haven’t lost this
season.
Carl Winchester will be suspended for the visit of Galway
United on Friday, whilst Cameron Dummigan is still an injury miss. Ronan
Boyce’s absence in the last two games leaves the right back berth decidedly
short – both Ciaron Harkin and Adam O’Reilly filled in there recently and it
seems there’ll be some rejigging to fit a makeshift right fullback in the squad
against Galway. Whether the officials are to blame or not, Derry City’s
disciplinary record has been poor since coming into the new season. With just
four games played, we’ve picked up fifteen yellow cards two red cards
(including Tiernan Lynch) and given away three penalties. Aside from the
obvious – gifting goals and leaving players walking tightropes – it’ll have
opponents and referees alike hyperalert to any sniff of a foul. We saw against
Bohemians how little a referee feels a manager has to do to justify sending him
off.
In some more positive news, 18 year old Sean Patton was
brought in to replace Pat Hoban when City needed a goal in the second half in
Richmond Park, although he and his attacking teammates didn’t find much joy in
behind the Pat’s defence. Danny Mullen came in for his first appearance of the
season after picking up an ankle injury against Sligo Rovers in preseason. New
signings Dom Thomas, Liam Boyce, Shane Ferguson, Robbie Benson and Hayden Cann
all failed to feature against St. Patrick’s Athletic. They and their teammates will
hope to bounce back and leave the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Friday
night with at least a point. It’s early days yet, but there aren’t any easy
games in the Premier Division anymore.
Galway United:
After winning the First Division by 25 points in 2023,
scoring 98 goals in the process, much was anticipated of Galway United’s return
to the Premier Division after a six year hiatus in 2024. Despite losing four of
their first eight games, Galway United found form and became one of the hardest
teams in the division to beat. They went nine games unbeaten mid April and the
end of May last year, before later losing just two of their last twelve to
consolidate a fifth placed finish. Said finish in fifth meant that they ended
the campaign just three points behind Derry City in fourth, and seven behind
European spots. They only scored 33 goals in 36 games, averaging 0.92 per
match, but conceded just 29 all season. Only Shelbourne conceded less goals
than John Caulfield’s side in 2024.
Galway United fans will be hoping for much of the same in
2025. United have a real knack of grinding out results. Their defensive
solidity and work ethic make them one of the league’s most well-drilled
outfits. With the addition of goals this season, there’s no reason why Galway
won’t be striving to finish in the European places. Despite losing eleven
players, two of which are loan deals, Galway tied their most important players
down before going on to make new additions. Left sided centre back Rob Slevin, a
target for Derry City last year, committed for another year. As did Patrick
Hickey, the American midfielder who scored a brace against St Pat’s on matchday
two after bagging away to Cork City a week prior.
John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan seemed to broaden their
horizons when it came to recruitment this year. Australian winger Daniel
Stynes, who spent the last four years playing for Perth Glory and Newcastle
Jets in the A-League, was the first addition. He was followed by eleven time
New Zealand international winger Moses Dyer. He came through the ranks at
Auckland City, but had spells in Norway, Canada and America before signing for
Galway from Vancouver FC. Welsh goalkeeper Evan Watts was signed on-loan from
Swansea City to provide cover and competition to the ever-present Brendan
Clarke, whilst 18 year old striker Max Wilson joined him on loan from Preston
North End. Former Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps academy prospect Sean Kerrigan signed
on an intriguing deal from Michigan State University, as he gets his first
taste of professional football aged 22. The loan signing of Cian Byrne from
Bohemians is Galway’s only dealing with another Irish club and seems to be a
shrewd acquisition.
Retaining their star performers has been Galway’s best
business going into 2025. Patrick Hickey, who contributed to eight goals from
midfield last year, was tied down to a new deal despite rumoured interest from
Shamrock Rovers. Rob Slevin, key to the defensive line, was also kept on for
another year, warding off interest from Derry City. Slevin’s average Sofascore
rating in the league last year was 6.98, behind only fellow centre back Killian
Brouder, goalkeeper Brendan Clarke and the aforementioned Hickey. Clarke kept
16 clean sheets last season, joint top in the division, despite having to make
just 2.3 saves per game – owing to the quality of he and his defence. A solid
team of solid performers quite clearly.
Full-back Jeannot Esua is staking a claim for the title of
the league’s best right back at the minute, notching two assists in the first four
games of the campaign. Greg Cunningham, a former Ireland international and
Premier League left-back, offers a calm and experienced head on the other side
of the back four. Brouder and Slevin have Colm Horgan, Cian Byrne and Garry
Buckley for cover in one of the best defences in the league. Brouder volleyed
into the top corner to equalise away to Drogheda United last weekend. Conor
McCormack, a former Derry City captain, has been an ever-present in the Galway
midfield since signing in 2021 and seems to be only getting better with age.
Jimmy Keohane’s talents don’t need much explanation either, he returned to
Ireland after a four-and-a-half year spell with Rochdale last summer and is
another tidy, experienced head in the centre of the park. David Hurley only
scored twice in the league last year, but netted 22 in the First Division a
year prior. The width provided by Belfast man Bobby Burns will likely cause
defences problems, whilst Stephen Walsh and Moses Dyer will be tasked with
leading the attack. Walsh bagged nine last year, including a winner in the
Brandywell.
Unbeaten and with six points from their first four, Galway United
have started how they mean to go on. They’ve drawn with champions Shelbourne
and current high-fliers Drogheda United, alongside defeating St. Pat’s. Beating
Derry City both home and away in 2024, they’ll be looking for a similar outcome
on Friday. Hard to beat and quick going forward, Tiernan Lynch will have his
side well warned of his opposition’s strengths. There haven’t been more than
two goals in this tie since September 2017 so if either side are to win the
game, they’ll have to take their chances.
Round-up:
Hoping to bounce back from a disappointing duo of fixtures,
Tiernan Lynch’s men will aim to beat Galway United for just the second time
since 2017. This meeting last year yielded home and away victories for Galway,
whilst City found a 2-0 home win in June. The other fixture resulted in a
scoreless draw in Eamonn Deacy Park in early May. Galway United have only won
twice at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in the last decade, once in May
2015 and the other in March 2024. City have won six at home against United since
that third last league win for the Tribesmen on Foyleside back in September
2009.
With just one goal scored from open play and one win on the
board in 2025, the pressure’s on Derry City to get something out of Friday’s
match. With a slight habit of gifting goals to the opposition, i.e. through
three penalties and a couple of mistakes, City may look to take a leaf out of
John Caulfield and Ollie Horgan’s book on defensive solidity. Galway United, on
the other hand, are unbeaten after four games and know how to grind out points.
With one just one defeat on the road in the league since July, they’re coming
to Derry with a gameplan in mind – to continue their unbeaten run against a
City side who have had a stuttering start to the campaign. Ah jaysus, as they
say.
Pól O’Hare – 3rd March 2025
