Alan Murphy: We have a lot of work to do

Galway United played out a dismal match with Drogheda United at Eamonn Deacy Park on Friday night. Drogheda left Galway with the three points with a Mark Doyle goal separating the sides.

The Tribesmen have lost three games on the trot at home and only have one win so far in the First Division this season.

Galway’s manager Alan Murphy faced the media after the game after spending a long time in the dressing room with his team after the final whistle.

“I think everyone’s disappointed, we were a long time in the dressing room because everyone cares, and we want to try and fix it,” he said.

“I think we keep harping on about good performances but that wasn’t a performance tonight. At times there was a performance, and pressure, but I don’t think we were ever threatening really at all and we conceded another sloppy goal.

“I’d have to look back at the game, but I don’t think they threatened much. I think they were nearly as toothless as we were at times, it was probably a very poor game to watch I imagine.

“We have a lot of work to do and as I keep saying, this is going to be a long-term project it’s not going to fix itself overnight and there’ll be ups and downs unfortunately we’ve had three home games of ups and downs but of no results and that’s where we’re at.”

The manager was left frustrated by the lack of cohesion within his team on the field despite the raw talent his side possess.

“There’s lots of talented players out there I think we’ve seen that from the first game, but talented players are one thing and I don’t think there was a team element tonight about it.

“There were a lot of individuals and a lot of lads trying hard and a lot of effort, but I think we were really lacking in terms of the smarts of the game, and the general formation and execution of what we wanted, I think we were way off.

“It was such a weak goal to concede. We look at the Shels performance and we made mistakes and our confidence imploded, if you want to call it that, and then giving a goal like that again tonight kills confidence.

“It kills that kind of plan that we had and the way we want to play, and we’ve become kind of frantic and rushed because we want to perform in front of our home crowd and we want to win a game and score goals.

“We deviate from the plan and it’s very difficult with a group of players who are trying to execute a plan but they’re going a million miles off the plan because they want to get back into the game and that’s a difficulty.”

Outside of the game on Friday night, one positive was Tribesman Donal Higgins earning his first cap for the Republic of Ireland Under-18 side in a friendly against Turkey earlier this week. He’s among the young stars in Alan Murphy’s squad this season and he acknowledges that this is the challenge facing the squad this year.

“He’s come on at half time against Turkey and that’s a brilliant thing for Donal, and for the work that’s been done with underage football in Galway, and Colin Kelly being on standby for that side as well. Colin is going away with the Irish school’s team to Scotland next week too.

“There are a lot of good things happening, but this is a tough league. These are seasoned performers and seasoned men they’re playing against and some of these guys are 16 and 17 years of age this is a real baptism of fire for them.

“It’s not going to be easy at times and it’s going to be frustrating at times for management and fans that were not performing but that’s what we’ve spoken about all through the off season, that it was going to be like this.”