2014 Galway United F.C. season

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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.

Contents

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 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

PosTeam
[]
PldWDLGFGAGDPtsQualification
1 Longford Town (C, P)2818645619+3760Promotion to League of Ireland Premier Division
2 Shelbourne 28141044630+1652Qualification to Promotion play-offs
3 Galway (O, P)28131054723+2449
4 Wexford Youths 2813784535+1046
5 Finn Harps 28711102628−232
Source: [5] [6] [7]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (O) Play-off winner; (P) Promoted.

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.

Promotion/relegation playoffs

Semi-final

1st Leg

18 October 2014 Galway F.C. 2 – 0 Shelbourne Eamonn Deacy Park
19:45 Ryan Connolly Soccerball shade.svg 19'
Gary Shanahan Soccerball shade.svg 84'		 Report Nathan Murphy Yellow card.svg 19'Attendance: 1,764
Referee: Ray Matthews

2nd Leg

24 October 2014Shelbourne1 – 2Galway Tolka Park
19:45Conor Murphy Soccerball shade.svg 34' Report Ryan Connolly Soccerball shade.svg 59'
Jake Keegan Soccerball shade.svg 82'		Attendance: 1,202
Referee: Robert Harvey (Kerry)

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

Final

1st Leg

28 October 2014 UCD 1 – 2Galway UCD Bowl
19:45Timmy Molloy Soccerball shade.svg 18'
Colm Crowe Yellow card.svg 27'
Gareth Matthews Yellow card.svg 39'		 Report Jason Molloy Yellow card.svg 23'
Paddy Barrett Soccerball shade.svg 89'
Ryan Manning Soccerball shade.svg 90'		Attendance: 643
Referee: James McKell

2nd Leg

1 November 2014Galway3 – 0UCD Eamonn Deacy Park
20:45Alex Byrne Yellow card.svg 20'
Gary Shanahan Soccerball shade.svg 45'
Ryan Manning Soccerball shade.svg 71'
Alex Byrne Soccerball shade.svg 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.

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References

  1. ↑ "Galway FC prepare licence application for 2014". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  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. Archived from the original on 11 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "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.
  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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