Search Results for 'Sligo Rovers F.C.'

Despite a testing schedule, Galway United have proven to be resilient against more vaunted outfits, and another gutsy performance will be required at Terryland Park tomorrow when Sporting Fingal visit the west.

Though the League of Ireland season is only a matter of weeks old, Terryland Park will provide an ideal backdrop for tomorrow’s crucial encounter between Galway United and Shamrock Rovers.

Galway United have encountered plenty of bother at the Showgrounds, and Saturday's contest against Sligo Rovers promises to be particularly revealing.

Carlow soccer star Padraig Amond of the famed Shamrock Rovers and a former county Carlow hurler, has been called up to the Republic of Ireland under-21 squad for next week’s friendly match against Lithuania.

It is peculiar how football in the rickety, old grounds stirs the soul. The Showgrounds is one of those venues. While the Shed has been dismantled, an appreciative audience still gathers every fortnight in the garrison town to see how Sligo Rovers are faring. There is no diluting the importance of the Bit O’Red to the north western psyche. Rovers matter. Simple as.

Galway United emerged from Saturday night’s tie with Sligo Rovers in The Showgrounds with another valuable point in their bid to escape the drop thanks to Jay O’Shea’s 75th-minute penalty. While United’s unbeaten run has now stretched to six games, this was definitely a case of a point gained rather than two points dropped.

Armed with hope and confidence, Galway United will be anxious to maintain the resilience levels that has seen a half-dozen match unbeaten sequence stitched together at such a critical juncture of the campaign.

I am not sure when the game of soccer was first played competitively in Galway or who were the first teams. It seems to have been a popular sport in the Claddagh. In the early 1930s a team called Claddagh Rangers were playing senior soccer which is the equivalent of League of Ireland today. Another team from the area around that time was Old Claddonians, but the club we are concerned with today is Galway Rovers. In their early days, they had no clubhouse, though the Old Malt pub and the Atlanta Hotel could be described as hangouts. One of their earliest teams, as we see in photograph 1, won the Celtic Shield in 1933.

I am not sure when the game of soccer was first played competitively in Galway or who were the first teams. It seems to have been a popular sport in the Claddagh. In the early 1930s a team called Claddagh Rangers were playing senior soccer which is the equivalent of League of Ireland today. Another team from the area around that time was Old Claddonians, but the club we are concerned with today is Galway Rovers. In their early days, they had no clubhouse, though the Old Malt pub and the Atlanta Hotel could be described as hangouts. One of their earliest teams won the Celtic Shield in 1933.

A string of interesting sub plots ensure tomorrow’s Terryland Park encounter between Galway United and Sligo Rovers ought to be tasty. The shock table toppers against the surprise basement boys, Alan Keane’s return to the ground in which he served with distinction, and the television cameras in attendance will ensure intrigue is attached to the affair.