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 the club's first season on following its return to the league.[1] The club played as Galway F.C. during this season.
Regular season[edit]
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 11 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[clarification needed]
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[edit]
2014 League of Ireland First Division
Playoffs[edit]
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.
Promotion/relegation playoffs[edit]
Semi-final[edit]
1st Leg[edit]
| 18 October 2014 | Galway F.C. | 2 – 0 | Shelbourne | Eamonn Deacy Park |
| 19:45 | Ryan Connolly  19' Gary Shanahan 84' |
Report | Nathan Murphy  19' |
Attendance: 1,764 Referee: Ray Matthews |
2nd Leg[edit]
| 24 October 2014 | Shelbourne | 1 – 2 | Galway | Tolka Park |
| 19:45 | Conor Murphy 34' |
Report | Ryan Connolly 59' Jake Keegan 82' |
Attendance: 1,202 Referee: Robert Harvey (Kerry) |
Galway won 4 – 1 on aggregate and advanced to the play-off final
Final[edit]
1st Leg[edit]
| 28 October 2014 | UCD | 1 – 2 | Galway | UCD Bowl |
| 19:45 | Timmy Molloy 18' Colm Crowe 27' Gareth Matthews 39' |
Report | Jason Molloy 23' Paddy Barrett 89' Ryan Manning 90' |
Attendance: 643 Referee: James McKell |
2nd Leg[edit]
| 1 November 2014 | Galway | 3 – 0 | UCD | Eamonn Deacy Park |
| 20:45 | Alex Byrne 20' Gary Shanahan 45' Ryan Manning 71' Alex Byrne 80' |
Report | Attendance: 2,890 Referee: Dave McKeon |
Galway won 5 – 1 on aggregate and promoted to Premier Division for the 2015 season. UCD relegated to First Division.
References[edit]
- ↑ "Galway FC prepare licence application for 2014". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2016-04-07. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Extra Time. 7 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Connachttribune. 7 March 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-03-11. Retrieved 11 March 2014. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Galway FC 0 - 1 Longford Town". Galway FC Official Site. 7 March 2014. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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