Dundalk will look to keep their noses in front at the bottom of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division table when they face Galway United in a huge clash at Oriel Park on Friday night.
The Lilywhites are three points ahead of table-propping Drogheda United, who take on eighth-placed Bohemians at Weavers Park on the same evening, as they approach the season’s final furlong, with the bottom two having just 11 games left.
Jon Daly’s men have six home matches remaining and they will hope to continue their solid form at Oriel Park where they have been beaten just once in their last 10 outings. Their sole game there in July ended in a 4-2 win over Drogheda.
Dundalk bounced back from their FAI Cup exit to the Boynesiders the following week by picking up their sixth away point of the year against out-of-form Bohs at Dalymount Park last Friday.
Daryl Horgan’s first-half equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw, in a game which could have gone either way despite the Gypsies’ dominance of the ball.
They have now collected points in five of their last eight league games, including three wins, since losing 2-0 to Galway back in late May, where Daly took charge for the first time just hours after meeting the squad.
The manager has very much a new-look team over two months on from his appointment, and there could be yet another debut this week as recent loan arrival Josh O’Connor is likely to feature at some stage having been an unused substitute last week.
Galway, meanwhile, dropped into the bottom half last weekend following a 2-0 defeat by in-form Sligo Rovers in the Connacht Derby. That came eight days after John Caulfield’s side put six past struggling Longford Town without reply in the Cup.
The Tribesmen are unbeaten in their last seven league games at Eamonn Deacy Park going back to April 1st, but their away form has let them down. They have lost their last four games on the road, scoring just once, and have won just two – at Bohs and in Drogheda – of their nine away outings over the past four months.
Still, sitting sixth and 11 points clear of Dundalk, they are just three points off third-placed Waterford, and will still have ambitions of qualifying for Europe in their first season back in the top flight having run away with the First Division last year.
Dundalk have lost their last three meetings with Galway, without scoring, suffering a 4-0 hammering away in the FAI Cup quarter-finals last September before losing both league meetings 2-0 this term, at Oriel in February and in the West in May.
This is the first of four August fixtures for the Lilywhites, with three of those at home, against Galway, Saint Patrick’s Athletic and league leaders Shelbourne, in an important month for the club as they look to make an unlikely escape from the danger zone.
| Pos | Club | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Shelbourne | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 37 | 26 | 11 | 57 |
| 2 |  Derry City | 34 | 14 | 13 | 7 | 48 | 29 | 19 | 55 |
| 3 |  Shamrock Rovers | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 47 | 34 | 13 | 55 |
| 4 |  St Patrick’s Athletic | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 48 | 37 | 11 | 53 |
| 5 |  Galway United | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 30 | 26 | 4 | 50 |
| 6 |  Sligo Rovers | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 38 | 47 | -9 | 48 |
| 7 |  Waterford FC | 34 | 13 | 5 | 16 | 41 | 44 | -3 | 44 |
| 8 |  Bohemians | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 37 | 41 | -4 | 40 |
| 9 |  Drogheda United | 34 | 7 | 12 | 15 | 40 | 56 | -16 | 33 |
| 10 |  Dundalk FC | 34 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 23 | 49 | -26 | 25 |
Team News
Andy Boyle resumed training this week after recovering from the groin strain that has kept him out for the last five games but there are doubts over Norman Garbett while Dara Keane and Paul Doyle are injured.
Quotes – Jon Daly
“I was at Galway’s game on Saturday against Sligo and they’re very difficult to play against. They make you defend and they ask questions of you and if you’re not switched on defensively then they can hurt you and punish you.
“They might have lost their last four away matches but that makes them a dangerous animal. They’re not a team that mixes up what they do. They’re probably one of the hardest-working teams in the league and they’re not embarrassed to put the ball behind you and make you defend.
“They ask questions of you defensively and look for cracks and if there are any then they’ll find them because they don’t let up so it’s important that defensively we’re switched on.
“I feel we have been for large parts of the games but it’s important that we bring that again and then have a little bit more quality on the ball and a bit more belief in possession because I think we can punish them with some of the attacking players that we have in the team.
“We’ve very good players and if we can get them into areas where we can ask questions of them then I think we can hurt them.”
Quotes – Aodh Dervin
“Last week was my first 90 minutes in a while so it’s all about getting the sharpness and everything else back but it was good to be playing again and especially play in the middle.
“We battled really hard against Bohs and I think that result will stand to us in the long run. On a different night, we might have come away with the three points.
“We need to just take it game by game. We have Galway on Friday and we need to win, especially at our own place, where we’d back ourselves, and hopefully, we can kick on now and get a few wins under our belts.”
Match Officials
Referee: Paul Norton
Assistants: Emmett Dynan and Ciarán O’Reilly
Fourth Official: Daniel Murphy
