Galway United were denied a home win on opening night as Drogheda stunned the Corribsiders with a late winner, and home manager Shane Keegan was disappointed not to get his first competitive victory with the club. Speaking to the media huddle follow
Galway United were denied a home win on opening night as Drogheda stunned the Corribsiders with a late winner, and home manager Shane Keegan was disappointed not to get his first competitive victory with the club.
Speaking to the media huddle following the game, despite highlighting some positives, Keegan cited a lack of clinical finishing as the key reason behind their 1-0 defeat.
“I thought we were really, really outstanding in the first 45 to be honest. We created so many chances.
“Looking back on our own stats, I think the first half finished 8-1 in terms of chances created. But if you get eight chances in a half and you don’t put any of them in the back of the net, it does eventually come back to bite you,” the Laois native said.
He added: “The second half was a very different kettle of fish. If our stats showed 8-1 in favour of us in the first half, it showed 3-1 in favour of them in the second half and that’s a cause for concern all right, so it is – we’re going to have to have a look at that and see why that was the case.”
Vinny Faherty, Ronan Murray, Padraic Cunningham and Kevin Devaney failed to conjure the necessary goals as they formed an attacking quartet for most of the match, the players ultimately letting the late goal get the better of their mentality.
“There’s no argument on it – we did run out of ideas,” Keegan admitted.
“You’d definitely put that down to frustration, shooting from distance, when in the first half we were showing a bit more patience, stringing two or three passes together.”
Midfielder Murray could, and perhaps should, have levelled the scores in the 88th minute when a loose ball landed at his feet inside the crowded box only to blast over, and the hosts also squandered a last-minute corner.
“It’s going to be hard to sleep tonight for me,” he continued
“It’s going to be hard to sleep tonight for the boys – there wasn’t a whole lot you could say after the game that was going to change that.
“The only comfort I could give them was against all odds we went and won the 2015 league title at Wexford Youths. On the opening day of the season we were beat by Cabinteely – we turned around and we won the First Division. So, I don’t think one game can make the season.”
