2014 Galway United F.C. season

2014 Galway United F.C. season. This is a record of Galway United in the 2014 League of Ireland First Division season. It was clubs first season on following its return to the league. [1] The club played as Galway F.C. during this season.

Regular Season

On 7 March 2014, Galway F.C. played their opening game in front of 2,418 spectators at Eamonn Deacy Park in a 1-0 defeat against Longford Town.[2][3] The president of Ireland Michael D. Higgins was present in the crowd for the game.[4] It took Galway until their fifth league game of the season to record a victory, beating Cobh Ramblers 4-0 at home at Eamonn Deacy Park. Defeat was to follow in their next match, falling to Dylan Connolly injury time winner for Shelbourne at home. That defeat on the 11th of April was to prove a turning point in their season. A run of 10 league matches unbeaten, stretching over a third of the league season until the end of May, was to follow, during which they scored 17 goals conceded just 7.

Defeat to eventual First Division winners Longford Town brought an end to their unbeaten run, but another shorter spell of four games without defeat in which they scored 10 goals and conceded just two demonstrated

The beginning of August brought games against promotion playoff rivals Shelbourne and Wexford Youths, followed by a tough away encounter with Longford town. Disappointing narrow defeats to Shelbourne and Wexford dented confidence somewhat, but an excellent away victory in City Calling Stadium against Longford marked another important turning point. It was to begin a run of five consecutive victories for the Tribesmen, setting up a tense finale to the season.

The final two matches of the league season pitted Galway away to Shelbourne and at home to Wexford Youths. American striker Jake Keegan netted an equaliser 5 minutes from time in Tolka Park to gain the point that all but mathematically guaranteed a playoff places for his team. As a result, the final league match of the season for Galway effectively became dead rubber, as Wexford required a 14-goal swing in goal difference to overtake Galway for the second of two playoff places, had they managed to win.

League Table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Longford Town (C) (P) 28 18 6 4 56 19 +37 60 Promoted to Premier Division
2 Shelbourne 28 14 10 4 46 30 +16 52 Lost promotion/relegation play-offs
3 Galway (P) 28 13 10 5 47 23 +24 49 Promoted to Premier Division after play off
4 Wexford Youths 28 13 7 8 45 35 +10 46
5 Finn Harps 28 7 11 10 26 28 −2 32
6 Shamrock Rovers B 28 7 5 16 25 50 −25 26 Withdrew from league
7 Waterford United 28 6 7 15 25 43 −18 25
8 Cobh Ramblers 28 2 8 18 24 66 −42 14

Source:[5][6][7]

Playoffs

Galway finishing third behind Shelbourne resulted in the former playing the first leg at home. A goal in either half saw Galway bring a 2-0 lead into the second leg in Drumcondra. A first half Conor Murphy strike gave Shels a lifeline, but second half strikes from Ryan Connolly and Jake Keegan put the tie beyond the host.

Awaiting Galway in the Promotion/Relegation playoff final were UCD, who Galway had disposed of earlier in the season at the Belfield Bowl, by a 3-1 scoreline in the FAI Cup 2nd round. Galway native Timmy Molloy opened the scoring for UCD in the first leg in Dublin, but late, late goals from Paddy Barrett and Ryan Manning saw the tie turned on its head.

Having brought a 2-1 lead into the second leg and home advantage to look forward to, Galway grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Gary Shanahan widened the aggregate lead to two goals just before half-time, young attacker Ryan Manning made it 4-1 over the two legs on 71 minutes and in the final ten minutes, Alex Byrne rounded off the scoring and ensured promotion for Galway.

Semi-final

1st Leg

2nd Leg

Galway won 4 – 1 on aggregate and advanced to the play-off final

Final

1st Leg

2nd Leg

Galway won 5 – 1 on aggregate and promoted to Premier Division for the 2015 season. UCD relegated to First Division.

References

  1. ↑ Galway FC prepare licence application for 2014
  2. ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Extra Time. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Connachttribune. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Galway FC Official Site. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "First Division". ie.soccerway.com. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  6. ↑ "Ireland 2014". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "A Brief History of Shamrock Rovers". www.shamrockrovers.ie. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
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