League Preview: Galway United v Athlone Town

GALWAY UNITED

The Tribesmen are back in action just days after restarting their First Division campaign when Athlone Town make the trip to Galway on Monday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

Galway were easily beaten by Cabinteely on Friday night when the Dublin side netted twice to take the three points in Eamonn Deacy Park.

Alan Murphy will be looking for a major response from his side against Athlone as The Tribesmen drift further from the top of the table.

“It’s a positive that we have a game so quickly after Cabinteely,” Murphy said, speaking to the club’s website.

“The Cabinteely game was a game that we were really looking forward to, but it didn’t happen for us on the night.

“Cabinteely played for set pieces and they played physically, they were well structured and very organised.

“I think we’ve seen Cabinteely scoring three times from set pieces already this season and they’ve gone and scored from another set-piece against us as well, so we need to look at ourselves, we allowed them to impose themselves on us.

“What we need to do on Monday is impose our own game on Athlone Town a lot more than we did against Cabinteely.

“I’m looking for the players to stand up and give a real performance. We need to manage the game at times, we need a little bit of leadership and to show some nous.”

The list of absentees is still long for The Tribesmen with Mícheál Schlingermann, Enda Curran, Conor Melody, Jack O’Connor and Joshua Smith out with injury.

Shane Duggan serves the rest of his two match ban on Monday night, while Shane Doherty is still in self-isolation following his return from the United States, and Alberto Cabanyes is still unavailable.

ATHLONE TOWN

The Town suffered their third loss from three games last Friday night when they hosted Wexford.

That game saw the Midlands club concede another three goals which makes it nine goals in total that they have conceded in just three games.

They managed to get on the scoresheet again, which will be the one bright spark for Monday night’s visitors to Galway, Ronan Manning with the goal again

That being said, if Adrian Carberry’s side cannot fix their worrying defensive woes it could be a long time before we see them pick up any points.

Referee: Oliver Moran

MATCH STATS

Athlone Town last beat Galway United back in June 2006 with a 1-0 win over The Tribesmen at St Mel’s Park.

Both Athlone Town’s manager Adrian Carberry and Galway United assistant manager Colin Fortune have played for both clubs.

The sides were due to meet in February in the First Division but the game was postponed due to adverse weather. They eventually met in the, now abandoned, 2020 edition of the EA Sports Cup where The Tribesmen ran out 2-0 winners back in March.

BETTING

Galway United 4/9; Draw 4/1; Athlone Town 7/1.

PREDICTION

Galway United 2–0 Athlone Town

Galway United

Injured: Mícheál Schlingermann, Enda Curran, Conor Melody, Jack O’Connor, Shane Doherty, Joshua Smith.

Doubtful: Cian Murphy.

Suspended: Shane Duggan.

Athlone Town

Injured: None.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.