Galway United 3
Dundalk 4
Daragh Smalls reports from Eamonn Deacy Park
MICHAEL DUFFY SCORED the late winner and Galway United failed to keep their slim chances of survival alive as they slipped to defeat against Dundalk at Eamonn Deacy Park.
Patrick McEleney scored one of the goals of the season in the first-half, after previous efforts from Niclas Vemmelund and Jamie McGrath.
Stephen Folan and Rory Hale also found the back of the net for Galway but despite a leveller from Ronan Murray, Duffy struck late.
Galway will play their football in the second tier for the first time since 2014, while St Patrick’s Athletic and Sligo Rovers both stay up.
The home side trailed 3-1 at half-time but got the start they had dreamed of when Folan found the net after just nine minutes – he finished off a corner from Kevin Devaney.
However, after saving brilliantly, the rebound came back off Conor Winn and into the path of Vemmelund, who made no mistake for Dundalk’s opener.
That goal came in the 11th minute and Winn followed up with a few good saves — most notably denying McEleney with a big dive to his left in the 39th minute.
But just three minutes later, Dundalk got their second goal when McGrath was given too much room in the penalty area to finish low.
McGrath was again involved in the 47th minute when Dundalk broke from defence. He found McEleney and the Dundalk attacker executed an audacious lob.
It was 3-1 at the break and Galway were in real trouble but they came out with massive intent in the second half and had one goal back by the 53rd minute. A superb flick from Eoin McCormack put Hale through and he scored on the run.
Galway continued to press looking for the equaliser and Murray struck with two minutes of normal time remaining, but Duffy replied in the dying minutes and Galway go down.
GALWAY UNITED: Conor Winn; Colm Horgan, Niall Maher, Stephen Folan, Marc Ludden; Gary Shanahan (Conor Melody 77), David Cawley, Rory Hale, Kevin Devaney (Ronan Manning 77); Ronan Murray, Eoin McCormack (Padraic Cunningham 77).
DUNDALK: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Niclas Vemmelund, Dane Massey; Jamie McGrath, Stephen O’Donnell, Robbie Benson, Michael Duffy; Patrick McEleney (Dylan Connolly 58), David McMillan (Thomas Stewart 80).
Referee: Ben Connolly (Dublin).
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Thats a pity. Two teams from the west/north west getting relegated doesnt help keep the league nationwide.
Congratulations to St pats for staying up. That was a great win last week v cork and a fantastic draw today
@smithers: well done pats ccfc
I felt sorry for Galway until I heard they had voted to make it a ten team league. Not smart seeing the club is broke.
Disappointed Sligo couldn’t have finished on a victory against the worst team but its all about survival, can’t complain
Great that pats survived
Very hard luck Galway. Supporters are behind you 100%. Sort out some off field issues and we’ll be back.
Well done pats
Well done to sligo ,doesnt make sense a 10 team league stupid from the fai
@ryan o sullivan: I’m a harps fan but well done to the teams that stayed up. It’s a long season so no hard luck stories. The FAI, they’ll be happy two out of the three are from the West/North West cuts down on the travel for the teams that matter most to them. They would of preferred Sligo to Drogheda but two out of three ain’t bad i suppose!
@ryan o sullivan: yep
@ryan o sullivan: apparently the majority of clubs voted for it. Why??
@ryan o sullivan: makes no sense , as a neutral i dont follow any team but i cant see how making a 10 team will do any good, id be more inclined to see a 15 team league with 2million for the prize winner work out , if the fai werent such stingys fuks
@ryan o sullivan: 10 team league driven by clubs, unfortunately broadening the league just makes the standard worse. The idea is that a smaller league would be more competitive. Not a fan of the FAI but this one came from the clubs.
Galway United have been a shambles for a long time now! Bring back Don…
Go on you saints ⚽️
Two relegation’s on the bounce for Keggan. That must suck.
Galway will rise again. It has a good fan base in the city.
Hard to take. Strange season, very little between 5th and 11th placed teams.