Derry City 0
Galway United 2
DERRY CITY were booed off the Brandywell pitch after a heavily depleted Galway United secured a comfortable win on a disastrous night for the home side.
Two goals in the space of five first half minutes from Padraic Cunningham and Jake Keegan proved enough in the end but it was a night to forget for Peter Hutton who watched goalkeepers, Gerard Doherty and his replacement Shaun Patton come off the park injured.
Tommy Dunne might have been minus NINE first team regulars for the match but they were good value for the three points and it could have been worse for the ‘Candy Stripes had it not been for a great save from stand-in goalkeeper, Anthony Elding in the closing stages who saved from Padraic Cunnigham who was sent clean through on goal.
Derry had made a bright start to the game and Morrison’s close range strike was cleared off the line by Cormac Raferty in the opening minute.
But it quickly went downhill for the home lot from there as Connolly came close to putting his side into the lead on eight minutes but screwed his shot wide of the near post.
The Brandywell crowd rose to their feet on 18 minutes to applaud City legend and club top goalscorer, Mark Farren who was present in the stand – the Greencastle lad currently battling against a life threatening brain tumour.
There was little for the home support to cheer about after that, however, Galway netting twice in the space of five minutes to silence the attendance.
Connolly’s corner was flapped into the path of Cunningham by Doherty who drove his shot into the net on 23 minutes.
Galway added a second five minutes later when Connolly’s clever diagonal free-kick was headed into the corner of the net by the unmarked Keegan.
Derry were shell-shocked and Connolly’s corner kick almost caught Doherty out at the near post but crashed onto the crossbar before going behind.
Galway boss, Dunne was furious with the match officials for failing to award a penalty kick just before the break after Ryan McBride dived in to tackle Enda Curran.
It was much improved from Derry on the restart and a jinking run from Morrison allowed McNamee space to bear down on goal but he sent his shot just wide.
The night was to get worse for City as substitute keeper Patton was stretchered off after colliding with Gary Shanahan.
Elding took the goalkeeper jersey and he was immediately called into action when Keegan tried his luck from distance but the Englishman saved with his feet.
And Elding came to his side’s rescue once again with nine minutes remaining as he did superbly to save Cunningham’s shot in a one-on-one situation.
Morrison came close with a downward header from six yards one minute later but Gleeson saved comfortably as Galway deservedly secured maximum points.
Derry City: Ger Doherty (Shaun Patton 35, Ryan Curran 73), Shaun Kelly, Ryan McBride, Shane McEleney, Aaron Barry, Joshua Daniels (Ronan Curtis 58), Philip Lowry, Barry McNamee, Mark Timlin, Anthony Elding, Cillian Morrison.
Galway United: Conor Gleeson, Cormac Raftery, Stephen Walsh, Paul Sinnott, Colm Horgan, Gary Shanahan (Antaine O’Laoi 73), Ryan Connolly, David O’Leary, Jake Keegan, Padraic Cunningham, Enda Curran.
Referee: Rob Rogers.
As an Ireland and Ipswich Town fan that man was a fantastic servant, and genuinely nice guy. Great read and memories
I remember the day off the nederlands game.I couldn’t get a ticket. I was in a bar in Dublin. Got talking to a English guy for a few hours . Little did I know it was Matt Hollands brother. Until Matt came in later that evening. He bought me a drink to thank me for looking after his brother
@Simon Dwyer: nice one , I’d say he was was in great form too
Good read and a great player for Ireland.
At least he didn’t walk out on Ireland in a World Cup.
@dublindamo: cant recall anyone ever doing that .
@David Higginbotham: one thing you can bet your house on is a bitter comment like that on any article he’s mentioned
@David Higginbotham: I believe he’s talking about Zlatko Zahovič, who once famously walked out on the 2002 Slovenian world cup squad
@Luke: was talking about Ruud Gullit but then realised it was the wrong Holland. My bad
He was quality for Ireland,a great servant and always gave us everything.
I can’t believe he took Roy Keane so seriously. Holland declared for ireland, but he’s still English. He’s entitled to sing the anthem of the country of his birth. Plenty of Irish people have taken US citizenship and they hardly refrain from singing AnB. It’s possible to feel attached to two countries.
@Michael Keary: in all honesty tho he played for us as England was never a possibility. Done well for us but probably one of most English players we ever had.
Was lucky enough to meet him last summer at Lords at the third (and final) day of first ever Ireland – England cricket test match. Always liked him as a player and a person, from what I saw and heard from him. A grafter, always put a shift in for club and country. And he’s articulate and thoughtful type of player too, a natural born leader (zero ego). Had never met him before, but it was genuinely nice couple of minutes easy chat with him. He’s fit as a flea still, looks like he could pull on a pair of boots and still do a job for Ipswich or Charlton…
Remember that Portugal game, missed the start but came home from a mates house just in time to see holland score that screamer. The all Ireland replay was on the same day. Also remember the Holland game the month before and still sickened we didn’t beat them 2-0.
That was just lovely
Was he the player that was nicknamed “Plastic Paddy”?
@Damien Murphy: He once sang god save the queen at Wembley
@Damien Murphy: He qualified to play for us , he gave everything in an Irish shirt and scored important goals so if he was nicknamed “ plastic paddy “ then the people who did so were idiots
@David Mitchell: genuine question. I remember one of the players with an English background having that nickname.
@Damien Murphy:your funny lad, some respect for a very decent performer for Ireland
@Damien Murphy: genuine ejit you are
Very good article.